Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unlocked: A Fan-fiction

Chapter Eight - Sophie

Waking up underneath the Panakes tree the next day, Sophie decided that that day was going to be good. She was tired of moping around, waiting for something to happen. If she wanted something to happen, she had to make it happen.

So, after a delicious breakfast Edaline made, she got ready for school, highly anticipating the "revelation" as she had started calling it in her mind. She still couldn't really believe Mr. Forkle had actually agreed to show her another of his identities. She wondered if she would know the other him.

When she go to Foxfire, she went through the motions of the day without really noticing much going on around her. Up till lunch, at least. She was just waiting for Master Leto to call her to his office.

"Miss Foster? Please meet me in my office in five minutes. Five minutes, Miss Foster. Don't be late." she heard him say over the school intercom.

"What was that about?" Dex asked as he ate, looking around suspiciously. "Why's Mr. Fork... Why's Magnate Leto calling us to his office?"

"Yeah, what's going on, Sophie?" Biana asked in her accented voice, her eyebrows puckered. Whether from the messy food she was eating or confusion, Sophie couldn't tell.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you," Sophie said with a wince. She really needed to get better at the whole sharing with friends thing. "Yesterday, after the whole... after you guys left yesterday, in the Healing Center," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Mr. Forkle talked to me. He said that he trusts me. I tried to milk everything I could out of it, of course, and asked him if he'd show us another of his identities. I was mostly kidding, but... he agreed."

Biana, Dex, Maruca, Stina, Marella, Fitz, Tam, and Linh all gasped. Yeah, she had a lot of friends. Which, she guessed, wasn't a bad thing.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting that..." Fitz said slowly, trailing off.

"Sorry, I should have told you guys earlier," Sophie said, reaching up to tug out an eyelash.

"Ugh, Foster, stop doing that," Stina said, shaking her head. "It's disgusting."

"Besides," Biana added, "you don't owe it to us to tell us everything. I mean, yeah, you should probably tell some of us the Team Valiant stuff, because, well, we're on the team, but all that Black Swan stuff? You're not obligated to tell us. Especially if you just forgot. Right, guys?" She tilted her head towards the rest of their friends, who all nodded, some more reluctantly than others.

"Anyways," Sophie said, shooting a grateful glance at Biana, who smiled, "Mr. Forkle wants to meet us now to show us."

"Now? All of us?" Maruca asked. Sophie nodded.

"He said I could bring anyone I wanted."

"What about Wylie?" Linh asked softly. "Are we going to get him?"

Once again, Sophie had completely forgotten something important.

"Oh, um, I think, since Mr. Forkle wants to do it now, and Wylie's not here, we should just relay the information to him later," she mumbled.

"Oh. Alright," Linh said. Sophie winced. Linh sounded more disappointed than Sophie would have liked, but Sophie honestly didn't see what else she could do.

"Foster, calm down. Your emotions are going crazy," Stina said, waving her hands around her face.

Sophie blushed. "Sorry."

"So, are we going?" Tam asked. Sophie jumped. She'd forgotten he was there. His mouth twitched into a small smile, but he didn't look too good. His eyes were shadowed, his silver-tipped bangs brushed aside carelessly.

"Yeah," Sophie said, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. She really hoped Tam would stop partially blaming himself for what had happened to Keefe. "Let's go."

***

Knock. Knock. Knock.

As Sophie rapped on the door to Magnate Leto's office, she couldn't help feeling a bit like a mother duck, with all her ducklings trailing behind. Of course, her friends didn't need to be taken care of, like ducklings did. But that didn't stop the feeling from persisting.

Sandor had (grudgingly,) agreed to wait outside the office for Sophie, but only after Sophie reminded him several times how secure Magnate Leto's office was. As not only the principal of Foxfire, but also the leader of a secret organization, he had a lot of security. And bodyguards. And spy cameras. And trackers. And weapons. And a whole lot of other things Sophie didn't care to know about.

"Come in, Miss Foster. Oh, you brought the whole crew, didn't you?" Magnate Leto asked, letting out a small chuckle as he ushered them inside. The office was neat; tidy. It held both good memories and bad. Inside, also, was Tiergan, who looked as surprised to see them as they were to see him. He stood to greet them.

"Hello, Sophie. Fitz. Biana. Dex... oh, forget it. There are too many of you. It would take all day to name you all." Tiergan said, an easy smile on his lips.

"Hi, Tiergan," Sophie said with a smile of her own. "Why... um, weren't you going to..." she mumbled, turning to Magnate Leto.

"Why is Tiergan here?" he finished for her with a raise of an eyebrow. "He is involved. But don't worry, I will still be revealing myself."

"You really need some redecorating in here," Biana remarked crudely as she surveyed the room. "It's bland. You know what it needs? Sparkles!"

Magnate Leto's eyes widened. "I'm sure that would be lovely," he choked out. "Everybody loves sparkles, right?" He cleared his throat. "Anyways, there are two things I'd like to say before I show you."

Sophie was pretty sure she knew what one of them was.

"One, you must not tell anyone. I mean, anyone. This is extremely private information. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded. And yeah, Sophie called it.

"Good. Two, I need to take quite a few elixirs to reveal myself. I would like you all to turn around as I take them, so that you can see me all at once, when I am finished and myself. Do I have your promise?"

Once more, everyone nodded.

Magnate Leto cleared his throat again, then turned to Tiergan. "My friend, may I have the elixirs?"

Tiergan pulled several vials out of pockets in his cloak and handed them to Magnate Leto. Lucky. Why didn't Sophie get pockets?

Sophie and her friends turned around and looked at the door they had come in as sounds of liquids sloshing reached their ears. There must have been at least seven vials, from what Sophie had seen Tiergan pull out.

What was so important to Mr. Forkle that he was willing to drink so many elixirs so often for? More importantly, who was he?

As she heard bottle after bottle being set on the desk and others being taken up and emptied, her heart started pounding. Who could he possibly be? Did she know him? Was he likeable? Was he kind?

And then finally, she heard Tiergan say, "You can turn around now."

Sophie took a deep breath, making sure she was ready. This was big. But she could handle it, whoever he turned out to be. So she squeezed her eyes shut, turned, and...

Opened her eyes.

Hey, guys! You're probably really mad at me right now... sorry I had to prolong the "big reveal" a little longer! Please vote and comment if you like it. Thanks for reading!