Stellarlune - KOTLC Book 8.5 Fanfic

Chapter 37

Shoutout to @Keeper_Wolf for commenting and voting on all of my chapters! Thank you for that! BTW I sometimes do shoutouts now...

"The Collective has all agreed. Our gnomes are detecting nothing out of the unusual, I think we're prepared," Mr. Forkle said, glancing into his hand pocket. "And Granite will be here soon."

Sophie, Linh, Tam, Dex, Biana, and Fitz had been waiting impatiently for more than thirty minutes, for Mr. Forkle to call and prepare for the upcoming events. It had felt like a waste of time until a group of trained gnomes appeared and somehow made the situation a whole lot better, by humming peaceful songs. She did know the effect of pure calm, a calm that relieved her from stress, especially in her nightmares, but this felt different. Maybe it was because the stakes were higher, she didn't know. Or maybe she just had forgotten the feeling of being truly at peace. Plus, there was a group of Black Swan members, as a backup, which made Sophie feel a bit better, and secure. Though she couldn't keep the image of when Ruy, Brant and Gethen had tricked them all during the Peace Summit. She wondered if this situation was going to be the same. She knew it wasn't good to not be positive, but hadn't every situation been like that? Doing their best in a crisis, a supposed victory, then the Neverseen snatching everything away from them with a snap. It seemed they always had the upper hand in the end. And the villains knew it. So how would they get through this all?

"Sophie? Sophie."

Her thoughts flashed away, as she saw concerned eyes staring at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I was just thinking."

A beat of silence passed before Mr. Forkle cleared his throat.

"Granite is going to be here in a moment, we should best take positions?" Mr. Forkle inquired from the gnomes and the Black Swan members.

The gnomes all nodded, as one said, "If you feel the idea is suitable."

The Black Swan members had their hoods covering their faces, so Sophie couldn't see their expressions as they nodded once.

"Then let's wait, if you have any objections or concerns, let us know now."

Nobody asked Mr. Forkle anything, all looking down nervously, and Sophie was tempted to vault a thousand questions at Mr. Forkle's head but held herself against it. She was sure more than half of her questions would be pointless, maybe she was overreacting, but it was hard to give up the habit when millions of injuries caused by lack of attention had happened in the past.

"We're more prepared than last time," Mr. Forkle reminded everyone as they anticipatingly trudged over to the corners of the cot. "As prepared as we can be."

Nobody mentioned the fact that when every time they thought they were prepared as they could be, the Neverseen was even more prepared.

A long silence passed, as they all waited for Granite to sparkle into their view. Mr. Forkle looked especially desperate as he sneaked looks at the front of the room. Finally, Granite shimmered into their view, looking disgruntled and flustered.

"Hi Granite," Sophie said, as everybody else offered hasty hellos.

"Hello everyone, I hear there has been a change of plans?" Granite asked, with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, there has been. We have come up with a theory that I think can prove very valid," Mr. Forkle answered, filling Granite in with the information.

"I see. Everything has been arranged?" Granite asked the Black Swan members positioned at the cot with melders poised. They nodded, not making a sound. Sophie wondered why they would hide, wasn't it better to know the faces of their protectors to trust them?

"Perfect. Miss Vacker, are you ready?" Mr. Forkle asked.

"Yeah, I think I am -"

"Wait!" Fitz interrupted desperately. Sophie's surprised face slowly melted into sympathy as she realized that he was worried for his sister. She was too, but she supposed that as Fitz being a brother, the feeling could be a bit different.

"I'll be fine Fitz," Biana said quietly. "This isn't dangerous. Compared to everything else at least."

Sadly, that was true.

"I still don't -" Fitz cut himself off, looking down at the floor. "I'm just worried. I can't let anything happen to you..."

"Don't worry, we have our protectors! This is just practice," Biana tried to joke off. Sophie also tried to make herself believe those words, but couldn't help feeling a kind of dread, that there were going to be more casualties, risks, conflicts before all of this would end.

"What about - you'll be in the centre of danger Biana! This is serious, and please, please don't risk yourself, just seeing you broken, lying in the broken glass, helpless, lifeless -" Fitz's voice broke off with a sob. "I can't let that happen to you. I'm your brother."

Sophie's heart felt like it was going to crack from the pain stabbing at it. She knew that Biana was going to be in danger, could be in more danger than they were going to be in, and also knew that Biana was willing to put herself in that position. It felt even worse knowing that she had technically put Biana in that position... She knew that it wasn't exactly her fault. But it didn't stop the wave of guilt from overwhelming her. And she didn't know what she was going to do about it. Or wasn't. Dex looked equally as pained, while Linh looked heartbroken, while Tam looked like he was trying to hold himself back from doing something. So she had to wait. Wait until the next action.