Sofitz Love

Wylie's POV

"You know," Wylie started, fidgeting with his Imparter. He had recently finished a call with his dad to explain why he wasn't going to be with him for a while. If he were being honest, Wylie's dad looked only mildly upset; what was a few days without your only kid compared to almost two decades, huh?

Yeah, Wylie was horrible at jokes.

"If we're going to be gone for so long, we should, you know, pack all our clothes and stuff," he said, stuffing his Imparter into his pocket.

"No worries, Mr. Endal," Mr. Forkle promised. "All has been arranged, also, your elf clothes would not be... appropriate in the Forbidden Cities. Now, we just have to wait for Miss Phoenix."

"About this Phoenix lady," Tam snapped. "How can we trust her? She uses weapons. No elf can use swords and stuff without having their sanity shattered." Both the Vackers visibly winced.

"As I said before, Phoenix hides many things." Mr. Forkle nodded to Sophie, "And I'm sure you all have experience with ones like her." Sophie rolled her eyes at this as Marella snickered. "You technically didn't answer my question," Tam protested. As the two argued back and forth, Wylie studied their little group: Linh, Sophie, Biana, Fitz, Keefe, Marella, and Tam. "So, we're going to this Forbidden City, right?" Wylie asked Mr. Forkle, ending the conversation between him and the Shade with trust issues. "How are we going to get there? I think the humans would hear the thunder and all if Sophie teleports us."

"Right," Mr. Forkle agreed. "Your main goal is to keep a low profile." He looked at Keefe in particular. "Phoenix had a leaping crystal that will take you right into your apartment."

"What about our registry pendants?" Biana asked. "I don't think the humans have anything this beautiful. Wouldn't they attract attention?" Was it just Wylie or did Sophie look offended? Keefe just shrugged. "Nah, I'm sure the Council doesn't mind us running around a Forbidden City, since we're going with their permission too."

Mr. Forkle smiled. "Miss Phoenix will cover that as well, Miss Vacker."

"Okay," Tam snapped. "Enough about how amazing this Phoenix is. One, where is she, exactly? Two, at least let me read her shadow vapor!" All the shadows in the room seemed to stretch towards the Black Swan leader.

Wylie shot a look to Linh that hopefully said Calm your brother before he knocks out Mr. Forkle!

Linh seemed like she got the general idea when she drenched her brother head to toe. "Tam, calm down," she said, resting a hand on his wet shoulder. "You're going to have to ask Phoenix for permission, not Mr. Forkle." Linh looked at Biana and her, now dark brown, eyes asked for help. "Come on Tam," Biana said sweetly, draping an arm around each of the Song siblings. "Let's go talk about this somewhere else." Biana steered them as far away as possible from the door.

The room filled again with quiet, tense chatter.

"Hey," Sophie said. "You good? Are you worried about your father? I'm sure he'll be fine."

Wylie shrugged. "I'm not a member of the Black Swan and I'm new to this. Should I be worried?"

Sophie rubbed her wrists. "I...honestly don't know. I've lived in the Forbidden Cities practically all my life and it was...good. I mean, being a Telepath was intense; half the time I couldn't even imagine a life that was quiet. But you should be fine, Wylie. You're a Flasher and nothing bad is going to happen. Besides the school, but that'll be easy. Ish." She smiled but there was definitely fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO SEE THIS!" Keefe screamed. "NO WAY WOULD I HAVE THOUGHT THIS WAS POSSIBLE!"

Everyone scrambled over to...

...a picture.

"I think I'm missing something," Fitz mumbled. Marella shrugged when Biana have her an Explain For Your Boyfriend look. "I don't know why he does half the stuff he does.

"It's a human poster," Keefe explained, showing them a picture of a black haired boy with a jagged scar on his forehead. "Which obviously means that Forkle likes this human!" He grinned like he had won Fitz against Tackle Bramble.

Sophie looked like she was trying not to laugh. "That's Harry Potter," she giggled. "It's a series of books and movies. He's famous."

"More than me?" Keefe asked, making Marella punch his shoulder. "Ow! Okay, geez!" he mumbled.

"Ah, looks like Granite forgot to take something back," Mr. Forkle frowned. Sophie looked confused. "Wait, why did Granite have a Harry Potter poster?" she asked.

"As we were...relocating your family, we happened to have searched their house for clues." Mr. Forkle looked uncomfortable. "Granite collected a few things and he seemed to have forgotten to return this." He snatched the poster back from Keefe and sighed. "Looks like Miss Phoenix is a bit late; so why don't you kids get settled for the night? I understand that Alden made you guys pack blankets?"

Wylie sighed and grabbed a pillow and blanket from his bag and got settled. He noticed that Linh placed her stuff down close to his, and for some reason that made him giddy.

Well, not a very interesting day, he thought.

An hour later, after some seriously disgusting food (Which Keefe nicknamed "Ogre Snot"), Mr. Forkle clapped his hands and the lights dimmed and went out.

Wylie fell asleep before his head hit his pillow.