Reborn

Dex

As soon as Fitz and Biana leap her back to Havenfield, Alden hailed them to come home. Sophie felt bad for asking them to come when they did nothing the entire time. She was hoping to at least get to know them. She needed people who trusted her.

Grady had tried to teach her how to light leap. She gave her best effort in trying to fail, but she wasn't quite sure how. It had become instinct to light leap and Grady was really surprised when the girl who had been living with humans her entire life could light leap without difficulty.

Grady had given her another nexus after he had noticed that Sophie was not wearing one. The Vackers must have forgotten to tell him what happened after she put Fitz's old nexus on. In an effort to seem normal, Sophie had not mentioned the incident to the Ruewen's either.

She tried her hardest to make it look like she was struggling, but after the first time, she leaped the nexus fell right off.

Grady walked over and picked it up. "The concentration is 100 percent?" He could barely look at her when they walked back inside.

So much for making them like her quicker than last time.

As they got closer to the house, a flash of light interrupted them. Two figures in the distance made their way up the hill. Sophie recognized Dex and if her memory hadn't failed her, Juline was the figure behind him. Grady was already making his way towards them.

"Had to come to see for yourself, Juline?" Grady asked.

"I'm allowed to visit my sister, aren't I?" she asked, her eyes riveted to Sophie.

Grady laughed. "Where's the rest of the family?"

"Home with Kesler. I didn't want to overwhelm you."

"And maybe you wanted time to gossip without interruption?" Grady teased. "Sophie, why don't you show Dex your room? I have a feeling the girls have a lot of talking to do."

———

"Living with humans sounds amazing!" Dex had grabbed a scrapbook off the wall and was planning through it. "Is that you?"

Sophie glanced at the younger version of herself. "Yeah, I'm in the background building a sandcastle. That's my dad and sister or well... human dad and sister."

"Where are they now?" Dex wondered, still searching through the book.

"Well, I'm not sure. I'm not supposed to know anyways. They're going to have their memories erased and moved somewhere else." She took the book from his hands and paged to a picture of her with Mickey Mouse. She remembered Dex being fascinated by that one.

"Why are you with a stuffed mouse?"

"We're at Disneyland. Like your last name but spelled differently."

"That's so cool! I have my own land." He squinted at the photo. "Are you wearing fairy wings?"

"Okaaaay," She took the scrapbook back. "That's enough photos for today." She didn't feel like reliving childhood embarrassment.

"Sorry. I just can't get over it. I mean, I've never seen a human, in real life. And you lived with them. I've only ever seen movies." He shook his head. "How come you live with Grady and Edaline? Are you related to them?"

"No. Not that I know of. Well, I don't think so." Sophie tried to think of how to explain her situation to him. "I know I have to have elven parents, but I have no idea who they are. I'm pretty sure no one knows where I came from or why I was placed in the human world. So as far as I'm concerned, my biological parents don't exist."

Dex didn't seem to know what to say to that.

Honestly, she didn't either.

"Hey, this is one of those music things," he said, picking up her iPod. He tried pressing the buttons and turning it on.

"Yeah. Humans called that an iPod." She picked up her earbuds as well and showed him how to connect them to the iPod.

"I only know cause my mom's into human movies. She doesn't have many, but one of them had one of these things in it, and I've always wanted to see one. We don't have anything like them." He slid his fingers across the screen. "It's dead."

"No outlets here. No way to charge it."

Dex flipped it over. "I don't know much about human technology, but I bet I could make it solar-powered."

"Go for it," Sophie shrugged. "It's useless unless I get it charged again."

"Thanks! Human tech is so cool-" Dex tripped into Marty. The gray cat mewed and darted over to Sophie. "Is that a...?" His voice trailed off.

"A cat? Yes." Sophie finished for him, "This is Marty, he's from the human world. He came with me to the Lost Cities."

"That is AWESOME!" Dex got on all fours and approached Marty. Unfortunately, the poor car did not understand what was going on.

"It'll be easier if you just sit," Sophie tried to explain. "He will end up coming to you."

After a few minutes of trying, Marty was all over Dex. Both were enjoying each other's company and Marty ended up crawling onto Dex's lap.

"It's vibrating?!" Dex exclaimed and pull his hands away.

"That's normal don't worry! That means he likes you. It's purring. Haven't you ever seen a cat before?"

"Well, I have but never up close. The Lost Cities typically takes care of endangered species and cats are not even close to being endangered."

"Has anyone else met- what did you call him? Marty?" Dex wondered aloud.

"Yeah, Biana saw him and Fitz met him." Sophie tried to remember if anyone else had been introduced to the kitty. "He didn't like Fitz."

"You and me both, buddy!" Dex tried to fist bump that cat's paw but Marty clearly didn't understand.

Sophie was really glad that she hadn't left Marty behind. Her family had bought a new dog anyways. Marty should not have to suffer through that.

Dex seemed pretty content sitting with Marty until the feline decided he had enough and left. Sophie swore she heard Dex mutter, "Betrayal."

Dex got up and looked at the items on her desk. He picked up her schedule and sat down next to her. "Sir Conley's pretty cool, I hear. But good luck with Lady Galvin. She has the highest fail rate of any Mentor—ever. I'm pretty sure she failed her last prodigy a few weeks ago."

"She can't be that bad," Sophie suggested, taking the schedule from him. She wasn't looking forward to retaking and almost failing Lady Galvin's class. Maybe this time she would pass.

"Hey, I could help you find your way around tomorrow," Dex offered.

"I would like that." She grinned and threw her schedule back onto her desk. "Are you sure you want to be seen with the weird new girl with the brown eyes?"

"Are you kidding? I can't wait to tell everyone you were my friend first."

She smiled. "We're friends?"

"Yeah. I mean—if you want to be."

"Of course!"

Dex's smile widened, flashing his deep dimples. "Cool. I'll see you tomorrow morning."