"Wait, so you're saying that there was a secret room? In the Forklenator's office?" Keefe asked.
Sophie nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I've missed so many prank opportunities with that!"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "We just found it today, idiot." She turned to Forkle. "Do you know anything about it?"
Forkle frowned.
Whoa.
Major wrinkles.
Okay, slightly off topic.
Keefe dragged his attention back to the team.
"No. I don't think it should be even there. That is, the blueprints..."
Dex looked up from the layout of Foxfire. "He's right. There's nothing. That space should just be a wall."
Keefe walked over to him. Dex scooted over, giving him a good look.
"Wait!"
He could feel all eyes on him.
"Yeah?" Sophie said in a tense voice.
"Dude, I didn't know there's an attic above the Universe! If I could fill the vents with verminion feathers..."
Everyone glared at him. "Okay, okay, fine. Look at the date of the blueprints. They're really recent. Too recent."
"Wait, what?" Sophie frowned, pushing aside both the boys.
"Gee, thanks," Dex grumbled, hopping up.
Keefe pointed to the little square in the corner.
"See?"
"All I see is a bar diagram."
Keefe rolled his eyes. "Foster, Foster, Foster. Dex, if you would?"
Dex handed a scanner to him. Keefe flipped open the laser, pointing it directly at the square.
"And, three, two, one." He held it out to Sophie. "Here you go."
Sophie read the date. Her eyebrows went up.
"Weird." She showed it Forkle.
"It had to have been changed," Keefe continued. "By who, I have no idea."
Sophie chewed her lip. "This was like three years ago. School year."
"Explosion," Tam coughed.
Everyone turned to him. "What?"
"Keefe joining the Neverseen?" Tam said.
"They had to fix the office, remember?"
"Low point of my life," Keefe muttered. "But, unfortunately, Bangs Boy has a point."
Biana leaned forward. "Who supervised the office upgrade?"
"Councillors, probably." Wylie shrugged.
Keefe smiled. "All we have to do now, is find the old blueprints, find who changed these ones, and vóila. We have our answers."
"Yeah, that should be easy," Sophie muttered.
Keefe flashed her a smirk. "With you enhancing our handy-dandy Technopath here, it shouldn't be too hard."
Dex looked strangely excited about it.
"Was there anything else, Ms. Foster?" Mr, Forkle said, drawing everyone's attention back to Sophie.
Sophie nodded. "There is, actually." She pulled something out of her satchel. A leather bound book, which looked very old. Sophie held it out to Forkle. "Have you seen this before?"
He took it, examining it carefully. His previous frown deepened. "Hmm."
"Can you understand any of it?" Sophie asked.
"No. These runes are nothing like ours. The Black Swan doesn't use anything like these runes."
"So it's not one of yours?"
"No, Ms. Foster."
Sophie nodded, looking grim. "That's what I was afraid of. We found this in there. Which means that room was used by the Neverseen."
Dex took it from Mr. Forkle. He flipped through the pages. "So, the Neverseen has been able to get into his office without anyone, including the ohres and the goblins, noticing?"
Sophie sighed. "Yeah. Apparently. And that's not good."
"Understatement of the year," Keefe muttered.
"I think I might be able to decode this," Dex decided.
Sophie nodded, obviously still musing over the book.
Keefe tilted his head to get a look at the page. Something about it was familiar. The marks on the edges. The strokes that looked like a three year old took a paintbrush and wrote about the coming doomsday in code.
He assumed that was what it was.
That three year old must have had a dark mind.
"So, you guys find anything?" Sophie asked.
Marella answered for team one. "Atlantis is secure. Maruca and Lihn made sure the forcefield was at full power. The Neverseen hideout is completely closed in, and we posted Trest there for the night."
"Team two?"
Keefe took a moment to realize that she was asking him. "Huh? Oh, uh, the Glitterbutt family is safe, happy, and living their best Glitterbutt lives at the Sanctuary. Oh, and Jurek showed us the updated system for the dome. They'll be fine. We checked Everglen, that's done, and then we finished up here with Grady and Edaline."
She looked satisfied. "More guards are arriving tomorrow, to patrol certain areas. I want to get another look around foxfire, but that'll have to wait a few days. Dex, when do you think you'll be able to find the blueprints?"
"Give me a couple days, and I'll probably have it by then."
Sophie nodded. Keefe could see her relaxing already. Her face untensed, finally breathing.
"Uh, is it just me, or did we finish really quickly with everything?" Maruca asked tentatively.
Sophie shook her head. "We don't have time for long scouting. We have other places to check still."
"Like where?" Lihn asked.
"Uh, well, Marella's, for one." She darted a look at Tam and Lihn. "Your parents' place."
Tam grunted. "Be our guest."
A weird look flashed over Sophie's face—as if she was trying not to smile and laugh at the same time.
"Anywhere else?"
"Uh. Yeah..."
Keefe groaned. "Let me guess: Candleshade and the Shores?"
Sophie nodded.
"Yippee," he grumbled. "And just so you know, dear old dad will not be pleased with me. You know, extra since the whole accidental feces planting, plus the flesh eating bacteria and other pranks."
Sophie mouthed accidental with him, looking resigned.
He decided not to add that he had kind of destroyed Candleshade.
They'd find out eventually.
"So we get to deal with your dad who will probably be angry, because you decided to prank him?" Fitz groaned. He turned to Sophie. "Can we please switch up the teams?"
"Hey, Foster helped me," Keefe informed him, while smirking at Sophie.
She flushed when everyone looked at her with shocked faces. "Hey, he was being annoying!" She said.
"Keefe or Cassius?"
"I don't know, both maybe?"
"Rude," Keefe muttered.
"See?" Biana said to Sophie. Sophie's face was completely covered in an adorable blush now.
"See what?" Keefe asked.
Sophie said, "Nothing!" Right when Biana said, "She's becoming a girl version of you."
"...what?"
Sophie waved her hand through the air. "Not relevant."
"I think this is very relevant," Keefe said. "If Foster wants to become the next me, she needs to up the stakes. For one, she needs better hair, althought that shouldn't be too hard, two, she needs to make more snarky comments, and three—"
"Like I said, irrelevant." Sophie interupted.
Keefe smirked at her.
A/N: Here's tomorrow's/Tuesday's chapter, because I don't know how long my internet will last. Hope you enjoyed!
Updated: 2-15-2021