Always With You- SOKEEFE(unlocked)

Chapter Fifteen

"Stop... STOP!" Sophie screamed clutching her head.

"You can't run away from me Sophie. Not now, not ever."

The red circles grew around Sophie, taking up most her vision. She pushed the burning emotions back rubbing on the knot that spread under her ribs. She wouldn't let her abilities get the best of her. Not this time.

Jolie continued, "Such a coward, you are. Too terrified of yourself to use your own ability on me. Abilities give you power, Sophie. Use it. USE IT!"

"NO!" Sophie yelled back at her, "Stop this Jolie. It's not who you are."

"Not who I am?? You don't know who I am. You haven't even met me yet."

"I know you're a good person. You'd never hurt a soul. You always wanted the best for our world."

"There it is. The truth. We. Are. The. Same. You know it. And..." Jolie motioned to herself, "Look where I am now. A presumed dead girl, covered in burn scars given from her fiancé, working for a rebel organization. Welcome to my life Soybean. I'm sure you'll hate it as much as I do."

"I'm not like you." Sophie said with strain in her voice, "I wouldn't abandon the people I love!"

"Yet how many times have they either died or gotten hurt because of you?"

"It was the Neverseen's fault, not mine."

"Keep telling yourself that. Or... isn't that what Keefe keeps trying to convince you of? That you're not the reason he almost died that day in Loanmore? You could have helped him. You could have saved him. Instead, you're weak. Can't even save the boy you love. Pathetic."

Sophie lost started to lose grip of her temper. She quickly decided it'd be best to get away before anyone got hurt.

She used her emotions to stir up the adrenaline that she'd need, and poured it out, splitting open the void back to her home in Havenfield.

But...

But.

She heard another crack of thunder after her, so, she kept running. Then again, and again, and again.

She was being followed.

The chase was continuous to the point of exhaustion. Jolie was on Sophie's tail for minutes straight, until there was no more energy left to give, and Sophie collapsed to the floor, not even knowing where she had ended up. It was as if the life had been drained out if her. But she wasn't done fighting. Not yet, not ever.

"The Neverseen can give you strength, Sophie. More than you could ever believe." Jolie told her.

"I already have strength!"

"PROVE IT!"

Sophie heard numerous, piercing voices around her, but shoved them away. She couldn't be distracted. She wouldn't be distracted.

She gathered up everything she had, and pushed the force out of her mind with a bolt. Red, glowing light connected Sophie to Jolie through the long distance between them. She felt something growing inside of her head. A searing pain in the back of her mind that felt as if her brain was splitting in two.

"HANDS UP! PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" Sophie heard a voice say from behind her.

***
Sophie obeyed once she realized where she was, and the consequences that came if she didn't listen. Her hands slowly raised above her head as she turned around to see a group of police officers with guns pointed at both her and Jolie, who was now trying to regain her balance. It took a second for her to take in her surroundings. The Smithsonian. Why would she teleport to a Forbidden City she'd never been to?