Mirrored Conflicts (a Sokeefe story)

Chapter 11: The Roller Coaster

"Whoa whoa whoa." Dex made large, swooping gestures with his arms. "You're telling me the Neverseen have a version of you?"

"And you waited to tell us until now?" Biana added.

Worried about Cassius overhearing, Sophie had brought them back to Havenfield before explaining the truth—or at least, the half-truth that she had explained to the Black Swan. Fitz was still the only one who knew the full truth regarding her knowledge of Keefe Sencen. "We thought it was safest to keep quiet about it," Sophie said, thinking on her toes, "because..."

"Don't lie. It wasn't 'safer.'" Biana crossed her arms. "You just don't want people trying to protect you more now that we know how much danger you're in."

Well, that was an okay conclusion for them to come to, especially since it was the assumption she'd allowed Mr. Forkle to make. So she pretended to argue. "Look, he's existed this whole time, right? So I'm not actually in any more danger than I was before—we just know about it!"

"Yeah, and now that we know about it, we should adapt," Dex shot back. He gathered himself into a softer demeanor. "We're just worried about you, Sophie. As your friends."

"I know. And I appreciate it, really," Sophie told them, "but I can handle myself."

Biana nodded. Then she looked thoughtful. "Sophie, if you really think this Keefe kid might be your nemesis, then do you think his mother is with the Neverseen? And do you think Lord Cassius could be in on it too?"

"I'd definitely believe that guy's with the Neverseen," Dex mumbled.

Sophie hesitated. "Maybe. He could also just be a jerk." If he was with the Neverseen, she couldn't imagine why Keefe had to leave with his mom or write in his diary for his dad not to look for them.

Her iPod resting on her nightstand caught her eye. She hadn't used it very recently, since the human technology hadn't come up very often in daily life since transitioning to the Lost Cities. Had she left it resting on her nightstand? No, she was sure she hadn't, and she had a photographic memory, so...

"Yeah. There's plenty of jerks in this world who aren't evil," Biana agreed.

"And plenty of nice people who do turn out to be evil," Dex added quietly. Everyone in the room avoided addressing what he was implying.

Sophie picked up her iPod to find a small piece of paper under it. It reminded her of her early days in the Lost Cities, when the Black Swan communicated to her only through cryptic notes they left for her when she wasn't looking. But it had been a long time since the Black Swan had a message they wanted to get to her that Mr. Forkle didn't deliver in person.

Sophie unfolded the small piece of paper, her adrenaline spiking when she read the contents of the note.

You're as smart as I'd figured. No sign of classified documents. P.S. Evanescence goes hard at full volume, solid taste

There was a small, poorly drawn winky face underneath the words.

Sophie quickly refolded it. The note may not have had a signature, but that didn't mean Sophie didn't know exactly who'd left it.

And the implications of the note...

"What is that?" Dex inquired.

"Nothing!" Sophie said, slightly too fast.

Dex and Biana both raised eyebrows.

Sophie sighed and gestured to her iPod. "It just isn't where I left it," she explained truthfully, "and it could just be that Grady or Edaline was looking for something in here, but we should probably look around to make sure nothing was taken anyway."