It's me again! yeah, i know I've been absent for a long time, but...*scrunches up nose thoughtfully* at least I updated, right?
When Sophie and Estelle reached the peak of the staircase, Estelle pulled open the door and said, "Here you go. Exit the door at the other side, turn left, turn right, turn right again, and it's the second door to the left."
Sophie was panting really hard, but her photographic memory did not fail to memorize all the directions. "O-okay," then she glanced at her. "What about you?"
"I'll handle by myself, thank you very much," she said stiffly and spun on her heel to go down the stairs again, her cloak swishing vigorously. Different shades and colours of light appeared and twisted and span around her, creating a sort of light aura. Sophie didn't bother to say a farewell, as Estelle seemed like the kind of elf that did not like to say good-bye.
She exited the big door, and ended up in a corridor. Following Estelle's directions she turned left. But before she could do anything else, two voices rose up in the air, very near her. Two familiar voices. Dex and...Sora?
Sophie turned around and spotted them half-hidden behind a corner of a wall. They were huddled together. Sophie gagged, pulling out an eyelash. Sora was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. Dex was trying to comfort her by saying,"it's okay" and patting her back gently and awkwardly.
What were they doing? Why were they together? Sophie pondered as a million questions and doubts rushed through her.
Just then, Sora's eyes caught sight of her, but she did not pull away from Dex. Sophie winced, and pulled herself together. Wrenching her gaze away from them, she headed the other way and continued to follow Estelle's directions.
She ended up in another short corridor, with three rooms each on one side. Sophie walked over to the second door on the left and knocked three times, unsure. She counted the seconds. One hundred and twenty-two seconds passed. Sophie was about to give up and walk away when the door swung open, nearly knocking Sophie off her feet.
A crackly voice could be heard from inside. "Sophie Foster, isn't it?" The elf walked outside and stared at Sophie. He had smooth pale skin with muddy brown hair. His ears were slightly pointed. An Ancient. He wore a cloak of royal blue. "Come in, then. I'm Madlen." He threw his head back and laughed. "This is going to be far more entertaining than I'd expected." Sophie shuddered nervously. He reminded her of Lady Cadence, her linguistics Mentor. She followed Madlen into the room and the door slammed shut. He invited her to sit on a old cushion on the floor and he plopped down on one too. He grinned, showing perfect rows of white teeth, but that seemed to creep Sophie out even more. She reached for a loose eyelash.
"So," Madlen said, "When is the moonlark going to open her mouth and speak? Some Tamil? Japanese? Chinese? Malay? Hindi? I'm a Polygot, and so are you. It's time to start with all the Asian languages first."
Sophie gritted her teeth angrily. She was sure that she had translated every word correctly, into dozens of languages perfectly. She had been sure, very sure, and she knew she was correct. Yet Madlen still waved his hand carelessly and told her there was a better way.
"Interesting," he mused. "You seem to be able to do this perfectly, but I'm still not pleased with your different accents. You still sound like a grumpy, boring old American. Meh. Who wants that? I'll guess your weakness is mimicking. Am I right?" When Sophie nodded irritably, he clapped his hands. "Thank you for reminding me, Miss Foster. From now on, we will focus solely on mimicking."
Sophie's heart sank, and she cursed herself for telling him. Now it would be torture and torture only. She wished Keefe was here. His mimicking was perfect. Madlen would be downright pleased with him.
When she groaned, he glared at her. "Bad attitude you have there, moonlark. I wonder why Kerlof even favours you."
Sophie perked up. "He does?" she echoed, appalled. She knew Mr Forkle did feel proud of her - even if it was only a little - but favour her? Right in front of all the Black Swan members? A surge of pride rose in her, and Madlen slapped her cheek. It was stinging and painful. Sophie rubbed her sore cheek.
Just then a knock sounded on the door. Madlen shot a look at her. "That'll teach you." Then he rose up slowly and moved like sludge across the room to open the door. Two redheads. Auburn hair, actually. Soreas and Sora. Sophie cursed, her heart sinking in dread. She had forgotten that they were Polygots too. She reached for another eyelash, then stopped herself and let her hand fall into her lap instead as she watched them move toward her and sit down on cushions too.
Soreas ignored her but Sora smiled at her. It wasn't quite friendly, though, but not too cold too.
"Welcome, Hekses." Madlen said. "Well, shall we get on?"
Sophie trudged out of the room, feeling grumpy and angry. The lesson had been a disaster. To Sophie, anyway.
Sora had cut her every time Sophie opened her mouth to answer Madlen's vague questions. Soreas had done nothing to abuse her, but he didn't exactly stop Sora from interrupting her too. Either Madlen was just oblivious, or he didn't care enough to put a stop to their behavior. He did, however, praise the two of them, Soreas and Sora, but complain and scold Sophie about her short sentences, inaccurate accents and tones used, and her wrong words and phrases. Madlen made Lady Cadence look cuddly. Of course, it would have been better if not for the two Hekses... She did not know what had gotten into Sora. When Sophie had first met her she was all kind and sweet. But now she had turned into the complete opposite. There was something up.
But she didn't have time to think about it. Madlen had pulled her aside and told her what was the next lesson and directions to get there. He wasn't very clear and now Sophie was lost. Would Mr Forkle be angry if she was late for their Telepathy lesson?
She spotted Sora crying again, with Dex. This time she walked away, ignoring them, rolling her eyes. Dex must be really free to accompany Sora every time she cries.
Just then she bumped into someone. She raised her eyes and saw Fitz. Surprised, Sophie asked, "How come you're here?"
Fitz said, "I'm hopelessly lost," He pulled out a piece of paper from his cape and unrolled it. It was a small map. "That Estelle told me how to get to the Telepathy training session by Mr Forkle but she speaks real fast..."
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Now I wonder, why didn't she or Madlen give me anything?" She peered at the map and found the small circular room marked, 'Telepathy room'. "Must be biased or something." She told Fitz every detail in both of the sessions except for the trip to the Root Abyss.
Fitz raised one of his perfect eyebrows and looked at her with those teal eyes, but Sophie didn't have a crush on him anymore. She'd gotten over it. "Must be tiring for you, especially Madlen criticizing you and Sora interrupting you every time you spoke."
"Yeah," she agreed. "I was actually having quite a good time - not really but you know what I mean - before they came in," She pointed to the Telepathy Room on the map. "Here it is. It's quite obvious, actually. How come you didn't see it?" she asked as they followed the map.
Fitz looked down. "I was...distracted." He said. Sophie raised her eyebrows, curious.
"By?"
He looked away. "Sora. I saw her crying alone."
Sophie frowned. "Alone? That's weird. I saw her crying with Dex."
Fitz shrugged, then they reached a electric-blue gate with twisted metals and designs on it.
"Is this is?" Fitz asked worriedly. "I'm afraid it may be the wrong room. You never know."
Sophie looked down and saw that his hands were shaking. She extended her own shaky hand and he grasped it. Together, they pushed open the gates and went into the Telepathy Room.
