DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THEY ARE ALL BY SHANNON MESSENGER FROM KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES.
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3RD PERSON
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After the eventful 2 days at Everglen, they all went back home and continued with their normal lives.
Sophie were greeted by a hug coming from her adoptive parents, and she was more than eager to share her experience for the past days.
Edaline baked a lot of pastries even if baking was not really up her alley, and decided to celebrate the day for Sophie's progress.
Sophie and Dex went to their 3 days worth of lunch detention, and they agreed that by the end of it, they'd rank their detentions from bad to worst.
Sophie believed that detention with Lady Cadence was the worst of all. Not only that she smells bad after the session, but the attention she gets after lunch is so bad she just wanted to run home and take a bath.
The worst thing is, it happened on the day she has her Telepathy session with Fitz. Tiergan said he didn't mind, and so did Fitz, but she's still worked up over that day, having a lifetime grudge over curdleroots and Lady Cadence's detention.
Dex, on the other hand, believed that Sir Astin's siren songs were the worst. Sophie said it wasn't that bad but Dex claimed that he can hear it even while he's sleeping, making him go crazy over it.
The other detention they had was with Lady Belva, but it was fine for both of them since they were paired up with each other. They only hated it because Lady Belva was obviously disappointed that her favorite ballroom partner wasn't in detention, AKA a certain disheveled blond haired elf.
They finally get to sit again on their table during lunch time and noticed that no one was still there. When they were about to start eating, trouble walked upon them.
"Oh my? I thought you would have been sent to Exillium by now, seeing that I didn't see you for three days." Stina mockingly said.
Behind her was Marella, whom she rememebered to be one of her first friends, but Sophie didn't care at all. In fact, it was like her presence was just to make Stina look more intimidating, nothing more, nothing less.
She continued eating and didn't even flinch when Stina slammed their table, making all eyes land on them. "What do you-" Dex was about to say when Sophie stopped him by placing one hand in front of him.
Sophie slowly stood up and faced Stina, convincing herself that the stares are nothing but her imagination.
There were whispers being passed on, and she was sure the news is going to be another front page by the next few minutes.
Stina didn't flinch either, instead she spoke "Aren't you ashamed of what happened?"
Sophie held her gaze on her and replied "Why would I be?" She raised an eyebrow on her, which made Stina more furious.
"Aren't you ashamed you let someone kiss you while you're flirting with other boys? Oh- don't use the friend and cognate card because it won't work on me."
"Again, why would I be ashamed?" Sophie stated in an obvious way. "I didn't let him, he forced it, there's a difference." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Besides, if you want some guys confessing their undying love for you then go change yourself. With that attitude and personality, you'd be glad someone would even consider asking you out. Let's go." Sophie said as she gathered her things and Dex followed her immediately, dropping some crumbs of the food he's eating.
"That was amazing, Soph! This was your second encounter with bitchstina and you didn't even flinch!" He said, obviously amazed by what just happened.
"Oh, but it's kinda sad that you don't need me anymore to protect you." He started sulking and Sophie had a sudden urge to hug him. "Don't worry, I still need all of you guys!" She said as she pulled away.
"You sucker punched someone just last week for me, right? So don't feel that way. I'm gonna feel useless as a friend too." She said, pouting.
They heard a whistle coming from the other side and immediately saw their friends going near them. "Foster and Dizznee flirting in broad daylight? You guys have gotten bolder than I thought." Keefe said as he smirked.
Dex told Keefe to shut up, but his flustered face didn't help his case. "Keefe Sencen." Sophie said, sending Keefe a death glare. "Woah, full name. Hide me, Fitzy." Keefe said as he hid behind Fitz.
"Anyways." Biana said, reaching for Sophie's arm. "Are you okay? We heard Stina confronted you again."
"If you were there, you should've seen her put Stina in her place. I quote 'Besides, if you want some guys confessing their undying love for you then go change yourself. With that attitude and personality, you'd be glad someone would even consider asking you out.'" Dex said, repeating Sophie's lines. It was flawless, but would've sounded better if he can perfectly mimic Sophie's voice.
"Omg, you said that in her face??" Biana looked at her wide eyed with a glint of amusement. She was acting like a proud mother to her daughter who started learning how to walk with her own feet.
"Yeah, it was kinda hard not to." Sophie replied sheepishly. "Anyways, where were you guys?" She asked, remembering that they were late for lunch.
"The elite levels were asked to gather in the courtyard for an announcement, and Tam saw us so she told Linh and Biana to wait for us and go together." Fitz said. "But, I'm pretty sure I transmitted to you. Didn't you hear it?"
Sophie tried to remember the past few minutes and shaked her head. "No. I don't rememeber hearing something." She said. They both found it strange, but Dex remembered something. "Hey, wonderboy. When did you transmit to her?" He asked, pointing a thumb at Sophie's direction.
"Before lunch time, why?" Fitz asked, ignoring the wonderboy remark. "She was practising how to block out others from her mind, so you probably missed each other." Dex explained.
"So does that mean I did it?" She said, looking proud and happy about it. Dex nodded and they both did a high five.
Fitz was looking at them, feeling a bit envious that they're closer than ever.
It was just a week before when they were skipping class together and talked during their Telepathy session. He figured he must've spaced out when Keefe tapped his shoulders.
"Don't feel like that. You'll get to be close with her, too." Keefe said. Fitz sighed, realizing that his bestfriend was right.
One step at a time, Fitz thought. But, he had this uneasy feeling that he has the least progress among all of them.
"Hey." He said, looking back at Keefe. "Why do you speak like you're closer to her than mine?"
"Because, everytime we're alone, she just spills all her emotions out. I don't know why, but it's probably because I'm an empath, so she feels that I'd understand it best?I don't know- wha?" Keefe stopped mid sentence when he felt Fitz's feelings when he unconsciously placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Okaaay, I know that look very well, and it doesn't look good! I wasn't hogging her! Promise! Well, maybe a little..." He said, unaware that he let his lips loose.
A sweat formed in his temples and a moment later, they were running around in circles. The rest of them were just looking at them telling each other that they don't act like level 8 students at all.
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Magnate Leto announced that the councilors would be visiting and would want to see the progidies progress. Therefore, their afternoon session was divided into three: Ability detection for levels 1 - 3, PE for levels 4 - 6 and one-on-one sessions regarding your ability for levels 7 and 8.
Ability detection was, of course, to find out if they'd manifest in a certain ability. PE was for teamwork between people who have manifested and not, while the sessions for the elite levels was more of an ability exhibition.
They have 4 hours, for the whole afternoon session, and 1 hour were given as preparation time and 1 hour for the actual task for each level.
Their physical education turned out to be an obstacle course where each group consisting of 5 members have it differently.
It's like a maze where they need to gather in the middle, and their path was made specifically for their abilities. They were allowed to use their abilities as long as it doesn't disturb the other group.
Sophie and her friends were level 6, so they were the last to perform. During their one hour preparation, they all assessed the pros and cons of their abilities.
Sophie has 5 abilities, but can only use 3 as of the moment. She can use her telepathy to find where the others are, and tell them how far they are from the middle. Her abilities are limited to the mind only, so it's not actually helpful in combat.
Biana can vanish for a few minutes, but that's it. It's not like she can travel through walls and all.
Dex can create gadgets on the spot, and tackle any technology head on. He even has some gadgets in his pockets as of the moment. They all wore a sucker puncher bracelet and a panic ring for precautionary measures.
Linh can control water, meaning she can feel the moisture around the air. It might help her wander around less when she knows that there's no path ahead. But, in using her powers, she can't handle them for too long or she might create another disaster- for the school and for her well-being.
Tam can use the shadows to find them and the way. He can also vanish like Biana, but only with the of shadows.
If the maze was specifically made for them, then they knew it was set to counter their abilities. Knowing Sophie, those restrictions won't affect her. Even Dex has a high chance of not being affected, but they decided to have a plan B.
Since Sophie has a photographic memory, she has the highest chance of reaching the exit first. When she does, she needs to activate her panic ring and it will give everyone an overview of where she is. Plan C is to just wander around the maze until they luckily find the exit, but they don't wish to reach and use that plan.
So far, no one has successfully finished the maze from levels 4 and 5. It was now their turn, and based from the results of the previous levels, they gulped and realized that they might really have to resort to Plan C.
They were blindfolded and were led to their starting points. "You may now remove the blindfold." A voice boomed from all directions. When they removed it, all they could think of was this isn't a maze, it's a labyrinth.
Sophie tracked her friends immediately and tried reaching out to her friends. She was able to, but her friends' thoughts turned out to be very unstable. It felt like they were talking by the beach and the sea waves are always crashing by the rocks.
She knows they're speaking through their minds, but it takes her seconds to decrypt it. Since they can hear her perfectly, Sophie told them about her situation and added that they should answer with one or two words only.
They all agreed to the rule, seeing as it was useless to talk more and act less. Sophie then sent them a list of how far who is from whom.
"You have 1 hour to find the exit. You may start." The speaker said and they all ran forward.
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Linh was placed at the upper left part of the maze, so her way was to go right, straight forward, left, right, and last left turn before the exit.
Linh went right, and a long hallway awaited her. In that hallway, there were atleast 4 other paths to go through. She tried to feel the moisture around the air and immediately crossed out two of the paths.
Two was left, and among the two, she took the wrong path which led her to another long hallway.
Tam was placed on the upper right of the maze. His way was to go straight, take a left turn and collide with Dex's route. All his other routes are met with a dead-end, and this attracted him because the shadows are at the dead ends.
Dex had it easy. He was glad his compass which was modified to find an open area was working inside the maze so he's bound to reach the exit easily.
Biana was lost. She was located at the lower left part of the maze, and somehow, events took some unexpected turn when she ended up in Sophie's route, which was on the lower right side of the maze.
When she was about to go to a different way, she saw some torn paper on the ground and followed it. She ended up bumping into Sophie which made them both fall backward. Biana was prepared for the fall, while Sophie wasn't the least ready.
Her arm was scraped by something sharp on the grass- probably a rock. Though it wasn't life threatening, it still created a cut just below her elbow.
"Soph! I'm so sorry about that- oh no! You're bleeding!" Biana exclaimed as she helped Sophie stand up. Sophie looked at her arm and indeed, blood was gushing out.
She asked Biana if she brought some handkerchief and if it would be possible to lend it to her. She tied it around the cut and the bleeding minimized.
"Wow. How do you know that?" Biana said, pointing to the handkerchief in her arm. "Oh? This?" Sophie said. "It's what you call first aid in the Forbidden Cities. It comes in handy for different situations, but it's called First Aid for a reason. So we need to get out of here so I could pay the Healing Center a visit."
Biana nodded and followed Sophie. She also asked about the torn paper on the ground and she said she used Hansel & Gretel's story where they left things to remember where they came from.
After 15 minutes, Sophie tracked her friends and asked them their situation. Dex answered with "Near exit", Tam with "Ability useless" and Linh with "Change path". She also told them that Biana and her ended up on the same path so they should worry for their own.
After 5 more minutes, Dex's panic ring went off which gave them Dex's location. Linh was already near the exit when it happened so she just got more sure about the direction she's taking.
Tam was near, but as stated, all other ways except the path that would collide would Dex are all dead ends so he got lost a bit more.
Sophie and Biana where farther than Tam, but since all other paths were full of paper shreds, they knew that the last path would be the right one.
The bell for 30 mins has rung, and Sophie tried tracking Tam. She realized she was where she tracked Dex in the beginning of the maze, so she told Tam not to move, and to wait for instructions from Dex.
Straight ahead, 2nd left, right, straight. Was Dex's instruction. While she was sending the directions to Tam, Biana ventured the different paths and showed Sophie the one not leading to a dead end to avoid spending more time.
After some more turns, Sophie and Biana made it to the exit. Linh saw Sophie's bleeding arm and immediately ran up to her. She immediately dismissed it, saying she's fine and the sooner they finish, the better. They waited for another couple of minutes until they saw Tam enter.
"Congratulations Dexter Alvin Diznee, Sophie Elizabeth Foster, Linh Song, Tam Song, and Biana Vacker. You have completed the maze." The voice said again and the maze evaporated in the air.
The other levels were cheering for them, seeing that they were the first, and only group to have finished the maze.
They were suddenly conscious of the attention they're getting and immediately went back to the bleachers. "I knew the maze was not enough to keep Sophie's abilities." Magnate Leto said as he appraoched their group.
"Yeah, but my abilities were completely useless. They had to place me on the path with dead ends and shadows." Tam said, crossing his arms. "And mine too. What's the point of vanishing in a maze?" Biana said, which made them all laugh quite a bit.
"Sophie, I believe you need to go visit Elwin?" Magnate Leto said, looking at her arm. She suddenly remembered that her arm was hurt while in the maze- bringing the sensationof pain back as well.
The adrenaline rush kinda made her forget about the pain, so she forgot. Her friends told her to go to study hall afterwards in which Sophie agreed to.
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Sophie knocked on the Healing Center three times when Elwin answered "Come in, Sophie." She slowly opened the door and saw that he was tending to another patient.
"How'd you know it was me?" Sophie asked and sat down on the cot with her famous picture.
"Oh, I guessed. You always end up in here, especially during things like PE. I guess some things never change." He said as he offered some sedatives to the other patient.
"Yeah, I'm glad some things never change. But not for some other problems." Sophie whispered. Elwin heard it and decided not to push her.
Instead, he said "Yeah, some problems like frequent near-death experiences. For someone who hates doctors, you sure like House visits and Healing Center a lot."
Sophie chuckled and let Elwin assess her. He flicked his fingers and different colors of light surrounded Sophie. "So, it's this arm, correct?" She nodded and Elwin started removing the cloth around it. The bleeding started again which shocked him a bit.
"It was a deep cut?" Elwin asked, shocked and Sophie nodded. "Yes. I stopped it with the cloth, but yeah. Now that I take a closer look, it is a deep cut." Elwin started cleaning the cut and creating a salve that will treat it. "So, care to tell me what happened this time?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing serious. Biana and I ended up bumping into each other in the maze. She was prepared in her fall and I was not, so I was grazed by the rocks at the field." She explained as Elwin applied the salve on the cut.
Elwin warned her that it would hurt but feeling it was still different from hearing it. After a few seconds, he gave Sophie some elixirs that act as painkillers to help her with the pain. He bandaged the area and gave Sophie the 'okay' when she has rested her arm for 10 minutes.
Before leaving, she hailed Biana on the imparter. She saw her friends all gathered in the study hall, expectantly waiting for her.
"Hey Bi. I need your help changing... can you come here?" she said, blushing. It's kinda weird to say that when there are boys around, but she doubted that they'd mind.
Fitz, Tam and Dex all have sisters, and Keefe was a natural gentleman, so of course they won't mind, it just felt... weird to her.
She never had a brother after all.
"Oh, that's right. You'd need help. So, at the healing center right?" She asked, which made Fitz and Keefe look at her with questioning looks.
"Ah, actually no. Meet me by my locker, my bag's there." Sophie said which Biana replied with an okay before the call ended.
She went to her locker and licked the DNA strip, which thankfully tasted like ripplepuffs, and took her bag out.
Biana came in seconds later and volunteered bringing Sophie's bag. She kinda feel guilty for what happened, but not to the point that it would break her mind.
"I take it, you guys haven't told them yet, right?" Sophie asked, and by looking at Biana's reaction, they probably pressed her before coming to see her.
"Yeah. We told them you're just gonna run a bit late. It slipped out of my mouth too, so it's technically my fault." She said, half giggling.
"I left the three there, I hope they survive until we get back." They both smiled and prepared for what questions are about to come their way.