cascade | kotlc

8. Nogginease

time skip: front page eternalia

June cornered Sophie at lunch.

"Don't think I don't see how stressed you are. What happened? Are you okay?" she asked. "If there's something bothering you, you can tell me. I promise."

Sophie sighed. "I'm sorry, June. I can't. I'm too dangerous. I've almost blown up the school already. I can't be sure I won't hurt you."

June cupped Sophie's cheek. "I promise you, Sophie. I understand. Did you not hear what Terik told me? I can destroy Eternalia, Sophie. The entire city. I have the power in me to destroy all of that."

Sophie glanced at her. "I'm sorry."

June shook her head. "Sophie, look at me. You're my sister, and I love you. But if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you." A thought dawned across her face. "You found evidence memories were implanted into your head."

Sophie squirmed.

Biana cornered Sophie in the hallway a few days later. "Are you mad at me?"

"What? No. Why?"

"You haven't come over in at least three weeks. It was before the school was evacuated."

Has it really been that long? "Sorry. I've been super busy."

"Do you want to come over this weekend?"

"I don't think I can." She needed to avoid Alden so he wouldn't ask to see her memory log. June rounded the corner and ran to them.

"What about next weekend?"

"You really should, Sophie," June said gently. "You need to take your mind off things, it's been pressuring you too much. You need to relax and have some fun."

"Uh... sure." Biana seemed so insistent, and she could always cancel.

Biana straightened, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Cool. I'll tell my parents so they know to be home."

"Oh. Good." She was sure her smile looked more like a grimace.

Sophie didn't cancel her plans with Biana. She went to Everglen. And it felt like coming home.

They played basequest again. She was on Fitz and Keefe's team this time, and June and Biana were questing. Fitz's eyes held a tiny bit of envy when Sophie showed him the way she tracked thoughts to an exact location. She tried teaching him, but his mind couldn't master it. It didn't help anyways, since June would just fly over their heads all the time.

After losing three rounds in a row and somehow never seeing June fly, Keefe refused to play unless they were questing. She agreed to the switch, and then transmitted their hiding spots to June so they'd lose, mostly just to troll Keefe. He looked ready to explode when Biana tagged him out the second time, and he spent the rest of the night grumbling about conspiracies. When June finally showed Keefe her Guster abilities, he looked murderous.

Sophie laughed until her sides hurt. She couldn't believe she'd let fear keep her away from this much fun for over a month. June was holding hands with Fitz, looking happy and at ease. Sophie felt a surge of remorse at how she'd kept June away from Fitz for this long.

Alden never asked to see her memory log anyways. He and Della hugged her, told her to visit more often, and disappeared for the rest of the day on official business. For once she didn't want to know where they went.

She was done asking questions. She would not let fear control her again.

-

Dame Alina said the two most terrifying words ever: "final exams."