Her Imperfections

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sophie scratched under Iggy's chin and sighed, pushing her book to the side. The imp chortled and curled up in her sheets, letting out a silent deadly toot. She had missed him and his ridiculously smelly farts. Sophie wished Grady had brought the gassy imp when he came to the base, but Wylie had volunteered to watch him. At least Iggy didn't want to leave Havenfield.
Sophie tried to let her mind relax, but for the past hour she felt as if her blood was pure adrenaline. It was nice to have Havenfield to herself. The fields, the animals, the silence. It helped. But not enough.
Sophie gave Iggy one last pat, then grabbed her lunch plate and headed downstairs. Her feet donned in fluffy socks padded along the carpet silently. This allowed her to hear sudden footsteps echo in the house.
Sophie stopped and her breath was caught in her surprise. She slowly turned around, wielding the breakfast plate in front of her like a weapon. There was another squeak of a shoe, this time below her. She swallowed her dry nervousness and leaned over the railing. All she could see was the tip of a black shoe.
Sophie waited another second before exhaling when the figure stepped into the light.
"So it's you." She said numbly, dropping the plate back down at her side.
Mr. Forkle craned his head to see her and he looked exhausted with worry. "Sophie?" He scrabbled to the stairs, "We've been looking everywhere for you."
Sophie eyed his face as he stopped before her, then cocked her head with realization. "Thank you."
"What for?" He asked, but his eyes twinkled with gratefulness.
Sophie realized that Mr. Forkle had somehow managed to keep everyone away from Havenfield for three days, giving Sophie her time to think. The gesture had a price though. It meant she would be have to listen to what he was going to say.
Sophie sighed and started down the stairs, "I'll give you a few minutes. I was getting bored anyways."
Mr. Forkle trailed behind her, wringing his gnarled hands. "I know what it looked like. I know how you must feel right now."
Sophie gritted her teeth and turned on the sink, placing the plate beneath the stream of water.
"It was a mistake. You saw the crossed out name above. Fintan was never meant to be your father."
"I thought so." Sophie muttered. After an hour of cooling down when she first got to Havenfield, Sophie guessed this was one giant mistake. That didn't mean she forgave the Black Swan for making it.
"Do you want to sit down for this?"
Sophie turned off the sink and silently accepted Mr. Forkle's offer, taking a seat at the kitchen table across from him. She didn't really know how to feel, but at this point she was just grateful for answers.
Mr. Forkle's eyes never left her when he spoke. "Back when we were still creating you in the lab, there was a Neverseen attack. We're not sure exactly what their plan was, but we assume it was to destroy the project. And they almost did."
He stopped but Sophie motioned for him to go on.
"Me, Calla, and a few other heads of the project were running a test on your embryo. We were trying to detect the anonmolies in your DNA that make up your abilities. We were looking for things like your Enhancing, things we didn't mean to give you. And that's when they attacked."
The rest of the story suddenly seemed so clearly laid out, but Sophie needed to hear Mr. Forkle say it.
"They swapped Fintan's DNA for the original donor."
Sophie breathed out and hung her head in her hands as pressure weighed down on her chest. So this was all the Neverseen's fault, of course. Still, something didn't make sense. "But, if I was an embryo, why hadn't the father's DNA been add yet?"
"Embryo isn't the right word really. We were going to add his DNA later anyways, after Councillor Oralie's. It was supposed to be a very powerful Vanisher. We wanted to be sure of your abilities before the Vanishing was set."
Sophie caught his words. "So I was supposed to be a Vanisher?"
"You aren't anymore, if that's what you are thinking." Mr. Forkle paused and she could hear the heavy regret in his voice when he said. "There's something else you need to know. The reason we didn't add his DNA back. The reason the Neverseen know your next ability."
This caught her attention. Sophie snapped her head up and Mr. Forkle grabbed her gaze. "They stole our tests. We kept them all sealed that wouldn't be broken until we could have absolute privacy. But they intercepted it during the attack. Whatever anomaly we found was your mysterious ability. And they know it."
"Apparently it's enough to scare Fintan." Sophie whispered, "Do you know what it could be then?"
"I have no idea. I'm truly sorry about this Sophie, I never wanted it to be like this."
"I know." Sophie pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes and breathed out. "But it happened. And now we have to deal with it."
"We? Does this mean you'll come back?" Mr. Forkle's voice was lilted with hope.
"I was always going to come back." Sophie said lightly, her voice steady. "I'm just going to grab Iggy."
Sophie managed to keep her composure while she packed up Iggy. Her mind felt rushed with information. Mainly she just hated how much control the Neverseen had over her. But they didn't own her. Sophie was going to make sure of that.
She couldn't hide forever. It was time to go back and finish what she had started.