Sophie's home crystal led her right outside the shimmering gold and glass walls of Havenfield. She decided to wait for Dex, since he would probably be getting there in the next thirty seconds. When he didn't, though, she tugged out an eyelash and went inside, not in the mood to be patient.
She greeted Grady and Edaline on the way upstairs. The two were sitting at the table talking.
"Dex is coming over," she told them. "We'll be up in my room."
Edaline smiled. "Have fun!"
Now that Sophie thought about it, her adoptive mother was probably overjoyed that she was coming out of her shell to socialize. Sophie had been a bit distant with her friends lately.
She even walked up the stairs slowly, but Dex still hadn't arrived. Sophie told herself to stop overthinking it.
She went to quickly pick up her room so it wasn't so messy, but her eyes caught on the photo-realistic paintings Keefe had made her.
Even though they were beautiful, it hurt to look at them.
That was when Dex walked through the door. He was carrying a large-ish gadget in his arms, and wore a bright smile that showed his dimples. "I had to go pick this up from Rimeshire," he explained. Sophie nodded, regaining her earlier excitement.
Dex set the gadget on the bed and they both sat down. "So, our top-secret plan," he began eagerly. He pressed a button, and the many tiny faces of the device lit up. "I don't know how I came up with this without being enhanced, but here, I call this the Super Spotter."
At that, Sophie gave her best friend an odd look. "The Super Spotter?"
"I came up with the name on the way here," Dex shrugged. "It was between that and the Forbidden Finder, but I thought that would be too obvious."
Sophie laughed. "Just tell me how it works."
Dex grinned and started speaking his weird Technopath language while pointing to different parts of the gadget. Sophie technically knew what he was saying thanks to her ability, but she couldn't understand how it related to the device. She rolled her eyes, amused, and told Dex, "In the Enlightened Language, please,"
He went on to explain that the small screens could display security feeds from all around the world, and characteristics were inputted into the front face. The gadget would eventually load up a file of where the person had been and/or where they were now. Basically, it was a stalking device.
"So yeah, that's it," Dex finished. "And I figured since it's kinda like a Spyball, and someone could use it to do some pretty questionable stuff, there should be some secret unlocking method,"
Sophie remembered sitting on her bed a few days back, just like she was now, thinking she finally had a good idea―but the Spyball had just displayed NOT FOUND when she spoke Keefe's name into it. She had felt moderately discouraged after that.
"Good idea. What's the method?" Sophie asked Dex, pulling herself back to the present.
"You put your finger to this sensor"―he pointed to a small, textured surface tucked under the front face of the device―"and say, 'Iggy',"
Before Sophie could ask why her pet imp's name was the password to Dex's newest gadget, he added, "Because it's a random word that nobody would guess to use, and Iggy's fur looks great, thanks to who we're trying to find."
Sophie couldn't argue with that logic.
Keefe would lose it if he found out that Dex had technically just complimented his elixir-mixing skills, Sophie thought with a slight smile.
"The Super-Spotter-slash-Forbidden-Finder only opens if it has the fingerprint recognition and the voice command at the same time. And it only lets me and you in. Super-secure," Dex went on.
He unlocked the gadget, and Sophie and Dex spent the next few minutes inputting Keefe's characteristics so it could search for him.
"How long will it take?" Sophie wondered aloud when they were done.
"I have no idea. Hopefully not more than a few... hours or so?"
Sophie nodded and pulled her best friend into a hug. "Thank you so much, Dex," she murmured. "You're a genius,"
He pulled back with a slight flush on his cheeks and smiled. Sophie was so glad it wasn't awkward between them anymore; his friendship meant so much to her.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Dex said. He picked up the gadget and started towards the door. "I'm really glad I could help you be a bit less distant,"
Sophie felt a sinking feeling of guilt after that. "I―I'm sorry," she stammered and looked at the ground.
"It's okay. We've all had a lot going on lately," Dex sighed.
She nodded. "See you tomorrow."
So Dex gave a little wave and walked out her bedroom door.
* * *
A few minutes later, Sophie was reliving her short, horrific telepathic conversation with Keefe from the second day he'd been gone.
She had been trying to contact him for a while, yelling his name into the world and pleading that he would respond. Eventually, he did, but...
In the present, a tear dripped down Sophie's face. She wiped it away hurriedly; she needed to get over it.
As much as she wanted to, and knew Keefe wanted her to, Sophie couldn't forget him. She could never hate him, either. Keefe's departure had at first left a blinding pain in its place, but was now reduced to a dull throb. Why couldn't Sophie let go? But maybe she wouldn't have to. What would happen if Dex's device found Keefe? Not that she had any doubt in her friend's abilities, but Sophie suspected that neither of them had thought that far ahead.
The door opened slowly and quietly, and Grady wandered in.
"Hey, kiddo. Dex just left, is everything alright?"
"Yes," Sophie lied. "Everything's fine."
Maybe if she repeated it enough times it would be true.
"Your mother is wrangling that stubborn verminion again," Grady chuckled and shook his head. "The thing just won't cooperate."
Sophie saw his efforts to cheer her up, and humored him by giving a small smile.
"Actually, can I ask you something?" her adoptive father asked, taking a seat at her desk chair.
"Sure," Sophie replied.
"What was the gadget Dex was carrying out of here just now?"
Oh, no.
She reached for her eyelashes. "Um,"
"Nevermind. It's okay,"
Sophie didn't like this. But she went with her gut feeling. "No! I―Can you keep a secret?"
Grady nodded.
"We're trying to find Keefe," Sophie blurted out, preparing for Grady's reaction―but he just smiled sadly. "That's exactly what I expected. Really," he replied. "And I'll tell you a secret, too,"
Sophie's eyebrows shot off her head. What... what? Why? Did Grady just feel sorry for her?
"I made Keefe take an Imparter. For emergencies," He said quickly, like he needed to get it off his chest. "So we'll know if he's ever in trouble."
Sophie stared.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I promised him." Grady added and dragged a hand down his face.
He hesitated, then got up and left the room, so Sophie was alone once more. It was silent apart from the sound of her raging heart.
She didn't know what to think. How had Grady kept this from her?
Did it even matter, since she knew Keefe was so obstinate that he would try not to use it at all costs?
Sophie buried her head in her hands, and thought to herself. She would get through this like she had last time. Everything felt dull and empty, but that could get better. She would just have to push through it.
A/N: poor sophie :(
I had kind of a hard time writing this. It was more difficult than most of the other chapters, but I hope y'all still liked it. Also, thanks SO MUCH to everyone that votes and comments on this.
Question: Has anyone gone on any super-awesome vacations that they would like to share?
Shorter author's note today, but I'm sure not many people read these anyway. Bye!!!
Word count: 1,291
Updated 8/2/21