What if...? The Neverseen found Sophie Foster

Chapter 12

Sophie didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she wanted to cry or laugh, or just ignore the fact that it felt right when she cheated. When Sophie saw Dex when she was putting up her books she asked "Hey, Dex?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you can help me practice rose to iron and making her turn brass to copper this weekend?"

"Sure. Just one thing though."

"What?"

"Why those two things?"

Sophie thought for exactly a second then said, "Lady Galvin said to practice for an assignment that's coming up."

Sophie just lied to her best friend, and she had the same feeling from when she cheated.

EVERYONE EXCITED FOR MIDTERMS?" Dame Alina's projection chirped. Sophie locked her legs to keep her knees from banging together as Dame Alina continued in her annoyingly cheerful voice.

"Your thinking caps are in your lockers, and remember, anyone found without one for the rest of the day will be disqualified for cheating—is that clear?" She waited until everyone nodded.

"Good. Have fun with midterms." The chorus of groans echoed through the air as Dame Alina flashed away and everyone left for exams. Sophie froze, too terrified to move. Dex pulled her toward the atrium.

"Will you relax? We've been practicing nonstop for a week. You're ready." She nodded, afraid that if she spoke, her voice would tremble. Her hands shook as she slipped on the thinking cap from her locker. The white cloth wrapped around her head and hung in a point. She glared at her reflection.

"I look like a Smurf." The thick fabric consisted of an amalgam of metals, made to dull telepathic abilities and preserve the integrity of the exams. But the second she concentrated she could feel Dex's voice rushing through her mind like a blast of air, so it clearly didn't work on her. She wasn't surprised.

"Well... here goes nothing." She forced a smile before stumbling down the hall on shaky legs. She wrote an extensive essay on the human betrayal for elvin history, named more than a hundred stars in the Universe, and won the mind-over-matter debate with Sir Faxon in metaphysics.

Tiergan was so amazed that the thinking cap had no effect on her, he gave her an automatic 100 percent. But her harder exams were after lunch, and alchemy was up first. Thinking about it made her feel almost proud for what she did.

Lady Galvin was still setting up when she entered the room. "Does the cap even work on you?" Lady Galvin asked, her eyes boring into Sophie's.

Sophie shook her head, not quite brave enough to speak the words.

"Will you be picking the secrets out of my brain, then?"

She shook her head again.

"Why should I believe you?"

She cleared her throat and forced her mouth to work.

"I want to pass on my own."

Lady Galvin stared at her for a second before she blinked. "You must turn brass to copper using only 'What ever it is hard to do here' in fifty-five minutes so I suggest you get started."

Sophie finished out the day with a decent essay on ogres for multispeciesial studies and a mediocre performance on her last two exams. Her channeling went well in phys. ed.—until Lady Alexine ran back and forth through the walls and broke her concentration. And she managed to bottle three different clouds in elementalism, but it took four tries to bottle a whirlwind and the bottle had a crack from the pressure.