Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Thirty-One: Sophie

My entire body aches painfully when I regain consciousness again. The flashbacks I receive somehow increase the stiffness of my muscles. My eyelids try to close again, but I force myself to sit up. My closed balcony window makes the room a bit brighter, and I'm thankful that I didn't wake up from sunlight in my eyes. Yawning, I look down at my bed and frown. When did I go to bed? I ask myself. I groan again when my head pulses painfully, causing stars to appear. Shaking my head, I swing my legs over the edge and stand up, unknowingly sore.

I turn my head towards the connecting door, and my eyes widen noticeably. The chair from my vanity desk was moved over to block it, and Fitz's slumping down, clearly exhausted. When I creep closer, I realise that he's completely knocked out. When I hear his light snoring, a gentle smile tugs at my lips. Making sure that I don't wake him, I quietly tiptoe between my closet and bathroom, getting ready as quietly as possible. Soon enough, I'm ready and staring at Fitz again, who's still asleep in the chair. Confusion tries to pull me back, but something else brings me to the sleeping Percipient; softly brushing loose hair away from his eyes, I kneel down to properly study him. Over time, he's grown naturally paler, but we've all paled while within these walls.

"How long has it been?" I ask myself, reaching forward to cup his face with my hand, "since we came, since everything happened?" I sigh, recalling what we've gone through as a whole group and what Fitz and I have specifically gone through together. I shudder at the thought of Jacob and the cuts covering my arms and face, but I remember Fitz holding me close and gently enough to not disturb my scars. I remember the indescribable hole I felt when I couldn't find him, but I smile at the moment when I saw him again. And now, we're going through Jacob again, but he's still here. I'm still here. "We're still here."

I have the right mind to jump back in shock when his hand covers mine, but I remain seated as the male Percipient opens his eyes to stare at me. He smiles a bit, still in the process of waking up. After yawning, he asks, "How long were you awake for?"

"A few minutes," I respond. "How long were you awake for?"

He yawns again, rubbing one of his eyes with his free hand. "Not long, don't worry." He laughs, standing up, "I'm pretty sure that I passed out after sitting." Stretching a bit, he closes his eyes and holds his neck, which I'm sure is in pain after his regrettable choice of staying in my room. No, I don't regret it, he transmits to me, catching me off guard. When I look back at him in shock, the male Percipient smirks, already placing my chair back where it usually resides. After telling me to wait for him, he goes back into his room to freshen up, and I collapse onto my bed and stare up at the ceiling. Already, I want to go back to sleep.

...

Downstairs and in the conference room, Fitz and I sit next to each other with an empty notepad and two pens on the table and between us. I grab a pen and bring the notepad clsoer to me, "Where do we start?"

Fitz looks around the room, even though it's clearly empty, before looking back at me. "Let's start from the interrogation with Jacob." Scooting closer, he takes the other pen and begins to scribble down notes. "So we know that he's going against whatever Nixsift has planned for the two of us-"

"Nixsift?"

"The organisation Fitton, Aeron- which was the guy that attacked us and looked like Fitton, and Jacob are all a part of," Fitz quickly summarises for me. Writing that down, he continues, "He's changed- a lot. When we first saw him, he was bloodthirsty, horrid, and..." He trails off, glancing at me before staring at the notepad again. I notice his fist tightening around his pen and place a hand over his. When he looks up at me, I smile softly and mouth, 'It's fine.' His teal eyes linger on me for a moment longer before his entire body relaxes considerably.

I nod, continuing from where Fitz left off. "He was perfectly hidden for years," I point out, "but he let himself get caught." I let those words float around in the air momentarily before adding, "I think something made him go against protocol and turn himself if, or this is a part of Nixsift." I furrow my eyebrows, "It's hard to believe him because of his, well, reputation, but he also told the truth."

"Excuse me?" Fitz asks, raising an eyebrow, "how do you know that?"

I suck in a breath; Fitz may not know what Mr. Wallace did to Benen after he and Donovan left for that headquarters last year. "You know submersion, right?"

"The thing that Jacob was talking about? But isn't that making people forget things?"

"But once you left, Jacob told me that I can also bring memories that were submerged back- whether by someone or with nebmentia. Here's the problem- I've already done it," I tell him, my voice quieting to almost a whisper. When met with a speechless Fitz, I continue, "While you and Donovan were gone, Laurel, Audrey, and I were looking everywhere. Benen was gone as well, despite the fact that he didn't go with you. He disappeared for a few days."

At this, Fitz noticeably pales, "Oh god..." His voice soon trails off, and I realise that he knew that Mr. Wallace did something, but he didn't know the full extent of what happened.

"His version of safe was wiping Benen's memory with nebmentia!" I blurt out, "and Benen suddenly reappeared with no memory whatsoever. I went into his head and did this weird thing where I played different memories that I had of both of you, and that stimulated the memories that he had about the whole operation." Before I know it, I'm rambling about the whole encounter. "When viewing the submerged memories, you only see it from the perspective whose memory was submerged, and there's no sound, which is troublesome. And when I pull away, it's almost painful because it's like the temples are burning after the whole thing, but I only feel it, not the other person."

The male Percipient sucks in a harsh breath, clearly trying and struggling with the flood of information I gave him. After a few minutes of silence, he abruptly stands up, almost startling me. "I need to go see Benen," he tells me, "I need to see this submersion thin again." He glances back at me, "Meet me in my room in an hour- I feel like we've only brushed the surface of what's going on."

As soon as Fitz leaves, Mr. Wallace strolls in; it's the first time that I've seen him since the prison, and my muscles tense at the memory of his crazed self. Before he can acknowledge me, I rip the piece of paper that Fitz was writing on and carefully stick it in the middle of the blank pages, making it virtually undetectable. Because I was so wrapped up in making sure that Mr. Wallace doesn't see our notes, I don't realise that he's near me until he places a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump. After apologising, Mr. Wallace looks at the notepad, "Taking notes?"

I nod, staying silent. My heart threaten to leap out of my chest, and I have a right mind to transmit to Fitz. Instead, I just stand where I am, internally freaking out.

Raising an eyebrow, he nods solemnly, "That's good; make a game plan for Jacob's trial. We need to get him the harshest sentence for what he's done."

We're testifying?, I think to myself. Remembering that I'm not alone, I hide my bewilderment and say, "Of course, but we don't know where to start." I show him the "blank" notepad, making my confusion more believable.

Mr. Wallace shakes his head, almost disappointed, "Without your guys' testimonies, Jacob could walk away as a free man. You don't want that, right?" When I shake my head, he gives me an unsettling grin. "Good- you should work with Fitz when you two meet up in what- an hour?" Mr. Wallace then turns around, "Like you, I need to make notes- I'll be testifying against him as well. Gather the others and come down here later on, won't you, Sophie?" And with that, he exits the conference room, almost as if nothing's happened.

I replay Mr. Wallace's words, now the only one with the room. When I finally understand that I'm testifying in a court, in front of people, about the horrible things that happened, I begin to tremble. My face pales noticeably as I grip my arms, making sure that I don't have any of the cauterised scars that he gave me. Before I can crumble in on myself, I sit down again and place my head it my hands. The whole world seems to be swirling around me, and I try my hardest to not faint.

After taking a few breaths, I sit up and glance at the notepad. Taking out the original sheet of paper, I take my pencil and begin to scribble down actual notes for the trial that I'm apparently testifying for. I glance down and reread what I've written:

Jacob Grahams- murderer of David and Michelle Grahams.