Kingdom Keepers: Next Generation (Unfinished/Unedited) *Republished

Chapter 18- Run!

Sofia's POV

Awkward silence. One thing I hated more than anything. That was what I was in with this man. I have way more questions than answers. Who is this man? How does he know my parents? How did he not know Noah had green eyes? I got up my courage.

"So..." I said, "How do you know my parents?"

He glanced over at me. "I used to go to school with them."

I had a feeling that this wasn't the whole story, but I let it go. "Were you friends?"

He looked uncomfortable. "No." He said simply, after about a full minute.

"So," he said, changing the subject. "You want to tell me how you got in my house?"

"No." I said, the way he had said it so casually. He looked over at me.

"You are so much like him." He said.

At that moment, I realized I had no idea what happened to everyone. My dad told me to get everyone out. I hope I did my job. His eyes went back to the road.

"Except," he started to say, looking over at me again and smirking "He wouldn't have been caught by the Overtakers."

I tensed up. How did he know about the Overtakers.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Relax." He said, "If I was still with the Overtakers, you wouldn't have escaped so easily."

"Still with the Overtakers?" I asked him again, my hand on my seatbelt.

"It isn't important." He said, redirecting. "Your dad going to meet you?"

"I don't know." I said, as we pulled up to the parking kiosk. In one second, the water bottle in the front cup holder exploded, I unbuckled my seatbelt and ran for the hotel. I heard Greg Luowski scream my name but I kept going without looking back.

Jess' POV

Amanda's panicking. Finding out two of her children are fairlies just to have one go missing? Finn being taken away? I can't even imagine it. I'm a little worried about Sofia, how can I not be? But I'm positive she can handle herself. She is so much like Finn. Lucas is more like Amanda: fiery, passionate, and a little bit uncontrollable. But Sofia's more of a leader, she's smart in different ways, knows how to utilize everyone. We were driving home and Amanda was staring at Sofia's hat.

"Mandy, we are going to find them." I said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." She said.

"What does Finn say? 'A human boomerang'? So is Sofia." I said.

She looked like she was about to cry. I knew nothing I could say would help. I looked out the window as the trees and resorts went by.

"Stop the car!" I yelled to Willa. She pulled over very quickly.

"What?" she asked.

"We are so stupid!" I said. "Where is the one place they would go on property?"

"How should we know? They have never been..." She cut off when she saw Sofia's hat.

Amanda looked up at Willa, with her fire in back her eyes.

"Drive"

Lucas' POV

We got one room. We were so close anyway and we didn't want to spend all of Aunt Jess and Uncle Oliver's money. We had made a schedule that every hour we would switch off who was waiting in the lobby to see if Sofia would show. We had already switched up five times, Emma had started, then Eli, Alex, and then me. We were back at Eli, but Alex was on a mission to get us some food, so I switch off with Eli at 7. I sat in the lobby with some park maps and some sunglasses, just in case. At about 7:25, two people, one of whom I unfortunately recognized, were walking into the hotel. Noah Luowski was walking in with another big boy. I got up, shoving the park maps into my back pockets, and secured the sunglasses on my face. I moved quickly into the gift shop, where I still had a view of the door, but I was out of sight of Luowski. Why was he here, anyway? Then, I saw her enter. That's Sofia for you, she spotted me right away. I think it's because of the empathy thing, but Sofia and I always knew if the other was near. We didn't need this that much. It sure made it tricky when I tried to pull pranks on her. She started walking over to me, but I shook my head, indicating Luowski and his partner. Her eyes followed my line of sight, and spotted them. They went wide and then, they were stormier than I had ever seen them. You know how some people she fire in people's eyes when they were angry or determined? Not Sofia, her's got stormy. She walked behind a pillar and peeked out again. She held up her hand and twisted it like turning a door knob. Some lady's water bottle exploded, sending everyone's attention to her, including Luowski's buddy. Luowski had walked off somewhere just moments before. We took the opportunity. Sofia dashed over to me, and I lead her over to the stairs as quick as possible. We half-walked, half-ran up the steps.

"You have some explaining to do." I said, as we walked quickly up the stairs.

"I know." She said.

I didn't want to take the elevator. If anyone spotted us getting on, they would know what floor we were on, and once we got to our floor, we wouldn't know what would be waiting for us. We walked the three flights up and enter our room. When we entered, I saw three large pizzas and Alex, Emma, and Eli's face light up.

"Sofia!" Emma said, hugging her cousin.