Fitz Vacker stepped out of the grand doors of Everglen with yesterdays San Diego newspaper in his hand. He raised his head towards the gates of his home with a look of determination on his face. He knew this would be the day the search for the missing elf ended. The mission his father, Alden, had been on for twelve years. He looked down at a picture of a girl on the second page of the newspaper. He narrowed his teal eyes and knew she had to be an elf. The elf, rather.

Alden had found an article about a twelve year old prodigy at a San Diego high school. The fact that she was exactly twelve and very smart by human standards was enough evidence for Fitz. He believed it was worth looking into at least, even though Alden had his doubts. Fitz took a few steps forward when he heard the door open and Alden walked out onto the path. Fitz turned to his father with a grin.

"I have a good feeling about this one, dad." He said smirking.

"I know you do, Fitz." Alden said seriously. "Use your Telepathy carefully, keep that newspaper with you, and don't get hopes up too high, please. It could just be another girl in another city."

Fitz took his blue Pathfinder that had been rolled up in the newspaper.

"I know," he said as he held it up to the gleaming sunlight. "Or it could be our missing elf" He raised his head to the Pathfinder and glittered away.

Fitz let out a cough as his lungs adjusted to the polluted air of the forbidden city. He looked around the dumpster he had appeared behind. Across the street was the National History Museum of San Diego

"Gotcha," he whispered to himself as he spotted a petite blond girl climbing the steps with her classmates to the doors of the museum.

Looking both ways Fitz ran across the street and sprinted up the steps to the doors. He slipped through and look up with wide eyes around the monstrous room. He stepped forward with his eyes still scanning the room when a hand went out and grabbed his shoulder. Fitz turned to see a security guard starring back at him with intense eyes.

"Admission," He said with little emotion.

"Excuse me?" Fitz replied confused. Almost forgetting to use English rather than the elves' Enlightened language.

"Admission," The guard repeated. "It's eight dollars kid. You pay the attendant over there."

He pointed to a desk. An elderly women with white hair and round glasses was behind it.

"Oh," Fitz said with a shy smile. "Sorry about that." He turned towards the desk when the security guard placed his hand on his shoulder again.

"Hey kid, where you from?" He must have noticed Fitz's British sounding accent. "England?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah" He replied not wanting anymore conversation he headed to the desk and payed his admission fee with the American dollars Alden had given him for this trip to San Diego.

Fitz searched for the high school group he had seen when he came in. He casually walked over to an Albertosaurus display and leaned against the wall next to it. He spotted the high schoolers and looked for the short blond girl. He could see her from behind and that the teacher was making her talk in front of the group. The group started walking his way. Fitz thought quick and held his newspaper up to read it so no one would get suspicious of him. He looked at the article about the girl. Her name was Sophie Foster, he hadn't noticed her name before. It was so human. He couldn't imagine an elf with the name of Sophie. But then again, he couldn't really blame her for her name.

Fitz's teal eyes peaked over the edge of the newspaper and he saw the blond girl, Sophie, lagging in the back of the group. He lowered the paper and met eyes with her.

Brown.

How could they be brown? He was so sure! And yet there they were. Sophie Foster had brown eyes. It was a pretty brown with little flecks of gold in them. But what didn't make sense was that every other elf had blue eyes. Blue of all different shades. But never brown.

Fitz's eyes focused on the girl again and she looked very uncomfortable. Was he starring? Fitz smiled and tried to shake off the awkwardness.

"Is this you?" He asked stepping forward.

She nodded yet still looked confused.

"I thought so." He said and looked back at the newspaper. "I didn't realize your eyes were brown." Fitz tried not to frown.

"Uh... yeah. Why?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"No reason." He said shrugging. Now he realized why she looked so uncomfortable. It must be weird having a total stranger talk about your eyes. He obviously looked suspicious.

"Are you in this class?" She asked gesturing to the high schoolers gazing at the dinosaur skeletons.

He grinned at her "No," He replied. Fitz pointed to the display that was beside them.

"Tell me something." He said. " Do you really think they looked like this? It's a little absurd isn't it?" Because he lived in the Lost Elven Cities Fitz knew exactly what every one of the creatures in the museum looked like. There was every animal imaginable in the Lost Cities, known to humans or not. But he was curious what a human thought.

Sophie looked surprised by the question. "No, not really." She said gazing at the Albetosaurous.

"Why? What do you think they looked like?"

"Never mind," He said with a laugh. "I'll let you get back to your class. It was nice meeting you Sophie."

Fitz turned to leave when a group of young children ran between him and Sophie. Their blaring thoughts entered his mind and made him wince. As a Telepath he could hear the thoughts of other elves whenever he wanted, but human thoughts were harder to block from his mind.

Fitz walked forward towards the exit and looked back to find Sophie rubbing her temples with a look of pain written across her face. She looked up at Fitz and they locked eyes. Fitz could see the panic on her face and knew something was up.

"Did you just... hear that?" He almost whispered the question to her. Was she a Telepath? Could she really be an elf after all?

Fitz watched Sophie's eyes widen with the realization that he was talking about the children's thoughts. She gasped. Taking a step back she asked "Who are you?"

Fitz's eyes widened. " You did - didn't you?" He leaned close to her and in a hushed voice he asked "Are you a Telepath?"

Sophie took a step back and her jaw slacked. By the look on her face Fitz already knew the answer.

"You are!" He said with a smile on his face. "I can't believe it." His thoughts raced. The missing elven girl! She was right here! He was right about her! What was Alden going to say?

Sophie began to back away slowly. A look of fear was on her face. Fitz thought about how she must feel. She had never met another Telepath before. She hadn't even met another elf before.

"It's okay." He said trying to sooth her. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm one too."

Sophie stopped and Fitz took a few steps forward.

"My name's Fitz." He said as he took another step. He tried to think of something reassuring to say. Something that would calm her down.

"I'm not joking." Was all he could come up with.

Sophie looked uneasy. She almost looked ready to faint. Fitz reached out and gripped her arms to hold her steady. He waited until she met his eyes.

"It's okay, Sophie." He said keeping his voice steady as he looked into her golden brown eyes. "We've been looking for you for twelve years." Fear and confusion clouded her eyes as he said it. Sophie looked at the door, then back at him. She pulled her arms free from Fitz's grip and ran for the exit.