Stellarlune - KOTLC Book 8.5 Fanfic

Chapter 32

 "Good to see you awake Miss Foster. Though we would all love for you to get some more rest, I believe you are eager to get started," Mr. Forkle greeted Sophie with a warm smile.

After Sophie had woken up from her deep slumber, Edaline had informed her that she had fainted because of a panic attack. Apparently she had woken up a few hours later, which meant it was late afternoon. Then Edaline had taken her to Mr. Forkle, where everybody had already grouped up and was conversing with each other.

She didn't like how she had wasted time sleeping while an indescribable crisis was happening. Of course, nobody had attempted to wake her up...

"Yeah..." she mumbled, failing to gaze away from her staring friends. When she had arrived into the plain hideout, her friends started watching her like a hawk. It was seriously creepy. Yet it also wanted to make her hug them hard. Though it was strange, it felt like her friends giving special attention to her was better than not caring at all. Still, it was pretty annoying. And awkward...

Mr. Forkle smiled like he was trying to break the room's tension. Sophie tried to smile too, but ended up failing miserably... The other depressing emotions on her face were giving her away. Biana looked hopeful but was wincing, as Dex just stared at the floor like it had all the answers he needed for life's greatest mystery. Fitz was not even trying to stay positive, and as his gleaming teal eyes lifted towards' Sophie's, she looked away. Tam was giving her a death glare, and Linh was squinting discreetly at her like she was trying to squeeze the answers to her questions out of Sophie's brain.

"As you can see, the rest of the Collective isn't here, we thought it'd be good to keep this meeting as private as possible," he continued, not bothering to keep the fake smile up, as it fell into a stern glance.

"Why?" Sophie couldn't help asking. She realized she should have kept her mouth shut when all her friends fixated their bone-shattering glare on her. Now it was really getting annoying. She knew her friends wanted to protect her, but she had a will! It wasn't like she didn't have a brain to think for herself. But she controlled her thoughts, imaging putting them into a discreet coloured box named "doesn't matter" and pushing it away. Maybe she would disagree and confront them about their behaviour later. Though now was definitely not the time. Especially when Mr. Forkle started talking again.

"We are going to talk about all of our plans today. All. We need to be in union again, as soon as possible. I've noticed all six of you have been acting slightly distant to each other, ever since the incident of the cache. Hopefully, this meeting will nudge you in the right direction. Tell you that everything is in control. It won't be if you let it out of control. Understood?" Mr. Forkle waited until everybody reluctantly nodded. Though Sophie was more than relieved that Mr. Forkle had brought that out in the open. She wasn't sure if she could have taken the lead later when she supposedly confronted them. This was different from all the times her friends had been mad at her. She was choosing to do what they didn't want her to do. And this time, they couldn't change her decision. It was as hard as her willpower.

"No need to reach out telepathically, this room should be secure from all dangers. Though I've been thinking that we should take a security measure anyway. Sandor, Grizel, Lovise, Woltzer, are you willing to pat them down?"

The four bodyguards compiled, starting to search for any possible weapons from the enemy, on Sophie and her friends.

"Hey!" Biana scolded Woltzer when he knocked off her shiny jewelled blue barrette off her head. He sniffed it gingerly and gave it back to Biana, who stuffed it into her pocket.

Meanwhile, Sandor inspected every bit of Sophie's accessories, and finally let go after a few boring, yet tension-filled minutes.

Linh and a fidgety Tam were being inspected by Mr. Forkle, as Girzel took care of Fitz. Lovise checked Dex with a cheeky, casual grin.