No one said anything once Sophie was gone. After a few seconds, Elwin whispered, "Was I too harsh?" Keefe shook his head, then grabbed a piece of broken glass from the ground, "She wasn't lying when she said she couldn't take anything." Keefe said, fingering the glass. "I'm going to hail Mr. Forkle," Keefe mumbled, before walking out of the healing center. 

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Sophie realized that some of the exlir must have gotten on her hand because her hand started to look less damaged. She stood at the Leapmaster, not knowing where to go. The Neverseen knew where she was, so she couldn't return to Florida. Sophie thought hard, before thinking of one more safe place, Havenfield.

Sophie was back in Havenfield. She quickly ran down the stairs to the 3rd floor, where she ran into her bedroom. After she quietly closed the door, she jumped out of her window. (jk there's a ladder down)

She ran to Calla's tree and sat down on the soft ground, but still winced at the bruises she had all over her. Sophie closed her eyes and enjoyed the beautiful fragrance of the tree. After a few minutes, she grabbed her new blue iPhone 15 from her pocket, put her airpods in, and played her new playlist, "Breathe".

Once the playlist finished, it was dark outside, so she began to walk back to Havenfield, ready to see Grady and Edaline again.

Before she knocked on the door, a song lyric from her playlist played in her head,

"They all say that it gets better, it gets better the more you grow

Yeah, they all say that it gets better, it gets better, but what if I don't?"

(can anyone recognize the song??)

She took one more deep breath before knocking on the door. After what felt like a year, 2 familiar figures opened the door. Grady and Edaline. They stared at her for a second, before grabbing her and hugging her like it was the only thing keeping them together. Then they all began to cry.

Once they stopped, Edaline grabbed her imparter. "If you're gonna call Elwin, don't," Sophie said, grabbing Edaline's wrist. "Why?" Grady asked, staring at the cuts on Sophie's hands. "I already saw him with Keefe earlier, and I can't take any medicine." Edaline did not look convinced, "I'm still gonna call Elwin," she said, grabbing the imparter with her other hand. 

Elwin came into Havenfield 5 minutes later. And by then, Edaline had already made Sophie sit on the couch, drink and eat something. She didn't want to, because she was worried about what the Neverseen would do about it, but she listened anyway. Elwin didn't say anything when he walked in, or make her drink anything, he simply sat next to her on the couch and whispered, "I took this from the wrong approach," he began, "so forget about exilirs and balms, what do you think you need?" She did not expect that at all from Elwin, but she still chose to respond by saying, "To tell you what happened," she whispered, and that was what she truly needed.

Mr. Forkle came over to Havenfield a few minutes later with Keefe, and that's when she told them what happened. From the day it happened, what they did, why she couldn't take anything, and why she had to leave to go to the Forbidden Cities. 

By the time she finished, no one had any words. "I'm so sorry, Sophie." Mr. Forkle whispered, hugging her. Grady, Edaline, Elwin *coughs*, and Keefe also joined. Sophie finally felt somewhat safe again, but she still knew the Neverseen was watching her, and she still had to be careful. Sophie winced when Grady squeezed her shoulder after they stopped hugging, giving Elwin an idea. 

Elwin POV: (YAY I LOVE ELWIN POVS!)

*okay so this is after the previous line :)*

When I saw Sophie wincing, it gave me an idea. What if I explain the balms and exilirs to Sophie then let her pick? As soon as I told myself to try it as soon as I thought of it. So I grabbed my satchel and began to grab exilirs from my satchel. Sophie gave me the "What is he doing?" stare, but it didn't stop me.

Once I grabbed at least a dozen exilirs, I placed them on the living room table, "Even though you won't admit it, you're in pain." I began, grabbing another bottle from my satchel, "So I want to try another approach," I pointed to the exilirs, "You get to see these exilirs, and pick what you want to do. And I'm not gonna force you to take anything." I finished. Her first reaction was to stare at me confused, but then actually tried my technique. She grabbed a blue exlir, and then I explained what it did, then she chose whether she wanted to try it or not. After a few minutes, we created a pattern.

-pick an elixir/balm

-i explain it

-sophie puts it in the yes/no/maybe pile

I'm really happy I thought of this, because now I can figure out how Sophie wants to do this. 

After a few minutes, Sophie picked 5 exlirs and 1 balm she liked out of the 13. So, I explained each one once more before she opened them. And once she took them, she looked much better. The cuts on her arms and hands are definitely gonna scar, so I'm gonna have to make a strong balm to see if I can get rid of them, but I'm not gonna tell her about that yet. 

Once she had the elixirs, I told Grady to let her rest and I'll be back the next morning to check on her, (who knows how the Human Cities impacted her cells!) but everything else looked good.

(end of pov)

Sophie had never been happier to be in her own bed, but it didn't stop the nightmares.

"Sophie," a voice said, "get up!"

Sophie groaned, expecting to still be in her bed, she turned sides but ended up falling off the chair because she wasn't in her bed anymore, she was tied to a chair. 

"We told you not to go back to the Lost cities," Fintian said, starting a fire on his hand, "And not to take any medicine!" He put the fire on her arms. It hurt so bad she had to bite her lip to hold in her scream."

"We told you that you would pay if you went back," Fintian said, motioning to Gethen to come over, "So you don't deserve to remember anything anymore." he finished, and that's when cold hands were placed on her temples, and everything went dark as she screamed.