Into the Light

Chapter V

"YES!" Sophie yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

Fitz looked between Sophie and Mr. Forkle. "What does this mean?"

"Well- "

"Missions! Secrets! Cool disguises! Swan merchandise!" she yelled giddily.

Mr. Forkle leveled a glare at her.

"What I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, is that there are several things entailed in being a member of the Black Swan. You have to go into the field and do reconnaissance, you are allowed to know more information, you must be more careful about your identity being discovered, and you should learn to recognize the symbols of the Black Swan, wherever they might be hidden."

"So basically... missions, secrets, cool disguises, and swan merch?" Keefe asked, raising and eyebrow.

Mr. Forkle sighed, shaking his head.

"You kids... yes, that's basically what I'm saying."

"Cool. So, when can we start?" Biana asked.

"Today."

"Today? As in today-today? You make us wait years and then you just drop a bomb like this?" Tam grumbled, flipping his bangs.

Sophie laughed. "Don't be such a killjoy, Tam."

"You were the one who introduced me to MCR."

"Oh, come on. You would've found it eventually, what with your personality-"

Mr. Forkle cleared his throat.

"Anyways, I was thinking that we could begin your training today. I'm going to send you to retrieve something I forgot in the Forbidden cities, and I need to choose someone to go with Sophie."

Everyone began to speak at once, each giving their best reasoning as to why they should be the one chosen.

"We went to Exillium together, I should be the one to go-"

"I was there too, besides my skills are stronger-"

"I'm a telepath, I would be helpful!"

"Yeah, but Sophie's already a telepath. She could probably use a vanisher though!"

"Hey, an empath would be super useful too, I-"

"I CAN MAKE GADGETS!"

"Enough!" Mr. Forkle's voice silenced the room, drawing all eyes to him.

"The object I need you to retrieve was placed there by our empath, who 'tagged' it, so to speak. Only another empath can retrieve it, so I need Keefe to go with Sophie. He happens to be the strongest empath I've come across in a long time, so he should be able to locate it."

Keefe pumped his fist and smirked at Sophie.

"Team Foster-Keefe for the win!"

Mr. Forkle ignored him. "The rest of you will be getting to know our training room."

A chorus of groans filled the room as Mr. Forkle pointed to the door that led to the training room. Tam, Linh, Dex, and Biana, and Fitz left, trudging down the hallway. Mr. Forkle turned to Sophie and Keefe.

"Here. This will take you to the forbidden cities, and the note will explain what you need to do." He handed them a blue crystal and an envelope. "This one will take you back to where Calla can bring you back here." With that he handed them a clear crystal and followed the others out of the room.

Keefe stared after him. "So... that's it? No training? Helpful hints? Not even a 'good luck, don't die'?"

"That's just how Mr. Forkle works. I bet the note is gonna be equally cryptic."

She held up the blue crystal to the light and grinned at Keefe. "Here goes nothing."

They joined hands and stepped into the beam of blue light.