Reversed

v. five

Everyone tumbled onto the lush grass after the sky split open with a massive CRACK. Sophie looked around at the all-too-familiar paradise that filled her vision. Two massive treehouses connected by an overpass brought back memories Sophie kept buried in a deep, dark corner of her mind. She struggled to keep them contained. Stay focused. 

Ruy stood up and brushed grass off his cloak. "Get into position," he addressed everyone briskly.

Earlier, the team had mapped everything out. Sophie now knew why she and her old friends were always so predictable. It was laughable, really. Stupid. They way that they had acted; it left no doubt that the Neverseen would win. Always. Every time.

They had upped their game a little bit since her kidnapping—she could give them that. But they still had a long, long way to go before they became a real match for the Neverseen.

The ombre bruise colors of twilight began to bleed across the sky. Even if the world was turned upside down, one truth would remain: The best ambushes were done under the cover of night.

The Neverseen were monsters, and like monsters, they used the darkness to hide.

Sophie pressed herself against the base of the old girls tree house near the opening of the stairs, relying on the shadows for cover. From her vantage point, she had a decent view of the surrounding area. She would see anyone who approached far before they saw her.

Sophie slipped her moon daggers into her palms, twirling them between her fingers. As she waited, she mused about what the Sophie Foster from three years ago would think if she saw herself now.

For one, sixteen-year-old Sophie hadn't yet found out that she was being lied to. Even the mere thought of holding a goblin throwing star would have made her sick. She was uncoordinated, a fumbling mess, and she still believed that the world was filled with more light than darkness.

Nineteen-year-old Sophie Foster knew better. The world was nothing but a shadowy abyss, full of darkness and evil, with only a few bright spots where the purest people stood. But even still, most of them were eventually wiped out. She'd been naïve to once think that she could be one of those people.

After she'd found out the truth, she'd had no choice but to shove the guilt aside in pursuit of revenge, craft weapons out of her scars, and train with them until she got blisters in the shape of hilts and could identify any sharp object by touch alone.

The very hands that had once shook after putting throwing stars away were now more skilled than half the Neverseen put together. More driven. 

Sophie knew that even the best of friends could betray. She knew what it felt like to be left alone with a gaping wound for a soul. Even if she had once tried to be one of the beacons of hope in the world, lies and betrayal had crept in, turning her into a monster who fit in right alongside the rest of the world.

Yeah, it was safe to say that the Sophie who first stepped into the Lost Cities would be in for a major shock if she saw who she had become.

As the last shreds of light blue and purple were chased from the sky by a deep navy that gave way to inky black, Sophie straightened, poised. Her hair stood on end, as if possessing a sixth sense that shouted danger  before the silence was broken.