It was Marella.
"Hey...., Sophie," Marella said, smiling awkwardly.
"Marella? What are you doing here?," Sophie asked, confused.
Marella's focus shifted to the ground. She shuffled her feet in the dirt, not meeting Sophie's eyes.
"Are you ok?"
Marella looked up, shrugged. She opened and closed her mouth. Sophie tilted her head.
"Um, I needed to talk to you," Marella mumbled, finally looking at Sophie.
Sophie nodded slowly, confused. Marella looked pretty serious- something was definitely bothering her.
"Well, um, what happened?," Sophie said, knowing full well how lame and pathetic that sounded.
Marella gulped, like she was stealing herself to say something, and Sophie could almost hear her brain working wildly to figure out how she wanted to phrase her problem. Then all at once, Marella started talking.
"For a while since we last battled the Neverseen, my mother has been in pretty bad shape," Marella said.
Sophie nodded, remembering about Caprise's issues.
"I asked Mr. Forkle about it, since I wasn't sure who else to ask, and he sent Keefe to go and check on her."
Sophie nodded again, knowing how useful having an Empath can be with things like this, and she had a sneaking suspicion she knew where Marella was getting at.
"While I watched him check out my mom, I felt, like, for the first time I really was useless to her," Marella paused, her gaze shifting to the ground in such a sad way, making Sophie want to run over there and hug her.
"Your not useless," Sophie said simply.
Marella looked up, her eyes doubting Sophie, but she saw her mouth twitch upward.
"Well, anyway," Marella continued.
"I went to Mr. Forkle again, and-," Marella took a deep breath, like she was ready to get it over with.
"I asked him if he could do another check to trigger any other abilities."
Sophie's jaw dropped. That was definitely not something she had expected.
"Well?," Sophie demanded, wanting to hear the rest.
Marella gulped.
"I- I did manifest again, b-but not as an Empath," Marella mumbled.
They stood in silence for a while, letting the words hang over them until the got heavier and heavier. Sophie broke the silence.
"Well, what ability did you manifest?"
Marella turned and looked away.
"A Vanisher."
Sophie felt her heart soar unexpectedly.
"That's great! I meant, I know your not an Empath, but you can still continue to the Elite Levels in Foxfire! And train in another amazing ability! All you have to do is-"
"Hide that I'm also a Pyrokinetic," Marella finished.
"Well, yeah," Sophie said awkwardly.
The silence fell again as Sophie thought over the impossible scenario. Marella? A Pyrokinetic/Vanisher? It was crazy!
But.
Why had Marella rushed over here to talk to her, there had to be something else- wouldn't there?
"What else?," Sophie said softly, "What else has happened?"
Marella twirled a piece of her blonde hair around her fingers while she answered.
"I- had an idea. It's a pretty stupid idea, but..... I want Biana to be my mentor."
Sophie looked at her before shouting, "That's not stupid! That's amazing! You and Biana could become better friends- plus, she is an awesome Vanisher. That's great!"
Marella's gaze dropped to the floor.
"Not great?," Sophie asked.
Marella sighed and continued, "Well, I checked at Everglen to go and ask her- that was where Biana said she was going. But, Alden and Della said she hadn't come back. I also checked everywhere else she could be. Everywhere."
Sophie felt her insides turn cold.
Marella finally met her eyes with a fearful expression.
"Biana's missing."
A/N: Wow! 31 views! I honestly thought this would get 0!!!! You guys are the best! I feel sooo happy y'all are reading this. Best. Readers. Ever.
Ikikik, cliff hanger! I can see what Shannon meant.... I love these lol! But I promise I'll be back with Keefe's pov as soon as I can!
Happy Reading!
- will0w-tree