The Goodness and Darkness of Our Souls

The Everseen

 "You're stressing too much, Foster," Keefe smirked, watching as Sophie paced the floor of her bedroom, tugging on her eyelashes. "Like Alden said, 'No reason to worry.'"

"Yeah and there's always something to worry about when he says that." Sophie said, wringing her hands. They had been stuck in her room for twenty minutes now—yes, Sophie counted how long—and she was getting more anxious and worried. Alden, along with Fitz and Biana, had come to Havenfield where Mr. Forkle was chatting with Grady, needing to speak with them in private about a classified assignment. Keefe had already been there, helping Sophie with a "super secret" project he wouldn't tell anyone, much to Fitz's dislike and Sophie's annoyance. And then Dex appeared sometime later, stating he needed to run over something with Tinker, who was with Mr. Forkle to tweak security at Havenfield, about a new gadget he created.

Alden had shooed the kids away, stating there was no particular reason to worry and he'll explain later, so now they were stuck in Sophie's bedroom, having to ponder what "classified" assignment he needed to discuss with the Collective.

"Well, I'm sure whatever my dad has to talk about isn't really something big we need to worry about." Fitz said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as well.

"Ah, but you know Foster," Keefe said, gently jabbing his elbow at Fitz. "She always worries. About everything."

"Not everything!" Sophie protested, stopping in her pacing and glared at Keefe.

"Yep. Sure," Keefe smirked. "Totally not stressing."

"I am not!"

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too—"

"If you guys could cut it out, I would greatly appreciate it so I can focus on my work." Dex interrupted with a scowl on his face, showing the annoyance.

Keefe snorted, gesturing to Dex fidgeting with his hands. "Like you have anything to focus on."

Sophie sighed and walked to the windows of her bedroom, looking out into the open blue sky.

A stretch of silence came, staying for several minutes.

"So what do you think they are discussing?" Biana piped in, breaking the silence.

"Probably something that had to do with the Neverseen. According to what I hear, the Neverseen are moving targets to searching for a special and extremely rare flower." Dex said from the corner in which he sat.

"A flower? What do they want with a flower?" Fitz asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dxx shrugged. "I have no clue. Some people say that the flower has some secret ability that is vital to some plan the Neverseen has."

Vital . . . ability.

Oh gosh what could the Neverseen be planning next? Sophie wondered, a panicked feeling knotting her stomach. But the bigger question is . . . will I be able to stop it?

But something in the sky caught her attention, drawing her focus to that.

"You never know with the Neverseen," Keefe yawned. "They could definitely make something happen that is very strange. Like—"

"The sky."

All eyes looked to Sophie, who was staring intently out the window. "The sky. It looks weird."

"What about the sky?"

"Come look, does the sky always have some kind of jagged black line?" Sophie beckoned.