Q-Tip(KOTLC) {Completed}

3

Janessa laughed at Keefe's comment. "Wow, you really have no filter, do you Keefe?"

The rest of the group just kept staring at the Collective. Squall was still covered in ice and snow, Blur was, obviously, blurry, Wraith was invisible except his clothes, Granite was made of rocks, and Mr Forkle just looked old and wrinkly. Janessa had been surprised when she'd first met them too.

Janessa vaguely heard to the Collective members introducing themselves as she thought about the strange conversation with Councillor Oralie, coming back to attention when Biana spoke up.

"But you're accepting us." Biana said, pointing at herself and Fitz, her brother.

"You have proven yourselves." Wraith reminded her.

Janessa zoned out again until she heard Mr Forkle say her name.

"Q-Tip will gladly help you with any exercises, should you want help. She has learned all she can from books about her own ability." He said, before telepathically speaking to her. Maybe you can get another perspective on how to control your pyrokinesis by helping them with their own abilities.

Janessa nodded.

"Or we could, y'know, work on hunting down the Neverseen instead of doing extra ability training," Keefe suggested.

"The Neverseen are not a pressing threat at the moment," Blur said.

"You're kidding right? They're running around starting fires—" Keefe began.

"One fire." Janessa interrupted.

"That you know of." Fitz countered, turning slightly to face her.

Janessa rolled her eyes.

"No, Mr Vacker, one fire" Granite told him. "We have eyes all over the world. If anything burns, we know about it. Just like we were there to extinguish the Florence fire. Now that Gethen has been moved, the Neverseen have disappeared without a trace. We must wait for them to reveal themselves before we take further action."

"Trust us and just do the exercises. I know it's a lot to ask of you, especially now that I have a basic idea of your personalities, but, believe me, they make a world of difference. Besides, you wouldn't be here unless you really trusted the Black Swan. Every member has a part to play, and, right now, yours is just to prepare yourselves and train to be the best." Janessa added in.

The group seemed to each be having their own mental debates about how to respond.

"What if the Neverseen already did something?" Sophie wondered.

"I see you have all kinds of theories." Mr Forkle cocked his head.

"Are you reading my mind?" Sophie demanded, backing away.

"Of course."

"Does that mean I can poke around your head?" Sophie countered angrily.

"By all means, be my guest."

Janessa shook her head and once again zoned out, not wanting to listen to an angry rant.

Sophie, her friends, and Mr Forkle had a conversation about their next moves (Keefe wanted to sneak into Ravagog by himself with no real end goal) and Gethen (a member of the Neverseen, which could be classified as their opposing rebel group) that Janessa stayed out of, knowing her own opinions would not be appreciated in that moment, much less listened to, only saying a word of goodbye to Squall who had to go.

At the end of the conversation, Mr Forkle had decided to give Sophie back one of the two memories they'd taken from her childhood.

"I'd like to have you assist." Mr Forkle told Fitz.

"Why him? If you need another Telepath, why not use Granite?" Dex wondered.

"Because Miss Foster and Mr Vacker have an extremely unique connection. We're hoping to train them as Cognates."

"REALLY?" Fitz exclaimed excitedly.

Sophie only looked confused, until Granite and Mr Forkle explained that it was a rare telepathic relationship where the cognates combine their power through a deep personal connection.

"You want to try it, right?" Fitz asked.

"Of course I do." Sophie said.

"Ha, nice try, Foster. I can feel your dread all the way over here." Keefe said.

"Yeah, I'm no empath, but even I can see how much you really don't want to do it." Janessa snorted.

"It's not dread. It's just a lot of pressure. I don't want to let anyone down." Sophie argued.

"You could never let me down." Fitz said, causing a plethora of gagging sounds from Dex and Keefe.

"Even I want to vomit at how cheesy that was." Janessa commented. "Did I miss when Sophie and Fitz got together? Or are they just that cheesy and unrealistic?"

"The second one." Keefe said between gags.

"Don't Cognates have to share all their secrets with each other?" Biana asked.

Keefe smirked. Janessa was starting to think a smirk was his face's natural resting position. "Okay, now I feel the dread."

After brief speeches from Granite about Sophie being used to keeping secrets and Fitz about not wanting to worry about each other anymore, Sophie agreed.

Janessa leaned over to whisper to Biana. "Are we sure they're not dating?"

"Not yet." Biana whispered back. They both giggled girlishly.

Mr Forkle prepared to give Sophie her memory back and Biana wrapped an arm around the blonde's waist to support her (both Dex and Keefe had offered, leading Janessa to think maybe Fitz wasn't the only boy in the running).

Sophie swayed as the memory hit, and Janessa, Keefe, Dex, and Biana waited patiently as Sophie, Fitz, and Mr Forkle had a mental conversation.

"Uh, are you guys okay? Foster's emotions are spiking all over the place and Fitz feels... weird." Keefe said.

"I'm fine." Sophie reassured.

The group then began talking about who the boy from her memory could be, deciding he must have gone to Exillium, the school for banished children.

After Dex said he could break into Exillium's database, Granite changed the subject drastically, peaking all their interests.

"We have far more important assignments for all of you to work on." He glanced at the rest of the Collective, who nodded. "It's time to rescue Prentice."