The Burning Light with Shadows (A SOTAM Fan Fiction)

Gala (Sophie's PoV)

"Okay-I-am-starting-to-panic-help-me!" I whispered to Biana, taking deep breaths. She gave me a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine!" she whispered back. I groaned. "No I'm not going to be!" I argued. She rolled her eyes. "Just go on the dance floor or something, just entertain yourself!" she replied hastily. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the dance floor.

Keefe was dancing weirdly, and I mean weirdly. He was wagging his butt, waving his arms around. "Dude, that's even worse than the dare you had to do a while back," Fitz noted, laughing. Dex agreed, nodding his head so fast that I thought he would pull a muscle. Keefe just grinned right back. Tam just stood to the side with an amused yet disturbed expression. The music that was playing was human music, with an upbeat rhythm.

"Come on, Tammy, dance!" Linh squealed, tugging on his arm. She perked her head up. "You and Sophie should dance together!" she screamed, loud enough for a couple other people nearby to turn their heads quizzically toward us. Both of us turned beetroot red and stared at each other.

"Uh..." Tam started awkwardly, and Linh smiled encouragingly. She gave us both baby puppy eyes. We sighed. "Do you want to dance, Sophie?" I didn't think my face could get any redder. "Uh, okay." As if on cue, the music turned into a slow, romantic tune. I assumed Biana had changed the music, and glared at the DJ table, where Biana had sneakily attempted to leave.

A/N I'm sorry I am terrible at ship scenes I'm sorry!!!

Tam placed a hand on my shoulder, and the other on my waist. I fumbled with my dress, putting my hand clumsily in his. We slowly waltzed around, and I surprisingly didn't fall flat on my face, or step on his foot, or step on my own foot, or- "Wait, you know how to dance?" I asked him. His cheeks turned light pink. "Well... my mom made me and Linh learn how to..."

We swayed around a bit more when the music finally ended. For some odd reason, I felt a twinge of disappointment when the soothing harmony had ended. I stared into Tam's mesmerizing pale-blue silver eyes, and felt a tiny flutter in my heart. Wait a minute, what? That only happened when I looked into Fitz's ey-

A high-pitched screech halted my train of thoughts. "YESSSSSSS!!!" Linh and Biana screamed. Both me and Tam glared at the two of them, and they practically collapsed to the ground with giggles. Fitz and Keefe were also laughing so hard, clutching their stomachs. Dex and Marella looked at them with concerned looks. "What's so funny?" Tam demanded. Linh winked. "Well, we sort-of-maybe-placed-bets-on-whether-we-could-get-you-guys-to-dance-together," she said the last part really quickly.

"Wait, who bet against it?" I asked. Linh pointed at Fitz. He shrugged, grinning. "They needed someone to go against," he offered. "Though if I had my way, I would have bet on it." I glared at him mockingly.

"You all are hopeless," I sighed dramatically. Dex stifled a snort. "They always are," he noted amusingedly. Marella rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow at them. "You two didn't bet?" I asked. Marella shook her head. "No, we did. I betted that they wouldn't be able to get you two to dance, but Dex argued that it would happen." I groaned. "You too?"

"Why is it such a big deal if we dance together?" Tam challenged, his face turning a light pink. Everyone looked at the ceiling. "Noooothing, Tammy," Linh said with a face that told the complete opposite. I coughed. "Uh... okay."

Then there was a weird ploop! sound. "Wha-" I started when the room darkened. I felt the small remnant of my echo stir. Oh, no no no no no- my mind stammered, panicking. Please no!

"Well well well, looks like the Moonlark is trying to find her one true pairing," a familiar, taunting voice called out. Tam gripped my hand tightly. All the other elves shrieked, but I couldn't see what was happening. The room was pitch-black. I could hear and feel some of the anxiety in the room, but the only person that I knew was nearby was Tam.

The Neverseen normally don't do this many straight-out attacks in such a short amount of time, I thought.

Yeah, I heard a deep voice whisper back. I realized that I had accidentally transmitted the thought.

What do we do? I transmitted to Tam. I felt him stiffen beside me.

Then we could finally see again. There were forcefields all around each elf except our group. Gethen, Umber, and Ruy stood in the middle of the room in their cloaks.

"What are you doing?!" I demanded angrily. Gethen shot me an annoyed look. "We don't have your talent for recruiting, Sophie. So we thought we'd go through a more... dramatic approach." My breath caught in my throat.

I heard mutters and shouts of protest.

"We'll never join you!"

"Who do you think you are, you Neverseen scum!"

Among other insults. Gethen's expression shifted to a sly smile. That's when I noticed what he was holding. It was a gallon-sized bottle, with a dark, mist-like substance inside it. Please don't be soporidine, I thought, horrified. Anything but soporidine.

He took off the cap, and the mist trailed toward different elves, tagging some and ignoring others. The moment it touched an elf, they seemed to collapse, only to be caught by another elf in the same forcefield that hadn't been touched.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted at Gethen. He cackled wickedly. "Just a special substance that we've created. Oh, and by the way, this is a winnowing gala. Any boy that catches your eye? Perhaps the Vacker boy? Or Gisela's son?" The moment he said the last word, a snake of mist touched Keefe and Biana.

"No!" I screamed as Marella and Linh caught them, doing their best to avoid the mist. Tam growled angrily. I looked behind my shoulder and saw Dex holding a small, copper sphere. "Take this!" he yelled, and threw it at the Neverseen trio, but his throw fell short. It landed a couple meters in front of me.

Time seemed to slow as I tried to comprehend what would happen. I heard muted screams and shouts, before I felt myself being tackled to the ground. I felt a shockwave emit throughout the room, and then my head hit something hard, and I passed out cold.