Starstruck [KotLC]

Chapter 4

Sophie made her way to the Leapmaster to head to school after a quick breakfast, pondering Alden's request to speak with her the coming weekend. She was hoping there was a new development with the Neverseen. Waiting for them to make a move had been pretty excruciating.

When she got to school, Keefe was waiting at her locker once again. 

"Hey Keefe!"

"Mornin' Foster!" He smirked. Sophie returned the expression, proceeding to open her locker and grab today's books. Her first class today was Elementalism, a class in which her performance was still far from exceptional.

"Elementalism first?" Keefe asked. "Sounds brutal. Especially for you."

"Yup, not really looking forward to it." She sighed.

The two walked down the hallway, chatting idly.

"How's the empathy training?" She asked curiously. Keefe had never revealed much about his special ability training to her, though she wasn't exactly open with him about her daily telepathy date with Fitz.

"Good. I've been working on sensing emotion without touch, like I can do with you, except with other people. It isn't really working out, though."

"Why's that?" She asked, intrigued.

"Honestly, I have no clue. You're just weird, I guess." He shoved her playfully.

"Humph." She responded. He wasn't wrong, but the shove was uncalled for. She pushed him back, right into two boys walking in the opposite direction.

"Oof!" Keefe exclaimed. "Sorry, guys, this girl's a little... oh, hey guys! Didn't see you there!" Sophie looked up and squinted at the unlikely scene in front of her, as though her vision was fooling her.

A now-dazed Dex and an angry-looking Fitz were walking side by side, as though they'd been BFFs for forever. 

"Oh. Oops. Hey, Sophie." Dex apologized half-heartedly. Fitz offered a kind wave and a smile. Both conspicuously avoided locking eyes with Keefe.

"Hey guys. Haven't seen you in awhile, Dex." She replied confusedly.

"Yeah. That's okay. Fitz and I are getting to be real close." She could feel the venom in his tone, but decided to ignore it. 

"Oh. Um. Okay. See you at lunch?"

"Actually, I have detention," He smirked.

"What? Why would you get detention?" Sophie asked.

"That bigmouth Stina! This time, when she was talking smack on the Vackers, I filled her locker with splotchers, which I may or may not have enhanced to make them permanent on clothing... and the bits that got on her skin won't be coming off for at least a week!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

"I have taught you well, my pupil." Keefe congratulated with an overly exaggerated bow.

As the chimes rang and we all headed off to our first classes, Sophie couldn't help but wonder when Dex started defending the Vackers. 

After school, she headed to Dex's locker and invited him over, only to be refused. "Sorry, I have lots of technopathy homework tonight." He offered as a lame excuse. She worried further.

The rest of Sophie's week consisted of awkward encounters with Dex and Fitz, tons of homework, and plenty of visits to Silveny with Keefe.

Finally, as the weekend arrived, she found herself heading for the Leapmaster to travel to Everglen to see Alden. As she approached the glowing gates, she became increasingly nervous, wondering what news he had to share.

Alden greeted her at the gate, and they dragged their feet to his office. Sophie sunk into her usual seat, gazing at the strange fish swimming in circles around the aquarium walls. 

"Sophie," he started, "I have been working closely with the Black Swan for the past few months, but they have refused to help me find your parents." Her worry flashed to anger. 

"I know. They won't tell me anything either."

"I have questioned their tactics regarding this matter and decided that you should be able to make such a decision yourself."

"Yeah, I wish that was how it worked," she growled, "But no matter what, they won't budge. And we have no way to figure out their identites ourselves."

"See, that's where you're wrong," Alden smiled. "Sophie, we know how to find your parents. I've been working with technopaths from the nobility for about a month and they've developed a system that uses your DNA to find your two progenitors."

"Woah." Sophie replied, her head starting to ache from the added pressure. She had all the tools at her disposal. All she had to do was take the leap of faith.