Survivor

Chapter 21

Keefe POV

With everyone herded together again the light leaped to Enternalia to find the councilors already waiting for them. Bronte stepped forward,
"Alden has already informed us of Ms. Fosters... recent choices, I have no doubt this was her." He said, waving them forward they joined the rest of the council down a hall and into a large room. Filing in they saw three black-cloaked people with their hands bound but a sleek ability restrictor adorned one of their wrists. Their hoods were down so their faces were visible, it looked strange to see the cloak without the hood. The room they were in was separate from the Neverseen members by what seemed to be a one-way mirror, a small door was the only way in or out of the smaller room they were held in.
"How do you know it was her?" Grady asked, glaring at the people, Bronte held up a note,
"Ms. Foster thought it necessary to tell us to inform us of these people's latest mission." Bronte looked at them in disgust before continuing. "They were sent to kidnap a newly manifested Shade." Councillor Alina's cheeks flamed as Bronte read the note aloud.

"She also said some councilors might doubt her claims, and it seems she wrote their names down as well. The smallest one, on the left of Big Boy, a female was called Esha Laurent an Empath, one of the men a quite looming individual was called Borsh Tiaram and the other, quite smaller than the other male, but still rather tall was Ciaram Pierce, a telepath.

Keefe laughed to himself, three in one night? She does work fast!
"Mr. Sencen!" Emery called, breaking Keefe out of his trance.
"I'm sorry what?" He asked, shaking his head.
"I asked if you would mind helping me gauge their responses, you can't lie to an empath." Keefe looked confusedly at Oralie.
"Doesn't Councillor Oralie want to do that?" He asked looking back and forth at the prisoners then back the blonde Councillor.
"Well they might have information on Sophie, I thought you'd like to hear that." She replied with a wink, Fitz rolled his eyes but Keefe decided Oralie despite all the pink was his new favorite Councillor.

Inside they had run through a myriad of questions with Keefe informing Emery if they were lying or telling the truth.
"Is it true you were after the Shade boy?" Emery asked,
"Yes." The leader responded, his voice gravely, he was the telepath and the one wearing the ability restrictor. Emery looked to Keefe, who after gauging the response nodded.
"He's telling the truth." Emery nodded at that,
"Than I have no further questions for you, the council will decide whether or not to imprison all of you in Exile in a few days." He and Keefe stood,
"Wait, what about the inflictor?" The leader asked. Keefe froze, spinning on his heel and walking a bit closer.
"What about her?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.
"I was under the impression the council didn't tolerate vigilantes." He said simply, looking Keefe right in the eye. The female, Esha was grinning like a maniac.
"Oh, you're hitting a nerve there Ciaram." She chuckled, he had forgotten she was an Empath.
"We would advise the council to control its hound, we wouldn't want her to get lost." His voice was like ice and his eyes looked straight an Emery. Keefe was seething, he could tell the man's words had impacted Emery from the shift in his emotions. He couldn't really be considering Sophie on the same level as the Neverseen, but then again the same thing had happened to the Black Swan. Before Keefe could respond, Emery practically dragged him through the door. Where Grady ran up to them along with Biana, Dex, and Fitz.
"You can't really be considering that." He said his eyes boring holes into Emery's. The Councillor looked at the others, and they nodded. Emery must have been contacting them telepathically. Oralie and Bronte looked angry but the other councilors were impassive. It went on for a few minutes until Emery nodded, twelve out of twelve to send the prisoners to Exile. Emery sighed and turned to the group, eight for and four against Sophie being declared and danger to the Lost Cities.

Sophie's POV

She had convinced Zeph and Eden that they couldn't just sit in the treehouse all day, and after taking more elixirs to alter her appearance they were strolling through Atlantis, she felt like a superhero with her black outfit stuffed in a duffel bag along with her weapons.
"We're running out of elixirs, I heard that place sells some," Eden said pointing right at Slurps and Burps!
"Yeah, that's gonna be a no," Sophie said, averting her gaze and quickly attempting to hurry away before Eden pulled her back,
"Sophie you're disguised, whoever you're worried about won't even know it's you." Her eyes flashed before she continued " Think of it as training if one of your close friends doesn't recognize you how will the Neverseen?" Sophie had to admit she was right and they did need more elixirs, so feigning confidence she walked straight into the shop closely flanked by Zeph and Eden. Shopping went untroubled for a while before she heard a voice behind her.
"Can I help you with anything?" It was Dex.
Ooooh no, bad idea, bad idea. her mind yelled at her but she plastered on a smile and turned around, using her polyglot ability to alter her voice into an accent that sounded faintly like Norwegian.
"Oh no! I'm doing fine." She said, her voice peppy and bright. Dex looked a bit shocked at first and she narrowed her eyes in mock confusion.
"Something wrong?" She asked, flipping her dark hair pointedly as if to show off all the reasons why she couldn't be Sophie.
"No, it's just... You remind me of a friend." He said and looked like he was about to say more when Zeph jumped to her side.
"Hey, babe, ready to go?" He asked with a winning smile. A bit shocked at first Sophie smiled
"Ready babe." She responded with a smile and linking her arm with his and taking the elixirs up to the counter and paying for them. She laughed at some terrible joke Zeph said as they passed Dex who was looking very confused and walked out the door. Eden met them on the way out.
"I'd say that training was a success!" She chirped happily. But Sophie wasn't paying attention, she was too busy staring at the wispy smoke rising into the air, followed by an enormous boom as rows of little shops down the way exploded in a hail of fire, ash, and soot.