Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Book Two: Chapter Fifteen

Only then did I notice that something was wrong with Sophie. She had fallen to the muddy ground of the enclosure, her face white as paper.

"Somebody call Elwin," Grady ordered, picking her up. "I'm taking her to her room." I whipped out my Imparter in unison with everyone else-except Councillor Bronte.

"I'm fine," Sophie promised weakly.

"Elwin," I whispered to my Imparter. He appeared instantly on the screen, wearing a bright yellow outfit with little green T. Rexes all over it.

Because Sophie wasn't fine.

She had faded again.

***

"How you can fade with two nexuses is beyond me," Elwin told Sophie as he tied a vial of Fade Fuel around her neck. I was leaning against her wall with my arms crossed over my chest, Stormy on my shoulder again, trying to comprehend the situation.

"I seriously don't get it either," I burst out. "I wrapped all the concentration around her and Silveny that I could spare! It doesn't make any sense!" Elwin sighed.

"No, I'm afraid it doesn't. And I doubt it's going to. Though I have to say, teleporting? Will you ever stop being full of surprises?"

"That was Silveny, not me." She climbed out of bed to check her reflection in the spectral mirror.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Vertina, the 'girl' in Sophie's spectral mirror asked. Spectral mirrors could be very useful, they were bits of clever programming that told you what to wear and how to do your hair and makeup. I had one of my own. Her name was Adelow. Spectral mirrors were pretty rare these days, though, because most people didn't appreciate their own mirrors criticizing their faults.

Adelow and I were good friends, as Vertina and Jolie had apparently been. Mother had gotten her for me as a present when I got into Foxfire. Adelow had taught me all I knew about beauty and fashion, though I liked to think I have a natural sense of style. Adelow kept up with the latest trends, though. Mother had been too busy to do my hair lately, so Adelow'd been walking me through hairstyles.

"You're up," Grady noticed as he opened Sophie's door a crack and peeked through.

"Can't keep that girl down," Elwin said as Grady rushed into the room and gave Sophie a giant bear hug.

"You can't disappear on me like that," Grady told Sophie. "Never again." A father that actually cared about his daughter going missing... Keefe had told me last year that Lord Cassius hadn't visited me once when I was recovering from my kidnapping. Or asked about me at all. Or stayed at my funeral for more than fifteen minutes. I didn't care, though. Other people had it worse. At least Mother cared about me.

"I won't," Sophie promised. Grady cleared his throat, wiping his eyes on his cape, then faced me.

"Are you two ready to face the Council? They obviously have some questions." I nodded.

"Did this make it worse?" Sophie whispered. It probably had.

"It definitely didn't help. But once you talk to them, hopefully..." He left the thought unfinished. We followed him out of the room and back outside. Grady hadn't allowed Keefe back into Sophie's room, so he had to wait outside with the Councillors. I curtsied regally to the Council.

"Are you all right, Miss Foster?" Councillor Emery asked. I could tell from his facial expression that he may have switched to thinking Sophie could be malfunctioning.

"Yes," she replied in a surprisingly strong voice. "Teleporting just takes a lot out of you." Funny, I wasn't really affected at all by the teleporting. Maybe it was just the fact that Sophie had faded.

"Well, aside from that, your performance was quite magnificent. You're clearly very talented, Miss Sencen," Councillor Emery continued. I laughed, shaking my head.

"No, that was all Sophie and Silveny. Silveny just lets me ride her, that's all. No special connection like Sophie has," I told him with a smile.

"But now you can talk to her," Sophie interjected.

"What?"

"Remember? You're a Polyglot. Silveny transmitted to you in her language and you understood her," she reminded me.

"Is this true?" Councillor Bronte demanded.

"Y-yes," I stammered. "But really, it doesn't matter. I'm not a Telepath or anything." Why did she mention that when I was praising her? She was supposed to take all the credit! She was the special one! The Council erupted in a torrent of questions. I tried to answer them the best I could

"Quite remarkable, isn't it?" Council Terik interrupted. "All these centuries we've had an alicorn in our custody and we never knew its secrets. But now, thanks to two uncannily talented teenage girls, we've discovered the first animal with a special ability, a special ability none of us have ever developed. Our world will never be the same." The other Councillors murmured their agreement. I flushed.

The Council continued to pummel us with questions until Grady stepped in and reminded them that we'd had a very exhausting day. As the Councillors leaped away, Grady invited me to stay over at Havenfield that night. I accepted. The invitation was not extended to Keefe. He leaped away too, looking slightly disappointed but hiding it well.

Someone cleared their throat behind us, making us turn around.

"Councillor Terik?" Grady asked. "I thought you'd left."

"I had. But I realized I'd forgotten to say something to the girls." When he didn't continue, Grady went back to the house to leave us in private.

"May I see your Imparters?" Councillor Terik asked. We pulled the silver squares out of our pockets and handed them to him.

"Permission granted," he said to each of them. "There, now you'll be able to reach me. Just say my name and if I'm within range, it'll hail me. I know that you used to rely on Alden when you needed advice, so I want you to know that you both are welcome to come to me anytime. Don't let the fact that I'm a Councillor make you feel like you shouldn't bother me. I'm here for the two of you." We nodded. I felt dazed. Why did he care about me? Sophie was the one everyone should be focusing on, not me. I was nothing. Just a normal girl.

Sophie and I went back to the house.

"What did he want?" Gardy asked as soon as we walked into the living room.

"I'm not sure," Sophie answered. "I think he just wanted to help us."

"Help you?"

"He said he wanted us to go to him with a kind of things we used to go to Alden with. He even adjusted our Imparters so that we can call him whenever we need to."

"You can come to me too, you know," Grady said quietly. "I know that you and Alden had a different kind of relationship than you and I do. But I'm here if you need me. Both of you. For anything."

"Even if it's about the Black Swan?" Sophie asked. I bit down on my tongue.

"Yes, Sophie. I still don't trust them, but that doesn't mean you can't come to me. I promise I will try to stay objective. Okay?" She nodded, leading me up the stairs. We were about halfway up when he added;

"I would be careful. I'm sure Councillor Terik means well, but that won't change the fact that as a Councillor he is bound by our laws at all times. If either of you ever asked him about something that turned out to be illegal, you could end up in a mess of trouble." Like another Tribunal.

"We'll be careful," I promised. As we made our way to her room, I realized that we now had a way to track Sophie's old journal down. Sophie seemed to have had the exact same idea. So as soon as we made sure nobody could hear our conversation, she pulled out her Imparter.

"Show me Councillor Terik."

Author's note: To everyone who celebrates it and everyone who actually reads this part the day it was published: Happy Thanksgiving!!! yay food um bye

Love, Twisted