I Know Now━ 𝐊𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐂

Chapter Fourteen

  Sophie faced the huge room filled with many Neverseen guards. She had been training with the Black Swan quite a lot recently, and she knew she could fight them. But there was a huge chance that she could get herself hurt, even killed. Especially without Keefe's help. And she would have to guard Keefe. And likely keep him off the ground, which means she would have to keep her concentration while fighting. Man, why does this have to be so hard?

She decided that the best course of action was to try and inflict on the whole room. Unfortunately, that might mean Keefe would be inflicted too. She could move him though, but Ruy or Lady Gisela could wake up and capture Keefe again.

Sophie ultimately decided on gently setting Keefe down, then stepping forward a few feet, towards the hulking group of Neverseen members who hadn't quite noticed her yet.

She squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on her fearful, angry emotions. She thought about how everyone in this room (minus Keefe) likely wanted to kill her, how they had already hurt so many people in her life, how Biana still had scars from Vespera's attack, how Sophie had nightmares almost every time she manages to sleep, how she had been kidnapped by them twice now. She focused on the pain she felt last time she was kidnapped, when the Neverseen had burned her. She concentrated on the emotions, on the horrible memories that went along with them, on the power that came with these feelings.

And once it all turned into a raging inferno inside her mind, she forced it out, sending every single Neverseen member in the room toppling toward the ground. They all landed with a soft thump.

Then Sophie remembered that there was one person in there who wasn't a part of the Neverseen, and had never done anything to hurt her. Keefe. He had to be okay. Her inflicting ability was very controlled, and that meant she would only hurt the people that she targeted.

She whipped around and ran to Keefe's side. He was still unconscious. She held his hand and opened her mind to his. All was calm inside it. No darkness. No angry or painful emotions. Good. He hadn't been inflicted on then.

"Keefe," she said softly, shaking him. "Keefe, you have to wake up. I'm too weak and tired to carry you, even with telekinesis. You have to get up and walk."

Slowly, his eyelids started to flutter, then his eyes opened. "Hey, Foster," he muttered wearily. 

"Come on," Sophie said, helping him up. She pulled him through the room, around all the Neverseen guards.

"Whoa, you knocked out all these guards?" Keefe asked, amazed. "How? Did you inflict?"

"Yeah, I inflicted on all of them. No big deal," she responded, laughing a little.

"Okay, Lady Fos-Boss." He held his arms up in surrender. "No big deal. You knocked out well over forty guards. No big deal at all," Keefe said sarcastically.

They rounded a corner into a hallway. All the Neverseen members there were knocked out too.

"Man, how many people did you inflict on, Foster?" Keefe asked. "The whole building? A mile? Did you knock out the whole world except me?!?!"

"I... I don't know. I don't know how far my span reaches. For all we know, I actually could've knocked out everyone in the world," Sophie said, slightly frightened of her own power.

They continued on down the hallway, trying to find an exit.

"Oh!" Sophie realized. She drew a few goblin throwing stars out of her pocket. "Here, take these. In case you need to defend yourself. You have better aim than me anyway," she said, giving them to Keefe.

"I don't think I'm going to need them," he said. "It looks like you knocked out everyone in the building."

When he saw Sophie's pleading look, however, he took the throwing stars and said, "Fine, Foster. I'll keep them just in case. No need to get all worried for me." He smoothed some of the worry creases on Sophie's forehead with his thumb.

They continued walking, looking for a door. Finally they found one, after turning into many more hallways and seeing many more unconscious ogres, elves, dwarves, and the occasional goblin.

"All right, this should be the one," Sophie said, pushing open the door.

A light breeze blew into their faces, and the bright sun burned their eyes, making them squint. Finally. Out of this terrible place.

And as they stepped outside into the beautiful day, Sophie saw more guards laying on the ground. She didn't see a car in sight, except for one that had crashed into a pole on the side of the road. She had accidentally inflicted on all of them.

Sophie didn't know what happened to humans when they are inflicted on.

But the worst part of all of this was the sickly sweet scent that came with the wind. The smell of the Everblaze. And far, but not too far, in the distance, they saw smoke. A lot of it.