Sentry of the Arcane: Befall

Chapter Ten: Fitz

Both of our cheeks burning furiously, I tenderly place Sophie on the ground again. My mind racing with questions, I absentmindedly turn to look at the others. I don't hear what Mr. Wallace says, but I see Sophie nod besides me. I'm assuming that he asked whether she was alright or not.

But I do catch the part where Laurel exclaims, "This is going into my collage!"

"When did you start making a collage?" I ask, dread pooling into my stomach as my cheeks flush more. "And when did you have the time?"

"And what else in in that collage?" Sophie asks, her face bright red.

Laurel merely giggles. Benen takes this chance to say, "Of you two when sleeping, that moment in the dark where you two were holding hands-"

"How'd you get into my room?!" Sophie asks, blushing at the memory of the two of us last year. I blush as well, but still curious.

"Mr. Wallace!" she chirps.

"Oh- then there's that time after that when you tried walking back and Fitz caught you all movie-scene like," Benen mentions to Sophie, making both of us blush even more.

"Seriously, how did you get those... moments?" I ask, purposely looking at the ceiling since it's so interesting. "Didn't these happen in the dark? And wouldn't we have heard you?"

"Yeah," the female Percipient voices. "I didn't even notice you were there."

"And there was moment when the light just turned on and Fitz was still holding your hand," Laurel tells Sophie.

"After she snuck in?" I ask. When Laurel nods, my eyes widen. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh, were you two talking?" Laurel asks, giggling more. "I didn't hear anything- I just took the photo and left!" She laughs more when I relax noticeably. "Why- were you expressing some feelings?"

"No!" we both say a bit too quickly. We then look at each other before blushing- our synchronization was not helping on our behalf.

Laurel laughs more. "But I think this moment was my favorite!" She snaps her fingers in disappointment. "You two were so close!"

"T- to?" I ask, my blush coming back at full force. Sonia blushes deeply when Laurel squeals in response as Benen raises an eyebrow at me. I sigh and mouth, "Later" to him. He nods, but still smiles at me.

Mr. Wallace, even though he's the one who didn't warn me that I'd somehow endanger someone today, comes to our rescue. "Well, I think that Fitz must be drained and Sophie must be scared out of her mind right now-"

We both nod because he wasn't wrong. As if on cue, I feel my connection to my mind slipping from exhaustion.

Mr. Wallace further proves this when he points to a levitating Benen. "See?" he says, pointing to a speechless Benen when I grab strings of my consciousness to bring him down. "The telekinesis drained him so much that he can't control himself that much."

Before I can agree, the teal ribbon that's still tied to the ceiling unties itself and circles around me like a bird before blindfolding me. I try to pry it off with my fingers as Sophie gasps in fear, but I fail to do so. Instead, I manage to loosen the knot considerably, but don't take it off completely. The sudden drain in energy makes me fall to my knees. I hold my arms out and breathe, "I'm... fine... just..."

"Drained?" Sophie asks as the ribbon unties itself completely, most likely due to Sophie using telekinesis herself. I then look up as I see her lower Mr. Wallace and Laurel from midair. I smile apologetically as they dust themselves off look at the two of us.