Sophie watched the scene unfold in slow motion.
The car swerved, but it did no good, only making it harder for Sophie to dodge. Impossible for Sophie to dodge.
She threw out her hands, closed her eyes, and felt the familiar rush of air as she sent a blast of wind toward the car.
A groan was heard as the car flipped on its side. Sophie winced as a thump shook the ground.
Being different was a curse.
She turned around, worried that someone had seen her. She gasped. Someone had.
Fitz. He was standing there, watching her in awe.
No, no, no. This was not happening. This could not be happening.
But it was. Fitz had seen her. Her secret was exposed to the world.
Images of men in suits exiting black vans suddenly flashed in her mind.
But Fitz calmly walked over to her.
"You are one of us. I almost didn't believe it," he said, running his hands through his perfect hair. His teal eyes stared into her brown ones. "Twelve years. Unbelievable."
Sophie didn't like his tone. "What's so unbelievable about it?" she asked fiercely, not sure why she was arguing with him.
"We all have blue eyes. But you don't. And, yet, you're still an elf."
Sophie giggled hysterically. "An elf. Riiiight. Am I supposed to help Frodo destroy the ring? Or should I help Santa make presents for the children of the world?"
Fitz laughed. "No."
Sophie was relieved. Sure, she knew he was crazy, but at least he had a sense of humor.
"We need to get somewhere more private," Fitz said. "I can't explain everything here."
Sophie looked around. She really didn't want to leave the museum.
Thinking for a minute, she pointed north, toward the San Diego Zoo. There was always a crowd there, even during a firestorm.
The pair of them ran over there, silence hanging over them.
When they stopped in the parking lot, Sophie turned her body slightly away from Fitz and toward the zoo. If he did anything else weird or suspicious, she would be out of there in a second.
Fitz took a deep breath. "Sophie, right?" She nodded. "Okay, so, Sophie, as I said before: you're an elf. And I know that sounds crazy." He added when she scoffed in disbelief. "But I swear, it's true."
Sophie stared at him. He seemed to be telling the truth. "Okay, so what did you mean by 'twelve years'?"
"We've been looking for a girl your age for twelve years."
"Who's we?" Sophie asked, picturing a faceless entity out to get her.
"Me, my dad, and one of his friends."
Oh. That wasn't horrible. At least she sort of knew who they were now.
Not that she believed Fitz. Even if he was the cutest boy she'd ever laid her eyes on.
Sophie knew Fitz could tell that she didn't believe him.
"Would you believe me if I showed you?" Fitz asked.
"Showed me what?"
"The elven world."
Sophie laughed. "Sure."
Fitz pulled out a slender silver wand with intricate carvings etched into the sides. At the tip, a small round crystal sparkled in the sunlight.
"Is that your magic wand?" Sophie couldn't resist asking.
Fitz rolled his eyes and grabbed Sophie's hand. "No. Can you please concentrate on holding onto me? And when I mean concentrate, I mean you can't think about anything else."
Sophie nodded, momentarily speechless due to the fact that a boy was holding her hand. And a cute one at that.
Fitz raised the wand until the sunlight hit a certain facet. He tightened his grip and Sophie closed her eyes.
Then Fitz was pulling Sophie forward.
Sophie gasped as a warm tingling sensation shot through her body. It felt like a million feathers swelling underneath her skin were tickling her from the inside out.
Sophie felt a blanket of warmth surrounding her. She opened her eyes, looking for Fitz. Where was he?
Then, as soon as the warmth had come, it stopped.
Sophie was left speechless once more.
Impossibly tall trees lined a beautiful glassy river, their branches thinning to reveal emerald leaves contrasting against the puffy white clouds and bright blue sky. Across the river, Sophie could make out beautiful crystal castles that glittered in a way that made Sophie sure Walt Disney would throw rocks at his so-called 'Magic Kingdom' after a second in their presence. Over to her right was a golden path that led to a beautiful city with elaborate domed buildings that were seemingly built from brick-sized jewels. Every building was a different color, causing Sophie's head to spin from the variety. The whole scene was surrounded by snowcapped mountains, and Sophie was amazed that the crisp, cool air could smell like cinnamon, chocolate, and sunshine all at once.
Perhaps the most noticeable thing was this: the whispers were clearer. More like people talking in her ear, if she was being honest. She could make out every word they said, every bit of knowledge shared.
The weird thing was that Sophie felt they were less annoying now. She could tune them out at will and, although they were never fully gone, she could think without having an intense headache.
"You can let go of my hand now."
Sophie made an embarrassing squeaking noise as she whipped her hand away. How had she forgotten about holding Fitz's hand?
"Where are we?" Sophie asked in wonder.
"Our capital, Eternalia. Though, I suppose you would know it as Shangri-la."
"Shangri-la is real?" Sophie asked in disbelief.
Fitz nodded. "All of the Lost Cities are real. They just aren't usually how humans picture them. Human stories don't usually get anything right. Take what you've heard about elves, for example."
Sophie laughed at that. The noise echoed off of the trees. It was so quiet here. No people, no whispers--well, if you didn't count the voices--and no traffic. Sophie could get quite used to the silence--even if it did feel strange.
"Where is everyone?"
"See that building over there?" Fitz asked, pointing to a domed building made of green stones that sparkled slightly less than emeralds. "See the blue banner flying? That means there is a tribunal in progress. Everyone is watching the proceedings."
"What's a tribunal?"
"When the Council--basically our royalty--holds a hearing to decide if someone's broken a law. It's a big deal when they happen."
"Why?"
"Laws are rarely broken."
Wow. That was different. Humans broke laws all the time.
It took Sophie a second to realize that she was thinking of humans as something other. It saddened her for some reason.
She was about to ask if this was all magic, but the voices provided that answer for her.
No, magic doesn't exist. It's something humans made up to explain things they can't understand.
Well, Sophie thought, then how did we get here?
Light leaping, of course.
What's light leaping?
When you ride on a beam of light-headed to a certain place. So far, light leaping only works with places on Earth.
That's impossible. You need infinite light for light travel. Sophie countered
No, you don't.
Sophie was starting to get a headache from all of this weird information.
Fitz stared at her oddly. "Are you okay?"
Sophie nodded even though she wasn't really sure.
Fitz suddenly grabbed Sophie's hand again. "Concentrate harder this time."
Sophie didn't have time to respond as he pulled her into the light once more.
This time there was no warmth. It was more like the feathers were being blown away in a million directions by a hairdryer.
A second later, another, stronger force took control and brought everything back together like a giant rubber band.
Before she knew it, a cold ocean breeze was making her sigh in relief. The wind always calmed her down. Even if she couldn't see with her hair whipping all around her head.
A massive castle towered over Sophie and Fitz. It flowed as though the stones were carved from pure, unfiltered moonlight.
"Woah," she breathed.
"Want to take a guess of how we travel?" Fitz asked, sure she wouldn't know the answer.
"Light leaping," Sophie said simply. "Isn't it obvious?"
Fitz looked shocked that she had known the answer to his question. It made her a little too happy to see the look on his face.
"Well," he said, recomposing himself. "You are still behind on your studies. Humans do the best they can, but their minds aren't wired to handle the complexities of reality."
"Oh, so elven minds are better," Sophie said, annoyance laced in every word. Who did he think he was, insulting the race that had raised her?!
"Yeah, they are. Even an uneducated elf can still trump a human."
Was he calling her slow?! Sophie was about to scream in his face but then realized something.
If what he was saying was true, then she was a stupid girl who knew nothing about anything.
No--not a girl.
An elf.