UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 6

"It's Foxfire finals!" Edaline sang, definitely not matching Sophie's obvious lack of enthusiasm.  Even though Grady and Edaline had persistently reminded her about all the other times she'd passed, Sophie always got nervous. Part of her wondered if the Black Swan had put Finals Nerves into her DNA.

"Cheer up, kiddo," Grady said nudging her with a cheesy grin.  "I know you'll pass. And once you do-"

"If I do," Sophie pointed out, but Grady shook his head as if he couldn't believe Sophie would ever fail.

"Nope! When you do, we'll meet up with all your friends and go out to eat in Atlantis, deal?"  Grady offered, and Sophie had to admit, the reward was pretty tempting.

Her week was not exactly going great.

Granted, it was better than before- the days where Keefe was still in a coma and she spent her days walking around lifelessly, shaken and silent with worry.  Now, she mostly worried that Keefe would beat himself up more than he needed to.

It wasn't his fault that nothing major happened yet. That was his mom's.  Although Keefe did have an irritating habit of blaming himself more than he needed to.

When she wasn't in Foxfire, or helping her adoptive parents with the animals, she was hailing Keefe are leaping to his house to mostly cheer him up and also try to trigger his abilities. Probably more for moral support.

And she'd already had to live through and endure multiple unnecessary Keefe-bashings, pity parties, and long, furious rambling sessions that made her sympathize even when Keefe strictly told her not to feel sorry for him.

But she couldn't help it.  Sophie didn't understand why his mom got to change him like that.

"I have your dragon costume!" Edaline called out from her bedroom. Sophie groaned, trying to hide behind her ponytail.  At Foxfire, prodigies were required to wear costumes that resembled the level's mascot. Sophie remembered last year, where she had to dress up as a humiliating mastodon and do some sort of interpretive dance.

Sadly, Magnate Leto required it to show "School Spirit" which reminded Sophie of some cheesy high school event or fundraiser she used to have to attend.

The costume was bulky and made completely out of foam.  The scales had chipped fabric and were such a bright green, Sophie suspected she'd look like some sort of leprechaun.

Sophie's exasperation only increased once she put it on and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were squished like she was wearing a boxing helmet, and the fitted fabric made her look bigger than she'd like.  She had no doubt that she would never hear the end of the teasing that Keefe would do to her- although maybe that was a good thing.

Since he woke up, Sophie hadn't heard her tease anyone nearly as much as he used to.

"You look- spirited," Sandor decided when he saw Sophie emerge from the bathroom, the sides of the costume pinching her cheeks into a fish face.

"Shut up, Sandor," Sophie said teasingly.

"Ready?" Grady asked, gesturing toward the Leapmaster 500, dangling with shiny crystals.

And the family, including Sandor, stepped into the light, letting the warmth whisk them away.