Sophie woke drenched in cold sweat.
The scene that she so desperately wanted to escape now loomed in her consciousness, replaying over and over.
And unlike the abyss, she had no idea how to stop it.
For a terrifying moment, she didn't recognize her surroundings and thought that she was still in the nightmare.
But she registered the blanket wrapped around her, the cushions, and the couch, all of which meant that she was once again taking outrageous advantage of Elysian's hospitality.
"Sophie!" Sandor yelled, bursting into the room. Then he saw her and gasped for air. "What happened?"
Flori wasn't far behind and her eyes were wide in fear.
"What?" Sophie asked, bewildered. "What do you mean?"
"You cried out," Flori answered, biting her lip. "Are you sure everything's fine?"
The long moment of hesitation should have been enough of an indication of her lie, but Flori didn't address it. "Well... we're glad you're back."
She glanced at Sandor, whose eyes glinted with frustration at those words. "Although I- we should have been there with you."
Sophie shoved the blankets off of herself so she could sit up properly. "You don't know what Elysian, Merida, and I were dealing with."
Sandor shook his head vehemently. "It doesn't matter."
"It does," Sophie insisted. "Very little actually happened in the physical world. The majority of it depended on the void and the connection between our minds and the abyss- it's rather complicated and I'll explain more later, but the point remains. There are some things you can't protect me from, because I'm meant to face them."
"That was very well said, and I agree," Flori murmured. "Wait- did you say abyss?"
"We'd like to know as well," Biana announced, walking out of the air between them.
"Who's we?" Sophie asked but immediately felt the presence of several other minds in the living room where there shouldn't have been people.
The walls sighed collectively, and then the light shimmered and fizzled to reveal Dex, Tam, Linh, Maruca, Marella, Wylie, Rayni, and their bodyguards.
"You're awake," Elysian said tiredly. She was smiling, but there were dark circles under her eyes. "I suppose we're officially doing the explanation now?"
"I will," Sophie said, standing up properly for the first time in so long. "You should rest."
She turned toward the window and suddenly realized by the pink, lavender, and vermillion streaks of the sunset outside that she had slept for Way. Too. Long.
But there's so much to handle, Elysian transmitted. The Council is still unconscious and I don't know what to do with them. According to the Black Swan's reports, the Lost Cities are in turmoil due to their absence. Also, given that it's still Nightfall and that I released nearly half of the esylune in my body into the ether of this island two nights ago, there's always the risk of someone unwanted getting their hands on a crystal. As if that's not enough, there's the p-
Suddenly, their mental connection split like ice splintering into thousands of tiny chips.
"Indeed," Merida said. She stared straight at Elysian but Sophie could sense tension radiating from her. "Sophie's right- you should rest."
Had she interrupted their conversation intentionally?
Tam glanced between the three of them with a frown on his face.
"I guess I should then," Elysian sighed. She tried and failed to hide a yawn. "Please wake me up if there's anything."
She walked out of the crowded living room to the hallway where her bedroom was.
The last part sounded like she didn't mean it, but it was a luxury she deserved after all she had done.
"Where's Fitz?" Sophie asked nervously, now feeling everyone's eyes turn to her again.
"He left," Merida said, cracking her knuckles. "I scared him off. You're welcome."
"I like this girl," Ro said. "Blondie, you should have seen how she kicked that boy's-"
The logical part of Sophie's mind was telling her that she probably didn't want to hear the end of that sentence.
But she was tempted.
"Right, thank you very much," Sophie said, trying to keep her face composed, but the edges of her lips were turning up. "Poor Fitz."
Again, she was confident she would be able to mend their relationship through time.
Then came the explanation, which wasn't simple.
Sophie tried to find the right words but they often didn't come. Public speaking was something she needed to practice.
Although they tried their best to describe everything that had happened with Elysian, Merida, the abyss, and the Neverseen, everyone often wanted to see the memories of what happened.
Merida was helpful with that, but there were some memories she couldn't summon or some details that didn't exist.
There were also flaky parts of their story, some they didn't completely understand.
That became obvious when her friends began asking questions like, "Who are the rest of the Neverseen?", "What if there are more secrets and more history about the island we don't know?", and "What do we do if the abyss returns?"
When those questions came as they inevitably would, Sophie repeated the words in her mind.
Just have some hope. You'll find a way.
"We can do this," Sophie said finally after everyone had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. "If we believe in each other, we can make this world a better place. If there's no more chaos in the world, the abyss will no longer have power over us and we'll be able to rebuild. I'm pretty sure that's what we all want... what Keefe wanted."
She shouldn't have said his name. She shouldn't have tried to put on a brave mask and try to convince everyone she was okay.
But the wound was open now, a deep and ugly one, and she had to acknowledge it for it to heal.
After a few minutes, she realized that none of her friends were blaming her, because many of her friends had cried too, and that at the very least... all of them were together. In the moment.
Sophie stepped outside, feeling the need to be in an open space after so long.
She didn't notice that Sandor and Flori had followed her quietly until she sensed their minds.
"Are you okay?" Flori asked hesitantly when Sophie had turned around. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
Sophie shook her head. "I'll be fine... thank you."
She took a few deep breaths, sat down, and spread herself down on the cool grass from where she had a spectacular view of the sky overhead.
The dome around the island was barely visible, but once Sophie saw it, she felt overwhelming ambivalence.
She thought of all of Elysian's odyssey to freedom and all the lessons she had learned from every experience.
The sun had almost completely disappeared from view, and the stars were beginning to form.
But then all sense of peace was gone from her body, and her heart exploded into panicked beats.
Help me.
"What's wrong?" Sandor growled, sensing her tension. "Who's there?"
Sophie didn't hear.
She didn't want to hear anything.
She knew where the voice was coming from. That direction only led to the last place she wanted to be.
The place where she knew she had no control over and would consume her heart and soul.
And that place filled her mind, luring her in.
Keefe's voice only grew more pleading and more desperate.
SOPHIE. PLEASE.
She instantly walled off her mind, frantically searching for any sign of the Veil or the abyss.
Nothing was there. It was just his voice and her thoughts, but they were as terrible as the abyss had been.
Stop, she begged. Don't do this to me.
She waited.
And waited.
And then she opened her eyes.
"I'm getting the feeling that you weren't speaking to us," Flori said. On her face was a level of worry Sophie didn't want to see. "Something's bothering you."
Then her lip quivered, and she said, "Is this about-"
"No," Sophie lied, needing to escape anything and everything about him.
She just couldn't.
She needed another excuse.
That was when she sensed the consciousness of Mr. Forkle in the forest... and he was with her parents.
Sophie raced to catch up while trying to muffle her footsteps and pray that she would get enough out of the conversation before someone found out she was eavesdropping.
"Blur tells me Havenfield is back in order," Mr. Forkle announced. "Your house, the pastures. The gnomes were a great help- most of the animals are back in their places now thanks to them."
"That's wonderful," Grady answered, but he didn't look very concerned. "What about Sophie?"
"Her friends should be with her now," Mr. Forkle replied. "I'm sure she has a lot to say and a lot to handle, so I'll get the story out of her later or some other way."
Sandor raised an eyebrow at Sophie, which she ignored.
There had to be a meaning to this conversation... right?
Otherwise, why would they be meeting up in the middle of the woods?
Her suspicion heightened further when Edaline said, "How are we going to tell her?"
"I don't know," Mr. Forkle sighed gustily. "I feel like after everything she's been through, losing him has been the hardest."
Sophie heard a sniffle from Edaline and a long sigh from Grady and immediately knew that she shouldn't have come to hear this.
"It's even harder because everyone in the Lost Cities will know and she'll have to deal with it for the rest of her life," Edaline sobbed. "I don't know how she's going to react when we tell her about the-"
There were a million ways the sentence could end.
But one of them caught her attention- a word that began with the letter 'p.'
It was a word Merida had wanted to spare Sophie from.
And now she knew why.
But she forced herself to hear the ugly word- and then felt like her heart was breaking again.
Planting.