Less than a week... yay? Sorry.
Anyway I wrote this chapter right after reading an actual Keepers book so the style might be more Shannonish than usual... yay?
Crowd- Please, like you could ever begin to write like our Queen Shannon.
Me- HEY! I THOUGHT I THREW YOU OFF A CLIFF!
Anyway, review responses!
FlowerGirl: Lol, that's fine. She is! Thank you!
Lilac: Thanks! Definitely! That's the problem with having too many characters.
Pit-and-Chase: Hi! Cool! #BRINGBACKOURDEXY! Maybe... the problem is I'm a multishipper. i GaVe YoU MaReLLiNh OkAy!?
Mallowmelt: :)
Princess Book: Hardcore Sokeefe! He is! Probably, and I kinda did too... Thank you so much! Bye!
all i see is sky: True, true. Yay! Kind of. Thank you! My writing sucked at the beginning though. (CRINGE.) I'll try!
ArrowOfTheMoonlark: OOF. True... ELWIN! ELWIN WE NEED YOU! Me too, but it's a lot less. Thanks! Stay safe!
MidnightBunnyy: Hmm, true.
Cary: Good to know. It sucks though! So cringy! She better not. Looooooove! I need a fanfiction now. Yay! Okay, true. I guess. Writing isn't so hard once I get started. (I love food too!)
thesirensong: Yay plot! I'm sure it's not. Oh, I think I remember A Random Weirdo- I never made the connection though. I'm sorryyyyyyy. Hopefully soon!
SokeefeWillAlwaysBeBetter: Thanks!
Okay, this is a pretty long chapter: Enjoy!
"Would someone mind explaining why Miss Foster is looking at Councillor Oralie like she's about to inflict on her?" Bronte asked. Sophie bit her tongue, attempting to stop looking at her point-of-contact-but-definitely-not-mother as she morphed her face into something hopefully more pleasant. It had seemed like such a blessing to receive Oralie as a point of contact for her regency position at the beginning- and for what must have been the millionth time, she wished things could have gone back to the way they were before.
Well, honestly, she sort of wished things could have gone back to how they were before being kidnapped by the Neverseen. When she was where she truly belonged, but without having to constantly worry about fighting wars and not dying.
But then again, if she stayed that way forever, she never would have met Tam or Linh, or Sandor, and she wouldn't be nearly as close with Fitz or Keefe.
Would she go back in time if she had the choice?
Sophie didn't know.
But she definitely had more pressing matters to focus on right now.
"Your grumpiness must be contagious, Bronte," Oralie lied smoothly. Had she still liked Oralie, Sophie probably would have burst out laughing from the combined hilarity of the comment and Bronte's expression, but now, all her lips did was twitch up. It was funny. But Oralie's betrayal still lingered in the air, making her unable to fully laugh. Oralie's slight smirk saddened at seeing Sophie's reaction, and Sophie might have felt a twinge of pity for her.
But probably not.
Sophie tugged at an eyelash, hoping the rest of her friends- well, team, because Stina was there too- would hurry up and get there. Wherever "there" was- Sophie knew they were somewhere in Eternalia, but she wasn't quite sure which fancy castle she was in. They all looked the same to her. Team Valiant probably could have had the meeting at Havenfield- but when she contacted Bronte about setting up a meeting, he insisted that the councillors be present for this one. And in addition to just not wanting councillors in her house- because that would be pretty weird- she definitely didn't want her parents to interact with Oralie, especially now that they knew.
Why was her life so complicated?
The desire to have that question answered deepened as she saw the bedazzled door open and close on its own. Although she had lived in the Lost Cities for years, it still took her a second to realize that a Vanisher had opened it. Her suspicions were confirmed when a Biana-like voice announced "Lady Fos-Bos! Good to see you."
Despite her annoyance, Sophie felt her lips twitch up. She forced the smile back down. "Stop calling me that."
"Oh, Fos-Bos, you know you love it!" Biana teased.
It was all Sophie could do to keep from dissolving into laughter. "Seriously, stop calling me that! Or I'll come up with a really stupid and annoying nickname for you too!"
"Now I'm intrigued. Tell me, what terrible nickname are you planning to use as retaliation?"
Sophie hadn't gotten that far in her plan. Luckily, she was saved by Dex entering and going "Ooh! Are we coming up with fun nicknames for Biana?"
"N-" Biana started.
"Yes!"
"Awesome! How about Ruler of the Sparkles?" Dex suggested.
Biana clapped her hands excitedly. "YES! I LOVE IT- I mean, up, oh mallowmelt, that's awful! Please never ever call me that! I would be so annoyed!"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "How about Princess Prettypants?" she said, recalling the nickname Marella had used back when she didn't like Biana- though of course, Sophie used the nickname affectionately.
"Princess Sparklepants!" Dex exclaimed.
"Perfect! Okay, now we need a nickname for Dex. Quick, Biana, take revenge on him for 'Princess Sparklepants!'"
"Um... Techno-tomple," Biana said, referencing the mascot on Dex's badge.
The world may never know what Dex's response to that would have been, because Bronte cleared his throat and scowled. "Are you three done yet?"
Biana shrugged. "We're just waiting for the others to- oh look, they're here!" She waved enthusiastically. Wylie returned the gesture, but Stina's facial expression matched Bronte's.
"Hey, it's been a while. Why is that, anyway? Too busy crying over your breakup with one boyfriend and the other one being in a coma? Prioritizing your love life over our world? Eating mallowmelt and sighing 'Woe is me, I don't know which boy I love more!' Because clearly the Moonlark's little life crises outweigh the sacrifices that regents should be willing to make?"
Sophie flushed, not willing to admit how close Stina had been. She had definitely made the right choice in deciding to take on some of her responsibilities. "First of all, I have been working on things- learning about stellarlune, returning stolen memories, climbing stairs, catching two Neverseen members, stealing Fintan's cache, et cetera. What have you been doing?"
Stina looked like she would explode. Sophie cleared her throat. "Right. Now that that's out of the way... how are you guys?"
"Awful!" Biana exclaimed. "Mom and Dad were trying to talk to me about boys! Like, ew! I don't want to talk about my love life with my parents! Thank mallowmelt you saved me!"
"Yeah, I've been there. I also had Sandor... ugh. How about the rest of you?"
Dex shrugged. "Working on a balding elixir for Bex."
"Helping Linh brainstorm the best ways to annoy her parents about having a girlfriend," Wylie said.
"Wishing I was doing useful things with competent people."
Sophie ignored Stina's comment. "In addition to annoying your siblings, have you been working at all on the other stuff?" she asked Dex.
"Yes, Lady Fos-Boss. I've made Blur and Axel's prison a priority for now, but when I get the chance to work on Fintan's cache-"
"We could work on it," Biana interrupted. "Fintan's cache."
"We can?" Stina asked.
"Yeah. Dex figured out that caches need a password- so all we need to do is guess the password, and I don't really think we need to be a Technopath for that. And since we're not going to get Fintan to open it for us, we could use Sophie's mimicry... or maybe we could ask Keefe."
"No!" Sophie blurted. Ugh. She was hoping for one day free of boy-related thoughts. But she definitely didn't want to face him yet. "I-I can mimic. I'm not that bad, actually." When Biana raised an eyebrow, Sophie repeated her sentence in Biana's voice.
"Okay, that was decent," Biana said. "We'll use you. So, we'll work on Fintan's cache, Dex can work on the prison and maybe, I don't know, get some sleep? You look like you're sleepwalking right now. Maybe you could use your breaks for resting rather than making your siblings bald?"
"Pfft. Sleep is for the weak."
"You said it, Dex!" Sophie joked.
"Yeah, who needs sleep anyway?" Wylie added. Bronte and Stina both rolled their eyes.
"Maybe people who like not having ugly dark circles under their eyes? Or people who enjoy having a functional mind?" Biana suggested.
"A functional mind? What's that?" said Wylie.
Sophie smiled. "Anyway, jokes about how we're all basically walking disasters-"
"Especially you-" Stina said.
"-Jokes aside, I think Biana's plan sounds good. Does anyone else have a suggestion?"
"Maybe we could also interrogate Jaxx and what's-his-name... the Technopath guy, but the evil one, not the Dex one..." Stina started.
"Axel!" Dex exploded. "His name is Axel! Why does no one remember the Technopath?"
"Because their minds simply can't compute that level of awesome," Biana told him. Dex's dimples appeared in his cheeks.
Stina cleared her throat. "Yeah, interrogate Jaxx and Axel. They might also have information that would be in Fintan's cache, or maybe information about what could be used as a password."
As much as Sophie hated to admit it, Stina was right. "That's actually a pretty good idea. Who do you guys think should do what?"
"You should help with the interrogations," Stina answered, like she'd already thought about it. Probably, she had. "Since you're a Telepath. And an inflictor."
Sophie struggled to form comprehensible words in response to that. Finally, she managed "I am not torturing them to get information!"
"I mean, you could just threaten to inflict if they cooperate, and not actually go through with it," Stina argued. "Or maybe you will inflict on them! You've inflicted on the Neverseen before, right? I get that you don't want to torture people, but if we can't get information out of them, then that makes everything way harder for us- and definitely increases the risk of some of your allies getting hurt! Or maybe even dying! Wouldn't you rather hurt your enemies than let your friends get hurt because you weren't willing to?"
Sophie looked down. More than anything, she wanted to pull out an eyelash- but she didn't want to do that while everyone's eyes were on her, expecting her to act like a leader. So she drew in a shaky breath. "Fine," Sophie said. "Yeah. Okay. And... I guess you should also help with the interrogating. Since you're an Empath. You can tell if they're lying or not."
Stina looked about as happy to work with Sophie as Sophie was. "Fine."
Sophie cleared her throat. "So... Stina and I interrogating Blur and Axel, Biana and Wylie trying to open Fintan's cache- just tell me when you figure out the password and I'll mimic it for you- and Dex working with Tinker on building a security system for Blur and Axel's prison? Does that sound good do everyone?" The rest of Team Valiant nodded. "Great. Let's do this."
Long chapter! 1,689- before A/N's! 1,987 including them. Anyway, hope you enjoyed seeing Team Valiant! I did my best to keep them in character. Go check out my collab with IStillHopeForSophex, "The Abyss Of Author-Hating." It's about the crowd and GT together! Also, huzzah for plot stuff! Love plot stuff! Boy stuff is boring. I think that's everything, please review!