The Mysterious Benedict Society Meets the Mysterious Miss F

Chapter 6

The sweet shop was by far the best thing about Atlantis. Of course Constance wasn't going to admit it, but the heavenly smells of chocolate and delicious desserts left her drooling.

"Welcome to Sayla's sweetshop!" A young girl told them as they walked inside. She had chocolate brown hair and sparkling blue eyes.

"Who's Sayla?" Kate asked, eyeing the elvin treats.

"Me!" The girl replied, "My mother named this place after me and now I work here!" Indeed, she had a red shirt with the logo printed on it. Her white hat also had a logo.

"Who cares who Sayla is?" Constance grinned, "let's get to the candies!" She hurriedly passed by Sayla, Kate and Sophie trailing behind.

"What kind of candy is this?" Kate asked, poking a wrapped, marshmallowy sweet.

"That is Mallowmelt." Sophie informed her, smiling as she took a few pieces and put them in her bag. "My mother, Edaline, makes it the best," Sophie whispered, checking to make sure Sayla wasn't listening in, "you can try some when we go to my house."

Kate smiled and nodded. Then asked, "Where is Constance?" Sophie whipped around, her eyes scanning the candy shop. Constance was nowhere to be found. Kate couldn't see her either.

"This way!" Sophie said, grabbing Kate's hand and pulling her through the tangle of people. She ventured to the other side of the shop, the rich, wonderful aroma of chocolatey goodness wafting around her. "She's not over here, either."

"What about over there? She might have gone to more familiar candies." Kate pointed to the little corner that read Human Candies. The stand was tiny, filled with lollipops and Hershey-like brands. Kate picked up a piece and tasted it, "Yuck! These taste nothing like they do back at home!"

"Well," Sophie said, finally allowing herself to telepathically try to find Constance,

"almost no one has actually been to the Forbidden Cities so they were probably doing their best guess." Her mind stretched out, but there were so many people and it wasn't like she was finding her cognate, Fitz or a close friend, like Keefe. "I can't sense her anywhere." Sophie said, tugging out an eyelash in worry for Constance. What if the Neverseen found her? What if she got in trouble with someone? What if someone realized she's... in disguise?

"Well, then come on!" Now Kate was grabbing a stumbling-Sophie as she sprinted to the wall where thousands of lollipops were placed all the way to the roof. Kate let go of her and yelled over the crowd of elves, "We're doing this the old fashion way!"

"What?" Sophie shouted at her as Kate began to inspect the lollipops, "What are you doing?!"

"Getting the higher ground!" Then, in a mumble, "If only I had my bucket with this disguise." Kate looked at the wall of lollipops, determined to dominate her next challenge. With quick but careful footing, she scaled the wall like she had trained for this her whole life. When she was finally at the top, she yanked two giant lollipops off the wall and quickly unwrapped them. Super stick! The lolli packages said. Kate smiled as she licked the lollipops and pulled it from her tongue. She coated her hands with the licked lollipops and clung to the stick part. Then, she stuck one lollipop to the ceiling, hugging onto the wall with one arm and testing her weight on the candy with the other. Satisfied with the results, Kate swung herself off the wall, jumping for the ceiling and hitting her mark. The lollipops, in both hands, stuck to the ceiling as Kate used them to get herself to the center, where there was a wooden beam.

As she leaped to the beam, Sophie was staring at Kate in wonder. How did she do that? Sophie had never seen any elf nor human use their resources around them that quickly and well. If Kate was an elf, what ability would she have?

After a few moments, Kate shouted, "Watch out!" to the elves directly below her. They looked up and quickly scurried out the way. She jumped down from the beams, somehow landing on both feet. "She's not here." Kate told her as Sophie made her way to the front of the crowd.

"We have to tell the others." Sophie said, worry spiking everywhere.

"Is it just me," Kate asked, "Or did I get taller in the last couple of minutes?"

Kate, Sophie realized, turned out to be right. Where before Sophie was the same height, Kate was now a few inches taller than her. "Your disguise is wearing off," she whispered in Kate's ear, also noticing the dark curls were becoming lighter.

"Lets go! Constance probably wandered off somewhere in the streets because she saw something interesting!" Kate said as she and Sophie ran out the store onto the busy streets of Atlantis.

"Where do you think everyone else is?" Kate asked as they went to the meeting place. Reynie, Sticky, and Fitz were already there, laughing at something Fitz said.

"Fitz!" Sophie yelled, waving her hands to show they were coming.

"Constance is missing!" Kate told them when they got there, not missing a beat. "One moment, she was in the candy shop, the next and she is gone!" Sophie, on the other hand, was panting from the running.

"We have to find her," Reynie said, making his I'm thinking face. After a pause he turned to Sophie, "Is there a writing shop around here? Specifically a poetry place?"

"There's a place my dad goes to, to write out letters for the Council," Fitz answered for her, "I think it's our best shot."

"Wait-" Sticky said before they could take off, "What about Mr. Benedict? And Mr. Forkle? They're not here yet."

"We're going to have to do this without them," Kate jumped in quickly, "if we want to find Constance before her disguise wears off."

"And before the Neverseen finds her," Fitz said. Sophie almost smacked her head. They hadn't exactly explained to the Society-

"What is the Neverseen?" Sticky asked.