Reversed

xvi. sixteen

Sophie spun on her heel and paced ten steps in the opposite direction. Again. And again. And again.

She was stalling.

The metal door was locked from the outside; she had tried it. It had been a long time since Livvy had visited her in the morning. Sophie half expected a Black Swan member to come in at any minute, hopefully with food. Preferably not poisoned. 

Sophie was currently recalling every step she had taken yesterday and this morning, skipping over the holes she had discovered when she woke up. She didn't want to forget a single thing, and so far, she hadn't. She was glad. She chanted the memories in her head like a mantra. 

There was a knock on the door, and Sophie froze, icy dread sliding its way down to her stomach with a heavy thud. No. She wasn't ready.

She wasn't ready to...

To tell the Black Swan that she would take the medicine.

Sophie had a plan. It was a plan with many holes, but hey, desperate situations called for desperate measures, right?

What Sophie had said to the Black Swan before was as true now as it was then. She would exhaust all of her options before injecting herself with anything of the Black Swan's.

And Sophie still had another option. Well, it was an option she had attempted before... but now Sophie would come from a different angle.

An escape plan. Or... an information drop-off plan, more specifically.

She had tried transmitting to Ruy earlier, and she hadn't been successful. It had been like something was blocking her telepathy. And that was convenient, because Sophie really needed to know why she was losing her memories. Ruy's warning from months ago to come to him before anyone else kept ringing in her head. 

Sophie vaguely remembered being able to transmit to him when she first woke up in the Black Swan's hideout, so she didn't know why she couldn't now. Maybe the Black Swan had done something to her while she was asleep, but she didn't think so, because the Neverseen had put her through grueling training so she would be able to wake up to the smallest of sounds, or if anyone touched her.

She had never been as thankful for the training she'd received as she was now.

Sophie finally snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that whoever was waiting outside the door was probably getting impatient, so she offered a "Come in."

The door swung open in its sleek, silent manner, and Livvy stepped through. She set a bowl of purple liquid down on the cot, but Sophie didn't make a move for it, still standing in the middle of the room.

Livvy quirked an eyebrow. "You look like you got less sleep than me, and I know for a fact that you were out the whole night."

Sophie glared past Livvy's shoulder at the wall, ignoring her comment. "I'll do it," she muttered.

Livvy's face shifted through a series of emotions so quickly that she thought she might've imagined it. "What?"

"The medicine. I'll take it." 

"Even though it has limbium in it?" Livvy raised one of her eyebrows again.

Sophie rubbed at her arms and shivered at the thought of the allergic reaction she was basically signing up for by saying she would take this magical "cure."

"Just covering all my bases, you know, as a physician." Livvy blew out a breath. "Okay. I'll be right back."

"One more thing," Sophie suddenly said, turning to her. "Why can't I use my telepathy in here?"