Fitz POV
It's so hard to let go of the people that you love, isn't it? I never understood why Grady and Edaline completely shut down their lives after Jolie's death, but now I get it. She's gone. And I'll never, ever see her again.
Weeks pass. All of her friends, including myself, I think, seem like zombies. We never smile anymore. I wish I could see her smile just one more time. She was the best thing that happened to the Lost Cities.
Sometimes, I still hear her voice, calling to me, asking me to help her. The thing that bothers me the most about it, is that it seems so real.
I tried to convince myself it was fake at first, but how can it be?
I poked at my food at dinner. "May I be excused?" I asked my mother.
"Sure," she says, trying her hardest to smile at me. I think Biana and I took it the worst. I mean, how could we have been so... awful? How could we not see how amazingly kind and wonderful Sophie was before she...
No, don't say that. She has to be somewhere out there.
She's still calling to me. I tried to ignore it, but I just can't anymore.
I felt like I was being told she died all over again.
Suddenly, an image I had seen only once before in my life popped into my head.
The Four Seasons Tree.
I tried to tell myself I was just remembering my visit there a few years ago, but the vantage point is from below the leaves, looking up. I only ever saw it from far away.
It has to be her. It has to.
I did the only thing I could think to do. I hailed Keefe, expecting him to be eating right about now.
"Fitz, I can't talk right now. I'm busy," He said, when he picked up, gesturing to his textbook. He looked exhausted. His hair was flat on his head, his eyes were red, and there were purple shadows under them.
"What are you doing?" I asked, distracted.
He replied, rolling his eyes, "What do you think? I'm doing homework," Keefe? Doing homework?
"Well, meet me at the Four Seasons Tree."
"Uhhh why?" He asked, shutting his book.
"Just do it, it's important," I hung up, ran outside to our Leapmaster, and yelled, "Four Seasons Tree!"
Keefe POV
My father is being as insensitive as always. I asked to stay in my room for dinner, and he says, "I don't care! We're having guests over."
He said it like I care who the guests are. All I care about is that Sophie's gone. That's right. I admit, though it's the farthest thing from what I want to do.
Why did she have to go? Was it because of whatever Fitz and Biana did to her? Or whatever she was miserable about?
I wish someone would tell me, but it's like I never knew her.
But I did. I knew her.
Really, Keefe? You don't know the first thing about her!
Yes, I do.
Hilarious, as usual. If you knew her soooo well, why was she so depressed before she died?
She...she was depressed because...Well, it's obviously because...
Ugh I don't know, ok?
I really hate my brain sometimes.
But I did know her, right?
I was the president of the Foster Fan Club. I knew her!
She was graceful, in her own clumsy, oblivious kind of way. She was kind to everyone she met, except maybe Stina, but she deserves it. She was beautiful, her brown eyes had golden flecks that made me light-headed. She was smart, even if not in Alchemy, but she was the smartest girl in our entire school.
She was as perfect as a person could get.
I wish I could do something to make her happy, even if she's not here to see it.
You know what, I'm going to actually do my homework. She embraced her brains, so I should, too, right?
I pulled out a textbook and a piece of paper. Tíme to start working.
Forty-five minutes Father I started my essay for Elvin History, my Imparter started to vibrate. Fitz face was on the screen.
I picked up, "Fitz, I can't talk right now. I'm busy," I pointed my Imparter to the essay and textbook, and he looked genuinely surprised.
"What are you doing?" He asked, still shocked. What? Can't I do homework?
I rolled my eyes, "What do you think? I'm doing homework,"He looked disheveled, like he'd just gotten some big news. His hair wasn't as in order as usual, his eyes were frantically glancing at his watch, and usually, I would tease him for being late to a date or something, but I wasn't in the mood.
"Well, meet me at the Four Seasons Tree," He said, running his hands through his hair.
"Uhhh why?" I asked, shutting my book, probably more forcefully than needed, but hey, who likes Elvin history anyway?
He sighed, "Just do it, it's important," and his face clicked away.
Hmm. I wonder why he needs me there...? I stepped out of my room, stepped onto the Vortinator, and got to the roof.
"Four Seasons Tree!" I yelled, glittering away.
Biana POV
I don't know why Fitz even bothers going downstairs to diner, anyway. It's not like he actually eats anything.
I don't understand how everyone goes about their daily lives, pretending everything is just fine. It's not!
The best friend I've ever had is gone and she doesn't even know that I like her! She thinks that I hate her and was only her friend because my dad told me to be.
No. Thought. She thought that I hated her and was only her friend because my dad told me to be.
Now I understand Grady and Edaline. Now I understand Wylie Endhal. Now I understand humans.
How can humans live their lives, knowing any one of them could drop like a fly at any moment? How do they stand knowing they won't even live to be a hundred?
I guess they don't really have a choice.
Elves are so lucky to be who we are, and we don't even realize it. We live forever, we don't have to worry about dying within the next 70 years, we are all equal.
No.
We're not all equal.
We live in a world where people are ranked by what they're born with, just like humans. It may be a slightly different comparison, but in the end it's exactly the same. No one is equal.
Sophie wasn't equal to any of us. She was better. She didn't care who you were, as long as you were her friend. She saw the good in every single person she met, whether they saw it in themselves or not. She seems to see through everything.
Or, at least, she saw through me.
I don't want to be the prissy princess Biana who everyone thinks is a brat! I don't want to be liked because of my social status! I don't want to be seen as the pretty girl that has no brain!
Sophie knew was none of those things. Well, I am now. When I first met her, I was the coldest to her I could possibly be.
And now, I'm paying for it. Why couldn't I just be open-minded and kind to everyone?
I heard thumping outside my room, like someone was running.
No one runs anymore. It's all silence in the house. I opened my curtains to watch Fitz yell "The Four Seasons Tree!" And disappear into the light.
Sophie POV
All I could see was the sky. But, somewhere around me, I felt light, pure happiness and warmth, start to pull at me. I tried to resist, but who doesn't want to be in the sunshine of the world for the rest of their lives?
I felt it pull me closer...closer... until I didn't know who I was or anything about anything, except that I wanted to go into the light.
Sophie!
Who is Sophie?
Sophie... the name sounded so familiar.
Sophie...Sophie...Sophie!
I'm Sophie!
I felt arms around me and I heard a voice. It was faint, but it was still there.
"Sophie! Sophie, please hold on!!!" I heard them say, "Keefe, call Elwin! Quick!!" Whoever was holding me pulled me closer and whispered in my ear, whispered sweet nothings, whispered about me, about how sorry he was, about how much he missed me.
Fitz POVWhen I glittered into the clearing with the gigantic Four Seasons Tree, immediately I felt a huge weight lifted off of my heart.
Sophie is alive!!
My joy only lasted a second, though.
She was quickly fading. She was almost clear enough to see the grass underneath her.
"Sophie!" I yelled, sprinting to her as fast as elvinly possible, "Sophie, please hold on!"
At that exact moment, Keefe appeared at the edge of the clearing.
"Keefe, hail Elwin!!" I yelled, and leaned down to Sophie. I don't clearly remember what happened after that, just whispering in Sophie's ear, "It's okay, Sophie. You're safe now. We all missed you so much. You're okay now."
Keefe POV
When I leaped to the Four Seasons Tree, I'm m not sure the scene completely registered in my head. I'm still almost completely sure it was a dream or hallucination or something.
I found Fitz, holding Sophie, telling me to call Elwin.
He arrived seconds later, took Sophie home, and now she's alive.
Just like that, after weeks of despair, she's just fine. Poof.
Dex POV
Voices surrounded me. I don't know where I am, but I hear people talking.
"He's going to be fine, Mrs. Diznee," One of the voices said.
My eyes fluttered open, but I quickly shut them. The light in the room was so bright that I couldn't see. Or maybe it was because I had just woken up. Who even knows at this point?
"Oh, thank goodness!" Another voice replied, and I felt someone grab my hand.
I opened my eyes again, to find Mom, Dad, Lex, Bex, and Rex crowded around my bed.
Finally, I was home.
General POV
Everyone was safe. Finally, everyone was safe.
Sophie was at home, sleeping and recovering.
Dex was doing the same, and both were surrounded by the people they love.
Fitz and Biana were finally, honestly, friends with Sophie.
Keefe was able to go back to his joking, bad-boy self.
Sorry if this doesn't really line up with the book, but one of my friends is borrowing the first one, is I can't go and check to make sure it's accurate.