Wow, so this is pretty much the first time in a while I've posted a chapter so soon after the last. I've been inspired over the past few days. I wanna drill out as many chapters as I can before Lodestar comes out and this whole fic is pointless!
ThatsencenboyXD: Thanks for commenting! I'm going to take that as I compliment? Either way, I'm glad it's not boring.
Word Count: 2,252
Chapter Eleven
LIKE A RUBBER BAND SNAPPING INTO PLACE, ORION WOKE.
Everything was dark. Was the world supposed to be like this? Somehow she didn't think so. And it was cold, too. Without knowing what she was doing, she instinctively brought her arms to her chest, trying to warm the chill within herself.
Then suddenly she was aware of her whole body. Joints and muscles, arms and legs, nose, mouth—
Eyes. That's when she realized a thin layer of skin was covering her eyes. Gingerly, she opened them a crack.
The world stayed black.
She wasn't sure what she was supposed to see, but her instincts told her this wasn't right. Suddenly feeling trapped, her arms shot out to test the space around her.
The next feeling to hit her was pain, pain as one of her arms collided with the sharp corner of some sort of object. Then she could feel it too, right under her. Upon further touch, it was made of some solid yet smooth material and covered with a soft, cushy layer. She was surprised to realize it was comfortable.
But she was still cold, and still could see nothing. She brought her arms back to her chest.
Then suddenly she heard a voice in her head.
"Focus. You can keep warm if you try hard enough."
She didn't understand, because she had no memories. Nothing to guide her but pure instinct. But still, somewhere inside she knew the voice was right. She did have the power—and somewhere in her, she could feel it, thrumming and tingly and comforting.
She drew it closer to her heart, and suddenly she knew there were no limitations, no boundaries, nothing to stop her from achieving the impossible—because deep within her being, she knew that was exactly why she was here.
There was a quiet pop as a soft, thick object drifted down and covered her in warmth. She could feel her facial muscles tightening as her mouth twisted in a smile. Then she snuggled up into a cozy position and dozed off.
"Sophie? Sophie?" Someone was calling. Orion didn't think the voice sounded familiar, but a moment later she realized why because she wasn't Orion, she was Sophie, and all that had been a dream—
"Dex?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, I'm here. Kesia, too. You were asleep for a really long time."
"Mhm," was all Sophie could manage. There was a throbbing pain in her hand from when she had hit the corner of the bed with her arm—but then she realized that hadn't happened either.
Sophie reached to touch the source of the pain with her other hand, but someone caught her fingers with their own.
"Don't," Kesia's voice warned.
A sense of dread filled Sophie's heart and suddenly she could envision a billion horrible things that could've happened to her hand. Slowly and hesitantly, she opened her eyes.
Kesia was leaning over her with an uncharacteristically worried look in her eyes, and Dex kneeled by her side, blocking most of her surroundings. But not her wound.
A fresh wave of pain shot up her arm as she stared at the huge pointy stone impaling the back of her hand—right over the star-shaped bruise from Mr. Forkle's needle. Wrapped uselessly around the wound were bloodstained bandages. Worse, she could barely feel her fingers.
"Breathe, Sophie," Kesia ordered as the world spun in circles. "You'll be fine. We contacted—" she came to a half abruptly as if she had been about to reveal something secret. "We contacted Physic," she continued.
Sophie had only met Physic once, when she'd healed Fitz after he'd been stabbed by a giant bug creature. She had seemed nice enough, and funny too—although her odd mask was pretty unsettling. Sophie also remembered that Physic had wanted to share her real identity, but had been stopped by Mr. Forkle. Maybe now she'd finally find out.
If only her hand hadn't been throbbing so intensely, because it was making it super hard to think.
Wait.
"Where are the dwarves from Exile?" Sophie managed.
"Gone," Kesia said with a shrug.
"You killed them?" Alarm dulled the pain of her wound long enough for Sophie to sit up.
"No! I just, sent them off. To the Collective, or something. They'll probably have their recent memories wiped, but I'd say they deserve it after what happened."
Without waiting for Sophie to ask what happened, she continued. "When they attacked you and Dex, I was able to reverse the fissures. My power over the earth took them by surprise, and I was able to grab you two and leave.
But before we got far enough, the dwarves deliberately caused a cave-in and your hand was stabbed by that stone. That's when I used the rest of my power to encase them in earth and send them flying through the ground. Hopefully they reach the rest of the Black Swan."
Kesia shrugged like her power was no big deal and totally not terrifying. Sophie couldn't even imagine what it would be like to face an enemy terrakinetic, partially because of the pain blocking her stream of thought.
"So now where are we?" Sophie murmured.
"Away," said Kesia unhelpfully.
"Some meadow in the middle of nowhere," Dex added.
The only meadow she could think of through the haze of pain was the one Silveny had brought her to, back when she'd been defective. Staring upwards, she thought the beautiful blue sky was the perfect place for a sparkly winged horse. She wondered where Silveny was now, and—
Sophie gasped, making both Dex and Kesia jump. "The Council! I forgot to check on Silveny and report to them!"
"Your hand is more important. That can come later," Kesia said dismissively.
"No, you don't understand! I could get banished again, Councillor Alina—"
"—Is a total jerk. Sophie, you can't let them push you around. You're stronger than they are. They can't touch the Black Swan."
"The last time we thought that, Fitz was impaled by a giant horn," Sophie argued.
"Uh, someone just light leaped here!" Dex interrupted. Kesia hopped to her feet enthusiastically.
Sophie hadn't seen her appear, but a moment later a female elf was leaning down in front of her. She had chai toned skin and deep green-blue eyes like the ocean. Cedar-colored hair covered part of her eyes and was fashioned into a thick ponytail at the back of her head, with two mini ponytails resembling paintbrushes tied from either side of her bangs. They came to rest on her chest.
"Um, hi," Sophie began, confused. "Who are—"
She cut short when the elf laughed and smiled wide despite the situation. "I'm disappointed in you, Sophie. We were standing in the same room just a few days ago."
A few days ago? A lot had happened over the past days. She tried to think. They'd gone to Exile, but that obviously wasn't it… she'd been to Foxfire, but this elf was definitely too old to be a prodigy at her school. Even before that, she'd been at the stone cottage, ready to heal—
"Prentice! You were there at the healing!" Sophie said. "You're Physic!"
"Spot on, as usual." She smiled. Her grin was warm and mischievous, reaching all the way up to her eyes. Sophie thought she looked older than Kesia, although definitely younger than the rest of the Black Swan. "But, my name isn't Physic."
"What is it?"
"Inquisitive as always. Sir Kerlof would hate me telling you." Somehow Sophie got the sense that Physic was enjoying breaking the rules. "But personally I think he's overreacting. Either way, I'm not on the Council's database. My name's Chaia."
Chaia, Sophie repeated in her head. For some reason, the name sounded distinctly Gnomish. It reminded her of forests and redwoods.
"Okay, now let's fix that hand up."
Sophie tried not to wince as Chaia peeled away the bloody bandages from the wound. Even through the pain, she didn't miss the way the healer sucked in a breath.
"This is going to hurt." Concern was etched into Chaia's voice.
"You could give her painkiller," suggested Kesia from somewhere behind Sophie.
"Maybe. It's just so...unnatural," Chaia said with distaste. "I'd rather use real remedies."
She opened that same bag she'd had in the Stone Cottage, and dug out a thick brown paste. When she caught the look of hesitation in Sophie's eyes, she cracked another smile. "It's not what you think it is, don't worry."
Still, Sophie's skin crawled as the paste was smeared over the wound. She expected it to sting—and it did, for a moment. But as the medicine sank in, her hand mostly just felt warm and tingly.
She reveled in the strange sensation until there was a yank and the stone came free of her hand.
Sophie screamed. She hated it, because she'd endured so much worse, and she didn't want to look like a crybaby in front of Dex. But the pain was so whole and complete, even with the painkiller, that she couldn't help it. And the worst part was the hole in her flesh.
She could hear Dex freaking out, too. And a loud intake a breath that sounded more like a yelp from Kesia. But Chaia stayed calm.
"Just breathe, Sophie. It's over," the elf said as she dripped some liquid onto Sophie's wound. She barely processed it as the skin closed over the gap and the blood stopped flowing freely. As the pain faded, her breathing changed from short, ragged gasps to a more steady pattern. She felt, much, much better.
"It'll hurt for a while. Try not to use it. But the rest should heal on it's own."
"Thanks," Sophie said weakly. Luckily it was her left hand and not her dominant one. She tested her fingers. The movement sent a sharp pain flying up her arm, but at least she could feel them now.
"No problem," Chaia said cheerfully. "Where are you three heading?"
"To Brackendale. Keefe said the Neverseen were doing something there. He tried to warn me about something, too, but then the dwarves arrived."
"Now?" Dex asked at the same time that Chaia said "cool" and Kesia growled, "Oh no you don't."
"You are not going anywhere else today," the terrakinetic said.
Sophie was confused by this sudden shift in personality. "But why? It could be important?"
"How do you think the Collective will react if I take you off to another mission—without permission and right after you've been wounded? They're already going to be mad. We almost got caught by the Council's dwarves, which I'm sure even they will realize they're missing sooner or later."
"But—" Sophie continued.
"No butt's. We're going back and that's final."
"Keefe seemed really stressed, though. There must be a reason."
"What if you and I went," Chaia asked Kesia. "Then Dex can take Sophie back, and if we find anything we'll alert the Collective."
Kesia seemed to relax back into her normal easygoing personality. "That's a good compromise. What d'you guys think?" she asked Sophie and Dex.
Sophie really wanted to go, but on the other hand she knew this was probably the best option she'd get.
"It's better than nothing," she said.
"Okay." Dex shrugged.
"If we're not back by nighttime, tell the Collective where we went," Chaia instructed.
"Will you be okay, though? You're a healer, not a fighter," Sophie commented.
"I'm whatever I want to be."
"That's how it goes in the Black Swan," explained Kesia. "If you're good enough, you're in. Chaia's a healer and an operative—plus she's got two super cool abilities."
"What can you do?" Dex asked with interest.
"Well, to start, I'm a polyglot. I don't really know if that qualifies as "super cool," but I guess it's something. And—" A crooked smile. "I can do something unique. There are these, sort of, glints of life everywhere. Maybe the gnomes at Alluveterre told you about them. Either way, I can ask them to do things. Create images that aren't really there, or instantly know the remedy for almost any type of injury."
"So you can, like, control them?" Dex asked.
"No!" She shook her head, looking upset. "They may not be sentient, but they're still part of nature. I would never force them to do anything with my power."
Dex apologized, but Chaia wouldn't hear it. "You don't need to say sorry," she said.
Sophie regarded her curiously. There was something that reminded her so much of the gnomes she'd met. Although she was obviously an elf, she seemed to respect all life and nature just as much as Calla and the others had. There was a twinge of pain when she thought of the gnome who had sacrificed herself.
"Do you have your home crystal?" Chaia asked, holding up a yellow crystal of her own. Sophie nodded. "Good. Leap straight home."
And before Sophie could ask her about gnomes, she and Kesia light leaped away.
Sophie suddenly realized how tired she was. The events of the day washed over her in waves. Keefe, the dwarves, then her very realistic dream. That was the strangest part. Sophie shrugged it off—she'd had plenty of weird dreams before.
Wordlessly, she motioned for Dex to come to her side and held up her crystal, taking one last look at the lush green meadow before letting the two of them be swept away with the light.
You're all probably so confused by the beginning of chapter 11.
Good.
I guess you'll find out soon tho. Soon-ish. I promise I'll update soon!
