Keeper of the Lost Cities: Elysian

Chapter 19

"What?"

Sophie wasn't sure who said it. It could have been her. It could have been any of her friends.

But she suddenly felt cold and confused. And she was terrified.

The river of emotions threatened to overwhelm her.

"How could this have happened?" Biana whispered.

Her voice snapped Sophie back into reality. She forced her brain to think analytically.

That was what her brain required.

Clear and coherent thoughts.

"This can mean several things," Sophie replied. "Lady Gisela or members of the Neverseen may have intentionally left it here. Perhaps it was an accident."

Even if all she had were vague theories, the raging tide in her brain cooled.

"May I feel it?" Sophie asked Elysian.

She didn't know why she asked.

She stared into the eye...

And it stared back.

Elysian placed it into Sophie's hand.

Sophie felt the cold metal.

And suddenly, the cold seared like fire.

Sophie blinked, and in the next instant, she was standing in a dark place. A room filled with shadows and emptiness.

An endless void.

Can anyone hear me? Sophie transmitted.

No reply was given.

There was just...

Emptiness.

And silence.

Then, there was light in the distance.

Something was flying rapidly in her direction.

Sophie instinctively ducked, but the flying object didn't hit her. It just froze in its tracks.

It stopped right in front of her, inches from her hands which had shot out to defend her face.

Once she stood up and stared at the object, she realized it looked like a large shard of broken glass.

Its edges were blurry but in the center...

There was a white eye.

She gasped.

The sight felt... very familiar.

It belonged to her, somehow.

It was a memory.

There was a painful jerk as she was forced back into Physical Sophie.

She was lying on the ground. Again.

"At this point, the number of times you've fallen unconscious is a record," Rayni announced.

Sophie hardly noticed her friends as she panted for breath and choked out, "It triggered a flashback."

Elysian furrowed her brow. "From the night the mysterious Telepath shattered your consciousness?"

Sophie nodded grimly. "I remember just one more image- a white eye identical to the one on this pin."

She still had it in her palm.

She hadn't realized how hard she was grasping it.

"That means it has to do with the Telepath," Fitz concluded. "Which means they probably were here. They might still be here."