Swan Song

Chapter One

"You've got to be kidding me."  Sophie Foster muttered, her eyes scanning the paper in front of her. 

"Sorry," Mr. Forkle said, even though he really didn't sound sorry at all. "They ask, we deliver. And they asked for the best of the best."

"You don't understand," Sophie whispered, gritting her teeth. "One wrong move, and I'm dead." 

"Miss Foster, when you applied for this job, it was with the understanding that you would do exactly what your customer demands and we would keep your secrets." Mr. Forkle sighed. "Will you at least look at the pay?"

She rolled her eyes, flipping the paper over and glancing at the bottom for the grand total. Her eyes widened. "Five million lusters?"  She could pay Forkle off, get a boat ride to another kingdom, and start over. Have a normal life. Well, a semi-normal life, ignoring the first sixteen years of it. But then again... one wrong move, and you're dead. 

"Can I at least think it over?" She glanced up at Forkle's face, creased with old-man wrinkles. She'd be lying if she said she didn't didn't consider just killing him right then and there, but she knew there was no way she would make it out of that room alive. 

"Fine. You have twenty-four hours." 

"Wh-" Sophie started, but was cut off by Mr. Forkle holding up his hand. She groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Can I not know who the client is?" 

"I'm sorry, that's confidential information." 

"Of course it is. Well, whatever, guess I have to go choose between death and death now. See you." Stomping out of his study, she slammed the door behind her. A shhh!  from the corner made her flinch, and she glanced over to see Flori, the gnome, curled up in an armchair and glaring daggers. Sophie forced herself to cut off contact with Flori's vivid green eyes, offering a nod and tossing her jacket over her shoulder before heading outside. 

It started to drizzle and Sophie quickened her pace, aiming to get home as fast as possible. Her hair began to stick to the sides of her face, and so, groaning, she draped her coat over her head for some minimal protection. The snap! of a twig caused her to instinctively reach for a throwing star in her pocket, and as a merchant passed by with a cart full of cabbages, she forced herself to smile and nod. Everything is fine, she tried to assure herself. She was probably just on edge because of her new assignment. Nobody else knows. Well, aside from Mr. Forkle. And the rest of the Collective. And, of course, the mystery client. 

A loud clap of thunder brought her back to reality. If only teleporting weren't so loud, she could have been at her house right then. Oh wait, genius, you're standing outside in a thunderstorm. Nobody is going to notice if you teleport away. After a brief survey of the area showed that the road was empty, Sophie crept into the woods lining the path. Closing her eyes and channeling her energy into her feet, she found herself levitating thirty feet up in the air. 

Wow. From up here, she could see the road, and acres and acres of forest. Wait for the lightning. Soon, she would be home. And then she had to decide whether she would do Forkle's life-threatening task. Or find a way to flee the nation. Seriously, maybe think about that once you get home. Keeping her eyes on the sky, she waited. Her photographic memory meant she remembered exactly what she had left her home entrance looking like this morning, and she would hopefully not get trapped in the void. 

Lightning cracked, lighting up the sky. Sophie closed her eyes, the image in her mind, and let herself fall.