ᴍᴏᴏɴʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴀꜱꜱᴀꜱꜱɪɴꜱ「 ˢᵒʳᵘʸ ᵛˢ ˢᵒᵏᵉᵉᶠᵉ 」

1 [impasse]

Everything was ringing, and it felt like she'd spent the whole night drinking her sorrows away, but she had been out drinking last night—and she certainly hadn't rolled off her bed.

She was actually sitting in her chair across from Edaline with a cup of tea in her hands. Her eyes widened and she almost dropped the steaming cup on herself, she hadn't remembered waking up, much less talking with her mother and asking for the tea.

She couldn't remember much actually. The last bit in her memory was going into that alley in Mysterium, but there was no recollection of ever coming out.

Staring at Edaline like the poor scrutinized woman had anything to do with this, her mother recoiled and sighed at Sophie's antics.

"Thanks for the cuppa," she croaked, well not croaked per say, but her accent...it was stronger and that made her wonder. Edaline seemed to notice too, giving her a weird look before smiling and taking the cup out of her hands.

"Take a shower, maybe you'll feel better after a nice warm bath?" Her mother held her nose, and shot her a wink. "You, my dear, also reek like you haven't bathed in ages."

Leaving after her comment, Sophie watched Edaline walk away and after she was out of earshot, let out an exasperated sigh. She knew that this was the Neverseens doing, but how could she not remember a gods damned thing? Gethan wasn't powerful enough to do this much damage, and she knew for a fact that only someone more powerful than herself could take away the memories—but no one, save maybe Keefe, was more powerful than her.

Striping off her clothes, she banished those thoughts as she stepped into the scalding hot water. She winced a little as she stepped under the beams of water though, but it wasn't because of the heat. There was a stinging sensation on the back of her head.

When she moved to touch it, her hand ran red with bloodied water.

Maybe that was why she couldn't remember, she'd hit her head, hard. Maybe Fitz didn't even meet up with the Neverseen and he was just talking with a Black Swan supporter who wanted to meet her. Maybe the Neverseen resurfacing was just a fluke.

Sophie prayed it was just that.

Ignoring the pain on her head, it eventually went away and she cleansed the filth from her hair. Mechanically, she pumped soap onto a cloth and washed her body, finding several small nicks on her sun-kissed skin that she hadn't realized before.

Just a few more scars to add to my collection.

Tugging at her eyelashes—she was surprised with all the stress over the years they weren't completely gone—she just stood there. Eventually sitting down, the pitter patter of the water raining down on her felt like heaven.

Staying like that for at least another hour, she finally got up and nakedly entered her closet pulling out the first thing she saw.

Which was something that hadn't been in her closet yesterday.

It was a big shirt, it smelled different but all too familiar. It was Keefe's.

"How..." She went to smell it again when she saw a note pinned to it.

Moonlark,

I knew you'd read this since it was attached to your lover boy's shirt, no it isn't a ransom—but it could be. You won't know unless you meet us at your old dance school in Wales. 11:30 sharp tomorrow night, and you'll have your answers.

-R. Max

Sophie wasn't shocked in the least to get a threatening letter—she was surprised though at the familiarity the person used to write it though. The only person who would ever call Keefe 'lover boy' was herself, not to mention that she'd never told anyone she used to dance; they wouldn't believe her. She had the grace of an elephant.