Chapter 1- The Gelato Container - [Keeper POV]

"I want gelato," Biana whined from her place sprawled out on Sophie's bed at Havenfield.

The whole Foster Fan Club was currently wasting the day away in Sophie's room doing absolutely nothing. Having nothing exciting to do had always been Sophie's dream, but ironically, she found now she was incredibly bored.

Keefe, who fancied himself the president of the Foster Fan Club, was half falling off Sophie's desk chair, nodding in agreement with Biana's statement enthusiastically.

"I don't know... maybe we shouldn't. We'd have to go to the Forbidden Cities for gelato..." Fitz remarked, trying to hide his grin.

However, Keefe, on hearing this, completely fell off the chair. He then rolled onto his back and crossed his arms, a scowl on his face. "We. Are. Getting. Gelato!"

Tam, who sat with his sister, Linh, against the wall, couldn't hide his chuckle at Keefe's childlike antics, making Keefe even angrier.

Tam hadn't been much like himself lately. Everyone speculated it was because his sister Linh and Marella had gotten together. No one understood why that made him so upset though. He had never shown any dislike towards Marella.

Sandor, who everyone had forgotten was guarding the door, growled in his chipmunk voice, "No! You are not going to the forbidden cities for a measly snack."

"RO! Can you distract Gigantor while the rest of us sneak to the Forbidden Cities for some gelato!"

"I heard that, Mr. Sencen! And your bodyguard is not here at the moment,"

"Ugh," Keefe paused for dramatic affect. "Aw, please, Gigantor, just this once!"

A loud sigh sounded from outside the door. "I should say no, but since things have been slow lately, I will allow two of you to go."

Biana spoke up excitedly. "Obviously Sophie's going to go, but I should go with her because I can turn us invisible and hide from the humans."

But I could hide us in shadows a lot easier than you can turn someone else invisible." Tam countered.

"There will be no hiding!" Sophie intervened. "We need to buy gelato, meaning we need to be seen. So you both are out."

Biana and Tam both grumbled but knew better than to argue with Sophie.

"I'm your hero, so I get to go, right, Foster?"

"No. You'll run around the gelato shop demanding to buy everything you see. You're out too."

Keefe, who was in mid-getting-up-position, slid back down, muttering something about staying on the floor.

"None of this nonsense!" Sandor spoke up. "I will be deciding who gets to go. Since Miss Foster can teleport to the Forbidden Cities she will go with Mr. Vacker."

Fitz was very obviously pleased with this decision, while the rest of the Foster Fan Club groaned and grumbled.

Marella chose then to speak up. "Wait, why does Wonder Boy get to go again?"

Her question was met with silence, until Sandor gave what was probably the bluntest explanation he'd ever given. "Because I said so."

.

Sophie and Fitz were making their way to the cliff at the edge of Havenfield, completely unaware that Tam was following behind, staying hidden in shadows.

As they approached the cliff, Tam realized he didn't know how to teleport with them without revealing himself.

After a moment, Tam decided he would attempt to enter the void by jumping a split second after Sophie and Fitz did, hopefully when the void was still open. If it doesn't work, I could always use telekinesis to not die, Tam thought begrudgingly.

When Sophie and Fitz took off running, Tam did too, cloaking himself in Shadow Vapor in hopes of not being noticed.

Here goes nothing, he thought.

.

Sophie and Fitz landed in a clearing surrounded by trees.

Fitz took a deep breath in, then coughed and spluttered, saying, "I forgot how polluted the air is in the Forbidden Cities. So, where are we?"

Sophie responded, "The best gelato place I've ever been to... but it's also in the hottest place I've been to. Fitz, welcome to Florida, home of terrible weather."

Sophie led Fitz towards a small concrete building that could be seen a ways away, past the groupings of trees.

By the time they made it to the building, they were drenched in sweat.

"Ready to go in?" Sophie asked. They stepped through the door when Fitz nodded.

"Air conditioning!" Sophie moaned appreciatively, making Fitz laugh.

"Look at all these flavors," Fitz said, moving toward the nearest aisle.

The gelato shop was rather small, with only two aisles and a counter where you could get served a bowl of gelato on the spot.

"What flavor do you want?" Fitz asked Sophie, making her blush.

"Well, since we don't know what everyone likes, we could get the same flavor we did in Florence?"

Fitz's eyes lit up. He loved that flavor.

Sophie grabbed Fitz's hand and led him through the aisles, browsing until they found the melone flavor.

Just as Fitz reached for the handle, he was shoved out of the way by a black-haired boy with dark circles lining his eyes, maybe around 14 in age, who snatched the last melone gelato container.

Fitz yelped in surprise. It took him a second to recover, but once he did he shouted, "HEY! We were here first!"

"And?" The boy asked, hiding the gelato container under his shirt as he started backing away. "Finder's keepers, loser's weepers."

Fitz knew enough English to understand the words the boy was saying, but that didn't mean he knew what they meant.

Just so, Fitz's face twisted in confusion at the human phrase, which gave the boy just enough time to turn around and run toward the door.

Sophie was quicker and beat the boy to the door, stretching out her arms to block the doorway.

Fitz, having recovered from his confusion, stood behind the boy, cornering him.

The boy's eyes darted around, searching for a way out. When he couldn't find one, he lifted a foot, nailing Fitz in the balls with his sneakers.

Fitz was left incapacitated.

The boy ran forward. "Jacob! CATCH!" The boy then threw the gelato container to an older boy, maybe 16, who was presumably Jacob.

Jacob caught the gelato and ran towards the bathroom. He closed the door and locked it.

Fitz, who was still incapacitated, hobbled over to the first boy, who was leaning on a table by the counter.

"Don't look at me," The boy said, shrugging his shoulders.

Just then, the bathroom door swung open. Jacob strutted purposefully out, followed by a skinny figure wearing too short jeans and a hoody with the hood pulled up. He was also wearing stocky sunglasses and a mask. To complete the look, he had striped gloves, sneakers, and poka dot socks tucked under his jeans. He was holding the gelato.

"Ah! Millard, nice of you to join us," the boy drawled.

"No! It is not!" The store owner, who had silently been watching from behind the serving counter, finally spoke up. "I will not tolerate this tomfoolery in my shop!" Then the store owner kicked them out.

Outside, Millard still had the gelato container in his hands.

Noticing this, Fitz lunged at him.

Millard dodged and started sprinting away.

Sophie went after him, but Millard was fast. She couldn't catch up.

Millard looked behind him and saw both Sophie and Fitz running after him. With one hand he started stripping and with the other he held the gelato high above his head. Soon enough, it looked like the container was floating in midair.

Sophie and Fitz stopped running. Were these people elves?

Just then, Tam appeared out of the shadows and started chasing the floating gelato container. Tam managed to catch up and jumped, efficiently snatching it back.

However, Jacob started running as soon as he saw Tam. He barreled into him, grabbed the gelato, and threw it towards seemingly nowhere.

Millard was there and caught the container.

Millard, Jacob, and the boy took off running with the gelato.

Fitz, Sophie, and now Tam, looked at each other, nodded, and started chasing after these peculiar people.