Duluth / A Keeper of the Lost Cities Fanfiction

Duluth / 19

"No!" Keefe shouted, blocking Mr. Forkle from Sophie. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sophie's heart quickened. Mr. Forkle wouldn't drug her, would he? Unless he thought her to be a flight risk... 

Mr. Forkle let out a sigh before glancing down to the vial. "You kids always rush to conclusions," he told Keefe before setting his eyes on Sophie. Sophie couldn't tell if his eyes hardened or softened. Maybe a mixture of both. A paradox. 

Biana helped Sophie straighten up as Mr. Forkle stepped around Keefe. Or at least, tried to. "Give me that," Keefe almost-snarled, poison in his tone. Mr. Forkle looked inclined to argue, but Tiergan stepped between them. 

"Keefe, we we're going to give the sedative to her without her permission. I swear on it. But if it makes you feel better..." He looked expectantly at Mr. Forkle. 

The wrinkled man let out a sigh before pressing the glass bottle into Keefe's hands. Keefe considered the liquid, as if he wanted to smash it across the wall. Dex saved him from the decision, and took it gently out of his hands and put it on Biana's marble dresser. 

Tiergan approached Sophie, sinking down to a knee in front of her. "Are you ok?" He asked plainly. "Are you hurt?" 

"No," Sophie shook her head. "I'm fine." A couple of tears threatened to spill at the sight of her favorite mentor, but Sophie blinked them down. 

"She's lying," said Fitz. "You've always been an awful liar, Sophie." 

"Hey!" Keefe exclaimed. "Back off!" He took a step toward his best friend, staring him down. Fitz let out a half-laugh. 

"I see what's going on. Always trying to be on her good side, aren't you? Sophie can do no wrong, right?" 

"That's not what I'm doing!" Keefe retorted. "She needs her friends, don't you see that? And in case you've been MIA for the past couple weeks, we need her too. And getting all pissy at Foster isn't going to solve anything, much less your unresolved anger and entitlement issues." 

Fitz's face was growing redder by the second, and the adults prepared to throw themselves between the two teenagers. 

"She lied to us, Keefe. I think I have a right to be angry about that." 

"It doesn't matter! It. Doesn't. Matter right now. We have bigger things on our hands than what you're feeling or what I should be feeling, ok?" 

"Enough!" Sophie erupted, shooting to her feet. The momentum almost sent her back to the bed, but Biana stood with her and steadied her. "I'm not justifying anything I've done. I-I try my best to make sure who I am or what I've uncovered not hurt the people I care about. The people I love. But I end up hurting them more. It's a pattern, really." Sophie let out a huff of a laugh. "I thought by leaving that I was preventing you all from being hurt by me. But I'm realizing now that I was just scared. I was so scared." Sophie directed this last part at Fitz. 

"I've been unstable all my life. Not just with my abilities, or emotionally, but with my thoughts. I psych myself out of everything. I always feel as if I'm too comfortable with who I am or nowhere comfortable enough. And this, this, new power... I was terrified. I became something I didn't want to face." 

"So I ran. And I justified it by telling myself that it was for you guys. For my family. But it was really just for me. So Fitz, you have every right to be upset. I was selfish. I wanted to start over, become someone that even I didn't recognize." Sophie tugged at her ponytail, the short length threatening to come out of the binding. 

"So I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, everyone." Sophie finished her monologue, slumping back onto the bed. She wouldn't cry; it wasn't fair to cry after that speech.