"HE DID WHAT?" Fitz roared. "But there had to be useful memories in there!"

"Chillax," Alden told him. "The sound of my voice will still trigger all her memories if you need them, but she only remembers her family and..."

"Quinlin left her with memories of us?" Fitz asked, disgusted. "So she thinks we're still a happy family or something?"

"No! Well, yes," Alden conceded.

"SO YOU'RE GOING TO BRING HER TO LIVE WITH - oh." Fitz dropped to the ground, clutching his chest, and it was only then that Sophie remembered their echoes were back. She knelt down gently next to Fitz and put her arm around him. His breathing was still ragged, but he relaxed slightly when she came.

Alden's eyes darkened. "You see what I mean? Mess with too much, and it'll turn out bad for you." He sighed and stood up. "Dinner's ready, so come out once you're done..." He looked around. "Never mind. Come out now." His voice sounded more like a command, and with a sigh, all the kids stumbled out of the reception hall and headed to the dining room.

Only Sophie and Fitz remained behind, Sophie's arms still wrapped around Fitz. Finally, he took a shuddering breath and stood up.

"I'm not used to taking deep breaths anymore," Fitz admitted, and there was such a sigh to his voice that made Sophie flinch.

"Yeah.... well... I'm not used to taking sedatives at night. But I haven't slept without sedatives yet, so... tonight will be the trial."

"What about last night?" Fitz asked.

Sophie shook her head. "Edaline drugged the Mallowmelt she gave me to force me to take one, she admitted to it in the morning."

Fitz's eyes clouded. "Well, I... I can bore you to sleep."

Sophie burst out laughing. "Nah, it's fine."

***

Dinner was cold and no one spoke to each other, but at least they pulled through. Alden sat at the head of the table, the chair next to him, which was marked as 𝓡𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓮, was empty.

Fitz and Biana had chairs with their names too, but the way Fitz sat made it obvious he was trying to cover his name. Sophie wasn't surprised once she saw his chair was marked as 𝓕𝓲𝓽𝔃𝓻𝓸𝔂.

"No more investigating," Alden said at the end of dinner.

Fitz winked at him and Alden's frown deepened. "I mean it, Fitz. Don't mess with things you don't understand."

"We'd understand more if you'd just tell us!" Fitz snapped, before falling back against his chair and taking a few deep breaths.

Sophie placed her hand on his shoulder, and his eyes softened as they met hers. 

"Well, we don't want to tell you because NOTHING IS DEFINITE YET!" Alden shouted.

"We could help you!" Biana snarled.

"Yes, but we'd rather do things the Council's way for once!" Alden snapped back.

"What if there's a better way?" Biana demanded.

"BIANA AMBERLY VACKER! CAN YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE?" Alden hollered.

The entire room fell silent, and Alden's face flashed with remorse, but he shook his head to clear it. "Go to bed," he said warily. "I don't want to have this conversation again."

Sophie doubted she could sleep after that conversation.

Sure enough, she was tossing and turning.

𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚? 𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥? (Fitz will now be bold)

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺...

𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙄'𝙢 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙖 𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰. 𝘏𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯.

𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝... And then Fitz said something entirely random. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣. 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙄 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣, 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧! 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.

𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴.

𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝘿𝙚𝙭 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙?

Sophie used her blanket to muffle her giggles. 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.

𝘼𝙡𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚.

***

𝐒𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 - 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩!

The words crashed into Sophie's head as she recalled Inflicting on her younger sister. It was so much worse now that she knew why her sister had screamed, she tried to fight free of the nightmare, kicking and flailing and-

"Sophie!" Someone shook her awake. "Sophie, are you okay?"

Sophie didn't hear the rest.

The monster raged inside of her, feeding on all the fear and worries about Della, Dark Hearts, Blur and the Neverseen, and there was so much fuel for the monster, it kept consuming her fear and rage, throwing it back at her, channelling it into the same three words - 𝐒𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐞, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 - 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩! which generated more fear.

𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚! 𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚! 𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚! 𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚!

Her consciousness whispered his name, 𝘍𝘪𝘵𝘻?

𝙎𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙚! 𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮?

𝘚-𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱! 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯- 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳-

And then the dream changed. It was a stark man whose eyes bored into hers, and he whispered, "My name is Elysian."

And when Sophie finally awoke, Biana's room was in flames.