The Mysterious Benedict Society Meets the Mysterious Miss F

Chapter 4

The Mysterious Benedict Society shivered in the rain. London was much different than Stonetown. More clouds filled the sky, rain thumped their umbrellas heavily, and the atmosphere was more... foggy. Reynie, Sticky, and Kate could marvel and explore London all day, but they had some elves to meet.

A group of people came over to them, asking them for a picture. Mr. Benedict asked them, "Vertical or horizontal?"

"Horizontal." The man chuckled. "Let's talk somewhere safer." Mr. Forkle said, his hood still concealing his face.

Sophie

As they walked into the hideout, Sophie tried to decipher who was supposedly an elf. It was still dark; the sun hadn't risen yet, so Sophie couldn't tell their eye colors. Sophie had brown eyes, but she was a special case. And she was secretly hoping that the other person... wasn't.
Not only were there hardships and kept secrets, but Sophie knew the Black Swan hadn't created a substitute for their Moonlark. Sophie had drilled Mr. Forkle on the subject and was glad to know there wasn't.

One of the reasons another elf was in the Forbidden Cities could possibly mean that the Neverseen had created a nemesis for Sophie... and she hoped beyond hope that wasn't the case. But no one could deny the possibility.

Sophie's eyes were blinded for a moment at the abrupt light. She was surprised when Mr. Forkle informed them they were meeting in an old Neverseen hide out. Especially when they didn't know the exact details of the newcomers.

Taking off their hoods, Sophie and Fitz shot each other a glance, the cognate ring concealed under Sophie's gloves gave her more confidence. If someone proved to be an enemy, there would be nothing stopping Sophie and Fitz to go full cognate mode on them.

Murmurs from the other guests roused before getting hushed by-Mr Benedict? Mr. Forkle had told Sophie that he was an old, trustful friend of his, and that Sophie should trust him, too. She wasn't so sure yet.

The other figures lifted their raincoats off their heads and turned to face them. Mr. Benedict was easily noticeable. He was older and had that somewhat lumpy nose Mr. Forkle had told them about. "Hello Forkle, I haven't seen you in ages!" Mr. Benedict leaned over to give him a hug.

Another tall figure stood out against the smaller ones. He was bigger, with a funny face as if he were trying to fool someone. Sophie was trying to figure it out when Fitz whispered, "It's a disguise. That's their bodyguard, Milligan."

"Huh." Sophie eyed Sandor and wondered what the others thought of his menacing appearance- if only they knew his squeaky voice and lovable personality.

Sophie automatically crossed the boys off her list, seeing they both had brown eyes... and she didn't think the Neverseen would've had access to Alicorn DNA.

The two girls both had blue eyes, she just needed to see if she could break into their defenses. Of course she wasn't going to do that without permission.

"This is Reynie, Sticky, Kate, and Constance," Mr. Benedict introduced, "And this is Milligan, Kate's dad and our extra protection."

"I'm Fitz and this is Sophie," Fitz said.

"Is that your natural eye color? Or is it part of a disguise?" Kate asked, intrigued by Fitz's beautiful teal eyes.

Fitz laughed, "It's natural. But there's a shop in the Lost Cities that you would love if you're looking for unique disguises."

"Before we get too sidetracked, we need to discuss the reason we all met together. Before we go into the Lost Cities, we need to go over some things," Mr. Forkle informed everyone. "First, unlike Sophie, us four are the only ones who know about Constance and her telepathy within the Lost Cities. We need to keep it that way to prevent further drama and... other matters. Second, Constance, you can't read other people's mind without permission-"

"And they can sometimes tell if you're in there and it's not worth getting caught... or the guilt that comes with it. I know from experience." Sophie jumped in.

"Ok..." Constance shifted around, looking very uncomfortable. She hasn't already tried to read our minds... has she? And what if she was able to get into mine! Sophie panicked. Her mind was impenetrable, but if Constance was from the Neverseen, who knows where her abilities peaked?

"And last thing, we are all going to need disguises." Mr. Forkle smiled, holding out bottled liquids in his pudgy hands.