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It was raining.
Sophie actually didn’t know if she’d ever seen rain in the Lost Cities before. It was beautiful. She sat in her bedroom window and watched it fall across the pastures and drizzle through the leaves of the Panakes tree, jumped as thunder cracked across the sky.
It would be nice to spend the day cozy in her bedroom, if she didn’t have a ton of work to do. With Foxfire back in session, on top of all the research she needed to do for the Black Swan, she was swamped. Even with all her friends working overtime, it was too much.
She didn’t realize she’d sighed out loud until Sanford asked her, “What is wrong?”
She just shook her head, unable to communicate how overwhelmed she felt by everything. She just wished she didn’t feel so alone in it all; the mission of the Black Swan and safety of the world the elves had built squarely on her shoulders.
As if her thoughts had materialized themselves, there came a knock at her bedroom door.
“Knock knock, Foster!” Came Keefe’s voice from the doorway.
She didn’t respond, just lifted her head to look at him.
“Ah, I was worried I may find this. Come on, let’s take a break, the Neverseen will still be here tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I wish, but…I can’t. There’s just too much.” She lowered her head, suddenly feeling on the verge of tears.
“Okay.” Keefe said softly, probably sensing the change in her emotions. “Well let me help you, at least, and then promise you’ll take a break.”
“Fine.”
“Okay, but first, you need to eat something. You probably haven’t been out of your room all day, have you?”
“No, she hasn’t”, came Edaline’s voice from the hallway as she walked in with plates of bright purple fruit. “And Keefe is absolutely right, you need to eat if you’re going to be able to fight the Neverseen. But more importantly, you need to eat to take care of yourself.”
Edaline sounded so earnest, and worried, Sophie sighed and took a bite of the fruit. It was good, it tasted like vanilla ice cream mixed with strawberry sorbet, but it didn’t calm her nerves.
“Okay”, Keefe said after she finished her plate. “You have until dinner time to work, and then you have to take a break. I insist.”
“No! Keefe,I—”
“Sorry Foster, no arguing. Edaline is right. You need to take care of yourself. You deserve to. I hate seeing you like this, because even though you’re fighting back, the Neverseen are winning. They’re breaking you down. I won’t let them. I promised Mr. Forkle I’d take care of you, and even though he’s kinda back, I still plan on doing so.”
Sophie took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Keefe asked, smiling.
“Okay”, she said, smiling back.
So they got to work. Sitting shoulder to shoulder on her floor, the hours passed by while the rain poured down outside. They barely spoke, but Sophie felt so much less alone with Keefe there. They were both so deeply engrossed they didn’t see when Grady and Edaline peeked in and smiled at each other.
Hours later, Edaline announced herself by coming into Sophie’s room and calling, “I brought mallowmelt! And I’m here to steal away your work.”
“Wait, Mom, no—”
“Sorry Sophie, it’s time. You need to take a break. Eat some mallowmelt. Hang out with Keefe, watch a human movie with that machine Dex rigged up. Be a kid, just for tonight. Everything will still be there for you tomorrow. I promise.”
After a long pause, Sophie let out a huge breath. “Okay, fine.”
“Woo-hoo!” Cheered Keefe. “Personally, I would prefer to go cause some chaos, but what was that I heard about human movies? I’m willing to put chaos on hold for one night to see that.”
Sophie sighed, smile on her face, as she reached for her plate of mallowmelt and opened the laptop Dex had set up to play DVDs.
She leaned back against Keefe’s shoulder, laptop in her lap, as she said, “Okay, there’s one thing you need to know about humans. They love their romantic comedies.”