Her Imperfections

Chapter Twelve

The first thing she noticed was a damp feeling in her hair, seeping through to her scalp. Sophie tried to raise a hand to her head and winced in pain from just the effort. Her head felt like hundred elephants had stampeded through it, but she had suffered worse.
Sophie placed her hand gently on forehead and felt the sticky blood still warm to the touch. Pushing up with her other hand Sophie managed to get herself up against the bathroom wall, leaning heavily on it for support. Her eyes scanned the pool of blood beside her, trying to see how much she lost. That's when Sophie noticed something reflecting off the blood.
A moon.
Sophie cursed bitterly and scrambled to pull herself up, pain dripping with the blood from her forehead. As soon as she looked out the window Sophie was sure. It was night.
Everyone was going to be so worried. Especially Sandor. He was going to join Sophie at Foxfire after finishing up another check around Havenfield. Now he would blame himself and Sophie would be stuck feeling worse than him.
Sophie stumbled through the bathroom door, legs wobbling as if she had too many lushberry glasses. Using the wall, Sophie turned the corner to the Healing Center. To her relief, a yellow halo of light poured out from under the door. Elwin was still there.
Sophie pulled down on the handle and stepped in, "Elwin?" Her voice was raw and tired, not to mention the shiver she got when Sophie felt the headache growing.
"Oh my gos... Sophie?" Elwin's mop of hair peeked out from behind one of the corners and his slack face exploded in excitement and relief.
He wrapped his arms around her upon seeing Sophie's wobbly state and helped her down into one of the beds. Elwin's words tripped over themselves as he called behind him.
"Phy- L-Livvy!"
Sophie stopped focusing on the pain and glanced up, "Livvy's here?"
Elwin ignored her since Livvy was already bursting into the room, her shimmering braids demanding attention.
Her reaction to Sophie was much less excited and worry dug into her eyes. Running to Sophie's bedside, she asked. "We've been looking everywhere for yo-where have you been?"
"Sorry, I was throwing away an empty bottle of youth and I-" Sophei paused. Should she let them know the reason she fainted was because of Fintan. Unfortunately, Sophie waited too long and Livvy caught her gently by the chin.
"Hey-Hey! I saw that. It was Fintan, wasn't it?"
Sophie pushed Livvy's hand away with her blood stained one, revealing the glass stuck in her forehead. Livvy narrowed her eyes, but escaped to the back before returning with a handful of elixirs. Elwin was peeking out from around the corner innocently in his oversized pastel dinosaur pajamas, wanting to help. But Livvy waved him away.
"I got this, you go tell her family and friends."
Livvy dabbed a cloth to the blood on Sophie's forehead and waited until Elwin's footsteps were muted with a flash of light. "What's this from?"
"I cut myself on one of the shards."
"When you passed out?" Livvy's questioning voice cut harsher than the glass.
Sophie sighed, "Look, Fintan's has been trying to talk with me. Alden advised I should start pushing back so I did. And it was fine until today."
"Is he trying to talk now?" Livvy yanked out the piece of glass and Sophie grunted.
Clearing her mind Sophie reached out slightly but she couldn't feel anything. "No." They both frowned.
Livvy coated a thick gray paste onto the cut and wiped her hands, "Let that sit. We need to talk about something else."
Sophie's heart skipped for a second. What did she mean?
"I've been talking with Mr. Forkle and I've started to develop something I think could help you block out Fintan."
Sophei opened her mouth to respond but she was surprised by Livvy's....
Unnerved appearnace.
"What is it?" Sophie asked nervously.
Livvy looked away, "The elixir is... not perfect yet. But it might have some side effects similar to those of your ability restrictor."
"Oh." Sophie whispered, her stomach churning with dread sharks. But the more she thought about it the more Sophie felt it was easier to accept. She trusted Livvy and the Black Swan. Whatever it was she could take it.
"Livvy, I want you to keep working on it. If it can help me, I'll take."
Livvy didn't seemed relieved by Sophie's answer, but she seemed to understand. Their silence was interrupted by the loud chatter of worried voices taking over the Foxfire hallway.
They were here.