Reversed

xxvi. twenty-six

As she numbly walked back through the hideout beside Ruy, she remembered when it had been hard to transmit to him when she was in the Black Swan hideout, and how she had had to strain to open her mind to his when they had been in the Lodestar Initiative room.

She figured that it was probably because of what the stupid Black Swan had done. What she was experiencing was most likely side effects of the limbium. 

But... she'd had a raging headache before the limbium, and it had been hard to transmit then, too. 

The Neverseen peeled off into the different passageways that led to their respective rooms, and Ruy told Sophie to meet him in the arena for a training session before she was about to slip into hers.

"Don't forget about our deal," he winked.

As soon as she closed her door, Sophie slumped against the wall. She closed her eyes and slowly rolled her neck around, working out the stiffness, kinks, and uprising stress.

Sophie changed back into her regular training outfit, happy to shed the tunic and slip her cloak back on. She geared up, tugged her gloves over her hands, and slipped her boots on.

She took out a plain leaping crystal that she had stolen before she joined the Neverseen. She considered her destination for a second, before steeling herself and raising the pathfinder up to the light.

A scene filled with moonlight that caught the shimmering spires of Foxfire glittered into view. Sophie readjusted her cloak and swiftly started towards the school.

The hallways were almost ghostlike at night, the moonlight flittingly shining through the cut crystal. The combination of shadows and purple-blue light cast mysterious patterns on the floor. Sophie quietly traced her way through the halls, slipping around corners and past doors. 

As far as she could tell, nobody was here. She tried not to look too hard at the rooms, lockers, and decorations, because they brought back so many memories.

Like her first trip to the Healing Center.

The time she met Keefe.

Where she found out she was allergic to limbium.

All the places where she'd faced off against Stina.

The turns Sophie and her friends had made while laughing so hard their stomachs hurt.

Sneaking around and getting detention.

When she and Fitz were healing from the shadowvapor, and they were finally allowed out of bed, and they had walked though the halls in the middle of the night.

And she definitely avoided looking at the Healing Center as she passed it. She hadn't wanted to come this way, but she couldn't remember a different path to the secret desserts room Keefe had shown her not too long ago.

She followed the same steps as the memory, and finally came to the door she recognized. "Bingo," she muttered under her breath, building up energy in her mind to shatter the lock.

Sophie could feel a headache starting to mount. She gritted her teeth, rubbed her temples, and kept going. When she couldn't stand the pain any longer, she shoved the force out of her mind.

Sophie moaned, bending over at the waist and reaching out a flailing hand for the wall. The pain made her vision fuzzy, and the only coherent thoughts she could string together were please go away please go away please go away.

When she could finally stand up straight, she inspected the lock.

Not even a crack, although it was vibrating a little.