Three things before I begin;
A) This took a lot of cutting back and forth between the doc and the acual bo9k, so if there are some mistakes, mention them, but cut me some slack. I did my best.
B) I tried (when possible) to use the same words Shannon does in the book ex: when someone talks, I use whatever context she gave the dialogue. so if, in the book, the character 'shouts', that is what they do in my story. I'm not sure if this will seem uncreative or add some parallels, so tell me what you think.
C) Sorry about the formatting problems for the first chapter. I'm not sure why it did what it did, but I'm trying to find a workaround, so I don't have to post, then edit.
Thanks for listening to/reading my blather, and enjoy.
-J
Fitz shaded his eyes against the afternoon sun as he peered down at the papers in his hands. One was a newspaper featuring a twelve year-old 'prodigy' named Sophie Foster. she had apparently skipped way,way ahead of her human peers, and had such caught the attention of Alden. The note in Fitz's other hand was a brief but hopeful message from his father, instructing him to find the girl. Fitz looked one more time at the grayscale photo on the newspaper's cover. the girl-Sophie-Had a slight stature and a sort of crushed look to her; a mixture of her trying to shrink, and her being afraid.
which, thought Fitz more or less, amounts to the same thing.
Fitz realized he'd been staring at the picture for far too long when a boisterous group of teens walked past the alley he had leaped to. he quickly stowed the letter from his father, and set off after the class at a brisk pace.
More than a few minutes later, Fitz, Sophie, and the class arrived at the class's destination; a history museum.
Fitz positioned himself so he could see Sophie well, then pulled the newspaper up, so he could still see over it, but so that any unsuspecting bystanders would simply assume he was just reading the paper. He looked the girl up and down. after so many mishaps, he had assumed from the beginning this would simply be one more' but now that he was looking right at the girl, he started to doubt his assumption. She was certainly intelligent, and she certainly stood out among her peers, not just because she was younger, but because there wasn't a single... what did humans call them? Pipples? No, Pimples. yes, that was it. there wasn't a single pimple on her face.
Sophie started to turn towards him, and he hurriedly looked down at his paper. when her eyes landed on him, he looked up, as if for the first time when their eyes met, disappointment flashed through him. brown. her eyes were brown.
Might as well go talk to her. maybe she'll know a good place to get a souvenir.
Fitz took a deep breath to steel his suddenly jangling nerves, and walked over to Sophie.
He noted that Sophie looked almost paralyzed. "is this you?"
She nodded mutely. He talked with her briefly, unable to keep himself from commenting on the Lambeosaurus's ridiculous appearance, but then, just as he turned to leave, a group of tiny humans ran in. their voices alone were enough to knock him back a step, but their thoughts were a whole other level of noise. they were so annoying they managed to break through his super-blocking and stab at his mind. he winced and massaged his temples as he shored up his mental defenses and turned back to Sophie when he did, his jaw nearly fell off his face when he saw her sporting the grimace he had no doubt had mere moments before, but he managed to keep his composure.
"did you just... hear that?" he spoke softly, but even so, Sophie paled
Sophie gasped, then whispered; "who are you?"
"you did, didn't you?" Fitz leaned in so he could speak even softer and still be heard. "are you a telepath?" the words had barely left his mouth when Sophie flinched. "you are! I can't believe it," she started to back away. "it's okay," he said, holding his hands up as if he were calming any other creature, though later he would look back on the action and flush at the thought of treating Sophie that way. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm one too," she froze in place at the words "my name's Fitz."
She gave him an odd look, like she thought he might be joking. not thinking fast enough to come up with anything better, he simply stated "I'm not joking"
she started swaying on her feet, and he internally cursed himself. that probably had been what she was thinking, and now she thought he was reading her mind.
He grabbed Sophies arms to steady her. "it's okay Sophie, I'm here to help you. We've been looking for you for twelve years."
Sophie jerked out of his grip and ran, stumbling at first, then finding her stride.
"Sophie come back!" he shouted, as she ran down the museum's front steps.
He channeled as he ran, rapidly closing the gap between them. "wait," he called "you don't have to be afraid"
She ran out into traffic, not bothering to look left or right, then turned as one of the human vehicles bore down on her