Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Ten: Fitz

When I finally open my eyes again, I feel so refreshed physically, but I'm still mentally drained from what I just learned about myself. A yawn escaping my lips before I can stop myself, I sit up and stretch, slowly becoming more and more awake. After rubbing the remaining sleepiness from my eyes, I see that Steven's looking over at me, a soft grin on his face.

"Do you feel better?" he asks, sympathy in his eyes. When I nod, his face brightens up more. I chuckle softly at how alike he and Benen are. Clearing his throat, the pathologist says, "We should probably get you down to the conference room. We need to tell Mr. Wallace that you stayed overnight here so we could do some research together."

I nod, standing up. I blink a few times before making my way over to the pair of doors that I destroyed. My face becoming pale, I try to ignore the damage as I make my way over to Caroline. Smiling at me, she says, "Sophie already left, but I think she's either in her room or in the conference room, if you want to see her."

My eyes widen at the last part, knowing that Sophie's most likely there. "Thank you," I say hurriedly before dashing through the open doors, the memories of what happened before entering my mind. At this, I find myself beginning to run down the hallway, my eyes wide. I hear a pair of footsteps behind me and realize that Steven's following me.

Once I burst into the conference room, I see Sophie glaring at Mr. Wallace, who looks like he's on the verge of shooting her with nebmentia. Apparently, neither of them heard me walk in, so I storm over to them. When I'm within earshot, I hear Sophie say, "You tried to erase our memories! Why won't you just say why already?!"

Before Mr. Wallace can snap back at her, I interject, "What's going on now?"

Sophie turns to me, a smile flashing across her face. Her smile falls when she faces Mr. Wallace, though. "I came to confront him about him trying to erase our memories," she explains angrily. "It's... unheard of!"

Mr. Wallace is about to say something when the conference room doors slam open again, revealing a slightly flustered and confused Benen. Looking at Fitz, he smiles. "Hey, Fitz!" he greets happily, waving at me. Then looking over at Sophie, he says, "Laurel and Audrey want to see the two of you now."

"Why?" Mr. Wallace, Sophie, and I ask simultaneously.

At this, Benen discreetly points to his head, most likely telling me to read his thoughts. Nodding just as subtly, I stretch my consciousness over to his mind. Once I do so, I transmit, Why do they need to see us?

They found something, Benen states. I think it has to do with the court date. But it definitely has to do with Jacob.

My eyes widening slightly, I turn to look at Sophie. "We need to go now," I announce to Mr. Wallace before taking Sophie by the hand. Once the three of us leave Mr. Wallace behind, I tell Steven, "Meet us in my room in about fifteen minutes."

And with that, we get into the open elevator to go up to my room.

...

"So let me get this straight," Audrey says after I explain that I was knocked out for a day. I "accidentally" leave out the part about me being allergic to nebmentia or being able to transform in a dragon. "He tried to erase your memory with nebmentia, and he blocked you from contacting you-" The Sovereign pauses, pointing at Sophie. Turning to me again, she finishes, "And then you decided to jump in and take the nebmentia yourself, and you went flying."

"Wait- doesn't nebmentia make you forget?" Laurel asks, making me realize my mistake of explaining what happened in general. "So how do you remember?"