Keeper of the Lost Secrets

CHAPTER SIX: I Keep my Cool* (*I Have a Freak Out)

"Where have you been?" Sophie looked like an angry chimpanzee. "Do you have any idea what I've been going through." chimpanzees were the wrong animal. Sophie seemed like a species of its own.

Her arms were at her sides in fists, and her gaze tilted upward. She was red in the face, much like a tomato. An extremely angry, rather short tomato.

"Missed me bad, huh?" A cocky smile spread across my face as I ran my hands through my hair.

Sophie turned red for a moment, diffusing the joke almost immediately. I clicked my tongue. Humans tend to romanticise everything.

She turned away from me and cleared her through. "More like you left me alone with a bunch of unanswered questions, then a dude comes and tries to kidnap me."

I froze. "Woah, woah, slow down," I stood there for a moment, my mind trying to process what she said. "What guy? Who? Why? What?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "I thought I was panicked." She shook the hair out of her face. "Some blond guy showed up and tried to trick me into going with him, and when I refused, he was going to grab me and then I tried to hear his thoughts and couldn't and he might be an elf."

"Okay," I said, dragging out the word. "Take a breath, slow down. Only my dad and I know we're here." My mind replayed the rather awkward conversation, where I stormed out to go make Mallowmelt (top ten ways to walk out of a conversation, trust me).

"Then why couldn't I hear his thoughts?" She demanded as if I knew the answer.

"No clue," I admitted. I let out a sigh. "You sure you couldn't hear anything?"

Sophie paused. I felt guilty. You might think that, as a Vacker, I would be on top of everything, and however true that was, I had a habit of second-guessing. Only a few things escaped my worrying thoughts, and I managed to push away some unwanted ones as well. Sophie bit her lip.

"Maybe not," Sophie's voice was as low as a whisper.

I blew out a shaky breath. "My guess is that he was human and that his mind is on the quieter side." I saw her shoulders deflate. "But I'll check will my dad." I was certainly not looking forward to that conversation. "Let's leap, but somewhere with fewer people."

I stalked over to an alleyway and looked around, the only person in sight was Sophie. She was slower than me, and she piped up.

"Leap?" she squeaked, parroting me. "Fitz, I can't ditch class. They'll tell my parents, who will proceed to strangle me" She tugged at her collar.

"This is important, Sophie. You've got to come."

"Why?" Her voice was venom.

"Just trust me." I cringed. I realised it was not a simple request to trust someone. People from stories had gotten themselves killed trying to get people to trust them. (You could say I'm a more emotional bookworm. Patrochilles truly broke me).

I tugged her but she stood in place, knees knocked, swaying slightly. "Why should I trust you?" She folded her arms as I sighed. Humans could be so difficult, sometimes. I suppose it would've been hard for her, but I simply didn't have the time for shenanigans (a strange human term for 'crazy stuff')

"You can trust me because I'm here to help you," I said softly. I knew it wasn't much, but the words were all I could offer her.

She stared at her and squared her shoulders. The emotional intensity in her eyes matched the rich colour of my teal eyes. It felt as if she were piercing glass daggers into my soul, each fleck of golden, a shard reflecting the rising sun.

She looked away, and it felt like she'd sucked back a part of my intuition with her. I felt numb and empty, and she hadn't done a thing. If her eyes held that much power, I could only ponder how much her mind could do.

"A test?" She glared at me. "What am I being tested for?"

The words knocked me back a step. "You read my mind." I tugged her deeper into the alley. The shadows didn't cover my red face and my panicked eyes. "You can't do that. That's one of the biggest 'absolutely nots' in the Lost Cities. You can't just listen to someone's thoughts. There are rules about that." I could hear the wavering in my voice, my panic flooding through my words more than Atlantis did that one time.

She folded her arms. "You've tried to read my mind before."

I sigh and tear my hands through my hair, blinking away my desire to yell out at her. "That's different. I'm on assignment."

"What's that meant to mean?"

I let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and ran my hands through my hair, likely for the millionth time in the last five minutes. "It doesn't matter. What matters is you invading my mind like that. You could get in huge trouble. It's a serious offense." I tried to keep my cool, but anger bubbled in my throat. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to scream at her.

"Really?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper. Soft as the blowing wind.

"Yeah. So don't do it again." I flashed her a cold glare, and I could feel her shrinking from it. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest, but my thoughts took over my focus.

She started to nod, but she quickly darted her head to the side. She let out a small gasp and stumbled back, sunlight hitting her irises. They glowed, but the light surrounding us blocked the most of it.

"He's here," Her voice quavered, and she started blinking rapidly. "The guy who tried to grab me."

My eyes scanned around us, looking at either side of the alley, one bathed in light, facing the road and picket-fenced houses, and one dark as the shadows of the night.

I fished out my pathfinder from my pocket, its silver reflecting the sun. "I don't see anyone, but let's get out of here anyway. We shouldn't keep anyone waiting."

"Who's waiting for us?" She asked, but I could tell her heart wasn't in the question. She looked away, into the oak nearby, scanning for that jogger, probably.

"My parents and a few Councillors. It's a part of that test you heard about when you broke into my mind." I gave her a sidelong glare, the ice in my eyes a stark contrast to the warmth of San Diego.

Sophie's cheeks turned the colour of ripe strawberries. "Sorry,"

I refused to offer an "It's okay," or an "It's over and done now," to her. I wanted her to feel my anger as I took her hand and let her into the sunlight.

It might be nothing to some. Ordinary elves might think about their grades, what the lunch they had was, and which bracelet looks better on them, but it wasn't the same for me. My mind held my darkest secrets, and thoughts like an itch nagging to be scratched were at risk of being found out. To open one's arms and mind fully is a gift that no one should ever take for granted.

I held my Pathfinder, some of my anger fizzling with the new thoughts in my mind. Thoughts that required more thinking. Thoughts that needed confrontation. I've always hated those thoughts.

"Ready?" My voice held little emotion and intonation. The thoughts had carried my presence with the gentle breeze.

Sophie offered a quick nod, just as out of herself as I was. "What is this test going to determine."

A cocky smile split my face. "Your future."