Sophie Foster is the strongest elf that's ever lived in the Lost Cities. She's spent years working with the Black Swan and trying to track down the Neverseen, but they never succeded. Fintan had taken over the Lost cities, sending all the members o...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Into Hiding-Sophie's POV
Sophie sighed in frustration, slamming down the scroll she'd been reading. It'd probably been one of the most boring weeks she's had since the research she and her friends had done before they'd discovered Nightfall-Vispera's secret hideout in Atlantis. And almost like before, she felt like she was getting nowhere with it. Every scroll led to a dead end, only talking about the ogre treaties or the details of the little information they'd known of the Black Swan then. Sophie had no idea how badly the Council had wanted to find the group, but then again, they hadn't known about the Neverseen until Sophie arrived in the Lost Cities. Flashback's of the moments she had when she was younger sent painful memories rippling through her brain; Her first meeting Grady and Edaline. Fitz taking her to Eternila to show her how real the Elvin world really was, Alden lying on the cold stone floor of the Exile prison. Each memory reminded Sophie of everyone she'd lost to the Neverseen. Everyone who was now trapped in the barbaric prison of Exile for no reason at all.
It was a miracle Sophie and her friends were able to escape the thundering patrols of goblin and ogre warriors swarming every place in the Lost Cities. Even Exillium hadn't been spared from the swarms. Every person who denied Fintan's rule was banished to Exile or maybe worse; tortured and sent to an ogre work camp. Sophie shuddered just thinking about it. King Dimitar had been killed in the final battle at Everglen, causing his second ogre in command to rise to the rank of king. It was quite clever how Fintan planned that out, especially since the ogre king now was a loyal member of the Neverseen. Even Lady Candace couldn't talk the new king into some sense and all that did for her was getting stripped of all her rights of visiting Ravgog again, though that didn't do her much good. She was also locked in Exile along with Grady, Edaline, Juline and Kesler, Alden and Della, All the counselors, and even some bodyguards, such as Grizel and sadly, Bo. Sophie had grown to like the big buff bodyguard and it had saddened her and the others when Bo was taken. Sophie's other bodyguards had split up, taking responsibility for protecting her friends as well as her, but at the moment, they'd been sent to a meeting Fintan had called for all species except the elves. Sophie hoped they hadn't walked into a trap.
"Hey, You okay?" A crisp accented voice pulled Sophie out of her dazing. She met the familiar bright teal eyes of Fitz, but her heart didn't flutter like it usually does.
"I... don't know. Everything's just so...." She didn't know how to finish that sentence.
"Chaotic? Messed up?"
"Yeah." She sighed, flopping backward onto her bed. Fitz did the same, reaching for her hand and twining their fingers together.
"We'll figure it out." He whispered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "We always do."
"But how many people will we lose in the process?" Sophie asked, "We lost Tam, almost everyone in our families. I can't just sit by and watch Fintan destroy the Lost Cities and do nothing except read boring scrolls that are getting us nowhere. We need to do something."
"But what? We've already tried hacking into Fintans registry feed but it was wiped clean."
"We need his cache."
"I know, but how are we supposed to get it? I mean, Keefe was pretty sneaky, but Fintan had guessed he'd try to steal his cache in the first place. He'll be expecting us to try and steal it again."
"Then we've got to go at it with a different approach," Sophie said, sitting upwards and facing the wall of windows in her bedroom. The room she had in Tavar was similar to the one she'd had in Havenfeild, just with different scenery. Instead of the cliffs and ocean view, she had a clear view of the entire forest, including the boy's treehouse on the other side. It was almost as secret as the hideout in Alluvettere had been, but Mr. Forkle had used the light from unmapped stars in various patterns to keep Tavar even more hidden; They couldn't risk the Neverseen finding them. If they were trapped in Exile, the Lost Cities would burn with Fintans Everblaze.
"How?"
"I.. don't know." Sophie groaned, standing up to pace. "Do you think we could ask Tam to help?"
"I don't know Sophie, we don't want to risk Tam being locked up in Exile. He's one of the most powerful shades in our world." Fitz said, his eyes following her as she walked.
"Your right." Sophie sighed, grabbing her memory log from a bookshelf on the side of her canopied bed and opening it to a blank page. "We need someway else..."
Fitz and she both stared at the blank page, waiting for something to come, but it never did. And when the sun began to set behind the trees, Fitz sighed and stood, stretching out his back.
"Maybe we should brainstorm with the others? I'm sure Keefe will have some ideas."
Sophie nodded, but she didn't look away from the page. Why wouldn't her brain work with her? Why couldn't the Black Swan have implanted something that would lead her to find Fintan's cache?
"Hey," Fitz grabbed both her hands, rubbing her star-shaped scar with his hands. "I know you're stressed out, but we'll find a way to end this. We always will."
"Our families are locked in Exile, Fitz," Sophie whispered, her eyes burning.
"I know." He whispered, also reminding Sophie that he had a brother working for the Neverseen. "We'll get them out of there. Don't worry." His grin sent flutters through Sophie's stomach and he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her face tingled where his finger's touched and he pulled away, taking his warmth with him. Before he left, he told her to try to get some sleep-which was so not happening-and to try to eat something too. Sophie couldn't find the appetite to eat. While she was staying in a luxurious treehouse in hiding, her parents were stuck in a cold cell in Exile with barely any food at all. Sophie didn't even want to imagine the state her parents were probably in, much less the other's trapped in Exile, but she did know one thing. That Fitz was right; They were going to get them out of there..... Somehow.
