Duluth / A Keeper of the Lost Cities Fanfiction

Duluth / 1

For @Phantom_Ink , an amazing friend.

She was stupid

So, so, stupid.

From the minute she walked in the door to the strangely echo-y room,  Sophie Foster realized she was stupid.

Why on Earth had she signed up for band class? First of all, she knew she had no musical rhythm, and not a single clue on how to play an instrument. Second of all, Sophie didn't need another thing adding to her constant headache, to keep her from concentrating.

Keeping all her abilities under chains was a huge task- one that graciously gave Sophie a headache every minute of everyday. 

It was because Sophie had been desperate to fill out her schedule before registration closed at Harbor City International School. She filled in different options, not clearly thinking everyone of them through. Sophie had also signed up for speech, which was not an amazing option, since she couldn't handle pressure. 

Sophie had chosen not to change her name. Well, Her first name. She changed the last one to her new father's : Barret.  As she thought of her dad, Andrew, she felt a pain in her heart, which she soon recognized as guilt and she shook it off. Andrew hadn't had a family before. Physic found him about to jump into the Hudson River in New York before she stopped him.

Physic had made all this possible. She was the only one who knew about Sophie being a pyrokinetic, and promised that she would help Sophie in any way that she could. Sophie took her offer up, and asked to help her move back to the Forbidden Cities. Physic was the one that found Andrew and washed his memories to believe he had a fifteen year old daughter, and lived in Minnesota working in Law Enforcement. Sophie didn't actually know Physic was a telepath before she helped Sophie. 

She still checked in occasionally. 

But that was it.

That was Sophie's only connection to the Lost Cities. 

She knew that her family and friends missed her. She missed them too. The only things Sophie allowed herself to bring to Duluth was her charm bracelet, Keefe's necklace, and Fitz's cognate ring. And her Spyball. She tucked her rings under her small, twin bed in a silk pouch, along with her Spyball and charm bracelet and necklace. 

It had been three weeks since Sophie last saw them. She had left them a note- just so they could be sure that the Neverseen didn't take her. It had only two sentences on it,

You'll be safe now. Don't worry- I'm safe.

I love you,

Sophie 

It had also been three weeks since Sophie had used her abilities. Well, that was a lie. A week after she moved in to her small apartment with Andrew. Sophie had used telepathy to try to hear Fitz. She had already been cautious enough to block him, so he couldn't hear her if he tried. 

He had been thinking about checking the old Neverseen hideouts, the ones the Lodestar connected. He also made a mental note to ask his dad to check San Diego. 

San Diego had actually been Sophie's first choice, but Physic told her that it was too obvious to her friends and family that that would be where she would go.

The number one thought in his head, though, was I miss her.

Keefe's thoughts were just as miserable, maybe more. She saw him going to different forbidden cities, searching just for her. 

It pained Sophie to see her friends in such a bad condition. 

They're safe now, Sophie told herself, And that's what matters.

But other than those few times, Sophie had kept her telepathy under lock. All her abilities under lock. She had finally found a different corner, where she could keep unwanted memories or characteristics that couldn't emerge until Sophie let herself do it. But she didn't. She needed to blend in. 

And she actually did.

Well, more than she had done when she was twelve. Now she was fifteen, and she had already made friends with a few kids from homeroom. But whenever Sophie looked in a mirror, she still saw The New Girl.

The band instructor looked at her with impatience. "Well?" he asked, "Are you going to take a seat?"
 

Sophie readjusted her purple backpack on her shoulders before she shook her head. "Sorry, sir," she mumbled before she backed out of the door. She sighed as she made her way to the guidance counselor's office to change her schedule. 

Posing as a human, living as a human, it had to get better.

Right?

---

Did you like it? Please comment if you do :)

I've been planning this book for a while, but I didn't know where to set it until I went on a mission trip to Duluth. 

It truly is an amazing city.

I'll try to update as often as I can,

Jannie