Sophie
Sophie did not waste anymore time. She bolted out of the room at lightning speed, not even checking to see if Keefe was following. Once in her room, she started furiously opening the drawers of her desk. She took out a backpack. She tore it open, caring more about speed than carefulness at the moment.
"What are you doing?!"
"Preparing," she answered absent-mindedly. She dumped gadgets that she'd hoarded over the years into her backpack.
"Aren't we going to tell someone where we're going?"
"Gee, didn't think you'd be the one to ask me that. We don't have enough time. They could die any moment, now. Time is of the essence."
"Time is of the essence?" He snickered.
Sophie dragged a hand down her face. "Gods, I've been hanging out with Agent Forkle too much."
"...There's no denying that." Keefe watched as she grabbed Calla's diary and the post-it notes he had written on just hours ago. It seemed like days had passed since then.
Sophie ran into her closet and selected some clothes just in case. "Aren't you going to bring some things yourself?"
"Aren't we going to my room after this?"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "No, I am going to raid the kitchen. You can join."
"Heck yeah!" Keefe pumped his fist in the air. "I am not missing out on this." He darted out of her room, leaving her to finish preparing.
Sophie took a jar. After all, she needed to keep the Panakes flowers somewhere. She scribbled a note for Agent Forkle. Making a mental checklist, she thought about everything she should bring. Her fake ID. Her credit card. Her phone, of course. Once she was sure she had everything, she gave her room a last glance before going to the kitchen.
She started running to the kitchen, then realized that Keefe probably didn't know where it was. She doubled back to his room. Sure enough, she found him in the hallway right outside his door with a duffel bag, looking lost.
"Let's go," she said impatiently when he did not see her at first.
Inside the kitchen, she put containers on the counter and started filling them. Meanwhile, Keefe was taking everything that didn't seem remotely healthy.
"Seriously? Cookies?"
"Hey, I'm a growing teen!" He grinned cheekily at her, and stuffed a container of mallowmelt into his bag.
Sophie sighed and tried to take as many vegetables and fruits as possible.
"You know," Keefe said as he munched on chips, "this is my definition of a midnight snack."
Sophie ignored him and marched to the garage, which was a couple floors up.
"Woah," Keefe said in awe. "Those. Look. Awesome!" He gestured wildly to the shiny cars in front of them. They looked like sports cars, but Sophie knew that they were even faster.
"Tinker invented these. She calls them lightleapers. She named them after their speed. They can go faster than even a racecar. Really fast. They also have...additional features."
"Which one are we taking?," Keefe whispered. His eyes were as round as saucers. He gaped at the cars.
"That one." Sophie pointed to the one in the middle. It was slightly more elevated than the others. And by slightly, she meant a few feet. It even seemed to shine more.
"Wow, Foster. You've really outdone yourself this time!" Keefe was already at the side of the car.
Sophie took a bobby pin out of her hair and crossed over to the safe where the keys for the car were. She stopped when she saw no lock, then groaned. Of course. She was so used to having to break into places with low-quality (in her standards) security systems that when she came face-to-face with ones like the Black Swan's, she forgot to bring more advanced material.
She tried to pry open the safe, but it didn't work. The safe suddenly lit up and came to life.
"What. Is the. Password?," it asked in a robotic voice.
Sophie thought hard. "Cygnets?"
A light on the safe flashed red. "Incorrect. Please. Try again. You have. Two tries left."
"Yeti?," Keefe joked.
"Incorrect. You have. One try left." Sophie glared at Keefe with the ferocity of a lion. She wanted to scold him, but whatever she said, the safe would probably consider as another try. Instead, she made a cutting motion with her hand, miming slicing across her neck, trying to convey the message to stop.
She racked her brain. Once, she had snuck down here and heard Agent Granite say the password. But what had it been? It was on the edge of her brain. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She stood as still as a statue.
Had it been chase the swan, or something? Follow the swan during sunset? Suddenly, it clicked, and her eyes flew open.
"Follow the pretty bird across the sky."
"Correct." The light flashed green, and the safe opened with a pop.
"Thank gods," Keefe said. "I thought you were meditating, or something."
Sophie took the set of keys that went with the car she chose. She pressed on the 'unlock' symbol. A click resounded through the room. Keefe opened the car's door.
"Nuh uh," Sophie said. She grabbed his arm and steered him to the other side of the car. "I'm driving."
"Awwwww," Keefe whined. "But I'm older than you. I think. These glasses-" he gestured to the yellow glasses Sophie had given him "-are telling me that I'm a year older. Do you even have a driver's license?"
Sophie lifted her chin stubbornly. "Jolie did." She showed him her fake ID.
Keefe glanced at his watch, and his eyes widened. "It's already 5! Am!"
"Hurry!" Sophie climbed into the car and threw her backpack onto the back seat. "They'll be waking up, soon!"
"Wait, but I thought that you were okay with telling them."
"If they see us, they'll ask questions, and we don't have any time to spare. Plus, I left them a note explaining that I know where the cure is, and we went to get it. I said that you're with me because you found out and wanted to tag along and didn't let me say no."
Keefe whistled. "You sure know how to plan ahead."
"I'm Agent Moonlark. What did you expect?"
Keefe shrugged. "Dunno. I never thought I would meet you. Anyways, how much time will we be on the road?"
"Eight hours."
Keefe groaned. "But Foster, I get carsick."
"Deal with it." Sophie started the engine.
"Fine."
Sophie made the car go backwards, looking over her shoulder every two seconds to make sure that she wouldn't crash into anything. Then, she pressed on the petal, and the car rolled forwards, out of the garage.
Sophie looked behind her with a last wistful glance. "See you later," she murmured under her breath.
Biana
Biana woke up with a bad feeling in her gut. She yawned, arching her back in a stretch.
The events of the day before came crashing down on her, and she felt ready to curl into a ball and cry.
Biana remembered how Tam had fainted. She remembered how fragile he had looked. She remembered how Physic had gently warned her that Fitz was likely to be sick, too. She remembered how the older members of the Black Swan had given her sympathetic glances and treated her like a bomb ready to explode. She hated it. All of it.
She rolled out of her bed and onto the ground. She crawled to the mirror. The sight that greeted her reminded her of Sophie. Sophie always had the darkest circles under her eyes. But now, Biana's could rival Sophie's. Biana's hair was greasy. There was usually a healthy flush on her cheeks. Now she looked pale, though not as much as Tam had. Biana choked back a sob at the thought of Tam. She'd begun to think of him as more than a friend. And now, he was sick. With no cure.
Normally, she'd be appalled of her current look. But now, she found that she did not care. She threw on a random pair of leggings and a sweatshirt. She was practically unrecognizable.
Biana made her way to the training room. Now she knew why Sophie liked it so much. Biana took out her sadness and anger on the dummies. After a while, Woltzer came in. He started training her, but something was off. Every day, Biana and Woltzer had a duel. Woltzer almost always won. But today, Biana did. Easily.
"You went easy on me!," Biana gasped. She shoved him, feeling hurt. She was perfectly capable of defending herself!
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just thought..."
"You thought that since Tam is sick and my brother is probably next, I'm weaker?!" Biana's voice was getting higher. She sounded hysterical.
"Sorry," Woltzer mumbled again.
"I'm not some weak damsel in distress who will fall apart any second now!" Biana knew that the tears trickling down her cheeks freely did not help her case, but she was sick of it all. Sick...
She chuckled sadly. What an insensitive pun her mind had made.
"Biana," Woltzer said. "I don't think you should be training right now."
Biana was about to retort when she realized : everyone had been treating her like a bomb. And they were right. Because she was exploding.
Unable to face reality anymore, Biana ran out of the room. She found herself in the cafeteria, right on time for breakfast. She sat at the table, noticing Tam and Fitz's empty chairs.
Dex sat in his usual seat, Linh following suit.
"This sucks," Dex said. Biana had to admit, that pretty much summed it all up.
Linh looked very downcast. Biana wished she could help her, but...how could she help Linh if she needed help herself?
The three of them ate in silence.
"Hey," Dex said a few minutes later. "Where's Sophie? She usually on time." They exchanged glances.
"Keefe isn't here, either," Biana said slowly.
They stood up at the same time, pushing their chairs back.
"First, Sophie's room," Dex said as they sprinted down the hallway. They burst into her room, scanning it.
"Maybe she's in her closet?," Linh suggested, though it sounded more like a question.
Dex knocked on her closet door. "Sophie, I'm coming in." No answer.
Dex flung open the door. There was no one inside.
"She would have told us if she had a mission," Linh said. "Right?"
Biana looked around the room some more before her eyes landed on Sophie's nightstand. "Guys, look."
Biana snatched the post-it note on the nightstand. She held it in front of her. Dex and Linh read over her shoulder.
"Uh oh," Dex muttered. "The Collective's not going to like this."
Tam
He was in pain. He wanted to thrash, relieve himself of some of the pain. But he couldn't move. His limbs were like lead. He was trapped. In his restless, fitful sleep, all he wanted was to wake up.
But even in his dreams - no, nightmares - he couldn't walk. He couldn't run. Sometimes, he drifted into consciousness. He heard his friends and sister crying. He heard Physic freaking out. But as much as he wanted to wake up, to reassure them, he couldn't. He could not even make a sound. He was stuck.
Every minute was agony. His energy was being spent fast. His last thought before he fell into a dreamless sleep was of Biana.