Chapter Thirty-Two:
I'm going to try and make this a really long chapter. Bear with me.
Recap because it's been so long since the last chapter:
A long pause. It stretched longer, then longer. The sounds inside the room were muffled to them, now. Alvar stared at Fitz and Dex, Fitz stared at Alvar, and Dex stared at Fitz.
Fitz squeezed his eyes shut. He took a deep, shuddering breath. Then he released Alvar. Almost at once, the hilt of his sword came crashing down on Alvar's head. Alvar collapsed onto the ground, his eyes already closed.
Fitz opened his eyes. For a long time, teal eyes held periwinkle ones. Then Fitz gave Dex a small smile. It wasn't his movie star one that he gave to everyone. This one seemed more genuine.
Dex was about to smile back, when he heard low growls. He spun around, and froze.
Three grotesque creatures crouched in front of them. With long fangs, spiky tails, huge talons, large wings, and scales, they were easily the most horrifying things Dex had ever seen.
Tam, who had somehow gotten out there without Dex noticing, sucked in a breath. "It's the Gorgodons."
Sophie
When she saw them, she thought she was hallucinating. They were like monsters from another world. They could probably pass as monsters from Percy Jackson.
One glance at them, and she knew they were lethal. And then she factored in the fact that they were creations of the Neverseen...and they became twice as dangerous.
Her heart beating fast, she ran away from the person she had been fighting. She stopped a few feet away from the creatures, standing next to Tam.
"What are those?" she breathed.
"Gorgodons," Tam muttered. "Gods, how many times do I have to tell people that?" He sounded annoyed from under his hood, but Sophie could tell he was scared. He was stiff, and he wouldn't stop cracking his knuckles.
With a great roar, the first Gorgodon leapt into the air and tackled someone to the ground. Said person landed on the ground with a thump.
"Squall!" Sophie screamed. She lunged for the member of the Collective, but Tam yanked her back.
"Sophie," he murmured in her ear. "Careful."
And at that exact moment, Dex saw his mother. He saw her on the ground, wrestling with one of those gigantic beasts. And she was losing.
"Mom!" He charged at the Gorgodon, but before he reached her, Agent Gisela blocked him. She held a knife to his throat, and smiled. Smiled.
~This place marks where I took a break from writing, and scarred myself for life by reading a Sogrady fanfiction.~
Dex struggled and tried to break free, but Gisela dug the knife deeper into his throat. Finally, survival instinct took over and he hung loosely in her grip. The whole time, his eyes were locked on Squall, whose blood was starting to seep through the thick fabric of her cloak.
"Let me go," Sophie pleaded with Tam. "Please. I can't let another person I love die!" Her first family. Calla. Mitya. She would die before anyone else was taken away from her.
Members of the Black Swan tried to get to Squall, but the other Gorgodons fought them when they got too close.
And the Neverseen just watched. They watched their leader press a knife deeper and deeper into a teenager's throat. They watched the teenager's mother get ripped apart slowly by a horribly unnatural hybrid of theirs.
And she hated them. She hated that organization, with their creepy white-eyed design, with their merciless murderers, with their emotionless leaders. She hated them so much. And she wished Keefe had never had to grow up with them.
With renewed strength and hatred coursing through her veins, she finally broke away from Tam.
"Sophie!" he exclaimed. He managed to catch up to her. "Sophie, don't."
"Why?" she demanded. She craned her neck to try to see Dex's mother over Tam's shoulder. "Why shouldn't I? Why can she risk her life, but not me?" She took out a knife hidden in her boot, and aimed it at the Gorgodon on top of Squall.
Sandor had told her over and over before not to throw knifes unless she had other ones at hand. She needed to save them for close combat, where she had less chances of losing them. But this was the last resort. There was no way she could get past those two creatures. If she could just find an opening-
"An hour after I woke up from my coma," he whispered, "Forkle pulled Fitz, Linh, and me aside." He squeezed her shoulder. "He wanted us to keep you safe."
"He knew this was coming?" He had known all along that the Neverseen would come? He had known they would reveal Keefe? He had known who Keefe really was?
"No. But he did know something was coming." His mask did not cover his lips, so Sophie watched them move. She watched them form the words she did not want to hear.
Why were adults so secretive? Gods, if for one day, everyone told the truth, things would be so much easier. Chaotic, yeah. But in the long run, alright.
"He should have told us," she spat. "And I don't need bodyguards! I don't need forking people watching me 24-7!" She threw her hands in the air, making sure not to accidentally stab someone (though if that happened, she wouldn't mind it finding itself lodged in Agent Gisela's arm.)
Unbelievable. How was she expected to be part of the Collective one day if they wouldn't even let her defend herself?
She had been a spy for years. A decade. Did they not trust her to make her own decisions?
No matter. Right now, Squall was dying, and she had to do something.
"I know you don't," he said quietly. "And so does Fitz and Linh. And so does Forkle."
"So can you please let me go?" she asked through gritted teeth. They were wasting valuable time.
Tam shook his head. "Sophie, Forkle thinks some of the Collective isn't going to make it out alive." He took off his mask, showing eyes gray with sadness. Sophie had never seen him so sorrowful.
"What?" she choked out. She felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her. Her chest was suddenly too tight.
"If that happens, he needs you to be alive to become part of the Collective."
She wiped a tear, and said angrily, "Yeah, well, he's gonna be right if you don't let me go." With each word, she poked his chest, each poke more ferocious and hard than the others.
Tam's eyes drifted off to where Agent Forkle had succeeded in freeing Dex. Dex was now making his way to Squall.
Not waiting for his answer, Sophie sidestepped him, and sprinted towards Squall. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keefe join the fight with Agent Forkle and Agent Gisela.
For a brief moment, she gave him a small smile. It was like in movies, where time slowed. And a message was conveyed between them.
Don't die on me, Foster, his eyes seemed to say.
Then everything sped up again, and she focused on the Dizznees. Dex had stabbed a Gorgodon, but the hybrid didn't seem to be affected. If anything, its anger fueled it to fight with more power.
Sophie slid under one in front of her. By luck, it didn't notice her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she threw a throwing star at Gorgodon #1. Meaning, the one clawing at Squall.
Gorgodon #1 emitted a loud pterodactyl screech. It rounded on her and pawed at the ground like a bull.
Sophie glanced at Squall, who lay motionless on the ground. "Squall," she cried.
The Gorgodon who had now made her its target gave her no time to mourn. It jumped onto her, but she dodged to the side before it came into contact with her. She eyed the throwing star, which seemed to have no effect on it.
And then something really strange happened. A blonde girl with ice blue eyes strolled onto the battlefield, holding a match in her hand. She easily passed through the gap between the two guarding Gorgodons. They paid her no attention.
Marella. Gods, Sophie had forgotten all about her.
"This isn't safe!" Sophie yelled at the petite girl. "How'd you even get out of the high security guest bedroom?!"
Marella raised an eyebrow. "If there's one thing I learned while running away from home, it's that fire is very very useful."
She struck the match. And then threw it at one of the Gorgodons.
Keefe ex-Sencen
Well. That Marella girl turned out to be pretty useful.
Everyone, including Agent Gisela and Agent Forkle, stopped whatever they were doing to watch the first Gorgodon catch on fire. It gave inhuman screeches (wow, it was almost like they weren't human), and writhed on the ground. Flames engulfed it.
"What is going on?" Agent Gisela asked calmly. Keefe looked at her, and immediately saw she wasn't so calm inside.
Her lips were pressed into a tight line, and her eyes got even colder. Which was a pretty dam good sign, seeing as that usually meant one of her plans had failed.
Was it bad that that made Keefe feel a bit smug?
No. Absolutely not. No guilt there.
Sophie, who was near Marella, took a match out from the inside of her boot (it seemed that was her favorite place for storing weapons), and struck it.
Just as the first Gorgodon died, a second one caught on fire.
Agent Gisela's eyes blazed with uncontained anger and frustration. She glared at Agent Forkle (Oof, Keefe thought. My ex-mom versus my maybe ex-boss. Might be slightly awkward for me.) and quick as a snake, activated one of her favorite gadgets.
The Nail Gadget. Reinforces nails and makes them longer. As in, long and pointy like a lion's claws. Small side note, needs a new and better name.
That was a bit unfortunate for Forkle.
The third and last Gorgodon died by the hungry hand of fire, and Gisela, in a fit of rage, attacked Agent Forkle blindly.
Agent Forkle stumbled back and unsheathed his sword. He swung at her, wounding her right arm. Agent Gisela shrugged off her cloak, deciding it was a bit bothersome for this fight. Underneath, she had been wearing a sleek black cat suit. Keefe, having seen it a few times, knew it was bullet proof.
For the next couple of minutes, they danced a deadly dance. It reminded Keefe of that cobra dance he had seen on the National Geographic once.
At one point, feeling quite sneaky, Keefe had tripped Gisela, causing her to falter for a second. She had been trying to land her claws on Forkle's throat, so that small falter had allowed the member of the Collective to get away.
It happened a few minutes later. Agent Forkle looked like he was winning. Gisela was on defense, backing into a wall. She was covered in blood, most of it hers but some of it her opponent's.
But then somehow, she disarmed him, took his sword, and slit his throat.
"If you were half as funny you thought you were, my boy, you'd be twice as funny as you are."
"Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt."
"That to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed."
^^^ If you got those references, comment your favorite one. By the way, no spoilers, please, since I just finished the first book.
Comment on this line if you think all my Percy Jackson references are annoying because you've never read the books ->
Repost Author: I made it to book 4 and got bored don't murder me. (We're getting closer to the end hehehehehee)