OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

004. Her Blood Red Lips

When I walk in, Keefe is on a cot, unconscious. Bandages are wrapped around his torso, and a weird purple liquid oozes out from underneath. Sophie's wiping his face down with a damp cloth, which comes away stained with dirt and scarlet, and Fitz stands next to her, hand on her shoulder.

A few years ago, this would've scared me so much (not the Team Fitzphie part—the half-alive Keefe part). Now, I just study him, searching for any other visible wounds (and don't find any, thankfully).

"Dex!" Sophie straightens. Fitz looks at me. "What took you so long? Fitz said you went ahead—did you... get lost? Or something?"

I shake my head. "No, I bumped into someo—"

"It's fine. I'm just glad that you're here," she says, cutting me off.

Resentment laces my thoughts—you didn't even let me finish—but I try not to let it show in my tone. "Is he okay? What happened?"

"We got attacked, which wasn't supposed to happen; we were kinda, like... caught unprepared. And Gisela had..." Sophie trails off. "It's better if I show you."

"Both of us? Or just Fitz?"

"She already transmitted it to me," Fitz says. "I came in a few minutes ago, and she seemed really upset, so I helped comfort her."

Irrelevant, I want to say. But I just nod. "Um, okay. Sophie, if you're ready... you can show me. But if you need a little more time, it's okay."

Sophie looks a little unsure, but when she looks at Fitz, he nods at her. Maybe it's meant to be encouraging, but if Sophie's not ready yet, then—"Okay, I'll do it."

I look at her. "Are you sure?"

She nods. "Yeah. If it's fine with you, I can transmit it right now?"

"Sure."

Sophie closes her eyes, and I follow suit. I'm not sure if that's what I'm supposed to do, but it couldn't hurt, and—

Color floods darkness. I bite back a gasp.

I think I'm seeing things from Sophie's eyes.

Gisela. Her smile's cruel, her eyes sweep over my friends. Sophie's gaze turns to Keefe; she reaches out to touch his arm, and he looks at her, and his eyes are pained.

"You weren't expecting us to be here, were you?" Gisela says. Sophie seems to snap out of her shock the instant she hears her, like "no, this isn't an illusion."

Alvar's here, too, and a boy wearing their signature cloak. I inhale a sharp breath when he lowers his hood, his silver bangs catching the light. Tam?

Sophie's gaze lingers on him, staying on him, and then quickly turns to both Linh and Biana. They're both pale, and Linh's covering her mouth—"Tam? Tam! Come here, we can save you."

He doesn't come.

His face is carefully blank, but he's staring at Linh, and I'm wondering if she can tell what he's thinking, and Gisela's smiling at the longing in her gaze.

"Do you like what we did to your friend?" she says. Her voice is sweet and sugary, but it's poisoned, it's deadly. "Speaking of friends, we have a new one. Seraph?"

And then, an almost ghost-like figure, comes from the floor, and I can see her long hair drifting behind her, but I can't see her, her face, her features. She's semi-transparent, and looks almost like Blur, the way she's using her ability, but... it's creepier.

She's on the ground, but she's holding herself in a light, precise way, as if she could strike any moment, a viper ready to murder. I can't see her eyes, but I feel her gaze on me, even in Sophie's body, and I want to run.

It's ironic, I think. How a seraph is purely good, one of the highest beings in heaven. And then there's her. She's not good. But she holds the air of one of the highest beings in hell.

"Tam. Do you want to show a demonstration of your shadowflux?" Sophie's gaze shoots to Tam, and I know she's begging him not to, I know she's scared of it.

I catch her reflection on glass. Please, her lips are whispering, but they make no noise. Please. Please.

"Okay," he says; I realize his fingernails are stained an ever-shifting black, and I feel chills, remembering the same sight from Umber.

He raises his hands, and it startles me how confident and controlled his movements are. The shadowflux lifts from his fingertips, reminding me of black smoke, and I try to remember that Sophie came back okay, but I'm terrified when he sends the shadowflux towards her.

Linh screams his name and Keefe is yelling Sophie! and Biana is frozen, and the shadowflux keeps keep keeps coming, and then there's darkness, and I realize Sophie closed her eyes—

The screams stop. Keefe and Linh are silent, and I can hear Sophie's breaths shaking as she slowly opens her eyes. Shadowflux is hovering right in front of her, all I can see is black.

It's not the type of black you see when you close your eyes. It's darker.

"Tam?" whispers Sophie. Her voice seems too too loud, but I don't think anyone else hears.

The shadowflux breaks free, midnight spears rocketing around the room, fading into the walls and leaving dark stains. Sophie's hands are shaking.

Tam's, too, I realize. Linh is watching him, closely, and she looks ready to run to him. When I look closer, I realize a tear stains his cheek, but it's barely noticeable.

Tam...

"What happened?" Gisela looks at Tam, and her words are cool, but her gaze so so sharp. I'm scared she's about to kill Tam right then and there, but I force myself to watch.

"I couldn't control it." He holds her gaze, his voice steady, but I heard it tremble near the end. I heard the fear, the desperation. He wants to be saved but he knows he can't be. "I guess I'm not ready."

Gisela narrows her eyes, and Tam just blinks at her, the picture of perfect composition. But I know better, and Linh... she probably knows exactly what he's thinking, word for word.

"Back to Trix for you, then," she spits, before turning to Seraph. It startles me how fast her expression changes. Red hot one second, and now a cool lethal blue. "Seraph."

"I know." Her voice, it's whispery, calm, and it holds a malicious smile. I decide that I hate it. "Anyone in mind, Lady Gisela?"

Her gaze cuts through the group, and I can tell Sophie's holding her breath when Gisela's gaze slices through her. Sophie's probably starting to panic around here; they'd come in here thinking the base was abandoned. And clearly, it wasn't.

"Shame Fitz isn't here," Alvar says. From the corner of Sophie's vision, I see Biana scowl. She looks scared, but also like she's this close to attacking.

Keefe gently nudges her and she shoots him a look, like I know, but she reaches over to squeeze his hand, and I know that they're assuring each other without words.

"How about..." Gisela's eyes skip over Sophie, over Linh, and then... stop. For a second I think Sophie forgets to breathe.

I can tell that she's thinking now, her gaze is wild and frantic, but there's nothing she can do. Inflicting—that wouldn't work; all her other abilities—they won't...

Telepathy, I realize, as Sophie does. Her gaze stalls and unfocuses, and I have a feeling that's because she's not looking outside, anymore, but inside.

But then I think Fitz doesn't answer, and everything focuses again, and Seraph is still watching Keefe and Keefe is watching Seraph, and everything's frozen—

She smiles—Seraph smiles.

It's a cruel thing to do: to unsmudge her blood red lips just so we can see her smile.

Just so we know that she's going to enjoy hurting Keefe.

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

tysm aatkins2019 for voting!! :,,) im glad you like it hehe <3