Foster didn't answer his question. Instead, she shifted her weight in her seat and turned to Dex, "I promise I won't tell Fitz anything," she said.
Keefe sighed. She totally likes him... he thought glumly. No matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to work.
Then, he got an idea. This wasn't the real Fitz... so what if spending all this time with Sophie, Keefe could get her to like him instead?
It was a long shot, but he was willing to take it.
They all decided to meet at Keefe's house since Dex's parents would be less suspicious if he was going there.
When they reached Candleshade, Keefe's father met them at the door.
"Hi, Cassius!" Dex said happily and gave him a friendly hug. Surprisingly, he hugged him back.
Keefe felt Sophie's emotions change from annoyed (when she first saw him) to utterly shocked when Cassius smiled and said to her, "Nice to meet you Sophie. I've been hearing a lot about you today," his smile was genuine, not the greasy, arrogant smile he usually put on.
"H-hi Lord Cassius..." Foster stuttered.
His dad held up his hand. "Please, Cassius is fine,"
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"No reason to worry," Cassius assured her.
Now even Keefe was shocked. That was Alden Vacker's line! His dad was turning into Alden!
Cassius stepped aside and motioned for them to come in, but then stopped Keefe short. "I see why you like her," he whispered.
HOW DID HE KNOW THAT?!?!? His dad winked, put his arm around his son's shoulders, and led him inside. His eyes watered again from all the attention. Dex gave him a sympathetic look. Keefe didn't like that he now knew how horribly his real parents had treated him, considering how much Dex seemed to love Cassius and Gisela.
Keefe cleared his throat. "Well Dad, we're gonna head on upstairs," he said, slipping out from under his dad's arm.
Cassius rumpled Keefe's hair and said, "If you kids want some cinnacreame later, just ask," then he walked into the kitchen.
You kids...
Keefe looked at Sophie, and Sophie looked at him. They both seemed to have the same idea.
Keefe grabbed Dex by the arm and dragged him to the vortinator along with Sophie, who was a step behind them. "Ow!" Dex yelped when they reached it. "No need to get squeezy!"
Foster looked worried. Then Keefe remembered how much she hated the vortinator. "Hey," he whispered, "it's ok, I won't let you fall," They stepped onto the vortinator and Keefe slipped an arm around Sophie's waist to steady her when she jolted backward. She sucked in a breath and blushed as he caught her.
"Smooth buddy," Dex said under his breath.
Keefe blushed when he realized he wasn't being subtle.
When they reached the top Dex asked "Why did you guys look at each other funny when he said 'you kids'?"
Keefe and Sophie looked at each other and smiled. "Forkle," they said in unison.
"Who?" Dex asked
"The Forklenator is legendary. I'm not giving you any more details until you meet him," Keefe said, shooting Dex his famous smirk.
He huffed and said, "Well, how do you know him?"
"He's with the Black Swan," Sophie explained.
Dex nodded as if to say, I have no idea what you're talking about. That's not very descriptive.
"We have to talk to Forkle," Keefe said.
"I'll hail him," Foster said as she dug out her Imparter. "Show me Mr. Forkle," she commanded.
No answer.
Foster tried three more times before Keefe told her to give it up.
Sophie sighed in defeat.
"Hey," Keefe said, "he's probably just busy. It's Forkle remember?"
She gave him a look of determination and said "We need to head to Solreef and talk to Teirgan," and started to reach for her bag.
"Sir Teirgan from Foxfire?" Dex wondered.
"Yeah, it's complicated," Keefe said as they ran for the leap master.
When they reached the front stoop of Solreef, Sophie rang the doorbell which was to the tune of a Beatles song. It was cute the way she smiled when she heard it. Teirgan opened the door and smiled. "Hello, Sophie...and...others... is everything okay? I wasn't expecting a visit," he said, clearly not recognizing Keefe and Dex.
Sophie smiled. "Hi, Teirgan. No, everything's fine. Have you seen Mr. Forkle around? We can't get ahold of him."
Teirgan tapped his chin. "I believe he went to the Forbidden Cities," he said. "To collect the remainder of the Black Swan's things from San Diego."
Sophie sighed and asked him "Could you tell him we need to talk to him when he gets back please?"
Teirgan nodded. "Of course," he promised.
Keefe, Foster, and Dex slumped down the pathway
and Keefe dug out his home crystal.
"I guess that's that," Dex sighed.
"Are you kidding?" Keefe asked, a smirk twitching at his lips, "This is Foster we're talking about! To the Forbidden Cities!!"
The three of them leaped back to Candleshade to grab Cassius's pathfinder and use the blue crystal to leap to San Diego, California.
"FORKLE!!!!" Keefe called when they appeared out front of Mr. Forkle's human house.
"Wow," Dex whispered, "So many humans,"
Around them were tons of humans lining the city's streets. Keefe wasn't used to so many wrinkles.
"Guys all the garden gnomes are gone," Sophie said.
"I'm hungry!!!!" Keefe wined.
"Right now? Seriously Keefe?" Dex asked.
"YESSSSSSS'' Keefe whined, leaning on Sophie's shoulder. "Can we get food? Pweeeeeease?"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Fine, what do you want?"
"I dunno!" Keefe said, "I'm just hungry!"
"Stop whining!" Dex said, "She said she'll get you food!"
They all slipped into the dark house and searched the cupboards.
"How about crackers?" Sophie asked, handing Keefe the box.
Keefe brightened. "Crackers work," he said, examining the box. "Ritz Crackers?" he snickered.
Dex's face glowed and his eyes sparkled. "RITZ CRACKERS??!?!?!?!? MORE LIKE FITZ VACKER!!!!"
Keefe and Dex fell on the floor laughing. This was too good to be true!
"Oh, oh! I got it!" Keefe added, "A Ritz Savory Cracker for Fitz Avery Vacker!"
Dex clutched his stomach from laughing so hard. "Human food has the best names!!!" he laughed. "I'm keeping this box!" he clutched the red Ritz box to his chest and continued to laugh.
Keefe laughed so hard he cried. When he and Dex finally sat up Keefe noticed Foster was gone.
He brought himself to his feet, feeling shaky from all the laughter. "Foster?" he called her. He scanned the room and made his way to the sitting room, where he found Sophie curled up on an old couch with her knees to her chest. "You okay?" he asked, plopping onto the cushion next to her.
Sophie sighed. "What if Mr. Forkle can't help us?" she wondered.
Keefe was worrying about the same thing. But instead of telling her that, he took her hands and smiled. "Of course he'll be able to help!" he promised, giving her hands a reassuring squeeze.
She returned a weak smile and said, "We should be getting back to your house. Your parents will start to wonder where we went."
RITZ SAVORY CRACKER!!! Who else loves that meme?
No one?
Well this is awkward...
*awkward smile*
Anyway, this morning I saw that a few people added this to their reading lists! That made me so happy! Thanks to all of you for reading so far!
Question: Would you rather live in the Forbidden Cities or the Lost Cities? (Definitely the Lost Cities!)
Love y'all!