Swan Song

Chapter Twenty Eight

Hello! Fast update, right? I was feeling very inspired. And very bored. So, you're welcome!

Huzzah for 600 comments! And I think we hit 200 votes a few chapters ago! And almost 2K views! Yay! Thank you guys! :)

Crowd: Yeah, no one cares.

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Enjoy!

"So, why can't you just use your fancy Moonlark Telepathy tricks?" Stina asked, twisting a brown curl around her finger. Both girls stood at the entrance to Carcerem, the prison where both Axel and Blur were kept.

Sophie pulled out an eyelash, no longer caring if Stina thought that it looked unprofessional. "I told you. The members of the Neverseen are able to bury the important information so deep inside that I won't be able to find it without doing a memory break. We might end up using Telepathy anyway- but only as a last resort. For now, let's just try asking questions and using your Empathy to determine if they're telling the truth. I'll threaten them with Inflicting, but try not to use it unless absolutely necessary."

Stina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I still say you should actually use the powers that the Black Swan gave you. Maybe it'd be easier if your cognate boyfriend came."

"He's not my boyfriend," Sophie muttered. She was still furious with Fitz for blowing that first 'I love you.'

Stina snickered. "Ooh, right. The Sophie Foster love triangle boy drama."

Sophie ignored her. "And anyway, I'm the boss." Another eyelash made its way off of her eyelid.

"Yeah, I'm still not seeing why the council did that... but whatever. Ready?"

No. Sophie was honestly really not ready. But when she joined Team Valiant, she promised to do her best to fight for our world to be a haven of peace and harmony. And if that meant going to interrogate Blur and Axel even though every fiber of her being wanted to bolt... and then teleport... and then go hide behind Silveny... then it was her responsibility to do so. She was done with putting off her responsibilities in favor of personal drama. Sophie was ready to deserve the title of Lady Fos-Bos.

"I am Lady Fos-Bos," she whispered to herself as she twisted the door handle and yanked. Her free hand clapped over her mouth. Sophie hadn't meant to say that out loud... and she squeezed her eyes shut as she braced for Stina to mock her mercilessly.

But to her surprise, Stina only took the door and held it for Sophie to walk through as she said "Yeah you are!"

Sophie stared at Stina like she'd suddenly grown a third head. Stina flushed. "I mean... we're not going to suddenly become BFFs like you and Princess Prettypants, but... for all the snide remarks I make about you being terribly incompetent, you're actually..." she cleared her throat. "Listen closely, because you're never going to here me say this again. You, Lady Fos-Bos, are actually really powerful, and when you need to, you're good at taking charge, and... well, I think the council really did make the right choice."

Of all the things Stina could have said, Sophie least expected that one. She had heard similar things said by her friends and the council and her parents, but coming from Stina, the girl who used to absolutely despise Sophie, it really meant a lot. She blinked hard, hoping that Stina couldn't tell she had teared up a little. "Thanks."

Stina flushed darker. "Don't make a big deal about it," she muttered.

Sandor, who had been following close behind the two of them, reached the door. "I'm going to come inside Carcerem with you two, and Bo is going to guard the door. Does that sound good?"