A Future Elvin World

Chapter 4-Sophie POV

    "Deadlock," Keefe repeated the word, pulling Sophie closer to him so he wouldn't have to get the map wet. "What does it mean?"

"Another Neverseen base?" Sophie wondered aloud, turning towards the other maps that were drying out. The sun had set and rain had started to fall; drenching some of the maps so badly Sophie could barely see the words through the ink splotches. She and Keefe had hurried under a canopied table, but they'd been a little late. At least the map of Tribunal Hall hadn't been ruined and hopefully, when the other ones dried,  Sophie would be able to somehow figure out what they said. 

"Could be.." Keefe murmured, grabbing another one of the maps. He squinted at the blurred letters before his eyes went wide. 

"What?" 

"This is in the Enlighted Language. It says, 'Project Sphynx.' Any idea what that means?" 

Sophie shook her head sadly, "I do know a sphynx is a creature the humans made up. It's a half-human half-lion looking thing." 

Keefe's nose wrinkled,  "The things that go through Human's minds." 

Sophie snorted, "Yeah."  Sophie had grown up hearing all the thoughts of the poeple around her and human thoughts were loud. And since she was the only telepath in the human world, Sophie had no idea how to control it. But of course, all that changed when she met Fitz. 

"So.... does that mean the Neverseen have anther project?" Keefe asked and Sophie sank into a chair, slamming her head down on the table. 

"I don't know." She groaned. "But I do know we're getting nowhere." 

"Well, that's not true," Keefe said, sinking into the chair beside her. "We have a lead. A way to get into Tribunal Hall."

"Maybe, but how will we sneak in without getting noticed? You said it yourself, your dad told your mom about it. Do you think she'd just forget about that information?"

"Yeah, but we don't even know if she's working with them anymore." Keefe reminded her, "We don't even know if she'd still alive." His voice hitched at the last part, twisting Sophie's heart. She reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers assuringly before letting go and turning back to the maps. 

"That's true.." She admitted, staring at the ruins. Could Deadlock be the name of the Neverseen's hideout? Like Nightfall? And what was Project Sphynx? Was that another attempt of creating Sophie's nemesis? Like they how they'd thought the Lodestar Initiative was? Sophie shuddered at the thought of the Neverseen creating another her. She wasn't sure how chaotic the world would become if they had an evil impenetrable mind working against them. It would definitely make the fight so much harder.  But Keefe was right; they had a lead. A plan. But they needed to investigate the passageway before they would go in it. Who knew how many booby traps or guards the Neverseen had planted there? Sophie definitely didn't want to lead her friends into an ambush. Especially since the Black Swan was the Lost Cities only hope of surviving. 

"Earth to Foster." Keefe's hand waved in front of Sophie's face, reminding her she needed to stop spacing out. "Did you hear anything I just said?" 

"No," Sophie mumbled. 

Keefe sighed, "I said that maybe we should put Bangs Boy to use. Have him visit the hideout's entrance and take a shadow reading or something. Then you could do your crazy tracking mind thing to see if there's anything in there." 

Sophie had to admit Keefe's plan wasn't all that bad, but there was one flaw in it. 

"I'm not putting Tam in any more danger." She said, shaking her head. "The Neverseen have a firm hold on him... and I know he'd never betray us since Linh's on our side... but I don't want to risk putting him in more danger."