Nightfall (KotLC)

Chapter 5

Sophie's head was spinning. Swan song was the Black Swan's code word for when something horrible was happening. Prentice had said it before the mind break, and Mr. Forkle had said it before he died. (A/N That scene was so sad sometimes I just think about it and almost start crying omg.) Mr. Forkle must have included that as part of the training Juline had told her about.

Fitz said something, reminding her that she wasn't alone. "What?"

"I said, are you okay? You got really pale."

Sophie swallowed. "I'm fine. Really. Just..."

"I know. I can't even imagine how terrifying this must me. I'm scared, and they're not even my parents. We should talk to Juline or Tiergan. The Black Swan will know something about this."

Sophie nodded. She and Fitz went downstairs, where Juline and Edaline were talking. (A/N I love Edaline and Juline so they will appear in this story a lot.) The two sisters spoke in hushed tones. Edaline shot a glance at Amy, who was having a tentative conversation with Sandor.

Her mother looked up at Sophie's tear-stained face. "Honey, is everything okay?"

Sophie shook her head and showed her mom and aunt the text message. Juline's face went ashen white. "What?" Sophie asked nervously.

"It's probably nothing. But, Mr. Forkle had a conversation with the Collective about whether or not we should teach your family 'swan song.'" Juline's voice was quiet because Amy was six yards away. "We decided not to teach them that phrase, so either he did it without our knowledge, or this is a trap."

"A trap? So like, we go to save my parents and they kidnap us too?" Sophie's voice was louder than she had intended, but she was too angry to care.

"I believe that they kidnapped your parents to get to you. They understand your value."

Sophie almost rolled her eyes. She hated when people talked about her value. It made her feel like a thing, not a person.

"What if this gives us a chance to catch them?" Fitz asked.

"I think we all know that plans like that do not always end well," Edaline responded. Sophie thought back to the Black Swan's various plans to trick the Neverseen. They never ended well; someone always got hurt.

"But we can't just ignore this. Even if it's a trap, that means that the Neverseen would be giving us a way to reach them," Fitz argued angrily.

Juline paused thoughtfully. "I'll need to discuss this with the rest of the Collective. The Neverseen has proved that they are often a step ahead of us. I do think that we could stage some sort of ambush." She chose her words carefully. "But, it would need very thorough and strategic planning."

"You could have the meeting at Everglen, now that my mom's on the Collective."

"That does seem like a good idea. Then we can talk it over with all of you. How about we all meet at Everglen tomorrow?"

Everyone agreed. Juline leaped back to Rimeshire. Fitz moved to take Amy back to Everglen with him, but heard her thinking of talking to Sophie so he let her stay. Sophie led Amy to her bedroom. Sandor stood guard outside the door. The two sisters sat side by side on the bed. Amy picked up Ella, recognizing the blue elephant from their old home. Sophie couldn't help wondering how she could remember so much. Had all her memories come back at once?

Amy looked Sophie in the eyes. "I missed you."

Ah! I know I'm ending every chapter with a cliffhanger, but it's easier to start the next one. I really like the character Amy is turning out to be. At first I wasn't sure how I wanted her to act, but I like how she's turning out.