Just A Dream

Prologue

Alden Vacker was pacing in front of the Council as he tried to block out all the arguments going on around him. 

"We cannot allow this to continue!"

"She's causing too much trouble for us!"

"Yes, she is... but surely this isn't the right way to go about this..."

"Oralie, you were always too soft!"

"Don't you dare accuse me of being soft, Bronte-"

"We need to do something about this."

"She's helping the Neverseen and she doesn't even know it."

"Trouble."

"Chaos."

"Unrest."

Finally, Alden interrupted. "Okay! Okay, that's enough. We need to talk about this like civilised adults." He fixed the Councillors with a firm stare.

Emery sighed. "Yes, Lord Alden, that is a wiser idea then what has been going on here," He gestured to the other Councillors. "Everybody, quiet."

There was thick tension in the meeting room as everybody fell deadly silent, before Alden spoke.

"I've been working with some of the other high-ranking Telepaths in the Nobility. We may have found a way to not only erase her memories and create a new life... but bury her abilities," He began to explain. "She is fifteen, give it  few months and she will be out of the manifesting window. We will not have to worry about her re-manifesting her abilities."

Another long silence in the room before Emery broke it.

"Are you sure this will work? We cannot risk this plan failing."

The other Councillors nodded there agreement- Oralie did so reluctantly, as did a few others. Not all of them were willingly agreeing, obviously.

"Yes, Councillor Emery. This will work, without a doubt." Alden's voice was confident and brisk as he stopped his pacing. "We've even been able to alter her appearance slightly- glasses, dyed hair..."

Emery nodded, impressed. "Well done, Lord Alden. This should call for an inanimous vote. We will contact you later to organise a date and time if  we come to a decision."

Alden bowed his head. "Of course. Farewell."

~

Sophie was in her room, writing in a small journal. She heard a knock at the door and she quickly hid the journal away before jumping to her feet. "Who's there?"

She peeked around the door to see Fitz there, with his movie-star smile and a box of chocolates. "Hey, Soph... can I come in?" He asked, grinning.

Sophie gestured for him to come in. "Yeah, yeah, of course." She stepped aside, trying to ignore the fluttering her heart was doing as Fitz placed the chocolates down on her desk. "So, um...wht brings you here?"

Fitz leaned against the wall casually with a shrug. "My father asked me to give you a message. He wants to speak with you, at Everglen," He then pointed at the chocolates. "I made chocolate yesterday with Biana. Technically, all she did was do a taste test, but she demanded she got credit." He rolled his eyes.

Sophie giggled softly. "I'm hoping I can have a few? I wouldn't want you to have brought them just to tease me..."

Fitz shook his head. "It's too sweet for me. I brought them for you. All of them." He shot her a grin, which made her heart do backflips.

"Really? That's- thank you!" Sophie smiled, trying to hide her blush. "You said Alden wanted to talk with me? What about?"

Fitz shrugged again. "I have no clue. It sounded urgent, though. Are you doing anything important?"

"No, no," Sophie assured him. "In fact, I've been pretty bored all day. I'll go tell my parents then we can leave. If you want to leave together that is. I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine, in fact you can go now if you want to, I'm not-"

Fitz laughed, interrupting her.  "Sophie, Sophie, I came here to take you there. I could have just transmitted to you, y'know..." 

Sophie blushed slightly. "Oh, um, yeah..." 

He offered her his arm. "Come on, Soph, let's go."

~

Sandor trailed behind Sophie and Fitz as the trio walked up the long path towards Everglen. "It would be less exhausting to remove those light-absorbing gates. It'd save so much walking..." Sophie complained.

Fitz chuckled. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad," He paused for a moment. "You sound like Biana with all her complaints." He teased.

Sophie rolled her eyes.  "Okay, Biana is way worse," She pointed out. "She complains about anything and everything. It's kind of funny, really.

Fitz nodded his agreement. "Look, we're at the main house. It wasn't that long of a walk." He gestured to the house of Everglen in front of them.

To Sophie, the house still seemed towering, even though it was an average size for elvin houses- maybe a little above. She was still used to far smaller houses in the human world- the Forbidden Cities. San Diego to be specific. 

Fitz pushed open the front door and gestured for Sophie to enter before he did. Sandor trailed behind them both, keeping a careful watch.

Della came out to greet them, holding a muffin. "Sophie! Hello, dear, how are you?" She hugged Sophie tightly, who was eyeing the muffin curiously.

The lady noticed this and chuckled. "Would you like it? I have plenty more where it came from." She offered it to Sophie, who took up the offer quickly.

Sandor moved forward. "Miss Foster, first let me-"

Sophie had already taken a bite out of the muffin, savouring the sweet flavour. "This is amazing!" She grinned. A wave of dizziness suddenly swept over her and she lost her balance for a moment.

"Woah," Fitz grabbed Sophie's arm to steady her. "You okay?"

Sophie watched as Alden entered, from the kitchen, his expression worried. "Sophie? Your eyes are unfocused, are you okay?"

Sophie's knees buckled and she heard Fitz cry out her name before everything went dark.