Puppet

monstrous

The next day, I'm at a house called Everglen where the teal-eyed family appears to live. The place is hunormous, certainly, the biggest house I've ever been in. The man, whose name I've now learned is Alden, gives me a very short and brief tour of some main rooms in the house and I'm grateful it wasn't very long because I'm sure if I got a tour of the entire house, it would take a week at minimum.

He finishes off at the large dinner table, where all the people from yesterday are seated. They're all eating and I'm surprised when a woman hands me food.

I suppose it is around dinner, but why is everyone here?

"Hello Sophie," the woman starts and I flinch at the name, "we were hoping to all talk with you for a bit, just to get to know you better."

Alden pulls out a chair for me and I reluctantly sit down in it. It's silent now, all the chatter gone, and everyone is staring at me. I clear my throat, focusing on the food in front of me to keep myself from yelling at all these imbeciles. Do they really think this is where I want to be? That they can trick me into trusting the Black Swan? That if I had the chance I wouldn't return to the Neverseen in a heartbeat? 

But I take a deep breath to calm myself because I'm not blind to the fact that this could all go away and it would be right back to my prison cell, no chance of escape if I didn't play my cards right. "What do you want to know?" 

"Well... what do you like to do?" The girl with teal eyes asks. 

It would probably be wrong if I were to say I spend most of my time practicing training with various weapons to go on missions to defeat the Black Swan, so I scramble to think of a normal hobby.

"Um, I read sometimes," I say as I play with my food. It certainly wasn't the the answer they were looking for. Maybe they thought this was going to get me to open up to them, but I don't like talking about myself, especially to people I don't only not know, but am fighting against. 

There was another moment of silence before the next person spoke up. "What was it like being in the Neverseen?" The red-haired boy who sat across from me said a bit too quickly and loudly like he had to force the words out of his mouth. 

I paused picking at my food and looked up, not expecting this question. Apparently. neither was anyone else because they were all staring at him like he had just asked me if I was an ogre.

"Dex," The lady next to him hissed and elbowed him lightly. I'll assume that's his mother.

I thought about my answer carefully before answering. They have to believe it's possible for me to fully leave the Neverseen if I ever wanted to be trusted enough to escape from this place and get back to the Nevrseen somehow. I squeezed my fist tightly under the table as I looked up and spoke.

"They were rough. It was always early mornings and long days, but they taught me how to fight and gave me a place to live, so I always thought that they were the right people to be with, but now maybe...I don't know," I finished. My gut twisted and it felt like I had stabbed the Neverseen right in the spine. Blood dripped down my hand as my fingernails dug into the skin of my palm.

Everyone seemed to be happy with this answer, giving me nauseating looks of pity. What they must think of me now. No longer the fierce, dangerous Neverseen agent and now the poor girl who had no other choice than to stay with the enemy. 

"Don't worry Sophie," again, I flinch at the name, "you're safe here," the woman who handed me my food said gently, looking like she wanted to reach out and hug me. If she did such a vile thing, I'd have to take this fork in my right hand and-

"We'll have to take you the Elwin at some point or at least get some medicine from him, to finally get those bruises and cuts taken care of," Alden said as he began to start eating his own food.