Sentry of the Arcane: Befall

Chapter Six: Fitz

After everyone's brushed their teeth and changed into their pajamas, Leila happily leads us to the second floor's hallway. We see six pillows put together as one big rectangle and covered with bed sheets. She points to the six pillows. "You'll be sleeping here, dears. And just holler if you need something," she adds before exiting the room.

I skeptically tug on my maroon red shirt. "Am I the only who's wondering where that other Leila went?"

Sophie twirls hear blond hair around her finger. At the mention of that eccentric side of Leila, she shudders softly. The female Percipient bites her lower lip warily. "Definitely."

I look down at the six pillows. "Alright," I say, clapping my hands together. "We should probably choose where we want to sleep."

"I call not sleeping next to him," Benen announces, pointing at Donovan. 

"Ditto," Donovan replies, wrinkling his nose in slight disgust. Both of them smile at each other.

Audrey and Laurel look at each other and silently agree to not be sleeping next to the other as well. They grin before looking at the rest of us. This meant that Sophie and I would be sleeping between them. The girls wanted to sleep in the direction towards the stairs, so the boys and I would be sleeping on the other side, all of our heads facing each other.

A few more minutes pass before everyone's settled in. I turn the hallway lights off and carefully reach my sleeping area again. The six of us sit in silence for a few seconds before Audrey announces, "I'm bored."

Sophie groans. "I would tell you to go to sleep, but I have to agree with you on that." She sits up and turns on the lights at a low setting. After everyone sits up as well, she asks, "Well, what do you want to do?" Although she voices the question to everybody, her brown eyes meet mine only. I don't hesitate to stare intensely at her nor does she hesitate to intensify her gaze on me.

Unfortunately, we're reminded that we're also surrounded by immature teenagers when Audrey says, "How about these two? They legitimately stared into each other's eyes for what- five minutes now?"

"And Fitz did save her from that crazy woman," Donovan adds.

Both of us glare at the Sovereigns, who only laugh at our warming faces. Shaking my head, I say, "We should probably talk about Arien. We didn't get to on the train because we were preoccupied." I purposely stare at Laurel and the Sovereigns at the last word. They just shrug and cover their mouths to giggle.

After sighing at the three of them, Sophie nods in agreement. "Makes sense. Let me just grab her folder out of my suitcase." With that, she reaches over and unzips the front pocket. Pulling out the folder, she zips everything up again before opening it. She quickly scans through it and frowns. Looking at me, she says, "It doesn't say that she eloped... Only that Fitton's her boyfriend."

As if on cue, we hear a thud from the ground floor. Sophie jumps up and quickly sits besides me, her eyes wide. My features softening, I lean over and whisper in her ear, "I'll make sure that she doesn't come near you, Sophie. I know that she reminds you of him," I add in a softer voice.

Her breathing hitching slightly, I pull away to dimly see her face, prominent blush and all. Sophie mouths a thank-you and scoots slightly closer. It takes a lot of my willpower for some reason to not wrap an arm around her and whisper calming words to her. Benen sees this and raises an eyebrow at me in a knowing way. I press my lips together before mouthing, "Later."

He nods as I grab the folder again. I try to read through everything, but the words mix together to form blurs. I look up to see everyone falling asleep already. Smiling softly, I put the folder away and go to my area again.

Unfortunately, we were all too sleepy to move back to our original positions.

...

When I wake up into the morning, I don't feel the warmth of sunlight hitting my face. In fact, when I look out the window not too far away from me, the moon is still visible amongst the black sky.

I'm about to sit up when I realize that my arm is wrapped around something warm. Furrowing my eyebrows, I silently wait until my eyes adjust to the darkness to see what I'm holding specifically. But when I do, all of my breath decides to leave me at the exact moment, rendering me breathless.

A peacefully sleeping Sophie is only a few inches away from me, her heartbeat slow and steady. I notice that my arm is around her waist, apparently pulling her close to me. But what really kicks my heart into overdrive is when I finally notice Sophie's right arm wrapped rather snugly around my neck and her left hand resting on my chest, almost directly over my heart. I can't help wonder if she can feel the still quickening pace of my heart.

Of course, the female Percipient just had to wake up at that exact moment. Her eyes blink a few times, most likely to get used to the lack of brightness as well. Her eyes finally meet my embarrassed gaze before looking at our position. Her cheeks darken with blush as she purposely averts her gaze from me.

I blow softly on her face to get her to look up at me again. My drowsiness washes over me and I feel like my eyelids weigh five times more than what they're supposed to. Sighing softly, I move around a bit to become more comfortable in Sophie's hold. Letting a gentle smile grace my lips, I whisper, "At least I'm still here..." I want to say "to protect her from Leila", but I know that saying her name will just instill more fear into her.

And I can't help but smile more when Sophie whispers back, maybe more to herself, "I don't want to wait, but for now-" She pauses, smiling a gentle smile, "I can work with waiting."

And more peaceful sleep follows.

...

I hear soft giggling when I wake up again. This time, along with the warmth coming from Sophie, I also feel the heat of the morning sunlight. Sophie wakes up only a few seconds after me. After she yawns quietly, she sleepily asks me, "What time is it?"

I frown, wondering who could be giggling if it wasn't the female Percipient. My eyes widen when a familiar male voice says, "5:23. Did we wake you up?"

Both of us sit up and separate from each other as if we just touched poison. Heat rises to my cheeks as I look over to see Benen and Laurel smiling down at us. I sigh in relief when I see that Donovan and Audrey are still asleep.

Laurel pouts at the two of us. "I forgot to bring a camera! I could've taken a picture!" She squeals, earning a laugh from Benen. "You two were so cute together!"

Sophie shakes her head. "I'm going to go brush my teeth." Pointing at Laurel, she adds, "Don't tell Audrey or Donovan, please."

Laurel nods, still smiling. "Okay!" Then the two girls both walk away from the pillows to brush their teeth.

After they leave, Benen looks to me. "I won't tell him, if that's what you're wondering," he begins. I let out a breath I didn't know that I was holding in. Benen smiles and its down next to me. "What did you tell Sophie yesterday?"

I sigh, remembering how I told him I'd tell him afterwards. "I just told her that I won't let Leila come near her if that side of her came out again. And that I know that the eccentric Leila reminded her of Jacob."

Benen's eyes widen. "Oh yeah" he finally mutters. "And I don't think the lighter helped."

I cringe, remembering the scars. I then frown. "Where do you think Jacob is?" I ask, snapping him out of his daze.

"I don't know. I thought that the warehouse was the only hideout, to be honest."

I sigh. Grabbing my toothbrush and toothpaste, I ask, "Why do I feel like I'll be seeing Jacob again?"

Benen grabs his things as well. Following me, he says, "Maybe because he's Jacob. Or maybe because he could've killed Arien."

I ponder the possibility. Shaking my head, I say, "Doubt it. He doesn't have anything to do with this."

Benen shrugs. "We'll only know when we see him again."

"Let's hope not."