Chapter 2
Sophie was having a very restless night. She kept waking up covered in sweat because of some horrible nightmare where she was falling into a dark pit. Elwin would always jump up and say its going to be alright, but to Sophie that seemed unlikely. Something seemed strange about her and she couldn't figure out what. But she really didn't have the mental strength to focus on it so she just ignored the feeling.Finally Sophie couldn't go to sleep anymore. She hurt all over and no matter how many times Elwin gave her pain killer it just didn't seem to work.
After what seemed like hours and hours of waiting daybreak finally came. She called out to Elwin, "Elwin are you up? I'm up." "Oh yeah I'm up Sophie, hold on don't move a muscle. Be there in a second." But Sophie was itching to move. Her legs wanted to get up and run. Sophie thought that if she could get up and walk over to Elwin she could prove to him that this wasn't a big deal. She really didn't want to make a big scene. She probably already had though. Ugghh…, she thought, Why can't I just be normal.
She got to her feet and immediately the world tilted and spun. Sophie tried to steady herself and reach for her bedside, but one minute the bedside was on the left and the next it was on the right. She didn't know how to stop it, only to yell help as loud as she could. She felt her stomach churn and the lights go bright then dark. All the sudden she was in Elwin's arms. "Sophie, Sophie are you okay?" he yelled. "Wait who is this?" Sophie answered a little dazed. "It's Elwin, please Sophie are you okay? Answer me," his voice desperate. " Oh, I think I'm fine. It's just I don't know why that happened. It was like the whole world was upside down. And I didn't know where I was or who I was," she stopped and stared into space. It was just 20 minutes into the day and she had already had a horrifying experience. She felt the tears coming into her eyes, but she didn't want Elwin to see her cry. She turned her face away from him and let the tears fall. Once again the same question entered her mind. Why can't I be normal?
Elwin told Sophie to lie down while he took a look to see if anything was wrong. Once she did he snapped and a purplish glow appeared around her head. Elwin studied her head for a bit and then stopped. "Ohh, my," he gasped. "What," Sophie exclaimed suddenly alarmed. She whipped her head in his direction to see his facial expression but as she did her head let out a sudden burst of pain. Elwin stared into space completely unaware of the fact that Sophie was clutching her head in agony. "Please, Elwin tell me," she choked out finally. Her head felt like it was on fire.
"Oh what, I mean wait are you okay Sophie?" Elwin finally said a little flustered. "My head is on fire and you won't tell me what is wrong." Sophie knew she sounded aggravated and rude, but at the moment she really didn't care. She just wanted some pain medicine and some information. "Oh yes, what's wrong. Uhh yeah. Hold on." Elwin said still staring off into space. Sophie sighed. It must be something horrible, she thought. Elwin got up and went to his desk. Sophie heard him talking. She strained her neck in his direction to maybe catch a fragment of what he was saying. "Yes, I'm sure. It's nothing like I've ever seen." Sophie was panicking now. "Okay yeah, come quick." Elwin came back from his desk and sat beside Sophie. He looked her straight in the eye. "Sophie we need to talk."
He looked up towards the ceiling then sighed. Elwin started to speak, "Okay, I'm actually not really sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but part of your brain that usually controls your special abilities is now enlarged and swirling with new material." "What do you mean by enlarged?" Sophie asked. ". Perhaps I should explain." Yeah you should , Sophie thought but she kept it to herself. Elwin continued, "The part of the brain that controls your powers is on the right side behind your ear and is usually pretty small. Well now it is really big and there are a lot of new types of cells that haven't been there before. That's the simplest way to explain it Sophie." "So what exactly are you trying to tell me?" Sophie questioned uneasily. Elwin bit his lip, "I'm saying you might be more powerful than you've ever been before." Sophie looked down at her hands. And suddenly she wondered who exactly she was.
Elwin told Sophie to get some rest. I just learned my brain is larger than normal and that I'm some kind of power freak. You expect me to sleep? But once again Sophie kept her snarky remark to herself. She lie down reluctantly and decided to "pretend sleep" to make Elwin happy. About 20 minutes of laying down, Sophie heard the door open and someone enter. "Uhh, hi Elwin. Is Sophie doing okay? I decided to check on her this morning, " said Keefe's unmistakable voice. "Oh hi Keefe. Sophie's right over there. She's sleeping right now. She's umm," Elwin hesitated, "Yeah she's fine." "Okay then," Keefe said a little uneasily like he didn't quite believe Elwin. Sophie could hear Keefe's footsteps walk over to her bedside. All the sudden she felt his soft hand stroke her cheek. She desperately hoped he couldn't feel her emotions.
The door suddenly opened again and she heard Keefe's hand drop to his side. Alden and Fitz entered the room. Sophie suddenly felt a wave of nervousness rush over her body, but it felt foreign like it wasn't her own. It left as quickly as it came though so Sophie didn't really pay any mind to it. "Elwin?" Alden called. "Oh, you're here. Hold on." Sophie heard Elwin's footsteps come closer. "What's the matter with her?" Fitz asked. Sophie could tell he was genuinely concerned, and it was all she could do not to smile. She had to keep "pretend sleeping" so she could eavesdrop. Sophie really didn't hear anything new as Elwin explained to Fitz, Alden, and Keefe what he had explained to her.
There was a long moment of silence after Elwin spoke, like nobody knew quite what to say. Alden walked over to Sophie. A strong wave of confusion and concern flowed through Sophie's body, but once again it wasn't her own. The closer Alden got the stronger the wave. What in the world is going on, Sophie thought. Then she sprung up in bed startling everyone in the room. She looked around to Fitz, to Keefe, to Elwin, and to Alden. "Guys I can feel your emotions." Everybody got wide-eyed. Keefe was the first to speak. "You mean you're an empath?" Sophie didn't reply, she bit her lip and looked down at her hands.
