Holy schist.

You guys are absolutely incredible.

You've waited, and waited, and waited for an update, and I haven't delivered.

I slumped myself with that last cliffhanger, I have to admit. I wasn't planning on ending the chapter there, but I figured I should just write down 'It all went wrong' and deal with it later.

Bad idea.

So, to those of you here from the beginning, thank the gods you're still here, and to those of you who have just discovered this, voted, or added it to a reading list, lucky you. Here's an update.

I present you with a load of drama, trickery, and my own failing at making a master plan and really just messing everything up in the process.

Yeah. The confidence is soaring.

Sophie

Sophie was starting to think that her plan was a bad idea.

Unfortunately, it was too late to back out.

She was going to push forward and hope for the best.

She gave the slightest nod towards the elves, praying that her message would get through.

The initial shock of Bo holding a dagger to Keefe's neck still hadn't worn off, but Sophie was determined to work around it.

Or with it.

She cleared her throat. The curious onlookers hushed at once, awaiting what the moonlark had to say.

"Gisela!" She took one more painful look at Keefe. "Bo is prepared to––" she swallowed, "to kill Keefe if he has to. We have plenty of witnesses here. Just make. The. Vow."

Sophie would die before she let that happen to Keefe, but Gisela didn't––

"Hah! You wouldn't lay a finger on my son's head, moonlark. The point of my signing of the treaty is so that no one will be harmed. Now, I suggest you cooperate as we have planned, or there will be consequences." Gisela examined her nails.

Sophie glared in Bo's direction. It was a foolish move on his part, and she was depending on him to fix it. "You're right. I would never harm Keefe. But I am not the one holding a knife to his neck, am I?"

Gisela shook her head. "You're not changing my mind."

Sophie had to keep talking.

"But I will try." She thought quickly. "What is your goal? What are you going to gain from this?" As she spoke, her eyes darted from the elve's side to the Neverseen's. "There is nothing. In a world that wants peace, bringing chaos will get you nowhere."

Gisela tapped her foot impatiently. "Are you quite finished?"

Sophie saw a swift movement out of the corner of her eye. "In fact, I am."

Gisela studied her face. "What are you up to, child?"

Sophie smiled. "Just...buying some time."

A look of realization, and maybe a hint of fear overcame Gisela's face. She had only started to turn to her followers when her hands were yanked behind her back, bound by some type of rope. Sophie recognized it as the rope from Havenfield.

Her captor materialized behind her.

Sophie nodded appreciatively. "Della."

"Sophie," Della greeted. She yanked Gisela around so that she was able to see that all of the once widely awake Neverseen behind her had now fallen into a deep slumber. Gisela gasped.

"What have you done?" she spat.

Sophie walked straight up to her face. "You have one last chance to make the vow. Unless you want to end up like them."

Gisela narrowed her eyes. "Asleep? Oh no, I'm absolutely petrified."

"So, that's a no, then?"

Gisela did not answer.

Sophie stuck her hand in a hidden pocket, pulling out a fistful of gleaming orange dust. "Sleep well!"

Sophie plugged her nose, urging Della to do the same. They both took a step away from Lady Gisela, watching as she crumpled to the ground, like a doll a small child had grown bored of.

Sophie couldn't help herself, she high-fived Della.

"Thank you so much, Della."

"It was my pleasure."

Sophie turned to face the hundreds of sleeping Neverseen. The elve's dwarves should have taken care of the Neverseen's by now, so Sophie pushed the worry out of her mind.

"Biana!" She called. "Edaline?"

The two appeared so suddenly in front of her that she gave a very visible jump. "There you are," she breathed, relieved.

Edaline swept Sophie into a hug. "You did it! My brave little girl."

Sophie returned the hug. "We did it."

And then Sophie remembered something.

"Keefe!"

Keefe was sitting, awestruck, and now very much free from Bo's grasp, on the grass. Sophie rushed to him.

"Are you okay? Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, I had no idea Bo would go that far––"

Sophie stopped as she was enveloped in a second hug from Keefe. "It's okay, Foster. Let's just...not do this again."

Sophie nodded, so happy she could cry.

Until Bo stepped up.

Sophie whirled on him. "What were you thinking? You could've seriously hurt him, I didn't ask you to draw blood! I––"

Sophie stopped as she realized she was surrounded by the other elves.

Bo patted her shoulder. "We'll talk later." Sophie could've sworn she saw a smile creasing his face.

"Sophie?"

Sophie looked up at Dex, Grady, Fitz, and many others.

Questions came at her so fast, she couldn't keep up.

"What was that?"

"How did you––?"

"Why in the world wasn't I involved in this?"

"Are you okay?"

"Did you––?"

"OKAY!"

The questions came to an abrupt halt.

Sophie exhaled. "I know you're confused, and you want answers. And I promise, I'll explain everything later. I'm sorry for lying." She bit her lip as a fresh burst of guilt spread in her chest. She pushed it aside. It had worked out, hadn't it?

She pulled out her imparter, and Councillor Oralie appeared on the screen. "Oralie? Where are you guys?"

Oralie smiled. "It worked?"

"Yeah. But we need to evacuate the Neverseen before it wears off. Are you on your way?"

Oralie looked up from her imparter. "Here," she said simply.

Sophie turned away from the crowd around her. From the outskirts of forest came the entire council, observing the sleeping bodies that were scattered across the field.

"Well done!" Councillor Terik called. He snapped a glowing circle around Gisela's hands, untying the rope. Sophie figured it was a type of handcuff.

Sophie turned to Sandor, who stood still, obviously trying to hide his surprise on the entire matter.

"Sandor? Would you mind helping them?"

Sandor cleared his throat, sending Sophie a weary look. "I will. But we're going to have a long talk about this later." He glared pointedly in the direction of Bo, scowling. "A long, long talk." He stomped off.

Sophie shook her head slightly as he walked away. She could handle a bit of argument if she'd just helped stop the Neverseen.

Once more, she turned to the gathering behind her. "Alright. I need our strongest levitators over there with the council," she announced, directing her voice toward the elves.

The initial shock had worn off a bit, and they had realized this wasn't something to take their time with. A group of 20 elves surged forward, ready to assist the council.

Sophie watched as they went, admittedly surprised at the lack of argument and questions. They were here to get the job done, just as she was.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Della calmly talking to Alden, who looked a bit distraught, and struggled to keep a calm disposition.

Not too far from them, Sophie waved to Grady, who was smiling proudly. Initially, Sophie was only going to inform Edaline on the plan, but she realized it could cause Grady some real mind damage if he thought the whole thing real.

But he did do a great job acting. People had been too busy paying attention to him to notice that Edaline, Biana, and Della had slipped away.

Sophie felt the leftover slumberroot powder in her pocket. She held it out for the elve's side to see. "Slumberroot powder," she explained.

Mr. Forkle shook his head. "I understand what it is, Ms. Foster, but how did you get your hands on something so rare?"

Sophie's eyes flickered to her cluster of bodyguards, who had joined Sandor with the council. "That's something I'll have to keep to myself."

I'll tell you later, she transmitted to Fitz.

She had been trying to avoid his eye contact, afraid of his reaction. But the second she finished the transmission, he jumped on her in a hug, whispering, "I should've known. You're so clever. You had me so scared." His rambles didn't stop until she gently said, "Fitz, I'll fill you in on everything later. It's been quite a day. Meet me at Havenfield tonight. Right now, I have to go with the council and work a few things out."

Fitz nodded, pulling away with a soft kiss on her cheek.

As she walked away towards the council, her blush deepened. Fitz was probably wondering why she wasn't bringing him along.

I would ask you to join me, but I don't think the council will take it very well. I'll be back before you know it.

Fitz responded, Of course. I'll make sure we get everyone home safe. See you later, Soph.

She so badly wanted to run back to him, and tell him everything, from how scared she was, to how bad she felt about lying to him, even to how Biana almost let it slip. The council had insisted she tell as few people as possible or it wouldn't work.

Her sobs of joy and relief would have to be saved for another time, though.

Sophie had a job to finish.