CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
"I'm sorry to say that this will be my last day with the Black Swan."
"You're leaving us?" Sophie stared at Blur. "But you took an oath!"
"I've been with the Black Swan for four years," said the Phaser. "I have done everything in my power to help my world. But I have to go back to the Lost Cities now. My family needs more protection than ever, in light of the information we just received. And don't worry about me. I'll simply Phase into the Cities and disappear."
"We don't want you to go," said Tiergan. "But we've all agreed that if your decision is to put your family first, we'll respect that."
"Thank you, Granite."
Slowly, Blur began to change. His body seemed to pull together, twist, and reform. Finally he stood in the middle of the White Room in his true form.
Blur pushed his curly hair away from his gray-blue eyes. He looked exactly like Jensi, just about ten years older.
"This is why I had to disguise myself as thoroughly as I did," said Blur. "My family all looks really similar. Someone was bound to recognize me."
"But who'll take your spot on the Collective?" asked Keefe.
Blur smiled. "Miss Della?" He held out a hand.
"Me?" Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Um, it's an honor of course, but why?"
"Because you're qualified. And we like you." He waved his outstretched hand. "You're not going to leave me hanging, are you?"
"Oh! Of course not." She shook Blur's hand with the biggest smile on her face Sophie had seen in a long time.
Blur quietly slipped away as Della took a whole bunch of new vows and discussed her disguise with the Collective. Sophie was the only one who saw him go.
"Wait!" she said just before he stepped onto the walkway. "Blur, what's your real name?"
"It's a bit embarrassing, but . . . Bertram. And my family calls me Burt."
"Goodbye, Burt." Sophie waved.
"Goodbye, Sophie." He stepped onto the walkway and glittered away.
That was the last time Sophie ever saw him.
Sophie caught Edaline as she was going into Physic's hospital.
"Why are you here? Are you sick?"
She laughed. "I'm perfectly healthy, Sophie. Physic just asked me to take over her healing duties now that she's so involved with the Collective. She's going to train me. If healing is anything like baking, I've got this."
"You're welcome to stay and help, Sophie!" Physic called out from inside.
"Would you like to?" asked Edaline.
Sophie shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"What are you all standing out there for?" Physic called again. "Come in, come in!"
"She seems happy," remarked Sophie as they stepped inside.
Physic was waiting for them, wearing her white coat. She beamed and hugged Edaline.
"It's so good to finally see you. How's Grady doing?"
"Pretty well. I think he misses the animals."
"I'd miss the animals too if I was him. Who wouldn't?" Sophie grabbed a smock from a hook on the wall.
"Wait." She stopped halfway through tying her smock. "Is this going to be anything like alchemy?"
"Not really," answered Physic. "Only the very basics. None of that 'turn a daisy into glass' business."
"That's right. You never got to that level, did you, Physic?"
Sophie jumped. Prentice was sitting on a hospital bed in the corner.
He looked a million times better than he had when she had seen him last. He had gained weight, and the color had returned to his skin. Sophie could almost see a glimpse of the laughing man from ten years ago.
"What's he doing here?" asked Edaline.
"Eating my food and being a general nuisance to me," said Physic. "He's back to running away from his family."
"Wylie doesn't seem to want me around anymore," Prentice said. "I think he's gotten bored of me. Which isn't my fault at all. I'm a very interesting person."
"Keep telling yourself that." Physic began pulling bottles from a shelf on the wall. "Eda, Sophie, just ignore him."
She set down an armful of elixirs on the metal table. A giddy smile played at her lips. "These are the ten elixirs I use the most often. They all live on that shelf." She jerked a thumb behind her. "And now that I'm on the Collective—" she rolled her eyes— "you can just tell me if you need to restock any of them and I'll get you some more. They're all supplied in Lumenaria."
"They won't be for long, with all the crap that's going on in the Neutral Territories," Prentice called out.
Physic ignored him. "If you mix these in different amounts, you can cure almost anything . . ."
Less than a minute later, Sophie was sure that healing was way past her alchemy level. She gave up trying to follow along and let her mind wander. She watched Physic guide Edaline's hands as they measured elixirs and poured them into a bowl.
"I swear I recognize your voice from somewhere," Edaline said. "Are you sure you can't tell me your identity?"
"Sorry. It's the rules. But I can see why you would recognize me." She glanced at Sophie. "That might narrow down your theories about me. Think about it."
Physic was smiling from ear to ear and walked with a spring in her step. She was the happiest Sophie had ever seen her. It made Sophie feel better. Things were looking up.
Hours later, Sophie was walking back to the living quarters. She was exhausted. She had only gone to New Alluveterre to check on Wylie, but even making and maintaining a single walkway was draining for her.
She spotted the hospital on the side of the walkway. Her shoulders sagged in relief. Physic was good at transporting. She could help her get home.
But she heard voices coming from inside. Sophie stopped, uncertain. She shouldn't interrupt, should she? The walkway quavered under her feet.
"He's changed, Prentice. That woman is stealing him away from Wylie. He needs you more than ever now that another father might be leaving him." It was Physic.
"I told you, Wylie doesn't want me around anymore," responded Prentice. "He's not the little boy I knew. He's growing up."
"Or that could be your excuse for not wanting to hang around the house because you're sick of Tiergan coming in and interrogating you about when you'll get your memories back."
"That . . . could definitely be a contributing factor, yes."
"When one father is off chasing a toady fantasy and the other is too cowardly to come home, what's Wylie left with? He needs a parent, Prentice."
"Sophie visits him and so do you—did you just call Della Vacker toady?"
"I don't trust her. Something about her makes my skin crawl. She's so . . . fake."
"Are you sure? You've been wrong about these things before."
Sophie heard a sharp crack. Physic had slapped him.
"Be careful. You might break your fragile mind."
"If you crack one more joke about about my past, I might just murder you, no matter what happens to my mind."
There was a pause. Then:
"You really do still blame me for what happened fifteen years ago."
Physic scoffed. "Jolie would too, if she was still here."
Sophie couldn't take it any longer. The walkway was starting to melt underneath her feet.
"Physic?" she interrupted.
The healer came to the arch. "Sophie! What's the matter?"
"Could you make me a walkway to the living quarters? I can't keep my own up."
"No problem." She absentmindedly waved her hand, and a brand-new crystal walkway appeared.
"Thanks. Sorry." Sophie stumbled away, her face burning and her brain stuffed with questions.
Why did Physic blame Prentice for Jolie's death? It had been Brant's fault, not the Black Swan's . . . and why did Physic care so much?
But this was all so far in the past. Physic and Prentice were part of a different world, an adult world that Sophie didn't understand.
A/N: No, I will not apologize for the Burt joke.