The voices shrunk to indistinguishable whispers again as Sophie and Fitz appeared a block away from the Foster residence. Sophie squinted at Fitz, wondering how he knew where she lived, but not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had stumped her.
The air here was much more noticeably polluted now that she had been to the cleanest place on the planet. Sophie felt nauseous and wished she could've stayed in the elven world just to be able to breathe without worrying about getting sick from the pollution.
She stalked off, away from Fitz, heading toward her house.
"Hey, wait!" Fitz called.
Sophie ignored him, wishing with all her heart that he would leave her alone. He was so annoying and she wanted to go five minutes without hearing his obnoxious voice and seeing his eerily perfect face. Luckily, she would probably never see him again.
Sophie's eyes and lungs burned by the time she reached her house. She only hesitated for a minute before opening the front door. She braced herself for the inevitable shouting.
"There you are!" her mom said from where Sophie found her on the phone, looking relieved. That relieved look quickly turned to daggers. "Yes, she just got home. Thank you for everything. I'll be having a very long talk with her, don't worry," she said to the person on the other end of the line.
She hung up with the person and sighed, running a hand down her face in exhaustion. "What were you thinking, Sophie? Where did you even go? Mr. Sweeney said you were gone, that you'd just disappeared from the museum. He was about to call the police! You better have a reasonable excuse, young lady."
"I'm literally fine, but I'm sorry I worried you," Sophie mumbled. She hated when she made her mom upset. "This guy at the museum was freaking me out. He tried to make me go with him, so I ran." She knew her lie wasn't her best, but it was somewhat close to the truth, so hopefully it would suffice.
"Why didn't you get an adult or tell Mr. Sweeney?" asked her mom, lines of worry deepening on her forehead with every passing second.
"I didn't think of it. Getting away was the only thing on my mind. That dude was seriously freaky."
"Fine, I guess that's an acceptable reason. But will you promise to get an adult if anything like that happens again?"
"Yes, Mom, I promise. I don't think it will, though." Or at least she hoped not.
"Good." Her mom rubbed at her forehead. "Dinner will be ready soon and your dad will be home in a minute."
"Okay," Sophie said, already halfway upstairs. She didn't hear the rest of what her mom said as she slammed her door shut and collapsed on her bed. Marty, her cat, had followed her in, and he jumped on her stomach, curling into a ball. They sat there for a minute, Sophie petting his soft fur.
"Dinner!" came the shout. Sophie groaned and raced down the stairs, sliding into her seat at the table.
She could barely stomach her mom's heavy mac-n-cheese that night, causing her family to stare. It was her favorite dish, but she was inexplicably nauseous that night.
Finally, Sophie excused herself, and went back to laying on her bed with Marty. She stared at the ceiling until her parents came in, armed with peanut butter cookies and hot chocolate. "Are you okay, Soybean?" her dad asked. "You didn't eat much for dinner."
"Mhm."
"Sophie, we're worried about you," said her mom, setting the treats down on her desk.
"I'm fine. I just need to sleep. Goodnight, love you."
"Love you too," sighed her parents.
Sophie looked up at the ceiling until she fell asleep, wishing she could leave this feeling of not belonging in her past.
