Reversed

xxvii. twenty-seven

In the void, Sophie gripped her head. It felt like something had cracked wide open when the thunder burst. It reminded her of the headaches she used to get when she lived in the Forbidden Cities, only worse.

It took her a second to remember hat she was doing. Then more than a second.

Suddenly, she realized she couldn't remember what she had been doing before she teleported, although she knew it was something important.

Confused, Sophie closed her eyes and brought up a mental image of the freezing Neverseen hideout. She shoved it out into the void that was growing deeper and colder by the second.

As soon as she did, her eyes rolled back into her head.

Dimly, she was aware that she had landed, because of her leg throbbing at an odd angle, and the cold snow she felt digging around the open edges of her cloak, trying to numb her skin. But she couldn't make herself move. Laying there felt nice...

What had she been doing again?

A face popped into her head. You need to tell me if you start losing recent memories.

Huh. She should probably get up.

Gritting her teeth, Sophie shakily pushed herself to her feet. Her head throbbed so painfully that she just wanted to curl up again until it would go away.

It felt like someone was repeatedly banging a mallet against the inside of her skull, sending shock waves loaded with agony throughout her body. She bet if someone was standing in front of her, they would be able to see the rhythm pounding on her forehead.

Eyebrows cinched together, she forced herself to slowly walk to the looming entrance. She scanned the chip in the seam of her cloak against the small silver rectangle to open the doors.

She wasn't proud of the way she practically fell against the wall, slumping onto it. The cold metal bit at her through her cloak, but her shoulder hit the scanner, right where she needed it to. There was a click as the massive doors silently swung open.

Still leaning against the wall, Sophie dragged herself through the doors and down the hall. The doors swung shut behind her.

Voices floated towards her, and she pulled herself off the wall with a small groan. She didn't want anyone to see her this way. She would probably get punished for being weak.

As Sophie stumbled forward, she was glad to realize that the headache had started receding. She could focus better. She wanted to cry, she was so happy. 

She decided to go to the arena to shake the rest of the headache off. Fighting and falling into the rhythmic patterns she knew so well would definitely make her feel better.

She stopped under the last glowing orb illuminating the black hall and unlocked the hidden door.

The Neverseen didn't use DNA to unlock the silver strips throughout their facilities like the rest of the elves did. 

They used blood.

Sophie wiped her pricked finger on her cloak and proceeded into the armory. She spotted some new additions to the weapons stock on the walls and grabbed them before entering the arena.

Ruy was already there. He was warming up, running through routines with his  throwing stars.

Sophie watched him, observing his perfectly executed steps and the way his muscles tightened before he leapt into the air only to attack an invisible enemy on the ground. His jabs were controlled and precise, only using the necessary energy and nothing more. 

His caught her watching and stopped. "Did you get it?" he called, sheathing his throwing stars.

"Get what?" Sophie stepped off the wall, confused.

He pointed to an outline in her pocket.

Sophie slowly pulled it out, confused. "I don't remember getting this," she said, staring at the hastily wrapped mallowmelt.

Now Ruy was the one who looked confused. "You don't remember our deal?" he asked.

"Deal?" Sophie asked. "When?"

Now Ruy looked worried. A few seconds passed, and then something dawned on Sophie.

She blanched. "Not again."

Ruy's face paled, and he came closer. Close enough to grip her shoulders and say, "You said that you've lost recent memories before, in the Black Swan hideout, right?"

She nodded. He cursed and ran his hands through his hair, muttering something under his breath.

"What was our deal?" she asked.

Ruy laughed. "This," he said, pulling a packet from his cloak pocket.

Sophie gasped. "Keebler elf cookies!" she exclaimed. She smiled, trying not to let the thing with the memories bother her.

How could she forget about Keebler elf cookies!?

"You said that you would get mallowmelt to trade for these when we were in the Forbidden Cities," Ruy said. "That was the deal."

Sophie held out her hand. "Deal. Well, for the second time."

Ruy laughed and shook it. As soon as he did, Sophie held on to it, excitement lighting her eyes. "Want to spar?"

Sophie knew that her grip probably hurt really bad, but Ruy didn't show a single hint of pain. His face was amused, unflinching.

He pulled out a knife, forcing her to drop his arm to free up her hand. She carefully set the mallowmelt down to avoid a dessert casualty, leaping away.

"You're on," he said.

Sophie grinned.

They stepped into a familiar sequence that had them slashing, dodging, running, flipping, and everything in between.

Sophie was a quick learner, so she and Ruy were equally matched. Neither of them had a problem wiping the floor with new trainees who got a little too cocky and thought they could take on the older members. Both of them had even beaten Trix and Gethen before, although the guys repeatedly insisted that they let them win.

Ruy had taught Sophie everything she knew, but he still kept a few tricks up his sleeve.

Sophie bent backwards to avoid a punch. She instantly regretted it, because it made her lose momentum. It took too long to get up—a second too long, and Ruy took advantage of it. He landed a slash to her leg that made her gasp.

She knew he expected her to try to retaliate, so instead she dropped to the ground, sand spraying. She rolled to the right.

She quickly snaked out a leg, knocking his out from underneath. He hit the floor, and Sophie shot up, keeping him down with a foot when he tried to get up.

He caught her leg and pulled her down. She flipped, landing on her knees to straddle him. She pinned his wrists to the ground on either side with the handles of her knives.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," she said, struggling to keep a straight face.