The Second Moonlark: A KotLC Fanfic

Chapter 5 (Lunch Table Mysterium Blues)

It was lunchtime, and Sonia was doing her best to stay in the game.

Thankfully, the tutoring sessions she had taken since she was six had paid off- She knew every question the teachers threw at her.

However, knowing how the trolls withstood the ogres didn't count as quality intelligence as far as the Neverseen were concerned. Sonia kept getting buzzes on her comm, telling her to 'step it up already and get the info!' Thank goodness she would be sitting with the best (unknowing) sources she could.

"Sonia! Over here!" She winced. While Keefe didn't have the same formal training as her, he had still leaked her name to the entire school. She strode over to his table and sat down in the vacant space across from him.

The entire table stared.

"Who are you?" It was Stina Heks. Sonia knew exactly what to say to her.

"Someone who doesn't appreciate being sniped at, thank you very much." Sonia calmly picked up her fork and took a bite, but immediately her eyes widened. This was amazing!

"Picking up a lot of shock and delight over there." Keefe was smirking slightly.

"Well, this food is a lot better than typical Mysterium staple!" She paused, noticing that everyone had turned their attention to her at the table.

"You live in Mysterium?" It was Linh Song who spoke. Sonia let her eyes get harder, broadcasting defensiveness. Now that she knew Keefe's powers were working well, she wasn't taking any chances.

"Yeah. Home sweet home. Ever wondered what it's like to have two Talentless parents and a Talentless sibling- Then to find out you're the only Talented one among them?" She let the sarcastic question hang a little, then went on. "Not pretty, just saying." She stabbed her fork into the amazing salad, and stared down at it. Okay, maybe she was taking the whole angst thing too far. Oh well.

"That's... tough. I honestly can't imagine it." It was a crisp accent from the other end of the table. Sonia looked towards it and saw Biana Vacker's teal eyes staring back at her.

"Thanks. I just... They didn't used to know. It was only my brother. And then I slipped, after five years of hiding it, and got shipped off to a place I never wanted to go. Well, that's an overstatement. Foxfire was never on my list of places to be." That part was true. Would they buy it?

"How did you slip?" Sonia paused, trying to think of the right ability to use for the lie. Vociferator.

"Have you ever had a nightmare? A real, wake-up-screaming nightmare? I have. I woke up screeching like dozens of terrified velociraptors and let the entire block know that I was a Vociferator." She stabbed her unsuspecting greens again as the rest of the table contemplated.

"Most of us know what it's like to be different, or even unaccepted. You can sit here anytime you like." It came from, surprisingly, Tam Song. As they all stared, he spoke again.

"What?"

It was an exhausting day.

Sonia could barely stay upright when she got back to the Foxhole, but she still had to withstand Ruy's endless barrage of questions. Did she get any intelligence? Did they trust her yet? Had she even met them? What would they say on their weekly report? Did she even know how important this was to their career?

"No, yes, yes, I don't know, and yes, Ruy. You can quit hovering around now." She laughed. "At least you have the energy to hover around."

"Sorry. It's just... Nevermind. What did you say to them?" She sobered a little as she sat down on the couch in the small living room.

"Almost my entire backstory, plus some stuff I ad-libbed. Used my Vociferator talent as a cover for why a Mysterium resident was suddenly sent to Foxfire." Ruy nodded appreciatively.

"Played 'em good?" She smiled.

"Yeah. Got Tam, Biana, and Keefe on my side." He winced at Keefe's name.

"I don't like it any more than you. But... He'll be useful. He has intelligence that he'd only tell to Sophie- the Moonlark- and I've got to get it from him. Otherwise... Well, it won't be pretty. They'd probably bring in Carnage..." She let her sentence trail off. The unspoken words still escaped: And he would destroy all of their sanity. Ruy and her were some of the better members of the Neverseen, and they hated to hurt people if they couldn't help it. It was part of what brought them together.

How would she keep Carnage out of the timeline?

Quit it, she told herself. You can't form friendships with targets. It would be fatal to your mission.

For now, she'd have to wait.