The Insider ~ A Fitzphie FanFic KOTLC

Chapter 5

"Miss Foster?"

Sophie was sitting on the crystal stone floor of her giant bathroom when Sandor came in with a concerned look on his face.

"Hm?" Sophie said snapping out of her daze.

"You frantically got up from your makeshift bed and ran to the bathroom... Is there a threat?" Sandor said as he quickly drew his sword from its sheath. 

"No, no threat, I'm just... a little, well, baffled, I guess."

"Why is that?" Sandor kneeled down to her level. 

"I thought it was real..." She mumbled to herself, barely audible.

"Bad nightmare?" Sandor guessed.

Sophie let out a shaky chuckle: "Quite the opposite, actually." 

A long beat of silence passed through the sparkly bathroom before either of them spoke up. Sandor was the first to talk.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Sandor quickly stood up and walked out of the bathroom.

"Oh, and Miss Foster? Mr. Forkle, Elwin, and Livvy are here to check up on you."

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Sophie didn't even bother changing or brushing her hair, which was most likely in multiple knots at the back of her head. 

"Hi, Sophie!" Livvy said, playing with her hair, which had purple glitter twisted into her long braids. She was wearing an asymmetrical purple tunic, which matched her glittery hair. 

"Hi," Sophie said as she walked down the stairs into the sitting room with pristine white couches. 

"How are you doing?" Livvy asked as Sophie sat down on the couch across from Livvy and Elwin, who were sitting a little closer than necessary.

"Fine, I guess."

"You've tried inflicting and you're enhancing's off the charts, am I correct?" Mr. Forkle asked.

"Great, then I think it's high time you returned back to school." Elwin piped in.

"What? No, I can't go to school. It's not even open!" (I've looked through the book, 8.5, and wiki, and can't find it. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

"It is now, Miss Foster. The council has ended the hiatus." Mr. Forkle informed her.

This could not be happening, Sophie thought. Going back to school meant going back to Telepathy, which meant going back to see Fitz.

Out loud, Sophie asked a useless question, hoping to distract them from the fact that she was mentally spiraling downward.

"So everyone's going back?" 

"I would hope so. Every student deserves a quality education." He really was the principal of Foxfire.

"Right, well we will be on our merry way." Elwin said, but not before snatching one of the slices of mallowmelt Edaline had set out on the table.

"Wait," Sophie asked, confused. "You came all this way just to tell me that school's starting again?" 

"Well, we also need you to stop by the healing center for a checkup with-" Elwin cutoff Livvy with a loud "Me!" and pointed his thumb towards himself.

"Seriously, that's all?" Sophie was genuinely confused now.

The three glanced at each other, and when no one spoke, Mr. Forkle volunteered. 

"Oh, we do want you to take enhancing classes. Your mentor will be Lady Miriel on the Level Six floor." Mr. Forkle seemed like he had just now remembered that massive schedule change. Shouldn't have been the first thing on his mind? Sophie asked herself.

"What class will I be dropping?"

"Agriculture. it wasn't helping you that much, but we are putting you on an accelerated program of sorts. We find that it might be beneficial for you and Mr. Vacker's cognate relationship if you were on the same level. Both mentally and literally. Since young Mr. Vacker is going to the towers next year and you will not, we find it essential that you go there with him."

"How is that going to work, exactly? Because I'm only a Level Four right now," Sophie squinted her eyes as she said this.

"You see, we're testing you on your Level Four material in the next couple of weeks. I've informed all your mentors about the situation, and they will be going over the review work as soon as you get back. They all seem very confident you will pass. When you do, we will simply have you skip Level Five and go straight to Level Six, putting you and Mr. Vacker in the same timeline."

Sophie simply stared at all three adults with a shocked look on her face.

"So what you're telling me," Sophie's voice rose to a shout. "Is that I'll be skipping a whole year of my education, I'll be tested on everything I've learned this year in two weeks, and I'll be, let's see," counting her fingers, she exclaimed, "The only fifteen-year-old Level Seven?"

"Yes, that's the plan." Mr. Forkle gently told her.

"You didn't even tell me or Fitz about this, did you?"

"Well, we came here to pick you up and to go see young Mr. Vacker."

"And to check on your healing process," Livvy quickly added. 

"You know what? You can just go inform Fitz by yourself, you don't need me. This barely effects him."

"If you don't want to come, you don't have to." Elwin told her in a gentle voice. 

"Good, cause I won't be coming." A distinct snap present in her voice.

"We'll let you sleep on it." Livvy said as she pulled out a metallic Pathfinder.

And with that, the trio leapt to Everglen. 

"I can't believe this! They can't just spring something on me like this!" Sophie yelled to no one in particular. At that moment both her adoptive parents came in, looking like they had been through the digestive system of their one of their resident dinosaurs. 

"What's wrong?" Grady asked, shaking off a jacket covered in dino slobber.

"Forkle just decided that it would be, and I quote, "better for me and Fitz's cognate relationship if we were on the same level."

"That does seem beneficial," Edaline said, but upon noticing Sophie's expression, she added: "But they should have told you before it was a done deal."

"Well, now we have to go get all your books and uniforms." Grady said, looking quite unwilling.

"I thought they just showed up at our door?" Sophie's Level Three and Level Two and Level Four equipment had shown up to her house in a nice little chest. 

"Yes, but you're skipping a level, and the gnomes that package these don't stop sending you stuff unless you drop out or get exiled. It's like one of those subscription things in the human world. Where you won't stop getting stuff until you cancel it forever." Grady explained.

"So where do we get the uniforms?" 

Edaline and Grady glanced at each other before Edaline told Sophie, "The only place you can buy them at: Foxfire."

Guys I swear I had this chapter written, I just fell asleep before I could publish. XD Anyways, I got 8th place in my cross country meet out of 120! Be proud of me. Thanks for reading, as always. Also, did you guys hear Olivia Rodrigo's new album: GUTS? It's so good. I'll get back to writing the next chapter. Stay goofy.