what happened after unlocked

chapter twenty-five ~ grady's expedition

Hola my friends! Sorry for the lack of updates lately! I promise I'll work a little faster – that probably sounds like a hollow promise since that's what I say all the time, but THIS TIME I will make a real effort. Gracias!

The smell of burning sugar filled Sophie's nose again, and she wasn't sure what to do with it.

Where was her father going?

After Tam left the sleepover that Fitz and Biana were hosting, Linh left too, and then Wylie and Marella. Sophie guessed they were all trying to catch up to each other, so she made an excuse to follow them, but then they leaped away and she didn't have a crystal to Solreef so she took her chance to go home. Her parents mustn't have thought she'd come home half a day early, so they were caught off guard when she found them in the kitchen talking in low whispers.

It must have been serious, because they stopped right as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Dad...you smell like Everblaze," she told him. "Like, real Everblaze...where have you been going when you've come back home covered in ash?"

Edaline's calmness was replaced by fear, and it was almost as if her eyes were saying to her husband, Don't tell her!

Grady turned his gaze to the floor and sighed half-heartedly. "I'm really sorry, honey, but I can't tell you. The information is classified. Between me and Forkle."

"You can tell me!" Sophie argued. "I'm your daughter!"

Her father dragged a hand down his face. "Maybe another time...but not now."

A swirl of rage in the put of her stomach erupted. She'd been concealing it for far too long...she needed to let it out...

A strangled sob left her mouth and Sophie stumbled, somewhat disoriented as her eyes were blurred with tears...she felt herself falling into someone's arms...someone she loved...and she let the tears fall...she let the ugly sounds escape her lips as she cried harder than she had in years...

"Sophie," Edaline's voice whispered in her ear. "Sophie, just let it all out, come on..."

And Sophie obeyed her. She felt limp in her mother's arms, she just wanted to crawl into a deep hole in the ground and die...all that pent-up emotion she'd buried inside her heart was slowly disappearing with every tear...this was worse than when Keefe had gone, because this outburst was mixed with every emotion she'd ever felt.

Every good one, every bad one, every one in the middle.

As she commanded herself to stop, crying out with pain, her body slowly obeyed, at a sluggish pace nonetheless...but she was freeing herself...she was falling...free...

When her eyes opened, she was staring into her mother's eyes. They were like the ocean, lulling her in...

She collapsed onto the floor...she wasn't finished yet...this was worse than everything she'd ever experienced.

More painful than when Keefe had left her.

"Sophie!" Grady said. "I'm sorry, okay? If this is my fault..."

"It's not!" Sophie sobbed, her hair soaked with sweat, tears, and snot. "It's just...everything!"

"This isn't going to sound like much," Grady said softy, "but I understand."

"Me too."

The airy voice came from Flori, who was standing by Sandor and looked like she'd been meditating for hours. Just looking at her made Sophie feel calmer.

Her tears melted into the floor, like it was a symbol of her sadness being absorbed into life.

"Sophie?" Edaline asked her, "Do you still want to go to the Vackers' party?"