Back to the Future

Chapter 29

That morning when Sophie awoke, she had a bad feeling.

She didn't know what it was or why it was happening, but she knew that something was going to change.

Normally she would slip out of bed and disappear before Keefe woke up, but today she nudged him awake. He groaned softly, smushing his face into the pillow.

Sophie started to play with his Hair, braiding small pieces of it, until it was a ruffled mess. He didn't move a muscle, she was starting to think that maybe he had gone back to sleep and waking him up was a lost cause. She started to get out of bed when Keefe grabbed her wrist, "Why did you wake me up? You don't normally,"

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about today, stay alert about everything."

He nodded and began to rub his finger back and forth on her wrist, still gripping it, as if he didn't want her to leave, "I'll tell Ro too. Unless you need me, I'm going to stay here all day. Besides I have to fix the mess you made of the Hair,"

Sophie smiled, ignoring his Hair comment she said, "Thanks," She pulled herself away from his hand, "I love you,"

Keefe pulled her down to the bed again to kiss her, "I love you too, enough to forgive the horrible treatment of the Hair,"

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She was still smiling when she got to the Neverseen base. That was something Keefe was amazing at: making her happy even though it felt like the universe was telling her she shouldn't be.

She walked into Gethen's office and he smiled wickedly when he saw her, "Are you ready for your mission today?"

"Yes," She nodded, sliding into her seat, "What do you need me to do?"

"Kill a Councillor."

She gaped at him, "What?"

"We need to send a message that we are not to be messed with, you remember the effect of Kenric's death, right?"

Sophie leaped across the table, her hands at Gethen's neck as his chair fell backward to the floor, "No! You soulless creature! Kenric's death devastated the public, devastated the people that loved him. He was an amazing person, and you have no right to just say he was just a message!"

Gethen gasped for a breath, "Little one, calm down and I'll explain,"

"I don't need an explanation!" She fumed.

"My darling daughter, please?" He asked slowly.

His use of the word darling made Sophie slap him, it reminded her too much of Keefe and she never wanted to compare the two, "Don't ever call me that!"

Gethen, using his telekinesis, lifted her off of him and put her back in her chair. When they were both settled back in their seats, "Kenric was a tragic loss, we would have much more liked to kill one of the more annoying ones," Sophie glared at him, saying nothing though and letting him continue, "This time we are going after Oralie."

"What!" Sophie yelled, "She's not annoying, no...no."

Forkle's words from the day before rang in her mind.

I hope you take more after your mother than you do your father.

"Sophie, you said you wanted change, this is how to go about it. Just go to her castle and consider it," Gethen said, "You wanted this, remember?"

Sophie sighed, dropping her head, "No promises, but I'll go to her house."

Gethen smiled as she walked out, and Sophie couldn't help but feel a churning in her stomach.

What was she doing?

She reviewed the blueprints of Oralie's house and when she had them all in her photographic memory she teleported there.

She hid behind a pink couch and waited. After a half hour, Oralie came down the stairs and into her kitchen. She made herself a quick breakfast and sat down on the couch that Sophie was hidden behind.

Without giving herself time to think, she jumped up and put a dagger to Oralie's throat. Oralie tensed up and grabbed her hands trying to pull the knife away. Then she paused.

"Sophie?" She asked slowly.

Sophie froze, "Be quiet," she hissed, "One word and I slit your throat."

Oralie didn't start pleading like she expected, instead she asked her a question, "Why?"

"Because, because..." Sophie loosed her grip, "I don't know,"

Oralie slowly eased her hands off of her neck, "Come sit down child, I think it's time for us to have a talk."

When Gethen had called her little one she had wanted to beat him senseless, but when Oralie called her child it just made her want to curl up in her arms and sob. Sophie moved around the couch and sat down next to her. They were quiet for a moment before Sophie bowed her head, "I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this. I'm just...I don't know who I am anymore," Sophie felt tears start to well up in her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure you already know this, but you're my daughter," Oralie said, bringing her fingers to tilt Sophie's chin up to look at her, "I know I have never been able to be there for you, but if you think it's your biology that is making you evil, remember half of it isn't. Sophie, it's also not just about your biology, it's about who you choose to be. Be the Moonlark, be the savior of our world, and above all do what makes you happy."

Sophie started crying, and she buried her head into Oralie's shoulder, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,"

"It's okay, you're okay," Oralie soothed, whispering sweet words of encouragement into her ear.

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Sophie sat on the ground, her hands fisted in the grass. She didn't know how long she stayed at Oralie's, but when she left she sent a quick text to Keefe and went to the location of their future home. Every breath burned, the primal emotion in her bones would not go away. That rage, the rage that she kept knotted up beneath her rib cage was unfurling. It wasn't Oralie that had caused it, it wasn't even Gethen, it was her. It was her own corruption, something Mr. Forkle had seen; something he had feared. She didn't know what had released it. Oralie told her that she was okay, Mr. Forkle thought she wasn't like Gethen, Gethen was convinced she was.

But, the truth was...

Sophie didn't know who she was.

It was a realization that she had learned in her mother's sparkling castle. She hadn't known the depth of it until she sat on the base of where the rest of her life would unravel: the land her future home would be built on. Deep down she had known that truth for a while, but she had hidden.

That's why she had fallen in the hole that Gethen had dug for her, she realized. He just coaxed a lost animal into a cage. Building the iron slowly around her as she quivered on the ground, unable to realize the treachery around her.

It was because of that, because of these wretched feelings that she sat there. Sat there pulling at the grass, digging her fingers into the soil, releasing power into the earth. She tilted her head back, staring up at the sky, imagining it glowing red.

Her body convulsed, her desires shifting and molding with her emotions and her rationality. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

A/N: This was an intense chapter, but I feel like it was necessary. Thanks for reading!!