Keeper of the Lost Spies

Chapter 8

        Sophie brought up what Keefe had said about Rain during their next lesson. Rain got a kick out of that. Sophie also brought up her being cognates with Fitz and it might be better if they worked together.

        Rain stared out at the waterfall for what seemed like hours before sighing, "Soph, you know the rules. He can't be here for his own protection." Sophie tried to protest, but Rain stopped her, "Now Soph, you can still practice techniques I teach you with him. Just not here."

        Sophie nodded. She understood what Rain meant. "Now before we move on to your next lesson, I want to discuss your Teleportation. Since you are the only elf to have this ability it will be harder to set up lessons for it. You have to jump off something, right?"

        Sophie nodded, "Levitating then dropping also works, too."

        "Good." Rain said, "What is your minimum height?"

        Sophie thought, "Um, I don't know?"

        Rain sighed, "Spies don't say anything like they're unsure. They also don't say, 'I don't know.' They say, 'I don't have that information right now let me get back to you.'" Rain stared Sophie down. "You are a spy and from here on out you act like one."

        Sophie took in Rain's words and repeated them over again and again in her head until she meant it. Then she nodded. "Good." Rain said. "Now, to get teleportation practice you must teleport everywhere. No more using Leapmasters."

        "No more Leapmasters?" Sophie questioned.

        "No." Rain confirmed. "Unless you've never been to the place before or physically cannot teleport. Other than that, teleport everywhere. Now I know you have parents, friends and bodyguards who will not agree with me. But I am not here to make them happy and neither are you. We are here to make the world a better place."

        Sophie asked the question she had been dying to ask since she found out about Storm, "What have you done?"

        Sophie squirmed as Rain stared out to the waterfall. Sophie figured that staring at the waterfall was a habit of hers. After five full minutes Rain finally responded, "We stopped both human world wars, ended the cold war, helped smooth out the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many other human affairs no one knows about. We knew about Black Swan from the beginning and have had agents in monitoring it since it's birth. Same with Neverseen."

        Sophie was now very intrigued, "Who? And why didn't you stop them from doing all of the bad things that have happened?"

        Rain gave a dry laugh, "You have no idea what all Storm has stopped. How many disasters have been averted because of us. You think the Black Swan and Neverseen were the first rebel organization out there? No." Rain shook her head. "Storm was founded by Kenjall Storm, he was friends with the Councilor Fallon Vacker. He saw the problems that were going to arise and did something to help when the time came. By founding Storm. It's been in our family ever since. We've stopped so many interspecies wars that I've lost count."

        Sophie was stunned, but Rain wasn't finished, "The only reason that everyone knows about Black Swan and Neverseen is because we were busy taking down worse threats and we were foolish enough to let them grow. Now, Black Swan isn't that bad. But the Neverseen was our big failure. We let it grow out of our control and we can't stop it by ourselves. Most of the agents we placed in Neverseen had to evacuate or are dead. Only one is still alive. He is our best agent – second to my father of course – he sacrificed everything loves to go deep cover. Very deep cover. As in he has hurt people he loves just to keep his cover. He feeds us intel, we map out everything we know about Neverseen, and when the time comes, we wipe them off the face of the planet."

        "Now, in order to take down Neverseen you are going to need to learn how to fight." Rain stood up and snapped her fingers. Two wooden swords appeared. Rain caught hers and Sophie's landed with a thud on the ground.

        "You're a Conjurer." Sophie realized.

        Rain nodded and began. She started by showing Sophie the most affective offensive moves for beginners. Sophie caught on quick. But when the time came for her to do them on Rain she faltered. "Spies don't hesitate! Again." Rain commanded.

        Sophie kept trying, but she was still slower than when it was just her and air. "Again!" It went like this for ten minutes before Rain called a break.

        "You need to let go of your fear of hurting someone. Guilt will drag you down, but only if you let it." Rain told her as they rested on the rocks.

        "But how do I not let that happen?" Sophie asked. "How do you live with it?"

        Rain sighed, "It's easier for me, since I grew up in this life. It used to make me dizzy, the guilt of attacking someone. But then I learned to embrace the guilt. Instead of fighting the guilt and letting it slowly break me down, I let it in. Willingly. Now the guilt is apart of me, but it can't break me." Rain looked over to Sophie. "You will learn how to do this. But it will take time. So, for today I'll teach you the most effective defensive moves for beginners."

        Sophie didn't understand how that was possible. Because if Storm elves could find a way around their guilt why hasn't anyone else? But here was the proof right in front of her, and Sophie couldn't ignore the evidence.

        "Let's begin."

        Sophie picked up defense quicker than offense and by the end of her lesson, she was a master at the beginning techniques. On the walk out Rain asked Sophie to tell Keefe, 'That I appreciate him thinking I'm wise, but it's not much of a compliment coming from a half-brained prankster that is only as smart as an 8-year-old.' Sophie wasn't sure that insulting Keefe was the smartest thing to do. But Rain assured her that as a member of Storm who has taken down ogres without breaking a sweat that she could handle Keefe. Rain also mentioned in her foolish younger years she had started the trollish prank war. Sophie had never heard of such a thing, but Rain said to ask Tarina.

        Just like last time everyone was waiting for her in the waiting-room that lead to the Leapmaster room. And just like last time they wanted to know what happened. "Today we were talking about my teleportation and how for practice I should start teleporting everywhere." Sophie stopped Sandor from objecting by saying, "I know I will have to talk to Grady and Edaline first."

        Fitz asked, "Did you ask her about cognate training?"

        Sophie shook her head, "Sorry. We can still practice at our Telepathy training." Sophie watched Fitz's face fall and then added, "I asked her after I told her what Keefe said."

        Keefe's eyes widened slightly, "You told her?"

        "Yep." Sophie confirmed. "Rain wanted me to tell you – and I quote – 'I appreciate him thinking I'm wise, but it's not much of a compliment coming from a half-brained prankster that is only as smart as an 8-year-old.'"

        Keefe looked a little shocked as everyone burst into laughter – excluding Bo of course – even Sandor chuckled. After Ro could get a grip on her laughter she said, "I like that girl."

        Keefe collected his wits and smirked, "If that's how she wants to play it. Fine. Let's play." Then he ran off with Ro on his heals.

        "Should we be worried?" Fitz asked.

        "Most definitely." Dex said.

        Sophie was concerned about what Keefe had in store, but she wasn't worried. Well – she wasn't worried for Rain. Sophie was worried she would get caught in the crossfire.