Reversed

xxix. twenty-nine

Sophie turned restlessly that night, exhausted and yet still unable to fall asleep. When she finally did, she was only able to sleep for a little before she shot up in a cold sweat, terrified and sure that all of her memories were slipping away as she slept.

Sophie's eyes darted around as she frantically tried to recall what she had done the previous day, shaking off her grogginess. She was extremely relieved when she remembered the fight and the food. She could still remember how Ruy dodged her questions concerning her little attacks.

Which set her off onto panicking all over again. Eventually, she finally coaxed herself back to sleep, only to wake again, sweating and swallowing a scream.

And the whole process started again.

The next time Sophie woke up, shaking, she didn't waste her time trying to sleep again. She figured she'd gotten all that she would be able to get. Instead, she rolled over, not facing the wall anymore.

She'd probably only gotten a few hours of sleep. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, she ended up looking at Umber's empty bed.

Sophie hadn't even gotten to know her before she died. She gritted her teeth, mad that someone who actually had the right ideas in their head had gotten killed. And in a fight against a group who thought they knew better, no less.

She wondered where Umber's replacement slept. Tam. She barely saw him in the hideout, despite him being there since before she came. Maybe the Neverseen was purposely keeping them apart.

And now she was thinking about her old friends again. She shivered and tried to shove all the memories away. She didn't need this right now.

She reached over the side of her bed, grunting as she picked up a knife and started methodically sharpening it. She focused on the low, metallic scraaaape each stroke made.

When the blade was so sharp that Sophie could have tapped it lightly and it would have split her skin open, she tucked it away. She grew bored, and her eyes roved around the room.

Looking at her cloak, her gaze caught on where she could see the faint outline of one of the Technopath's—Pixel, according to Ruy—tiny round gadgets that Sophie always kept with her.

Instantly, her curiosity was piqued as she remembered Ruy say that he would take her to see Pixel. But it was, like, four-something-odd in the morning, so no one except Sophie was awake.

But maybe Pixel was. It could be possible. And anyways, if he wasn't, at least she'd know where he stayed.

And plus—Sophie realized that she hadn't done that much exploring in the seven months since she'd gotten here. There was at least a good half of the Neverseen hideout that Sophie had never set foot in.

She pulled her cloak over her shoulders and silently stepped out her door.

Sophie's footsteps falling on the cold, black floor were soft and padded, detectable to only her. She walked through every hall she could find, her photographic memory slowly making a map inside her head.

She saw many black doorways marked with silver runes that she still couldn't read. Even though the walls were the same silver colour as the runes, they didn't make the hallways any brighter. The only sparse lighting was offered by floating, glowing orbs infrequently hovering on the walls.

She was just walking down the last hallway of the ones she'd never seen before when a door that was different from the rest captured her attention. It was black, just like the rest, but a bit wider and a bit taller. It didn't have a rune on it, but it did have sliver, spindly wires lacing across it from side to side, top to bottom, in twisted patterns.