Ethereal

10- Bill Nye the Science Guy

A/N: Finally reached the 10th chapter! Yay!

Sophie sat next to (Y/N) trying to squish against the back of her seat to get the farthest away from the scorpion.

"Oh, come one, it's not that bad," (Y/N) reassured her. Sophie just shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.

"So, who is this Quinlin guy anyway?" Sophie asked, desperate to change the topic.

Alden smiled. "He's the best probe I know. If anyone can slip into your guys' brains, it's him."

Hmmm, reassuring.

"Why would he work down here? In Atlantis?" Sophie asked.

"Atlantis is our most secure city, where anyone can be if they need secrecy or added protection. Including your guys' files."

"We have files?" (Y/N) asked in curiosity.

"Two highly classified ones'."

"What's in them?"

"You'll see."

The carriage eventually entered a sort of business district. The streets on the sides of the canal were bustling a full, all sorts of elves entering and leaving the taller buildings lining the streets. Each building was silver, taller than the rest of the buildings in Atlantis, with round windows and lights tracing out the names of each building.

Treasury. Registry. Interspecies Services.

But everything else was unreadable.

"What's with the random string of letters?" Sophie asked.

"You mean the runes?" Alden said, following her gaze to where they were gazing at a building.

"Is that what these are?" (Y/N) jutted in, showing her nexus.

Alden nodded. "That's our ancient alphabet."

"You can't read it?" Fitz asked in slight disbelief.

"But you can tell their letters?" Alden asked, stroking his chin.

"Yeah, but I- both of us- can't read it," (Y/N) answered, sharing a look with Sophie. "Is this going to be a problem for school?"

"Nah, almost no one uses it, except when you want to be fancy." Fitz said.

"Is it... bad that we can't read it?" Sophie questioned hesitantly.

"Reading should be instinctive," Alden muttered under his breath. "But maybe both of your human educations' affected you somehow. It's hard to tell, especially with both of your upbringings."

Everyone went quiet afterwards, and (Y/N) turned her head to gaze down at the water of the canal they were on. She stared at her reflection, glaring at the swirls of brown in her eye.

Of course me and Sophie are always the odd ones out, no matter where we go... She thought bitterly.

Just then, the carriage they were riding in turned down a narrow canal, where the crowd of elves hadn't gone. The waterway was lined with purple trees with kelp-like leaves, and the place was quiet, with only the sound of the water swishing together filling the air. The path ended with a single building, plain and original compared to all the other Atlantis structures. It had no windows, and there was only a single sign on the front labeled, Quinlin Sonden: Chief Mentalist.

The door to the building was closed tightly, but when the carriage stopped in front of the building, (Y/N) knew it was their stop.

Alden pulled out a small, green cube from the depths of his cape, handing it to the driver. He slid the cube across a cuff above his elbow, where it let out a small ping!, and handed it back to Alden.

(Y/N)'s mouth went dry when everyone started to get off the carriage, worried for what was to come. She stepped off, turning around when she heard a splash from the water.

The sea scorpion looked back at her, raising its tail slightly and waving it back and forth gently. (Y/N) grinned before waving back. The scorpion made a rumbling sound deep in it's chest and (Y/N) knew that he wasn't that bad-no matter what Sophie said.

So, when (Y/N) turned around to head inside of the building, she wasn't surprised to feel a bit more braver already.

_

The inside of the building was different than most elven buildings. Instead of it being huge or grand, it was more humble, with a slightly damp feel to the air and a big stone desk in the office in the back.

(Y/N) had followed Alden past the receptionist, and into the back of the building, where they had finally met Quinlin.

Quinlin, was tall, with dark-skin and chin-length black hair. He smiled when Alden entered the room, getting up from his seat and sweeping into a low bow.

"Please, there's no need for the ceremony, my friend," Alden replied with a wink.

"Of course," Quinlin replied, even though it looked like they had been over this for a while. He turned his gaze over to (Y/N) and Sophie, studying them with interest. "Brown eyes?"

"Definitely unique."

"That's an understatement," Quinlin responded quickly, his eyes locked on Sophie and (Y/N) for the longest time. (Y/N) stood still, staring right back at him and trying not to show how much she found that creepy. "You really them-after all these years?"

Years? (Y/N) thought in confusion. How long had they been searching before they found Sophie?

"You tell me. Do you have any of their files?"

"Right here," Quinlin said, taking out two small, silver squares and handing one each to (Y/N) and Sophie.

"Both of you have to lick it," Fitz explained. "They need your DNA."

(Y/N) shrugged, giving her's a tiny lick, while Sophie stared at her, before caving in and licking hers.

She's probably thinking about how unsanitary it is, (Y/N) thought with a smirk as she saw Sophie wrinkle her nose after licking the square.

But before she could think more on it, the small square in her palm started to heat up, before a hologram was projected from it. Two strands of DNA rotated next to each other, like in those science videos that teachers try to show their students in order to get them to learn stuff. Key word: try.

And of course, (Y/N) sidetracked when she thought about science videos.

Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill. Bill Nye the Science Gu-

(Y/N)'s train of thought was interrupted, though, when a word flashed green right below the strands of DNA.

MATCH.