Fairly fast update, right? Don't get too used to it, lol, it's only a matter of time before I go on a six month hiatus like I did with KOTLC Reads KOTLC- but I'm back, so go read it! (Shameless self promotion!) Just kidding, I won't disappear for six months-
Crowd: Darn.
-but I might get a heck of a lot slower with updates at some point, so enjoy this while you can!
Guest: Thanks! Me too.
Siren: Nice reaction. None of us are fine. Lol, that's a mood. Thank you! I have read Divergent, good job. That is evil! Thanks!
Mallowmelt: :)
IShipWayTooManyShips: Magic? Quarantine. Lol yeah. Thank you so much! :)
FlowerGirl15: Idk what the Neverseen's goal is. This is my interpretation/idea. I'm also curious! O.o lol. I think they're scared of Sophie/Inflicting. Thanks!
Sky: Yay! Um... I think it's the Stina one. Yeah, say hello to the online tutorials! Clothes are important! Idk... I'll figure that out later. No problem!
Guess what, guys? YOU GET A GIRLS' NIGHT! YAYYYYYY!
Sophie was very stressed.
Well, she was always stressed, really. But especially so right now.
Everything she and Stina had learned had been relayed to the council, and Sophie was so stressed that she almost forgot to tell Oralie. For once, she thought, these incompetent fools better do something right. The mental list of real names that Blur had given them was given, and she hoped that the council would arrest everyone as soon as possible- though a few of those names weren't in the registry, meaning that they had probably already been banished, which was unhelpful, and it seemed like there were more members listed by ability than by name. The Level Four mesmer's real identity remained unknown- that was frustrating.
They had two weeks to get all of Gildingham's security measures into place. And no matter how many times Sandor insisted that they were already strong beyond belief, it didn't feel like nearly enough. A few Councillors decided that they would send someone to go into Nightfall. Sophie doubted that doing so would work- after all, she and her friends barely escaped, and Biana's scars proved just how dangerous that was.
The Black Swan had countless meetings within the next few days. Plans for fighting, trying to guess what the Neverseen's battle tactics would be (Blur and Axel didn't know,) working with the goblins on their own battle tactics, figuring out counterattacks for the various abilities the Neverseen had. And training. And training.
And training.
Mr. Forkle- as Magnate Leto- had excused Sophie and her friends from their schoolwork in favor of training. Any other time, Sophie would have been overjoyed to not have to write essays on Elvin History- but even that would be preferable to the anxiety that this whole "Neverseen Attack On Gildingham" thing.
In conclusion, Sophie was very stressed.
And just when she thought her stress levels couldn't get any higher, as they got closer and closer to the day of the attack, they did.
Two days remained before the attack was scheduled when Sophie's friends decided to, in Biana's words, "De-stress the Fos-Bos." No matter how much Sophie protested, insisting that they couldn't waste time, that they would focus on surviving the rest of the week and then worry about her mental health, that there were much more important things to be done, Biana was relentless with organizing a Girls' Night. To her dismay, Marella and Linh agreed. And then her parents agreed that it would be a great idea for Sophie to take a few hours off of work and training and STRESS to hang out with her friends and be a normal teenager.
Those traitors.
And that was how Sophie ended up standing right outside Everglen, a backpack slung over one shoulder and a sleeping bag in her hands. Right before the door opened, Sophie's stress about the Neverseen almost completely blotted out her stress about the love triangle... and then Fitz opened the door.
She didn't know how to feel when she stared into his teal eyes. Sort of a combination between instant forgiveness and hugging him and strangling him and throwing him at a chandelier.
Emotions sucked.
And it got worse when he tried to apologize.
"Sophie! Oh my mallowmelt, Soph, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for our first 'I love you' to be while arguing, I promise. It's just... I'd been feeling it for so long, and so strongly, that really, it's no wonder that the words just... slipped out. I'm really sorry, Soph."
Sophie couldn't deal with that right now. She didn't know whether she forgave him, but she decided that thinking about it would be too much work. So she just muttered "Uh huh," and hoped that Fitz dropped it.
Fitz didn't drop it. "Sophie, I really am sorry. Come on, please just-"
But luckily, Biana showed up and saved Sophie. "Chandelier Head, shut up. Sophie doesn't want to talk to you right now. This is girls' night, and you're not a girl. So bye!" she said, dragging Sophie by the arm up to her (very sparkly, very pink) room. Marella and Linh were already there waiting.
The girls' night was fun. First they did makeovers- which was not fun, until Sophie got to give Biana a terrible makeover- seeing Biana's look of horror as she looked into the mirror made it all worth it. Linh and Marella did makeovers for each other, which made Biana very excited. Marella kept trying to insist that Linh was already The Most Beautiful Girl even without the styled hair and makeup, while Linh kept blushing and telling her to "just do the makeover!" This brought no shortage of squealing from Biana.
After makeovers, Biana tried to advocate for boy talk. That didn't really work out. Sophie was coming here to escape the boy drama (and the Neverseen drama, but also the boy drama), Linh and Marella were both lesbian, and Biana still refused to reveal her crush.
So then Sophie decided to teach them human games- elves had heard of truth or dare, but not much else. They girls played a few terrible but hilarious games of telephone, some fun rounds of would you rather, Never Have I Ever, and then they did play truth or dare, which Sophie had the idea to turn into "dare or dare." The most notable dares were when Linh had to let Sophie do her makeup blindfolded, when Sophie had to rhyme everything she spoke for the remainder of the game (thank goodness she had a photographic memory, that helped quite a bit with her internal thesaurus), Biana had to make out with Lady Sassyfur, and Marella had to write a lot of love poetry about Linh. Fun game.
Biana then dared Sophie to mimic Keefe and prank call Grady, telling him something about how they were dating, or really anything that would make Grady's "THAT BOY" fury increase. In response, Sophie smacked her friend with a pillow. This sparked a pillow fight, no, an all out pillow war.
When they had finally settled down from that, Sophie started showing them the Harry Potter movies on her i pod- introducing those elves to human culture, specifically Potterhead culture, did bring her great joy. Eventually, at about three in the morning, they decided to go to sleep.
Well, they decided to try to go to sleep. It didn't really work so well for Sophie the Insomniac. Somehow, the whole boy thing kept drifting into her mind every time she almost slipped into subconsciousness. Finally, sick of lying awake, she got up and went to go raid the Vackers' refrigerator, hoping that they would have mallowmelt in there... but knowing herself, that wasn't very likely. Still... maybe some custard bursts or something!
In true Sophie Foster fashion, on her way to the refrigerator, she managed to walk into... someone. Turning on the lights revealed that someone to be Linh.
"Sorry!" she apologized in a whisper.
Linh smiled, letting her know that it was fine. Maybe she was just used to it by now. "Hi!"
"Hello."
"So, what brings you out of bed at four thirty in the morning?" Linh asked.
Sophie shrugged. "I was going to go raid the Vackers' refrigerator. Couldn't sleep?"
"Too much on your mind?"
Sophie nodded.
"Want to talk about it?" Linh asked, playing with the silver tips of her hair.
"I guess... I'm trying to put all the boy stuff on hold for now, because we have much more important stuff to think about, but... I really can't stop the question of who I want to pick from tormenting me all the time. It's just... I can't decide who I like more, and no matter how much Keefe tells me that I shouldn't feel pressured to choose, both of them are probably getting sick of waiting, and... what if they both get so sick of it that they both move on from me, and then I'm left with neither because I'm too indecisive. I want to choose, Linh, I really need to, but I just can't." Sophie sighed, a little bit worked up from the small rant. "Um... any advice? I realize that your relationship drama probably isn't as crazy as mine... but you're smart. So maybe? I'll take all of the Linh Wisdom I can get."
"I can try. So, um, I've never been in a love triangle, but... well, as you can imagine, when I was trying to figure out whether or not I liked Marella, there was quite a bit of internal debate, because no one had ever told me that it was possible to have a crush on a girl. Heteronormativity can be really harmful sometimes. But then I just sat down and thought about it, really thought about it, and realized that any time I imagined a future... she was there by my side. And... that was when I knew that I actually really loved her." Sure enough, a smile had risen to Linh's face at the very mention of her girlfriend. Sophie wondered if she would ever look that way just by thinking about K- F- her boyfriend.
"So..." Sophie asked, trying to ignore the battle in her head, raging between the fact that she thought of Keefe first and the fact that Fitz was her first crush. "What are you suggesting I do?"
Linh's silvery blue eyes met Sophie's brown. The urge to pluck out a few (thousand) eyelashes was overwhelming, and small crescents appeared on her fingertips from digging her nails in to stop herself. "Don't overthink it," Linh said, refusing to break eye contact. "No looking back. Just think. When you wake up, who do you want to be the first thing you see in the morning? When you raise your kids, who do you want to be their father? When you get married, who do want Grady to grudgingly accept? When you have your first real kiss, who's lips do you want pressed against your own? When you live the rest of your indefinite lifespan, who do you want by your side? Sophie Foster, who do you love?"
A name flashed across Sophie's mind, a face, so faint and lightning-fast that it was almost impossible to notice. But Sophie noticed, and-
"I have to go," she blurted, already pulling a leaping crystal out of her pocket. "I- I have to go tell him that he's who I choose."
Another long chapter: 1,800! Over 2,000 with A/N's! Anyway...
Oh my mallowmelt! Sophie is about to choose! Finally!
And... more excitingly...
I AM DONE WITH WRITING A LOVE TRIANGLE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! AHHHHHHHHH! YAYYYYYYYYYY! I HATED WRITING THAT STUPID TRIANGLE AND NOW IT'S OVER! HUZZAH! WE SHALL ALL REJOICE!
I know you guys want that next chapter as soon as possible, so please review!