Displaced

Chapter 112

Chains. Chains into Pari's soul. Sofie had been sure the worst of her nightmare was past her. She'd felt the geasa release from Pari's soul when she'd said the magic words. It had been the strongest sensation she'd felt from any one person as well, there could have been no mistaking it. Pari was free of her terrible restraints, she'd been absolutely positive. She'd been wrong.

Chains. It wasn't how she'd envisioned her powers before, but it was now. Chains binding little Pari down, wrapping around her, crushing her. Sofie couldn't unsee it now that the image had implanted itself in her head.

Chains. Thousands of them, all leading to her.

There could only be one explanation: there was another side to her powers that she hadn't known about. It probably wasn't geasa, or so she hoped. If this side operated by spoken word, as the other side did, then it was something she didn't say often, given that the number of chains leading to her sister was so low. That, or she was constantly clearing them without realizing it. But if she could feel it when she banished a geas, wouldn't she have felt something when clearing one of these chains?

No, the most likely explanation was the first one: it only triggered on a seldom-spoken word, one she'd said to Pari a few times... and one she'd said to the children of Otharia during a class. That was the only explanation she could think of for what the dragon had described as countless chains leading south. She'd done something, likely something terrible, to thousands of innocent children all over the nation.

Sofie took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She told herself that it wasn't a disaster, that it was actually good. She knew about this side of her powers now, which meant that she could fix things. Surprisingly, this worked. She found her despair dwindling, pushed out by mounting determination. Yes, she had managed to find a way to figure out and fix the first side of her powers, she could do it again. She knew what to look for this time, so it would probably be easier than the first. It had to be. She would make things right.

An off-tune warbling caught her attention over the sounds of the wind and the loping transport upon which she rode. What was that sound? Whistling? Sofie looked up to find Blake cheerily tilting his head left and right as he whistled a jaunty tune that she didn't recognize. He seemed strangely cheerful, more than she'd ever seen him before.

"There's my baby!" he called out happily as Sofie spotted the Flying Toaster hovering off in the distance. They were out of the mountains, she belatedly realized. Had she really zoned out the multi-hour trip back from the meeting point? Yes, she realized. She'd gotten so caught up in her feelings of self-loathing and depression that she couldn't remember anything that had happened even two minutes after the start of the trip. Even the events before then felt like a blur, barely making an impression on her.

The elevator touched down before them not long after. Sofie held Gabriela's arm as the compartment swayed slightly as they rose. She would have held her hand, if Gabby were willing, but the grooves that Gabby's fingers were squeezing into the elevator railing suggested that it would probably end poorly for the integrity of her hand.

Once the lift docked, Sofie followed behind the others as the group stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway that connected the various sections of the Flying Toaster. Gabby split off from the rest as they passed the living quarters. Once the rest of them arrived at the front cabin, Blake made a beeline for the pilot's chair. He lovingly caressed the control panel. "Yes, how is my baby? Hm? Did they treat you well?"

"Weirdo," Sofie muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Hey, can we stop by Xoginia on the way back?"