Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Book Two: Chapter One

Book Two: Exile

(Ha-ha, you really thought I was going to take a break from writing this? Never!)

"So, how does it feel to be tracking Bigfoot?" I asked Sophie as she stared at the giant sasquatch footprint in the mud.

"It's pretty crazy. Humans do really think there's a giant, hairy ape-man running around trying to eat them." I laughed. Almost a year had passed since Sophie had learned about elves and moved to the Lost Cities. Now here she was-tracking down an escaped sasquatch with her best friend and adopted father.

"Easy, Sandor. It's just me." Oh, right-and Sandor, Sophie's new, ultraparanoid goblin bodyguard. Right now, he was pointing a sword at Sophie's adopted dad, Grady, who'd been checking the sasquatch's den.

"Sorry. I didn't recognize your scent," Sandor said in his strangely high-pitched voice. He reminded both Sophie and me of a chipmunk.

"That sasquatch den really stinks. Edaline's not going to be happy with me. I guess you guys haven't found anything yet either?" Grady asked.

"Only these scratches." I pointed to claw marks on a tree trunk. "It probably climbed this tree and traveled through the branches. There's no way to tell where it went." Grady sighed.

"I should take Miss Foster home. She's been out in the open for far too long," Sandor said, sniffing the air with his wide, flat nose. Sophie rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine! We're in the middle of the forest and no one besides the Council knows we're here. You didn't even have to come with us," she huffed.

"I go where you go," Sandor said stubbornly. "I take my charge very seriously."

"Obviously," Sophie grumbled. I patted her on the back sympathetically. I knew that Sophie hated having him around. He was a constant reminder of the traumatic experience we'd gone through. We had only narrowly escaped our kidnappers, and they were still out there, somewhere. Plus. the Council was hitting dead ends with all of their leads on our capturers. So Sandor had to stay, and would probably even go to school with Sophie once Foxfire started up again.

"We need Sophie here with us," Grady told the irritated goblin.

"Are you picking up anything?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"No, but I can widen my range." Sophie was a Telepath, the rare ability to read minds, and, in this case, track thoughts. She was trying to find the thoughts of the sasquatch we wanted to recapture. Right now, she was closing her eyes and putting her hands to her temples to help find it. After about a minute, Sophie started to shake. I steadied her, squeezing her shoulder.

"It's okay, we can find it another way," I said. Sophie pulled out an eyelash-the worst nervous habit I'd ever heard of-and seemingly concentrated even harder. In a few seconds, she pointed north.

"That way," she announced, and started off running through the foliage.

"It's amazing how you can do that," I told her as I caught up with her and we continued to sprint. She blushed.

"Just a Telepath thing." The path narrowed as we moved up the mountain, curving west.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short. You're, like, the most powerful Telepath ever." It was true. She was better than our friend Fitz Vacker, who used to hold the record for earliest manifest. Sophie manifested when she was five. Plus, she had three abilities-so far. Telepath, Polyglot, and Inflictor. I was absolutely sure that she'd get at least one more ability.