Keeper of the Lost Cities- Deathgrip

Laser tag

Sophie and Keefe stood in the center of Havenfield, alone. They had managed to ditch their bodyguards, with only a little lying and tricking on Sophie's part. This was all a mystery for Keefe. 

"So," Keefe said, looking expectantly at Sophie. "Are we going inside to study or what?" 

Sophie rolled her eyes. She had called Keefe over to 'study', after their miserable day at school. "It was all a trick, Keefe. I pranked you. Mwa haha." 

"Huh?" Keefe asked, looking confused, his face not smiling. 

Sophie grinned a little and thought back to the last time she had seen him smile. It was the moment they had broken their news to their friends in the shake place - he had been glowing. But ever since the Fitz incident, he had been gloomy and straight-faced. She understood. Fitz had been his best friend for over five years, and to have it all taken away, just because Sophie came along wasn't fair. But he had the best smile (waaay better than Fitz's over practised, perfect movie-star one FYI) and Sophie wanted to but it back on his face. She had the whole day. That was her one and only goal.   "Keefe, I pranked you. We're not studying. I'm taking you someplace to... have fun. I know you're happiest when you're doing something new and exhilarating. So that's where I'm taking you."

He now had a half-smile on his face, but still looked skeptical. "Okay. Where?"

"To the forbidden cities," Sophie said, with a mischievous grin on her face. 

Keefe raised his eyebrows, shrugging. "Now we're talking. Do you have a leaping crystal?"

"Nope," Sophie said, smiling guiltily. "I was hoping you would be okay with teleporting."

He linked his arm with hers and dragged her past a few enclosures to the cliffside. "Lead the way, Soph." 

Sophie nodded, taking the extra few steps so her toes were hanging off the edge of the huge drop. "You good?" Keefe asked, looking at her shaking hands with concern. 

She didn't teleport often- it wasn't her favourite thing to do in her free time, so whenever she did, she got a crazy adrenaline rush and started shaking. Sophie had to admit it... the part of her that was horse had never been her favourite either. 

She gathered up her energy, taking a deep breath and took Keefe's hand. "Yup. Ready?" 

"Whenever you are, Foster- I mean Ruewen. Ugh, that so doesn't roll off the tongue."  

Sophie held back a smile. "Call me whatever you want, Keefe. But notice how somehow, magically I- I call you by your... name!" 

"Yeah well-" But before Keefe could finish his sentence, Sophie leaned forward and plummeted off the cliff, pulling him behind her. 

His retort morphed into a high pitched scream and they continued to freefall, plunging at a worrying pace towards the dark waters below. Sophie tried her best to drown out his yelps and focused completely on any bit of her energy, pulling it out of every inch of her body and channelling it into one spot in her mind. With all her force, she slammed it out, ripping a hole in the sky and slipping through it, Keefe right behind her, still yelling maniacally. 

The moment they entered the dark void, Keefe's screaming stopped and all the sounds of waves and wind disappeared, leaving them in an eerie silence. "Where to?" Keefe asked in a whisper, his voice hoarse. 

Sophie ignored him, picturing the tall dark building that she and her sister used to visit when they were young. It had boarded up windows and was a few miles away from her house, in the outskirts of the downtown area of her city. The moment her mental picture was complete, the void reopened and they dropped through it, landing unceremoniously in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of the exact building Sophie had pictured. She was getting more accurate with her destination but needed a ton of work on her landings. She stood up, rubbing the sore spot on her butt where she fell. 

"Oomph, nice landing," Keefe snorted sarcastically. 

"Why thank you!" 

He frowned, looking up at the beat-up building in front of them. "Where are we?" 

"We, Keefe, are at Laser Mania, the best laser park in San Diego," Sophie replied proudly, thinking of all the great times she had spent with Amy and her friends here. 

"What's a laser park?" 

Sophie grinned. "You'll see. You're about to have the time of your life."

They brushed the dirt off their fancy elf pants. Sophie hadn't bothered to change into human clothes since they were going to be in the dark anyway, but she had left her cape at home just to be a little more careful. Together, they walked through the doors of the building, Keefe looking around excitedly at the glowing carpets and arcade games around them. He drifted towards the air hockey table, but Sophie pulled him away and towards the front desk, asking the human behind the table for two tickets. She had remembered to bring the money Dex had gotten from their last trip to human cities and paid the woman handing her tickets. "Just go grab your laser gun vests from that room over there," she said in a bored tone, pointing to a room at the other side of the building.

Sophie knew the routine by heart, so she pulled Keefe through the doors and helped strap him into an oversized vest with a laser gun slung over it. "Cool," he breathed, flexing his muscles and fake-shooting his gun. 

He looked super proud of himself and was winking and grinning, even though in reality he looked like he was drowning in the bulky outfit and resembled a blonde-haired boulder. "Keefe, take a smaller vest," Sophie laughed, smiling from ear to ear. 

Keefe eyed up the next size down and shrugged. "I don't know... I think I'm too buff for that."

"Whatever." Sophie rolled her eyes and grabbed her own vest, then pushed the button for the massive garage door to open and led them into the fogged up maze. 

All around them, tall walls and castles with glowing polka dots and mirrors loomed, shrouded by the machine-generated mist. Keefe squealed beside her in excitement. "What do we do?" 

She smiled and unstrapped her gun, holding it at her waist. "We have to make it through the maze to the exit doors. There are fake monsters and stuff trying to shoot us and stop us, but we have to shoot them first, 'kay? If you get shot, your gun doesn't work for ten seconds. Get shot three times, and you lose. Ready?" 

"Oh heck yes. Humans are my heroes," Keefe replied, a determined expression on his face. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, like a little child- not that Sophie was being any more mature. 

"Go!" She shouted giddily.

They took off running into the maze, ducking behind walls whenever one of them caught sight of their opponents. "Use the mirrors to hit them if you can't get the right angle," Sophie whispered, doing so as she said it. 

A groan came from the other side of the wall where Sophie had hit her target and the player fell to the ground in fake-pain. "Bull's eye," Keefe cheered. 

"Let's stick together," Sophie suggested, taking this way too seriously. 

He nodded and they climbed the stairs cautiously to one of the many towers. Once they reached the top, Sophie looked over the edge, trying to spot someone and shoot them from her place above the maze. There. A shadowy figure was moving down below, looking around. She raised her laser gun to fire, when a force slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. She landed with a 'harumph' and glared behind her to see who had done it. Keefe lay on top of her and the little plate that showed his gun was working was dim. He had been shot. 

"You were about to get shot..." He said guiltily. 

"So you knocked me to the ground and... sacrificed yourself?!" Sophie exclaimed, a warm tingly feeling spreading through her even though he was very much alive. 

"Yeah," Keefe smirked, standing up and offering her his hand. "Let's go. I still have two more lives."

"Oh heck yeah you do." 

They crossed the bridge and walked down the steps into the rest of the maze, a smile painted onto Keefe's face. Mission accomplished.