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

Chapter Thirty-Five - Sophie

"Yeah, you kind of did. Can you go out and come back in a minute or something? This is embarrassing," Marella asked with a smile and a small, polite yawn.

Lady Gisela's sick smirk slid off her face, and she scowled. "Oh, I'm sure I understand that. But I'm afraid this is a matter of deepest importance. So if you would put your tears away and act like normal teenagers, things would all go much better. Agreed?"

"Would a normal teenager do this?" Tam asked dangerously, forming a ball of thick, inky black shadows in his hands. Without any further thought, he hurled it at Lady Gisela. She dodged. Tam blinked.

"Didn't realize she could do that, did you?" Ruy called from the side, a small smile on his face. "You've always been so concerned about my force-fields blocking things such as that, and you never stopped to consider that she could simply move."

"I've said the Black Swan needed to give you some common sense before, Sophie, but now I realize I should have included all your little friends in the deal," Lady Gisela said. Sophie just rolled her eyes. She was sick of being scared of her.

"Haven't you learned your lesson?" Sophie asked. "Remember last time you did this? What happened then?" A few days ago.

"Yes, I do remember. But this time, you are alone. And this time, I have backup."

"You had backup last time too, remember?" Sophie pointed out.

Lady Gisela shrugged. "I can assure you, things will be different this time."

"I can assure you, they won't," Stella said softly, stepping out from behind Keefe. "Mom. Except this time, we'll catch you, too."

Lady Gisela looked stunned at Stella's use of the word mom, but she recovered a spilt second later. Unfortunately.

"Kill!" Both Ro and Sandor yelled.

"Yeah, guys, let's get them now! Isn't this the part where we all attack?" Keefe said incredulously.

"Indeed," Vespera hissed, speaking for the first time. "Please, attack. Let the show go on." Moving faster than a cat chasing a mouse, Vespera leapt for Stina.

"Empath for empath, huh?" Stina yelled as she dodged, barely in time. Vespera redirected herself, launching toward Biana.

"Oh, gosh," Biana said, skipping out of the way. "Um, guys, a little help?" she called as Vespera went for her again. She turned invisible, whether from fright, or intentionally, Sophie couldn't tell. She was guessing – and hoping – the latter.

Sophie ran toward Vespera, thinking of all the things the murderer in front of her had done. Anger clouded her vision from the first thought, and she prepared to unleash it in a single, directed beam. But she got distracted when she saw her other friends, joined in battle with the other members. By the time she refocused, Vespera wasn't in sight. Sophie growled, but rushed to help her friends. Linh, Tam, Maruca, Stella, Sandor, and Wylie were all taking on Ruy, and Keefe, Fitz, Dex, Stina, Ro, and Marella were all fighting Lady Gisela. Biana was nowhere to be seen.

Pride filled Sophie as she hurried toward her friends. They were finally overpowering their enemies. As powerful as they were, her side was finally winning. Ruy was simply cowering under a force-field (A/N: I don't remember if his powers are broken right now, but if they are, just pretend they aren't.), and Lady Gisela looked like she was, though fighting hard, losing the battle. Sophie grinned.

Then she was attacked from behind. Pain shot through her hand as she whirled to see Vespera, an evil smile on her face, holding a red-tipped knife. Looking down, Sophie saw red. She gulped. She shook her head, then stopped, because the anger gathering behind her eyes was good in the moment, not bad. But she couldn't focus enough through the pain. She gritted her teeth hard, then dashed away, trying to keep her eyes on everything at once.

Fury.

Pain.

Screams.

Sweat.

Tears.

Blood.

The crunch of Dex's things being utterly destroyed.

"Guys! Come on!" Dex yelled, standing in the middle of the room with a handful of something Sophie couldn't see. "Get away from them! Come stand next to me!"

It took a minute, but all their friends broke away from their individual battles as fast as they could. When they were all gathered, Ruy, Lady Gisela, and Vespera ran toward them, throwing stars in their hands. Sophie really hoped Dex knew what he was doing.

Small ovals left Dex's fingers as he threw them toward their enemies. A cloud of stink exploded from them as they bounced on the floor, and a smoky, green haze enveloped all of them.

"Really, dude?" Fitz snapped. "Stink bombs?"

"It was all I had on me at the time! Hey – where's Biana?"

"Right here!" a shrill voice shrieked in the direction Sophie was pretty sure the door came from. "And I brought our own backup!"

Out of the smoke, like five walking angels, came Edaline, Della, Juline, and... Mai and Vika Heks. The last two surprised Sophie the most, though Mai definitely was the strangest to see, especially in her soft clothes and delicate hairstyle.

"Mom?" Linh asked softly, moving toward her. Sophie could barely make out her pained and confused expression. "Why are you here?"

Mai looked between Tam and Linh and sniffled. "We'll talk later," she said quietly.

"I think there are a few things we ladies have to take care of right now," said Vika Heks, her eyes narrowing at Lady Gisela, who they could see clearly now that the smoke – and stink - was clearing up.

"Yes, there are," Edaline said, glancing at Sophie with a large smile.

"Things just got real," Keefe stage whispered.

"They did," Della agreed. "This just became a revenge story!"

The ladies, all in unison, shot toward Lady Gisela, Vespera, and Ruy. They pulled weapons from their pockets, throwing stars from their belts, and wicked smiles from the bottom of their souls. The fight was over within the minute, and Gisela, Vespera, and Ruy sat on the ground, tied in ropes Edaline had conjured up. The moms all backed away, dusting their hands off with satisfied smiles.

"How-" Sophie started in shock.

Edaline hugged her. "It's amazing what one is capable of when they are protecting the ones they love," she whispered in Sophie's ear.

Then she broke away and whirled on the tied prisoners at her feet. With a snap of her fingers, a bucket of ice water appeared in her hand.

"I would advise leaving my daughter alone from now on, Oh Evil Ones. Oh wait! That's right. You will, because I said so. And what I say?" She grinned. "Goes."

And she dumped the ice water over their heads.

Word count: 1153

Bwahahaha, I loved that last part! Heeheehee! Sorry this chapter took so long. It was really complicated. Hope you all enjoyed! Please vote and comment!

- Total_KOTLC_Fan