Keeper of the Lost Secrets

CHAPTER ELEVEN: We Ask my Father's Biggest Hater for Help

"Don't elves do anything normal?" Sophie huffed. She and I peered at the waves below, crashing against the rocks, defeated and dissipating into a white foam.

"And where's the fun in that?" My father smiled. It was one of those fake smiles, that you cast a child that was on your nerves. I was that child.

"There's fun in being safe." Sophie's voice came out a low string of words. She folded her hands and kept her posture straight, but the bead of sweat from her forehead betrayed her.

I took her hand. "Ready to go home?"

Sophie looked at me with a certain intensity. Her eyes were pouring into mine and studying them. Hers looked like treasure buried deep in the mud, when the setting sun shone on the gold and the light flickered on the metal.

Before she could retort, the bubble popped, and the serenity of the sky was replaced by Sophie's screaming.

***

"I thought you meant my home," Sophie said, with an unnecessary amount of sass. She shielded her eyes from the glaring light of the Everglen's gate, eyes flickering between the ground, the gate and me. "I guess this works too."

Judging by how she untensed, she was happy to not be at her home. I suppressed my questions about how she'd handled this with her family. I didn't want to be on Sophie's bad side. Ever.

Sophie opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a blinding flash of light. I covered mine too and looked up a moment later to see sir Tiergan.

Tiergan was much taller than me, and with his simple black tunic, he looked like a shadow striding toward us. His platinum hair was perfectly slicked back and was a few shades lighter than his olive skin. Something in his aquamarine eyes shone of lost youth.

"You've got some nerve calling me down here," Tiergan's voice was carried to us by the wind. He looked up at my father, who was a few inches taller, and not intimidated in the least. "I'd rather be exiled than be associated with your family."

My fists clenched together in a ball, and I resisted the string of unkind words that came to my mind.

"Yes, Tiergan, we're all very well informed of your opinion of me – no matter how unwarranted it is." My father stared Tiergan down.

"Yes, well, my opinion matters most if you want me to train someone." Tiergan smoothed out his already crisp tunic.

"Well, it would be what Prentice would want." My father's words echoed in my mind, because I had never heard him say that, let alone to Tiergan.

Tiergan's expression crumbled so he looked more like a lost and confused puppy. His anger returned in the same speed. "Since when were you concerned about Prentice?"

"Who's Prentice?" Sophie said, eyes darting from Tiergan and Alden. Tiergan spun around and locked eyes with her, letting out a small gasp in the process.

"She's the one, isn't she?" Tiergan whispered. I took a step back and behind Sophie. I had thought I knew what was going on, but the new pieces scrambled my head. "The one Prentice was hiding?"

"Correct." Alden said, looking at Sophie as if she were his long-lost daughter. Which was a bit weird, since I was his son.

"Who is Prentice?" Sophie asked again, this time, her voice carrying more authority. "And what does he have to do with me?"

"I'm sorry, but that's classified information." Alden sighed. Oh boy. The two of us knew what Sophie was going to react like.

"Classified? But it's about me!" Sophie raised her voice a little too high, and my father sent her a knowing frown. Sophie looked to me with pleading eyes, but I knew well I couldn't do anything. I shrugged and tilted my head down.