Her Imperfections

Chapter Thirty

Sophie had all but screamed into the mind limbo. But only her voice echoed back as a response. It was weird. Sophie was starting to doubt Fintan had even transmitted to her at all.
But the file was burned into her brain. Sophie couldn't forget it and she wouldn't. After Keefe's kidnapping, morale had been low. Now she finally had something to investigate instead of just sitting around.
Sophie tried not to think about how Fintan wanted her to find it. There was no way Mr. Forkle would just give the file to her, which meant Sophie had to get it another way.
Her gaze had been caught by the open door of Mr. Forkle's office all day. Every free second Sophie's eyes would tear away to it.
"Am I blind or are you having a staring contest with that door?"
Sophie flicked her attention away as Dex raised his eyebrows at her. She gave him a weak chuckle before looking back.
Biana giggled from across the table, "I think she's losing."
Sophie gave them a good glare before pushing out her chair. "I have to go." Sophie mumbled, striding out of the room quickly. She couldn't ignore the slightly disappointed groan from then both as she walked away. Sophie could feel the guilt seeping in.
Elvin minds were so weak to guilt that even disappointing her friends made Sophie's chest collapse for a second. She hated the it brought afterwards too.
Shaking her head to rid the guilt away, Sophie crept behind one of the corners and kept her eyes locked on the office. She had to get in there, and with Mr. Forkle away on a meeting , it was now or never. Sophie let her eyes trail back to her friends once more before taking a step towards the door. They didn't seem to notice her, too interested in their breakfast. Sophie crept to the door.
Unlocked.
She wasn't surprised at this point. It was as if the office had been waiting for her. There was a slimy feeling Sophie got when she closed the door behind her. Like she knew she was in a nightmare but she could escape. Sophie rolled her shoulders and took a breath to push the feeling away. Fintan wanted her to see this file so she had to see it.
Never did she think she would b taking orders from psychopaths.
Mr. Forkle's office was much neater and bare since it wasn't his main office. It would be easy to find the file. Sophie rifled through the papers on his desk for a while, battling the temptation to read them. But she came here for one thing only.
Every time someone's footsteps paused by the door, Sophie would freeze and stay frozen for minutes after they left. She hated being so on edge. Sighing, Sophie turned to the desk's drawers. Each one bore the same empty wooden bottom. Nothing. At the last one, Sophie paused a second before. If this didn't have it....
She pulled it open and disappointment crashed down on her like a stone cloud in a perfect day. She slumped at the sight of the drawer.
Empty like the others.
But she had searched every drawer, every shelf, every file. The file had to be here. She had seen it on her last visit to Alluveterre. Maybe Mr. Forkle moved it, Sophie let the thought play out in her mind. When?
As she started to close the drawer, Sophie saw a smattering of fingerprints along the dusty bottom of the drawer. New fingerprints. Sophie tentatively placed each of her fingers along those prints, all ten of her finger pressing against the drawer. A slight whir echoed her motion and the bottom popped up.
Sophie stumbled back in surprise. So she was right. She lifted up the bottom and sure enough a stack of files sprung up. She pulled them out and flipped through, eyes glued to the corners.
Blank, blank, blank..
Red.
Like a drop of blood it stained the file's yellowish cover. Sophie yanked it out and breathed in with surprise. This was the file Fintan wanted her to find. It didn't look any different, but that slimy feeling return to Sophie stomach.
No, she wasn't backing out now.
A pair of footsteps clunked past the door and Sophie jumped so hard she almost sent the pile of files on her lap sliding across the floor.
Sophie put a hand to her chest and tried to calm herself. This wasn't the time to freak out.
She lifted the cover of the file and two pieces of paper fell out. Both were stamped with an ugly red Classified stamp. After a glance, the first one looked like a description of someone's protein. Sophie took a guess and believed it was hers. It must have been from when she was in the lab. It still made Sophie wince every time she thought of herself on some cold, metal table.
A monster, her mind echoed.
No, Sophie battled with her thoughts, I'm not.
The corners of the file were starting to crumple in her grip and Sophie released it back to the floor.
She flipped her gaze to the next page and her heart froze for a second, clawing pain taking through her chest. The cause of this was the title that scrawled across the page.
Donor's DNA Details
It was just a facade for saying her biological parents.
Sophie dropped the paper and it glided to the floor. She shouldn't be looking at this. She already knew about Oralie and Sophie doubted her father's identity could be much better. Mr. Forkle had hinted at it being something she didn't want to know. She should turn away, go.
But she couldn't help that feeling of curiosity. She had a right to know. Maybe it would be better for her relationship with the Black Swan if she knew everything now.
Oralie's details were on the page, of course. Nothing out of the ordinary. Sophie's hands were sweaty and shaky by the time she got to the bottom of the page, staining the edges.
Her father's details.
Sophie read for a second, then felt her breath returning to normal. There wasn't anything special about his DNA. He wasn't some goblin, alicorn, hybrid thing. He was just an elf.
But panic pumped her heart faster again when she looked at her father's name. The page tore like butter beneath her frozen, stunned grip. On the line, something was crossed out and beside it was written

Fintan Pyren.