Elysian

Chapter One.

Sophie was pacing back and forth the length of her room, tugging at her eyelashes.

I have to do something.

I have to do something.

I have to do something.

She hadn't changed from when they left Elysian, her mind too worked up to care. Hope was still tucked safely into the holster in her cape, the weight still unfamiliar.

She was tired of it.

Tired of losing to the Neverseen.

Tired of having her choices questioned by nearly everybody.

Tired of running.

She had to do something about it, and there was only one person she could think of who would help her.

She just needed to get out of Havefield first.

Sophie went into her bathroom, shutting the door behind her, and opened the closet door.

She packed light, stuffing what she could into the purple backpack she had brought to the Lost Cities when she was 12. She packed a few clothes, a goblin throwing star she had found tucked into one of the pockets of a tunic she had, and one particular gadget Dex made that he had called "Motherload". It was a device that could hack banks in the Forbidden Cities.

"Just in case." He had said when he gave it to her, a grin on his face.

Well, now was the time.

Sophie felt like she was missing something, and then she realized what.

Ella.

She opened the door of the bathroom to her room, leaving the backpack behind the door, and went over to her bed, picking up the blue elephant. She couldn't leave her here. Not this time.

Going back into the bathroom, she tucked Ella into the top pouch of her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, when a small glimmer caught her eye.

Scissors.

Glancing at her reflection in the large bathroom mirror, she could see her hair, which had grown down to the middle of her back.

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"Hold still, Soybean!" Her human mother said as Sophie squirmed around in the chair "It's just a trim, I'm not chopping your hair off."

"Do we have to?" 8-year-old Sophie asked her mom.

"It'll keep your hair nice and healthy so it can grow super long. Like Rapunzel."

"Really?!" She turned her head to look at her

Her mom smiled "Really."

'Maybe not that long.' Her mother's thoughts weaved through her head. 'I don't think you know how to manage that much yet, sweetheart.'

"Okay!" Sophie straightened in her seat, doing her best to sit perfectly still as her mom started to trim her hair.

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It's not just a trim this time. Sophie thought to herself, reaching to pick up the scissors. They were slim, and the handle was made of a mirrored metal, clean enough that she could see her warped reflection in it.

Looking back in the mirror, she brought the scissors up to her hair and started to cut straight across, just under her jaw. Her hair wasn't too thick, so it didn't take long to cut through it to the other side.

Remembering what her human mother did, she started trimming at the edges, feathering it out slightly so the edges weren't blunt, and hopefully fixing any crooked edges in the back.

Sophie set the scissors back down on the counter and started sweeping the hair that she had cut off into the bin next to the sink. It was a lot of hair.

She glanced at the window of the bathroom, it just big enough for her to fit through. She'd stalled enough, it was time to go.

She crawled up on the ledge of the window and wedged it open, feeling the outdoor breeze hit her skin. She slipped out onto the roof ledge in a crouch and looked down.

I need to go higher, she thought to herself and started to levitate herself from the roof of the second floor, going high up.

Biting back a scream, she let herself fall into the void.