UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 43

Sandor punished her with an hour and forty-seven minutes and twenty three and a half seconds worth of "I go where you go" lecturing, that Grady mercilessly made her sit through, even though Sophie zoned and spaced out for more than most of the lecture.

When he was done, she hailed every single one of her friends to make sure they were okay- which they all thankfully were.  

Well... everyone except Fitz.

Instead, Fitz hailed her, which Sophie was not expecting at all, given how infuriated he'd been with her, to the point where he'd let her fall of a cliff just to save Linh- although in his defense, he didn't know to what extent the fight would lead to.

"So....hi," Fitz said, his voice quivering although Sophie didn't know why.

"Hi." She meant it to sound casual, forgiving, and a bit apologetic but it came out filled with more bitterness than she'd intended it to.

"I know you're mad at me," Fitz said, tearing a hand through his dark hair.

"I know you're mad at me," Sophie countered, because she really didn't want to answer the accusation that he'd just given her.

"I don't want to fight with you," Fitz mumbled.  "I'm trying to get you to trust me more...."

"Well you don't make it easy!" Sophie snapped, and she barely felt bad about it.  "Please, can you stop and get over the fact that sometimes you can be the Wonderboy that Dex tells you you are, and that there are people that need me more than you, Prince Fitz Vacker, ever will?  I'm trying to trust you but I'm allowed to want to help people, okay?"

"Yeah, because you're the moonlark and you need everyone to swoop in and save you!" Fitz retorted, his face red.  "Sometimes... sometimes people just want to be needed, okay? Can you live with the fact that maybe you won't always be the hero?"

"I'm not the hero all the time! That's what I was made to do."

"You sure about that?" Fitz said, his words dripping with venom.

And then the screen went blank, leaving them nowhere, and leaving Sophie to think about the last thing he'd said.

_______________

"You and Fitzey looked kinda, um...."  Keefe cringed when Sophie flinched at the sound of Fitz's name.

"It's okay," Sophie told him, even though her brain was replaying everything that they'd said.  "I don't.. let's just... just talk about something else, okay?"

"Sure.. I mean why- I- okay... wait- sure. Let's do it,"  Keefe stammered.

"Smooooooooooooth Hunkyhair!" Ro called from the corner.  "Try to speak in complete sentences next time though, alright?" she winked.  "It helps a lot."

Keefe rolled his eyes at her.  "Be quiet, Ro."

"I try," Ro said defensively, batting her eyelashes like that somehow made her more attractive.

The last thing Sophie expected that day to bring was... Bronte?

He appeared out of the light, wearing his usual Counciller-y garments and jewelry, but his lack of guards was more noticeable than ever.  

"Hi Bronte.... what are you doing here?" Sophie asked, suspiciously.  She suspected that he was there to give her an update about Team Valiant, considering that, after all, he was the Counciller that she'd been assigned along with Counciller Lying-Curls.

Not even a hint of a smile was shown on Bronte's regal, stonefaced expression.  He only looked a bit apologetic as he said, "You might just be exiled."

Sophie jumped backwards, as her mind raced through everything she'd just did, searching for a reason why the Council would want to exile her, but her mind drew a blank.  She'd been abiding by the Elivn rules- maybe not by Sandor's and her parent's, but certainly the Council's.

"Me?" Sophie clarified, pointing to herself just in case Bronte didn't know who she was.

Bronte shook his head, and Sophie knew without knowing who he was about to say.

He looked right at Keefe and pointed a big, grubby finger at his face. "You."