Sparkle (KOTLC) {Completed}

31

After Prentice's healing, it was back to school and research, and worrying about Sophie. Janessa noticed her twin had completely shut down after Prentice's healing, and all her efforts to get Sophie to interact with the world were completely ignored.

As the fourth day started, Janessa approached Dex, tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey, what's up?" Even Dex looked exhausted.

"Sophie's not doing well. She doesn't even hear me when I try to talk to her." Janessa sighed, looking over at her zombie-like sister worriedly. "Do you think..."

Before she could even finish asking, Dex said, "Yeah, I'll go talk to her."

She watched her sister and Dex interact gratefully, saw the relief on Sophie's face and the smile that filled it after he left, rushing to his next class. Realizing she would be late to her own class, Janessa rushed off, mentally thanking Dex over and over in her head.

At lunch that day, Sophie smiled and talked with the group for the first time since before the healing, which all their friends smiled at.

"Hey, JJ, I totally forgot this is your first term at Foxfire." Sophie noted, looking at her sister for the first time in days. "How are your classes?"

Janessa grinned. "I'm doing pretty well in all of them. Lady Galvin is very happy that I'm nothing like you when it comes to alchemy."

Keefe snorted.

"Hey! I wasn't that bad!" Sophie defended.

"Uh, tell that to Galvin's capes." Keefe responded.

"Oh I've heard so much from her about all the capes you ruined. All my healing lessons are paying off." Janessa said, smiling.

"So, yeah, you got all the talent for alchemy in the family, but what about everything else?" Sophie wondered.

"Empathy's just about the only thing I really have to work on. I basically spent my whole childhood just studying, so I'm a fair bit ahead." Janessa shrugged.

"I can help you with Empathy if you want." Keefe offered. Janessa nodded gratefully, knowing he would probably be a more interesting mentor that Sir Ronley.

Though Sophie couldn't be described as vibrant, she was certainly more alive than before, and Janessa prayed it would last as long as possible.

By the end of the week though, Sophie was stressed once more, and ditched class to speak to Mr Forkle, who revealed he'd figured out Vespera's name.

As Mr Forkle announced it, Janessa blushed, realizing she hadn't told them. "Oh, uh, I already knew that. Did I not say that before?"

Her friends all looked at her, their eyes screaming, 'Are you kidding me?' as she chuckled awkwardly.

It was brushed under the rug though as Bronte showed up at Havenfield with Fintan's cache and whispered the name into it. They all held their breath, waiting for anything to happen, but the room stayed still, and everyone let out a collective disappointed breath.

Reaching for their last option, Sophie and Keefe hailed Lady Gisela while the adults filed away into the kitchen, though Sophie, Keefe, and Fitz were the only ones to talk to her.

Huffing that they hadn't figured out the location of Nightfall yet, Gisela said, "If you need me to spell it out, there are several entries that talk about steps—and I'd once thought Vespera meant a list of tasks. But now I believe she means literal stairs. I can't tell if they identify the facility or are simply a part of it, but either way it gives you a landmark to watch for. There's also a part where she goes on and on about rebuilding after the sinking—and I'd thought she meant rebuilding her plans. But I think she meant the facility itself—or part of it, at least—which is why it has to be in Atlantis. And the part about leaving her mark on Nightfall implies the facility is branded with her symbol."

"So... you're not actually sure about any of this," Sophie said through gritted teeth. "These are all just theories."

"No, Sophie, these are facts. You've read the journals. You saw how she described it. Or wait—have you?"

"I didn't have time to translate thousands of ancient runes" Sophie said, while Janessa noticed the tone of Gisela's voice uncomfortably, as if there was something they should know but didn't.

"Ugh. What a horrible time to delegate. That explains why this is taking so much longer than I'd expected. I've been wondering how you could stand to let so much time pass."

Those words did not make Janessa feel any better, instead the sense of foreboding only worsened.

"We haven't been letting time pass," Keefe snapped. "We've been working on it every day."

"Not hard enough. Read the journals—you'll find a whole other kind of motivation. Or, if you'd rather keep trusting the Black Swan, I'd recommend demanding they share what they clearly haven't bothered mentioning. I'm sure they're around there somewhere. Probably eavesdropping right now. And once you have a proper understanding of exactly what's at stake, I'd recommend you start using your brains and track down Nightfall. Don't hail me again until you do." Lady Gisela said, before ending the call.

As the adults came back into the room, they all stared at Mr Forkle.

"What was she talking about?" Janessa asked.

"Any details I haven't shared have been to spare you unnecessary worry." Mr Forkle replied, directed towards Sophie.

Janessa's chest tightened even more; this was something really bad.

"I don't need you sparing me—"

"Yes, Miss Foster. You do. We all know this threat is deeply personal to you—and that every day it's a struggle for you not to give in to your panic. There's no reason to add to this extra burden."

Janessa frowned. "It sounds like there is, though. We've all sworn fealty, we're involved enough that we need to know all the information, as horrific as you think it is."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Mr Forkle sighed. As everyone shook their heads, Mr Forkle agreed. "Fine, but we're all going to need to sit down."

Moments after everyone had sat, Mr Forkle's voice filled their brains, and within a minute, Janessa felt like she was going to throw up. Both from the horror of what he'd said, and Sophie's intense emotions wafting through the room violently.

Why was Vespera experimenting on humans? Fitz's voice echoed in her mind.

According to her journals, she was striving to understand how humans could commit such terrible atrocities without shattering their sanity. She believed that if we—as a species—didn't find a way to harness that same level of ruthlessness, that it was only a matter of time before humans would take over as the dominant species on our planet. Mr Forkle replied.

Looking around the room, Janessa could see just how pale everyone was getting, and she was sure she was no different.

"Have you told us everything?" Bronte asked. Mr Forkle shook his head, and Janessa held her breath in preparation for the next piece of information.

There's the timeline to consider. The runic alphabet used in these journals—as well as subtle references in numerous passages—suggests that all of this was occurring before the sinking of Atlantis. And over the last few weeks, I've been conducting my own research. And I've found a number of missing persons reports long buried in our ancient archives—filed by humans living in Atlantis.

Alden looked sick as he asked, Any record of how the Council responded?

I suspect the majority of the information exists only in Fintan's cache, Mr. Forkle replied. But... from what I can tell, the Councillors wrote everything off as a misunderstanding.

Janessa's eyes dimmed as the adults explained the new truth about the sinking of Atlantis; the humans had had real reason to start the war, due to the negligence of the Council, and all of the Elvin world blamed it on the humans' greed, when it was an elf's crimes that had started it.

That explains why Vespera was emotionless. Janessa thought silently to the others. Empaths can lose the ability to feel if they're not careful.

It was soon after that comment, that Sophie ran upstairs, eyes frantic, and shut the door behind her. Sophie had become a zombie again, and Janessa could do nothing to help her.