what happened after unlocked

chapter twenty-eight ~ unfriendly footage

OMG GUYS 1K READS TYSM!!! Btw I am probably going to start editing this all because there are a LOT of mistakes.

Sophie was glad that the first Foxfire term was finally over.

Now she had time to do anything she needed to. She could stare at live feeds projected on the walls of Watchward Heath, while planning with friends, trying more passwords on the caches, and transmitting pleads to Keefe...but even Sophie had to admit that last one was not going well.

She could tell Keefe wanted her to stop, needed her to stop, but she couldn't – Keefe was too important to her. She would never let him go again. Once he came back...if he came back...Sophie would make sure that Ro kept a close eye on him.

Or maybe a dog leash would work better...

"Um, guys?" Stina said, interrupting the deep conversation about whether there was something else they were missing, to point at the wall. "The computer machine thing is telling me that there's another fire. In this place called New York City."

Sophie and Linh were the only ones to notice how pale Tam went at that moment.

"You okay?" Linh whispered to her brother.

They exchanged a meaningful glance.

Linh nodded at her brother.

Sophie tore her eyes away from the twins. "New York City's really big...whereabouts did the Everblaze go, there?"

"A few areas in Central Park...a dock...a few corporate buildings..." Stina zoomed in on the image. "People are fleeing those areas, but no one's been harmed so far."

Sophie exhaled in relief, but it was only for a short time.

"Keefe was in New York City the first time I found him," Tam said weakly. His voice was so wobbly and fragile that Sophie was almost afraid he'd break. "And when he left all those weeks ago, he wasn't wearing enough layers to be going back to snowy Swizerland...what if he returned to New York?"

The room went silent, in stark contrast to Sophie's mind, which was going into a full-on panic mode.

"I think..." Biana said, biting her lip, "We should make as much frissyn as possible and then cover it over New York City. And, well," she turned to Marella, "Marella, have you spoken to Mr Forkle yet?"

Unease flickered in Marella's eyes before she answered, and Sophie seemed to be the only one who noticed. "Yesterday. But I don't think he thought it would work."

"Did he teach you anything?" Sophie urged. "He must know something."

Marella just shook her head.

Sophie looked at her for a little longer than everyone else, but then moved on. "So...maybe I should talk to my dad?"

"Oh yeah!" Dex said, "Sorry, I forgot that Grady had loads of access to frissyn – you should talk to him, Sophie."

"I'll be back in a second," Sophie said, quickly leaping away. She heard Sandor's complaints before she disappeared, and for a few seconds her heart was overcome by guilt.

As soon as her body had completely reformed, she sprinted into the Havenfield mansion, calling her father's name.

He was already leaving.

With someone else.

Someone who wasn't Edaline.

"Alden?" Sophie called. "What are you...?"

Alden and Grady spun around in surprise, in a creepy unison.

"Sophie, we heard about the New York City fires," Grady said, and held up a heavy-looking bag of frissyn. "Alden's just going to help me extinguish them. The Black Swan's been so busy with other things that we started to run out of members who could help with the fires, and Alden was the only other one who didn't mind helping."