Dreamwatcher | KOTLC

Chapter Seven: Search Crew

After Mabel had finished explaining her plan to Sophie's parents, and Juline and Kesler, she gathered everyone up with little notebooks in her hand. 

"I have a notebook for everyone to write down anything suspicious they see or if they find any leads. In the end, perhaps we could find some connections between any clues." 

She paired everyone up一 which made Sophie a little jealous. She's not in charge, right?

Grady nodded his head. "Smart. I like how you think." Mabel thanked him and finished explaining the plan. Once she finished, Mabel gathered everyone to begin.

 "Okay, let's get searching!" Sophie dragged her feet towards the door, following behind Tam and Biana, who looked eager to get to the school as fast as they can. 

"Excuse me, Sophie," Mabel suddenly appeared behind Sophie, which made her heart skip a beat. "You're holding up the line." Sophie looked around Mabel and saw Grady and Fitz waiting for Sophie to pass. 

"She's right," Grady agreed. Sophie scurried out the door to find Tam and Biana waiting for her. 

"Ready?" Tam asked. Sophie nodded, and so they went back to Foxfire. Once they arrived, seeing Foxfire once again made Sophie's memories flood back into her head. They made her clench her hands and grit her teeth. 

It reminded her so much of The Incident. And it was very hard for her to fight back tears. Fortunately, she was able to shake them away before either Biana or Tam noticed. 

"So, should we split up, or search as a group?" Biana asked. "Honestly, I'm voting for grouping." 

"Well, it's not like the school is haunted or something," Sophie mentioned. "If we split up, we'd cover more ground. And we all have our Imparters in case something happens." Biana opened her mouth as if she was gonna say something, but no words left her mouth. 

"Let's just go," Tam said. "We don't want to waste time." Sophie and Biana nodded in unison, and the three of them walked into the school. 

"I'll check the cafeteria," Tam said, walking towards a large room. 

"Maybe I'll check the classrooms," Biana said slowly. Sophie thought about where Dex could be. 

"Um, I guess I'll check the . . . Principal's office?" 

"Okay then, let's meet back here in thirty minutes," Biana said. Sophie made her way to the principal's office to find a new plaque on the door. It was a shimmering gold, with bold black letters imprinted on it that read MAGNATE LETO. Sophie pushed the door slightly, with the tips of her fingers, yet somehow it opened as if she had punched it as hard as she could. 

The door burst open, almost knocking Sophie back a step or two. She stared at her hands, flexing and stretching her fingers, wondering how she could've had so much force in one push. 

Sophie walked in, but it looked like she wasn't the only one. There was a cloaked figure in the corner of the room, hunched over a desk and shuffling through some papers. There were piles of crumpled paper all over the floor. 

Sophie took a step closer but unfortunately stepped on a piece of paper, which made a loud rustling sound. The shadow looked up, and saying nothing, opened a secret hatch lodged into the window and jumped out. 

"Wait!" Sophie cried, running to the window. She peered over the edge but saw nothing. Just the blinding green grass, capped with flowers of every kind. Sophie sighed and went back to work. She could deal with whoever that was another day; now it was time to save her friend. 

Why did I want to search in the principal's office again?  Sophie thought. It's not like he'll actually be in here. I'll go check somewhere else. Sophie walked out of the office and back to where Biana was searching. As Sophie turned a corner, she bumped into someone else and both of them fell to the floor, rubbing their foreheads. 

"Sophie!" Biana gasped. "Are you okay? I was in a rush to find you, actually. I need to talk to you!" 

"What is it?" Sophie asked. 

"So when I was looking under a table (don't ask why), I saw someone. They were wearing a black cloak, so I couldn't get a firm glimpse of him. But then, after he noticed me, he ran off. I tried to chase them, but 一 okay, this is the good part 一 at the last second, they teleported!  So I know for sure that they're an elf. But what confuses me the most is that you're the only one in the Lost Cities who can teleport. 

Sophie frowned. So there are more . . . ?  

"Biana," Sophie said. "Believe it or not, but I saw someone like that, too. In Magnate Leto's office. But once he saw me, he jumped out of the window." Biana just gaped. 

"Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed. "Should we tell anyone? I mean, we could tell Fitz, my parents, maybe Mabel一" 

"No!" Sophie burst. "Um, I-I'm sorry, I just think we should keep this between us for now. We could tell Tam, though. Maybe he saw." Sophie did not want Mabel to be part of this. She disliked her enough already.

Sophie and Biana heard footsteps and turned to where they were coming from. 

"Yeah, I saw one, too," Tam said, coming to join them. 

"You, too?" Biana asked. Tam nodded. "Yeah, once he saw me, he teleported away. So whoever is doing this is obviously an elf." 

"Or elves . . . ?" Sophie guessed. 

"Probably," Tam answered. "And don't worry; whatever happens here stays here. Let's head back now. It's almost dinner." 

"Already?" Biana asked, shocked. 

"Yep," Tam replied.

Sophie started walking back to the Leap Master. And once they all got back to Sophie's house, she ignored everything and went straight to bed. Why? Because she couldn't un-see those icy blue eyes of the cloaked figure.