Fostering Love

Chapter 8: Human?

     Sophie slowly turned toward Fitz, surprised.

     "I was the one who put that there," he said through gritted teeth, "It was meant for Sophie and me." He turned on Keefe. "You ruined it. My plan."

     "It's not my fault you had the great idea to put it where anyone can walk under it," Keefe grumbled as he backed away. Ro shot him a look.

     "We . . . should go back to doing relevant stuff," Dex intervened. "Like cheering Sophie up, remember? And hey— we could do some research of our own like last time."

     The rest of them slowly agreed and returned to sitting around the board game abandoned on the floor. That's when Mr. Forkle's mental voice blasted through Sophie's and Fitz's brains.

     Come to Foxfire now!

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      The chill wind blasted through Sophie's blond hair, leaving her shivering from head to toe. Keefe was closest, so he offered her his cloak. Fitz glared daggers at him.

     The group, who had light-leaped there from Rimeshire, hurried inside to the Healing Center as Mr. Forkle had instructed.

     Magnate Leto, Elwin, Tam, and Linh greeted them as they entered. Then Sophie spotted an unfamiliar face.

     A girl was laying on one of the cots, her breathing slightly ragged. Long black hair flowed past her bandaged shoulders to her stomach, and her skin appeared sickly. Her face was calm for the most part, but contorted every now and then, whether in pain or fear or both Sophie couldn't tell.

     "What's going on? Who's she?" Dex asked on behalf of all of them. He glanced over at Tam and Linh, who seemed just as clueless.

     "Well, now that we're all here, I can explain," Magnate Leto replied patiently.

     "This girl has somehow run to Foxfire and collapsed at the door," he began. "I brought her here, of course, so Elwin could make sure she was alright. It turns out that she's fatigued, but not in any critical condition. We don't know much, so we'll have to question her once she wakes up. There's only one thing we're sure of: she's from the Forbidden Cities."

     Sophie swallowed. "She's human?"

A/N:
Short chapter, I know— but hey, it's early for once! And, as I said, I'm going to be speeding up the plot progression from now on. Sorry if you guys were getting tired from how sluggish it was, but I'm fixing that now, I promise!