a dangerous combination [discontinued]

~ F I F T Y - N I N E ~

The soft sound of glass bottles clinking together was enough to jolt Sophie out of her slumber.

Her eyes opened immediately, scanning her surroundings, but everything was fuzzy—just blinks of color everywhere.

Could all that pain have been a dream?

She sat upright—or tried to, at least, but her chest and stomach muscles ached and tried to push her right back down. At this point, there wasn't a muscle in her body that wasn't throbbing with pain.

"Whoa! Take it easy, Foster," came a familiar voice, and Sophie swiveled her head in the direction it came from. A pair of arms wrapped around her and gently eased her back into her previous position.

Sophie's vision began to clear, and the boy who had helped her's face was getting less cloudy by the second.

Oh, of course.

The one and only Keefe Sencen stood over her, a shy smile on his perfect face. "You're awake."

Sophie narrowed her eyes at him and was about to respond with 'no duh, when she caught sight of her surroundings.

No way.

"Am-am I home?"

"That's right!" A tall, graceful figure emerged from a doorway carrying two beakers filled bubbling solutions. Sophie recognized her as the Black Swan's physician, Livvy. "How're you feeling, Soph?"

Sophie answered her truthfully. "Like I just came back from the dead."

"You kinda did," Keefe jumped in. "You were so pale and barely breathing when I brought you here."

It took a moment for those words to click in Sophie's head. "You..brought me?"

Livvy sighed dreamily. "It was just like something out of one of those romance novels. He's your knight in shining armor, you're his damsel in distress, your—"

"Um, actually," Keefe interrupted, a faint blush coloring his cheeks, "they wanted to experiment on you, you did the almost dying thing, Physic saved you. The end."

Sophie could tell that there must've been more to the story, as nothing was ever that easy, especially when it came to the Neverseen, but she knew she wouldn't get anything from him while they had an audience. She'd pummel him for answers later.

A whisper coming from what sounded like just ousted the door to the room caught Sophie's attention.

Keefe saw where her gaze was directed at. "Uh, your parents are out there. And your friends. And members of the Black Swan. They saw me approaching the house and had a mini heart attack. And then they saw you in my arms, rocking that whole colorless look and had another heart attack. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only reason none of them murdered me right then and there was because you were with me."

A tentative knock sounded and the door and from there came Edaline's soft voice. "Livvy..? Is-is she alright?"

Livvy shot Sophie a questioning look and responded once she nodded. "Yes, she's fine. You can come in, if you'd like."

"And that's my cue to leave," Keefe murmured, ducking out before Sophie could protest.

The door opened and elves filed in, one after the other, all their eyes on Sophie. Grady was the first to speak.

"What were you thinking?"

Mr. Forkle coughed. "What I'm sure Grady means to say is that you worried us quite a bit, Miss Foster, however we're very happy to see that you're okay."

"You guys don't look so happy," Sophie noted. "What's wrong?" She knew the answer the second all eyes flashed to the black Neverseen cloak that had been bunched up and thrown in the corner. "Aw, come on guys. Keefe just saved me. He isn't all bad."

"He pretended to be your friend to gain your trust," said Tam.

"He sold you out to his mother to save himself," added Dex.

"And he stole your heart, which, might I add, is not an easy feat," finished Biana.

Only the last accusation got through to Sophie. "He did not steal my heart, thank you. My heart still happens to be right here and still beating, thanks to that boy." at this, Biana eyed her skeptically.

"Anyway," Edaline said before things could escalate into a full-blown argument, "our point was that you really have made some very brave decisions, but, next time, please try to stick to the non-life-threatening ones."

Sophie couldn't help but smile, and the tension in the room eased. "I'll try my best."

"Well that's reassuring," someone muttered sarcastically, and the room broke into slightly hysterical laughter.

~~~

this is me trying to make up for all the times i kept you waiting without an excuse-

oh also i started a new book called 'here's my number'! (it has some language so if any of you don't like that i wouldn't recommend it.)it's tamxfitz and it's sort of a collab with one of my friends.

that's all <3

love you guys!

- riya
11/18/20