Back in Time

FIRST MEETING (1):

Sophie's POV:

Sophie blinked. She was in a cavernous room, with fossil-lined walls and replicas of dinosaurs. It looked familiar somehow. As she studied the room, she realized she was in a human museum. But that revelation left her even more confused than before. One moment, she was staring at the cloaked figure who claimed she was Elysian, then she was here.

She didn't feel any of the adrenaline she usually felt when teleporting, so it couldn't be that. And if she had light leaped, she would have had to concentrate or risk fading, and she didn't feel faded. It definitely had something to do with Elysian revealing herself, because that's where it started. Sophie wondered if she had been whisked back in time, like she once used to see in the human movies and TV shows.

Sophie rubbed her temples as human thoughts flooded her mind. She built the strongest, thickest barrier she could around her mind, and immediately the wave of thoughts stopped. Looking around, she walked over to the nearest person and asked, "Do you know what the date is?"

The guy looked at her strangely and replied, "It's October 2, 2012."

Sophie thanked him and walked away. She had time-traveled back to the day when she had first met Fitz. Sophie shook her head. How was that possible? As she contemplated, she heard a dreadfully familiar voice..

"MISS FOSTER!" Mr. Sweeny's nasal voice cut through Sophie's thoughts. "Have you decided that you're too smart to pay attention to this information?"

Sophie blinked. She recalled her teacher humiliating her just like this.

"No Mr. Sweeney," she mumbled, tugging out an eyelash – a habit she still had.

"Then perhaps you can explain why you weren't following along?" Mr. Sweeney asked, his hands on his hips. When she didn't respond, he asked, "Since you've decided you're above this lecture, why don't you give it?" Mr. Sweeney asked. He pointed to the enormous orange dinosaur with a duckbill in the center of the room. "Explain to the class how the Lambeosaurus differs from the other dinosaurs we've studied." Sophie repressed a sigh as her mind flashed to an image of the information card in front of the display. She remembered the facts written on it and her photographic memory recorded every detail.

As she recited the information, Mr. Sweeney's face twisted into a scowl, and she could hear her classmates' thoughts grow increasingly sour. They weren't exactly fans of their resident child prodigy. They called her Curvebuster. She finished her answer, and Mr. Sweeney grumbled something that sounded like "know-it-all" as he stalked off to the exhibit in the next room over. Sophie didn't follow. The thin walls separating the two rooms didn't block the noise, but they muffled it. She grabbed what little relief she could.

Fitz POV:

Fitz blinked. What was going on? The last thing he remembered, he was charging at Lady Gisela with Sandor's sword, and then suddenly, all of the abilities that were being used stopped working. He started getting a pounding headache, and someone came out of the shadows, saying that they were the power source he and his friends were looking for. He was trying to figure out how that would even work when he reappeared back at Everglen in his dad's office. Now, he looked in the mirror that was between Alden's desk and the aquarium that was for some reason in his office. Behind him stood his father.

"What am I doing here dad? How did we even get back here from that place?" Fitz asked. Alden frowned, puzzled.

"You're here to get the assignment from me. Apparently the girl is in San Diego, in the Forbidden Cities," he told him.

"The girl? You mean Sophie? Why is she back in San Diego? Did she go there after we met Elysian?" Fitz had many questions, and even more when his dad gave him a what-are-you-talking-about look.

"I don't know who Sophie is, but there's no reason to worry. Just go to that place and we'll handle whatever is wrong when you come back," Alden reassured him.

"Maybe there's something wrong with you, because I'm perfectly fine," Fitz insisted. "Why do I have to go to the Forbidden Cities again? I thought we were done with that."

"What do you mean, we're done with that? We need to find the girl," Alden asked, concerned. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" He put a hand to Fitz's forehead. Fitz swatted it away.

"I'm fine. You know what, fine. I'll go to San Diego again, and when I don't see another Moonlark, I'll come right back here and you will tell me what's going on," Fitz scoffed, then took the crystal his dad was holding out and leaped to find the so-called girl. The last thing he saw before he walked into the light was his father's alarmed expression at the term 'Moonlark'.

What he didn't expect to see was Sophie, standing in the same place where he first spotted her. She was looking around, presumably for him, and ran to where he was.

"What's going on?" Fitz asked, hoping she knew.

"I think we've traveled back in time to the day we met," Sophie told him, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Back in time? How is that possible?" Fitz had never heard of that happening, except from what Sophie told him about human sci-fi movies with strange machines.

"I'm pretty sure Elysian sent us back, but I don't know why she did that," Sophie took Fitz's arm. "If I'm right, then it's for a good reason. My gut tells me it's to defeat the Neverseen. Maybe she's on our side of the war."

"Then we have to play along and redo everything we did in the last few years," Fitz added. "Except we don't let the Neverseen win the battles they won, and Lady Gisela's plan for Keefe fails." Sophie's expression turned determined when he mentioned Keefe's ability 'reset'. They fell into silence.

"Well, that explains why my dad was acting so weird," Fitz finally said. "I should go back now. My dad just wanted me to find you, and I guess this time I won't need to bring you to the Lost Cities to show you proof," he smiled. "Don't let Gethen touch you."

"I won't," Sophie promised, stepping back. Fitz looked around and pulled out his pathfinder, letting the light carry him away.

As he was being whisked back to Everglen, he saw Sophie return to her class.

Sophie POV:

As Fitz leaped away, she walked back to the rest of the seniors, continuing to listen to Mr. Sweeny. She fully expected them to act the same as before. Sure enough, someone walked over from behind her

"Nice job, superfreak," Garwin Chang—same as before—sneered as he shoved past her to join their classmates. "Maybe they'll write another article about you. 'Child Prodigy Teaches Class About the Lame-o-saurus.'"

Sophie rolled her eyes, and remembering something from before, retorted, "Still jealous about Yale? You got your rejection letter last week, didn't you?" Someone snickered from the front of the class, and Garwin glared at Sophie, surprised that she stood up for herself for once. She never used to when she was twelve. She wasn't going to let all the bullies step on her this time around.

"When did you get so snarky?" he muttered and walked away. Sophie smirked, glad she had picked up a few things from Keefe, and continued listening to her teacher.

When she got back home, her mom greeted her with a kiss on the forehead.

"How was school honey?" she asked.

"It was great mom. I learned a lot," she replied. Amy came running downstairs as she sat down for a snack.

"Mom! Mom! MOM!!" She demanded, "Cali is having a sleepover. Can I go?" Sophie's mom smiled and shook her head. "You're staying here tonight and hanging out with us as a family. Your sister is going to college soon." Both the girls groaned. Amy grumbled something about older sisters being worse than her parents while Sophie got up to get some popcorn, imagining how good it would feel to have Amy's hair turn into feathers from an elixir Dex made, called Floof. Her mom set down some E. L. Fudges, and Amy wrestled Sophie to the floor, trying to get to them first, even though she thought they tasted kind of dry, and mallowmelt was much better. But she needed to get those cookies, if solely because they reminded her of Keefe. She smiled at the name, and flipped Amy over, pinning her to the ground as she snatched some cookies and took a bite triumphantly.

"Sophie, don't hurt your sister," her mom scolded. Amy smirked and stood up, brushing her clothes off.