Mirrored Conflicts (a Sokeefe story)

Chapter 2: The Note

(Note: It's called Chapter 2 because AO3 calls the prologue Chapter 1 by default and I can't be bothered to offset the chapters.)

"I still don't understand how they can possibly have Kenric's cache," Dex said under his breath as he and Sophie made their way through the halls of Foxfire.

"I don't either, because I still have it," Sophie protested. "I let Edaline help me check to make sure I still had it in the void, and well... I do. So either we have a fake, or they have a fake."

"They seemed awfully convinced that they had a bargaining chip," Dex reminded her.

"But Oralie gave us the one we had!"

"I know." He sighed. "Maybe they somehow switched them out before you stored it in the void."

"But I can't have been around any Neverseen members before then," Sophie reminded him.

They were talking, of course, about the incident only a few weeks prior, when the Neverseen had faked a Black Swan meeting in order to offer to trade Kenric's cache for the hydrokinetic. They meant Linh, since they had been impressed by the flood she'd caused in Ravagog, and the whole ordeal likely would have ended much more violently if Tam had been present to hear the suggestion.

But it was just Sophie and Linh.

Sophie had been trapped, not sure which way to go or how to get out—but she never had any intention of letting them kidnap Linh, even if they somehow did have Kenric's real cache.

It had been in the midst of the chaos that Sophie had found the small pendant on the ground, crudely decorated with the Neverseen symbol and a swan carved over it. Sophie hadn't been sure what it meant, but it had been their key to escape. Sophie wondered if it was a fail-safe plan for Neverseen members, in case they weren't able to get out—but somehow Sophie doubted it.

The swan carved on the top of it made Sophie think she was meant to find it— meant to use it as an escape.

She would toss the idea away if it weren't for the very real circumstances she remembered from when she and Dex were kidnapped. When she'd learned the name of the Neverseen. When that one member had said it wasn't fair, and helped her escape...

She still remembered his parting words.

"When everything unfolds... remember that I was the one who helped you escape. Not the Black Swan."

She still didn't know what they meant.

But she couldn't help wondering if someone—perhaps the same person—had saved her again.

Linh believed the idea that the pendant was a fail-safe plan wholeheartedly, and the only person Sophie had brought up her alternate theory to was Dex. He'd been there when that one member of the Neverseen had whispered escape instructions and loosened their restraints. When with a single word, he had taken away all their panic, allowing them to be calm...

(Neither of them knew how they felt about that part.)

"You're thinking about the mystery guy who let us go when we were twelve, aren't you," Dex cut into her thoughts.

"I can't help feeling like there's a connection between that and our miraculous escape," Sophie said quietly.

"I know. And I understand. But," Dex said, with emphasis on the word, "I vote we stop talking about this stuff and focus on opening our midterm presents. It's not like talking about all this gloom and doom is going to make the Black Swan contact us again."

That was her other sore spot—the annoying silence from the Black Swan.

But Dex was right.

They were still just students. They should focus on that while they still could.