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Chapter 10 - Sophie

"I thought you said my mind wasn't broken!" Sophie felt the need to point out for her own comfort.

"It wasn't," Mr. Forkle confirmed again. "Ms. Redek and Romhilda are both exaggerating."

"Don't call me Romhilda!" Ro drew a dagger and raced over to Mr. Forkle at lightning speed. Sophie could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears. If Sandor hadn't tackled the ogre princess halfway to stop her from reaching him, Sophie wasn't sure what would have happened. Definitely not something good.

"My apologies," Mr. Forkle muttered.

"Can we please stay focused?" Dex shouted over the chaos, making his way over to Sophie. "Are you okay?"

Sophie tried to pull off a casual shrug, but her mind was still racing. "I guess so. No one's told me what's exactly happening yet, so... an explanation would be nice. How long have I been out?"

Dex looked down. "Almost a day" he muttered, "you went out yesterday afternoon and it's the morning now."

"A day?! What?"

It took a few minutes to calm The Raging Ro and for things to return to as normal as they could be. Early daylight streamed in through Havenfield's large windows, illuminating the hardwood floors as everything finally settled. Edaline conjured up a few treats and awkwardly placed them in the center of the room, but no one ate anything.

According to her friends, Oralie had leaped to Havenfeild with an unconscious Sophie in her arms. Grady hailed Elwin, the rest of the Black Swan was notified, and soon enough, everyone was crowding around Sophie trying to figure out what was wrong. Oralie had been very vague and unhelpful, in too much shock to tell them what had happened. Fitz, Mr. Forkle, and Tiegran were all unable to reach her, so they had no idea what was going on inside her mind. They all had to wait around for an entire afternoon while Elwin forced a bunch of elixirs down her throat and flashed multicolored lights. Then she had just... woken up.

"We were hoping you could help fill some of the gaps," Mr. Forkle said. "Do you remember anything? What was going on in your head?"

"Well... uhh..." Sophie paused for a second, trying to figure out how to word it. "Um, after we opened the cache, there was this revelation that caught me off guard, and I guess I got scared." She half expected someone to make fun of her for saying that, but no one did, so she continued. "I remember forming a sort of shield in my mind, to protect myself from the dangerous thoughts."

"Was it golden?" Fitz interrupted.

Sophie nodded.

He sighed. "That makes sense. I remember seeing some kind of light blocking my way to you, and behind it was darkness."

"Me as well," Tiergan added.

Sophie continued. "Then there were these calming breezes that eased me out and made it feel safe again to come back."

"Breezes?" Mr. Forkle asked.

"Yeah, they were green and blue, and I know I've seen them somewhere before, that's why I let them help me and..." Sophie's voice trailed off. She got a little choked up—half from disbelief, half from sadness. "He... he sent them to me."

She saw everyone's confused faces. "Who?" Linh asked.

Sophie blinked hard, refusing to cry. She wouldn't, not in front of all these people. "Keefe," she whispered. "He somehow sent them to me, and calmed me down."

"Ooooo!" Ro clapped her hands together, very clearly excited. "Is that why you were muttering his name the whole time you were out?"

Everyone turned and glared at Ro again, but the ogre wasn't bothered.