The Moonlark

Piercing Screams

RECAP

  "Just some members of the council that will be determining whether or not you can go to Foxfire." Della said.

***

KENRIC'S POV

Alden hailed the council today telling them he had been searching for the child we had told him not to 12 years ago. I'm actually glad Alden never stopped looking because I can only image the pain this child would have when it came to manifesting age.

I saw the girl walking down the stairs and she looked sad, but happy. When she came closer I could tell she was trying to hide her natural face with human mudup...makemud...I don't remember what they called that stuff.

Sophie had appeared in front of us while I was thinking and she curtsied but, probably because Della had told her to since I doubt she ever curtsied .

"Please don't be nervous dear, my name's Oralie." Oralie said in her soft kind voice. It's one of my favorite things about Oralie, well that and her beautiful blond hair.

  "I'm Kenric." I said.

  "And I'm Councilor Bronte. You will address us by putting Councilor in front of all our names." Bronte said.

Of course he had to add the Councilor part.

The girl just smiled and stood next to Alden when Della left.

"I don't have all day, so would you please introduce yourself already," Bronte said clearly annoyed. I honestly have no idea why he would be one of the three here to test this girl for Foxfire.

  The girl's eyes made their way to my direction. Then, I realized her eyes were staring directly at Bronte's ears.

  "Why are your ears pointing?" She asked at the same time Alden's 'Golden Boy', Fitz Vacker joined us.

  Everyone, but Bronte started cracking up while the girl looked really confused.

  In between all of the laughing Alden managed to say, "They point by age."

  Her hands immediately rushed to both of her ears. This made everyone laugh harder except for Bronte.

  "It won't be for a few thousand years though." I said.

  Bronte was getting really inpatient, "Oh come on my ears aren't that funny. Please introduce yourself though because once again I don't have all day."

"Sorry. My name's Sophie Foster... actually I don't really...have a last name since I don't know my real parents." the girl said while starring at the floor.

"You may not be related to the Fosters by blood, but you did grow up with them and they raised you for your whole life till now." I said since it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Yeah... sorry my name is Sophie Foster." She said emphasizing the word 'is'. "I am 12 years old...or 13 once again I don't really know. Sorry."

"It's ok, how about we get started on the test instead of these questions that can always be asked later." Oralie said.

"Alden says you haven't manifested yet. Is the at correct?" Bronte asked.

Trying to avoid the depressing answers we were getting from Sophie I quickly added, "Like empath, shade, telepath, vanisher, hydrokinetic and many others."

I thought these were pretty self explanatory ability's that's why I chose to list them.

SOPHIE'S POV

  I'm pretty sure my face changed when he said telepath. I tried to get my face back to normal without them noticing.

  I did not want to answer that question, so I chose to lie.

  "Uh...n-no." I said.

  Then a bunch of images popped up in my mind as well as a ear piercing scream that was really high pitched and constant.

  The images were all human memories that weren't ones I had made.

  I put my hands on the side of my face  and fell to my knees all while yelling, "STOP IT!" over and over again.

Calm down they can't see monster you truly are.

  I could feel a tear coming down my face. If the noise doesn't stop soon everyone's gonna know the freak I am.

  After what felt like eternity the images and noise stopped.

  My eyes were closed with my head hanging low so now one could see.

  Someone said, "So you're a telepath."

  I reached up to my face to touch a tear to see if it was red. Lucky for me it wasn't and the foundation was waterproof.

  I looked up to see them all looking at me. Most were staring in disbelief.

  "Why would you lie to us?" Councilor Kenric asked.

  "You should be proud of being a telepath." Fitz said.

  That made me mad, "Try manifesting or whatever you want to call that stupid word in my city. It's real amazing, the thoughts of every single person bouncing off the walls! I could even hear my old families thoughts! I was always the weird child, pitied child, show off child, and boy can I keep on going!"

  "I understand how hard it must be for you to manifest in the Lost Cities. Why would you lie about being a telepath though?" Councilor Kenric asked.

  "I never asked to be a telepath or an Elf, all I want is to be a normal child!" I said still mad at whoever exposed me.

  "What age did you manifest?" Councilor Bronte asked.

  I stayed silent for a bit, then I finally answered glancing at the floor, "when I was 5." I said in almost a whisper.

  "Ok that's not normal." Fitz said.

  "You're right, but she beat your record for youngest to manifest, Alden's little Golden Boy." Councilor Bronte said proudly.

  "What's the usual manifesting age?" I asked out of curiosity.

  "It's usually around the ages of 12-16. I always thought I was the youngest to manifest when I manifested at age 13." Fitz said.

  "So I'm defective." I said.

  "No, you are not defective. Do you remember how you manifested?" Councilor Oralie asked.

  I had never thought of that before. When I tried to think about it, all that I remembered was waking up in the hospital screaming.

  "I actually don't know how. All I remember is waking up in the hospital screaming. Sorry. " I said afraid I would get in trouble for not knowing.

"That's fine dear." Councilor Oralie said.

"Now that we found out the secret or a secret that Ms. Foster was hiding let's begin the test." Councilor Bronte said.