keep your friends close

(18)

Sophie is not unfamiliar with splotching—it's one of Tiergan's favorite ability training methods. It is, however, not one of Sophie's favorites.

That doesn't mean she isn't good at it, though. Maybe a little too good, in fact.

Once they begin pairing up for the first round of splotching, Sophie turns to her friends only to be met with a "Sorry Soph, but no way" from Dex and a "Don't you dare" from Stina, which is more than fine with Sophie.

Luckily, Jensi ends up excitedly picking her as his partner, saving Sophie from the humiliation of being left alone. He rambles to her about his latest DnD session with his brother, even after he ends up with a splotcher to the face in under three seconds.

She breezes through the next few rounds, leaving several disgruntled and splotched prodigies in her wake. Maruca gets splotched out, followed by Stina and then Dex, both covered in purple splotching slime.

Sophie joins her friends on the sidelines while she waits for the next round to begin. "This is a lot more fun than Tiergan's exercises," she says cheerfully.

Maruca scoffs as she wipes blue slime off her gym clothes. "Uncle Tiergan takes everything way too seriously. Anything is more fun than training with him."

While Dex and Stina chime in with agreements, Sophie catches sight of Linh on the other side of the gym. She's surrounded by other prodigies, but clearly standing alone.

"... I'll be right back," Sophie tells her friends as she jogs away.

Linh's face lights up when she sees her approaching. "Sophie! You haven't been splotched yet?" she asks.

"Nope. Neither have you, apparently," Sophie says, taking note of Linh's pristine appearance. Linh had her hair pulled into a silver bun on top of her head, not a single hair out of place.

"You must be pretty good," Linh notes. "There's not a lot of Level Fives left."

"There's not a lot of prodigies left in general," Sophie adds. Aside from her and Linh, there are precious few people standing around with un-splotched clothes, including those involved in ongoing matches. A small crowd is gathered around one of those matches; Sophie isn't surprised to see that one of the prodigies involved is a very familiar blonde Level Six.

"Of course Keefe is still going," Sophie sighs in exasperation.

"Such an attention hog, isn't he?" Linh says, almost affectionately.

"You know him?"

Linh laughs. "Know him? We're friends." She nods at Keefe's opponent. "In fact, that's my twin brother with him."

Sophie glances at the prodigy up against Keefe, another Level Six with ink-black hair and the same silver streaks as Linh. He grits his teeth in concentration even as Keefe hurls playful insults at him.

"Cat got your tongue, Song?" Keefe teases. "I could do this all day."

"Don't waste your breath," the other boy grumbles, but he's visibly straining to keep up the effort while Keefe looks as relaxed as ever.

The crowd around them lets out encouraging cheers, mostly in support of Keefe. Linh's brother eventually falters, and the splotcher hits him square in the face with an explosion of orange slime.

Linh winces. "Good job, Tam!" she yells.

Sophie claps with her in support, but she's suddenly very aware that everyone around them is staring at her. When she meets their gazes, their eyes dart away. It takes her a moment to realize they're not just looking at her—they're also looking at Linh.

"Sophie Foster!" calls one of the mentors from the other side of the gym. "You're next over here!"

"I'll catch you later," Sophie says to Linh, who cheerfully waves goodbye.

Dex, Stina, and Maruca come up to Sophie just before her splotching match starts. "Were you just talking to Linh Song?" Stina asks in disbelief.

"That was Linh Song?" Maruca gasps, craning her neck towards the side of the gym. "Where?"

Sophie shifts uncomfortably under her friends' judgemental stares. "Yeah... she helped me find my classroom the other day. She's nice."

Stina scowls. "Well, you need to stop talking to her."

"Excuse me?" Sophie exclaims.

"Stina, stop nagging," Dex sighs. "Sophie didn't know better."

Stina's scowl just deepens. "I told her to get her priorities straight. I'll stop 'nagging' her when that happens."

She stalks away. Maruca sighs. "I'll calm her down," she mutters, going after her.

Sophie turns to Dex. "Can you believe her?!" she hisses. Sure, she and Stina have had their ups and downs, but she was never downright hostile to Sophie.

But even Dex looks uncertain. "Look, she might be in the right this time," he admits begrudgingly. "The thing with Linh... she and her brother came here from Exillium."

Sophie shrugs. "So? Everyone thinks I came here from Exillium, too."

"The Songs were actually sent to Exillium," Dex continues, and then lowers his voice. "Their parents both died in an accident, years ago. No witnesses aside from the twins. Since no one could prove it wasn't them, Linh and Tam were banished."

Her heart stops. "Why'd the Council let them back into the Lost Cities?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Dex says, gesturing to the other side of the gym. "The Sencens sponsored them."

Sophie follows his gaze to where Keefe and Linh were now locked in a splotching match against each other, laughing and joking comfortably. Keefe is still his cocky self, but he seems considerably more strained facing Linh's telekinesis than when he was with Tam.

"The Songs were just kids when it happened," Dex continues, "so the Council was lenient. When their banishment ended, the Sencens advocated for them. They were pretty much given a clean slate to start over."

"That still doesn't make sense," Sophie murmurs. "How did their parents die?"

"Sophie Foster!" one of the mentors calls. "Come on, your round's about to start!"

Dex rests a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "You might want to lose this one. Lay low, remember?"

It doesn't matter either way; Sophie's concentration was shot, and before she knew it she was taking a splotcher directly to the stomach, her opponent letting out victorious whoops.

At the same time, cheers erupt from the other end of the gym, and Sophie turns to see that Keefe had won the match, leaving Linh covered in green slime. Despite his triumphant smirk, he's red-faced and sweating from the exertion. Linh must've been a considerable opponent.

Keefe catches Sophie's eye from across the gym and winks. She quickly looks away when her face warms inexplicably.

Stina's words echo in her mind. Get your priorities straight, Sophie.