The gang were playing base quest outside in the Vackers' yard when Alden stuck his head out the door and yelled, "Come on in! Somebody's here to see you!"

   They all scurried to the door, racing inside. Most of them went to the living room, but Biana ran upstairs to check her makeup. Typical.

   When they got to the living room, Biana still in her room, all twelve Councillors were sitting there, talking amongst themselves telepathically. Emery was looking confused, as the mediator, but it was apparent that the other eleven were a bit annoyed that they hadn't reached a decision yet.

   "They're here," Emery announced, looking at the seven teenagers. "We have to decide now or this isn't happening." At his words, the Councillors shifted and started to "talk" things out. After about five minutes, Emery nodded and declared, "We have some news. Wait . . ." He glanced over the group and shook his head. "There are supposed to be seven of you."

   "Yeah, Biana went upstairs so she could check her 'do," Tam replied , looking exasperated. "And her makeup . . . of course."

   Biana chose that moment to dash back into the room, looking ever so snazzy with her makeup fully intact and her hair back up into the messy bun she loved. "Sorry," she panted, sweetly looking Emery in the eye and batting her eyelashes. He looked a bit taken aback. "I had to fix some things that . . . well, let's just say they needed to be fixed."

   Councillor Emery regained his confident composure. "I have news," he repeated. "We have discovered some strange activity in the Forbidden Cities, courtesy of strong Technopaths. The humans are starting to stop the arson. Whoever was causing this trouble -- likely the Neverseen -- has stopped. We are also fairly certain that Brant was the arsonist, and now that he is dead, the Neverseen don't have as much control over the Forbidden Cities. We'd like four of you to go to the Cities and spend a month there, just to see if it's all back to normal. We aren't going to let you go back to San Francisco, since that would bring back too many memories, and the Neverseen are likely planning an ambush there. To throw any plans they may have had, we are going to relocate you to a small town, where nobody would have suspected you'd go. We're going to relocate you to Charburgh, Pennsylvania."

   "What's Pennsylvania?" Dex asked. "Is it another place in the Forbidden Cities?"

   "Yes," Sophie replied. "Just like we have cities, where everyone lives, in the Forbidden Cities they have states. Charburgh is a smaller version of a city, so it's called a town instead. Or a village. It is part of a land shape that makes up the state of Pennsylvania. There are fifty states in the United States of America, which is where some of the Forbidden Cities are. The USA is a country, which is basically just a large piece of land separated from other countries by invisible lines called borders."

   "That makes no sense," Dex replied, laughing, "but for your sake I'll try to understand."

   "Good." Emery nodded, looking satisfied. "Because we already chose the four who are going, and they are you, Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe."

   "Aw," Biana whined. "Why can't I go too?"

   "Because you're more accustomed to this life than anyone else. As a Vanisher, even with a disguise, you'd be very different. Tam, sorry, but you're just too much of a mysterious loner. Linh would not be able to resist the impulse to do something when she walked by water, which there's a lot of in the Forbidden Cities. However, Sophie and Fitz have to go, since they've been in the Cities before, and Dex and Keefe aren't going to be too suspicious personality- and ability-wise."

   Sophie was actually kind of shocked. She got to see a whole different part of the Cities, one she never knew existed before now? And with Keefe, Fitz, and Dex, too. Quadruple trouble! She could just see it.