Unlocked 8.5 (Keeper of the Lost Cities) Read online

  SEVENTH UPDATE:

  Fitz went home yesterday, and Sophie’s mood seemed a little low. Thankfully, Keefe was there to distract her.

  EIGHTH UPDATE:

  Gotta admit, sometimes I thought I’d never get to write these words, but: SOPHIE JUST LEFT THE HEALING CENTER!!! And of course she’s doing an “errand” with Mr. Forkle before going home. Some things never change.

  INCIDENT: Follow-Up House Call to Havenfield

  DETAILS:

  Sophie still has a long recovery ahead.

  SYMPTOMS/INJURIES:

  Nothing new, at least!

  TREATMENT:

  Just rest.

  NOTES:

  The Black Swan’s Technopath made a bracelet to boost the strength in Sophie’s left arm, so I gave her permission to start battle training—but only on that side!

  INCIDENT: Twelfth Healing Center Visit

  DETAILS:

  Sophie’s being good and coming in for her checkups.

  SYMPTOMS/INJURIES:

  Found some swelling in Sophie’s knuckles, but nothing serious. Lady Zillah also wanted Sophie to trigger her echoes—and it wasn’t horrible. But… it wasn’t great.

  TREATMENT:

  More medicine. Also hoping Lady Zillah finds a solution to this echo thing.

  NOTES:

  Kinda looked like Sophie and Fitz were “together.” Huh. My little girl is growing up!

  UPDATE:

  I wasn’t there when it happened, but I just got word from Flori that she learned a song that finally made Sophie’s echoes fade away.

  INCIDENT: Emergency House Call to Havenfield

  DETAILS:

  Sophie agreed to reset her inflicting—which means taking limbium and hoping Livvy and I can stop her allergy before it kills her. No pressure.

  SYMPTOMS/INJURIES:

  Sophie went with the stronger, more dangerous dose (Is anyone shocked by this?), so the reaction was severe—and her heart stopped.

  TREATMENT:

  Chest compressions, plus the allergy remedy Livvy and I designed (and a booster shot Livvy made), followed by a tiny dose of sedative.

  NOTES:

  This definitely didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.

  UPDATE:

  Sophie was knocked out for three days. And it’s not safe to give her any elixirs or pain medicine for at least another day. Flori made her a Panakes blossom broth that may help, though.

  SECOND UPDATE:

  She still needs a little more bed rest. But it was safe to give her some painkillers.

  THIRD UPDATE:

  Took Sophie five days to get out of bed and six before she made it outside. So this definitely took a toll. But she’s through the worst of it, and it does seem to have worked.

  INCIDENT: Thirteenth Healing Center Visit

  DETAILS:

  Sophie rushed Keefe to me. He’s unconscious, and his cells are going through some sort of “transformation.” So it looks like his mom got what she wanted.

  SYMPTOMS/INJURIES:

  Checked Sophie, too, and she’s exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed and banged up from the battle. But nothing major.

  TREATMENT:

  Mostly, she just needed a pep talk—which I’m bad at. But I did my best.

  NOTES:

  I guess she discovered she can teleport without needing to free-fall now. The girl just keeps getting more and more amazing.

  REGISTRY FILE FOR Fitzroy Avery Vacker

  KNOWN ABILITIES: Telepath

  RESIDENCE: Everglen

  IMMEDIATE FAMILY: Alden Vacker (father), Della Vacker (mother), Alvar Vacker (brother), Biana Vacker (sister)

  MATCH STATUS: Registered with zero lists received

  EDUCATION: Current Foxfire prodigy

  NEXUS: No longer required

  PATHFINDER: Not assigned. Restricted to Leapmasters and home crystals.

  SPYBALL APPROVAL: None

  MEMBER OF THE NOBILITY: No

  TITLE: None

  NOBLE ASSIGNMENT: None

  SIGNIFICANT CONNECTIONS: Cognate to Sophie Foster; fealty-sworn member of the Black Swan; former Exillium Wayward; part of the Vacker family

  ASSIGNED BODYGUARD(S): Grizel (goblin)

  PREFERRED NAME:

  For reasons not disclosed, Fitzroy is most commonly identified by a nickname. In fact, few of his peers even realize his full name is Fitzroy. So to avoid confusion, the rest of this file shall refer to him by his more recognizable, shortened name: Fitz.

  A LEGENDARY LINEAGE:

  As made obvious by his last name, Fitz is a Vacker—a member of one of the most prominent families in the Lost Cities. Which means that he—and his siblings—have more relatives holding powerful positions in the nobility than any of their peers do. It would be far too tedious to include a full list of all the prominent Vackers and their accomplishments, but a few of note are as follows: Fallon Vacker, who was one of the three founding members of the Council and served for a thousand years as a Councillor; Orem Vacker, who is an extremely talented Flasher and puts on the impressive light show seen at the Celestial Festival; Luzia Vacker, Orem’s mother, who is also a Flasher and created many of the illusions that keep the Lost Cities hidden; and, of course, Fitz’s father, Alden, who is a renowned Telepath and an Emissary for the Council with the highest level of clearance, and is often given their most important assignments.

  THE GOLDEN BOY:

  Fitz manifested as a Telepath when he was thirteen, setting the record for “youngest to manifest as a Telepath”—until Sophie Foster revealed that she’d manifested when she was five human years old. Some people occasionally get confused and think that Fitz was actually “the youngest to manifest an ability—period.” But that is simply not accurate. His own sister (Biana) manifested younger than that—as have several others. Nevertheless, Fitz’s youth, and the strength of his telepathy, earned him the title “Alden’s Golden Boy” (which is occasionally used less-than-kindly, particularly by Councillor Bronte). Fitz’s academic record at Foxfire is also considered exemplary (despite his brief attendance at Exillium—and a somewhat suspicious number of absences during his first few years at the academy). And when he was descried by Councillor Terik, the reading was incredibly promising. Fitz excels in all areas of study, often receiving the highest grades out of everyone in his level. And he was the reigning Foxfire splotching champion until Sophie beat him with a brain push during her first time competing—though many consider that match to have been a tie, since both of them were thrown backward against the wall and knocked unconscious.

  HIS FATHER’S UNAUTHORIZED QUEST:

  Alden Vacker has long had a reputation for occasionally pursuing investigations without the Council’s approval, and the largest proven example is the twelve years he spent secretly searching for the source of a strand of unregistered DNA. The Council had deemed the DNA to be a hoax after it was recovered during a memory break performed on Prentice Endal (a convicted rebel). But Alden was convinced the DNA belonged to a female child created by the Black Swan (an organization no one believed existed at the time) who’d been hidden somewhere among the Forbidden Cities. And in order to avoid the Council’s suspicion or interference, Alden enlisted the help of both of his sons (who were also better able to approach the children that Alden was investigating without frightening them). Alvar—the elder of Alden’s sons—was the first to assist with the project, but he was replaced by Fitz as soon as Fitz was old enough to take over, presumably because Fitz was closer to the girl’s estimated age. Little is known about how Alden chose which “leads” to investigate or where he got his information from, or how many places his sons visited (though rumor has it that Fitz collected small souvenirs from each of the Forbidden locations he was sent to). But eventually all the searching paid off, and Fitz located Sophie Foster and brought her to the Lost Cities—technically twice. The first time was the day he met her—which was not what his father had instructed him to do. He was only supposed to observe and r
eport back. But Sophie’s eye color confused him, so he approached her to investigate further and realized she was definitely the girl he’d been looking for. And when she refused to believe what he was telling her, he brought her to the Lost Cities as proof—then took her back to her human home and made her promise not to tell anyone about anything she’d seen. (He’s very lucky that she kept her word.) The next day, after the Council had been properly updated, Fitz was sent to retrieve Sophie and bring her to the Lost Cities permanently.

  A LOYAL FRIEND:

  There is some debate on this issue, but many consider Fitz to be Sophie Foster’s “first friend,” since he was the one to discover her and also helped her settle into her new life in the Lost Cities. Despite the difference in their grade levels, Fitz also did his best to look out for Sophie when she first started attending Foxfire, and their relationship has only grown stronger since. Some have tried to claim that Fitz’s friendship was initially only motivated by his father’s encouragement. But the connection between Sophie and Fitz has stood the tests of both time and trial. Fitz even chose to follow Sophie to the Black Swan when she had to flee the Lost Cities after “losing” her ability restrictor, and Fitz has fought by her side in numerous confrontations with the Neverseen.

  HERO MOMENT:

  As previously mentioned, everyone believed that Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee were drowned by a tidal wave after their registry pendants were found at the bottom of the ocean. And Fitz was no exception. He attended both of their plantings and was seen grieving intensely at each. But Fitz was also the first to suspect that Sophie and Dex were still alive. He’d initially thought he was imagining Sophie’s transmissions for help, but as they grew stronger and more desperate, he decided to confide in both his sister (Biana Vacker) and his best friend (Keefe Sencen), who encouraged him to check the place where Sophie’s “voice” was telling him to go. The three of them leaped to the Four Seasons Tree in Lumenaria and found Dex stunned by multiple melder blasts and Sophie fading away from an unprotected leap—but Fitz was able to keep Sophie conscious by communicating with her telepathically while Biana and Keefe brought Elwin back to help. Sophie and Dex needed time to recover, and it’s likely that neither of them would be alive today if Fitz hadn’t acted when he did.

  SHADOWED DAYS:

  Sophie Foster’s kidnapping was a world-changing event for the Lost Cities in so many ways. But for Alden Vacker, her rescue proved that he (and the Council) had been wrong about the Black Swan. The organization was technically composed of rebels—but they were not behaving as enemies, like Alden had initially suspected. Which meant that Prentice Endal’s arrest, memory break, and subsequent exiling had technically been unjust—particularly since Prentice had simply been trying to protect Sophie. And while the Council maintained (and still maintains) that they based their decision on the information they had been given at the time and therefore are not to be blamed, as the source of that information, the realization proved to be too much for Alden. He tried to fight his emotions—even pulled himself back from a smaller breakdown during a Council-assigned mission to [LOCATION REDACTED FOR SECURITY] with Sophie. But after watching Prentice’s son (Wylie Endal) performing during the Foxfire Opening Ceremonies, the guilt shattered Alden’s mind, leaving him in an unstable, unconscious state that is almost worse than death. His wife (Della Vacker) tried her best to hold her family together. But all three children (Fitz, Alvar, and Biana) were devastated over essentially losing their father. And many reports indicate that Fitz’s grief manifested primarily as anger, and that most of that anger was directed at Sophie, whom he blamed for what happened to his father, since she’d known about Alden’s smaller breakdown and hadn’t warned anyone. (It should be noted that Elwin Heslege, who’d been assisting the family as a physician, reported seeing some improvement in Fitz’s temperament with the use of what he calls an “Emotional Support Stuffed Animal.” Elwin gifted Fitz with a sparkly stuffed red dragon, which he instructed Fitz to call Mr. Snuggles, and recommended that Fitz try hugging Mr. Snuggles whenever he was upset, or if he couldn’t sleep. Numerous reports indicate that Fitz still has Mr. Snuggles in his possession and finds a great deal of solace and comfort from his stuffed dragon.) Even though Alden was technically still alive, a planting was held for him in an attempt to provide his family (and our world as a whole) with some sort of closure for his loss. His Wanderling continues to grow—but it has thankfully turned out to be yet another unnecessary tree casting shade in the Wanderling Woods (along with the Wanderlings for Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee). Sophie discovered that her unique telepathy allowed her to heal broken minds, and she brought Alden back to consciousness. Since his “reawakening,” it’s been as though Alden were never gone, which was naturally a huge cause for celebration, both for his family and for everyone in the Lost Cities. And reports suggest that Fitz apologized to Sophie before she healed his father, because he wanted her to know that he valued her friendship even if she couldn’t save the day.

  COGNATES—AND POSSIBLY MORE:

  Fitz was already an exceptional Telepath, but his ability improved exponentially once he was granted the rare opportunity of sharing a telepathy session with Sophie Foster and her Mentor (Sir Tiergan). The closer Fitz worked with Sophie, the more Tiergan began to suspect that a significant connection existed between his two prodigies, particularly since Fitz is one of the only Telepaths who can breach Sophie’s mental blocking. It seems the reason that Fitz can do so is because Sophie subconsciously chooses to let him into her mind, which then allows Fitz to transmit his thoughts, search her memories, and hear what Sophie’s thinking. He’s also able to send Sophie bursts of mental energy when her own strength is weakening. And together, Sophie and Fitz have been able to accomplish impressive feats, like performing a mental healing on the shattered, ancient mind of an exiled member of the Neverseen (former Councillor Fintan Pyren)—though that healing did lead to an unanticipated inferno of Everblaze, which destroyed nearly half of Eternalia and caused the death of Councillor Kenric. They’ve also been able to successfully navigate the complex mental landscapes of other intelligent species, as when they searched King Dimitar’s thoughts during a mission to Ravagog, and read the minds of two gnomes. Additionally, with Sophie’s help, Fitz has been able to communicate with the alicorns, even over great distances. All of which is why Sophie and Fitz officially began training as Cognates during their time living with the Black Swan. Once their banishment ended, they continued the lessons with Sir Tiergan at Foxfire (though Tiergan had technically been working with them the whole time, since recent reports indicate that Tiergan is a member of the Black Swan’s Collective, who goes by the name Granite). Fitz even gifted Sophie with Cognate rings as a Level Three midterms gift. And now that Sophie has manifested as an Enhancer, the two of them are able to accomplish truly incredible tasks, like recovering fragments of memories that had been shattered and buried in the darkest depths of Keefe’s consciousness. Trust has occasionally been noted as a barrier for their Cognate connection (particularly for Sophie), but they’ve managed to find a way of working through it—though it will be interesting to see if the Cognate relationship can survive the matchmaking process. Rumors often circulate about Fitz and Sophie, and the terms “Fitzphie” and “Sophitz” seem to suggest some sort of romantic pairing. One of the matchmakers assigned to Fitz even wondered if certain answers in Fitz’s match packet might’ve been an attempt to steer his match lists a particular way (though the process is of course designed to ensure a bias like that won’t interfere with the matchmakers’ recommendations).

  A BANISHED VACKER—AND THE FIRST WAYWARD:

  As mentioned earlier, Fitz chose to go with Sophie when she fled the Lost Cities to join the Black Swan. And his involvement in an attempted prison break in Exile led to him (and the rest of his friends, as well as his sister) being officially banished, expelled from Foxfire, and assigned to Exillium—which was definitely a first for his prestigious family (and quite the scandal, until h
e and his sister were allowed to return home and resume their studies at Foxfire, thanks to the role they played in stopping the gnomish plague).

  FURTHER VACKER SCANDALS:

  There have been murmurings of a “Vacker legacy” for some time—though the term has been used in both positive and negative ways. As such, it’s unclear exactly what the label is meant to imply—but it should be noted that the legendary family is not without its share of controversy. Rumors have circulated for centuries about Fallon Vacker—though it’s difficult to locate any specific accusations. And Luzia Vacker worked closely with Vespera before Vespera’s scandalous arrest. Luzia also had a secret alliance with the empress of the trolls, which recently caused a deadly scandal. Evidently Luzia allowed the trolls to hide hives at both of her residences (Everglen and Dawnheath), and the trolls used at least one of those hives to breed an experimental army. Luzia claimed to have no knowledge of the trolls’ experiments, but her son seemed to suspect otherwise. Orem even helped the Neverseen expose his mother’s activities by providing the DNA they needed to open the hive at Everglen—which unfortunately unleashed a band of mutant newborn trolls, who then went tearing through the property on a deadly rampage. The Council has yet to punish Luzia for those crimes, because her sentence is still being determined—and investigations into Orem (and other Vackers potentially involved as well) remain ongoing. And then, of course, there’s Alvar Vacker—but he needs his own section.

  A TRAITOR IN THE FAMILY:

  After the Neverseen’s defeat in Ravagog, Fitz’s older brother, Alvar, boldly declared himself to be a member of the Neverseen. He was also directly involved in the destruction of Lumenaria and the abduction (and torture) of Wylie Endal. He’s additionally suspected to have been involved in Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee’s kidnapping, as well as the Everblaze infernos that tore through the Forbidden Cities and Eternalia—and he likely fought with the Neverseen in their skirmish with the Black Swan on Mount Everest and helped with the Neverseen’s attempts to capture the alicorns. But all of those accusations unfortunately remain speculation because of severe damage that occurred to Alvar’s memories. He was found in a cell in the Neverseen’s “Nightfall” hideout, seriously wounded and heavily drugged with soporidine (a dangerous sedative the Neverseen developed), as though he’d been betrayed by the order and left for dead. Alvar remained unconscious for weeks, and when an antidote to the soporidine was finally acquired, his mind was completely erased. Despite the amnesia, Alvar was brought to Tribunal for his crimes. But the Council found themselves uncertain of how to punish someone who no longer remembered what he’d done and seemed genuinely remorseful. So, in an effort to be fair (and despite very vocal protests from numerous members of the Vacker family—including Fitz and Biana), the Council sentenced Alvar to six months of house arrest at Everglen. Alvar was moved to a heavily guarded new apartment that Alden Vacker had built for his son, and was required to wear a gadget called the Warden (designed by Dex Dizznee) to keep track of his every move and render him immediately unconscious if he should do anything suspicious. The Council used the time to study Alvar’s behavior and assess whether he’d truly changed—and all tests seemed to indicate that Alvar had legitimately become a different person. Unfortunately, though, Alvar’s amnesia turned out to be part of the Neverseen’s plan, and his memories were triggered during the most recent Celestial Festival. He did appear to hesitate once he remembered the role he was expected to play. But in the end, Alvar chose to open the gates of Everglen for the Neverseen and helped them unleash the newborn trolls from the illegal hive hidden on the property. The Neverseen then lost control of the situation, and one of their members—a Shade who called herself Umber—was crushed to death before the rest of the Neverseen fled to safety. Alvar tried to escape as well, but a series of events (which still remain murky) left him trapped inside one of the troll’s birthing pods. Everyone assumed he drowned when liquid filled the pod soon after. But it appears that Alvar’s mastery of basic skills allowed him to escape once again. He’s only been seen once since and apparently was in very poor health. But there’s no telling whether he’ll cause any final havoc before he dies—a fact which seems to infuriate Fitz more than anyone. He’s made it clear that he’s determined to ensure Alvar can never hurt anyone ever again, even if it requires deadly force. In fact, during the confrontation on the night of the Celestial Festival, Fitz came shockingly close to ending his brother’s life. The moment was broadcast by the Neverseen for everyone to witness, and many have mixed feelings about Fitz’s behavior. Fitz’s friends talked him out of causing any harm, and it’s unclear whether he regrets the decision. The Council may or may not regret it as well.