UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 73

The world was drowning.

Falling.

Fading.

Or was that just Sophie?

All she could do was look around the cave, over and over, clinging to her mothers' hand and trying not to cry...

"... it's okay," Oralie was saying, letting her sink onto the hard stone floor beside her. "We'll find them. For now, let's go back and-"

"I'm not leaving them," Sophie cut in instantly.

"You're not leaving them," Oralie argued, tucking a strand of her sweat soaked blonde hair behind her ear. "We're waiting. Until we know more about who took them and where we should look first."

"You can go," Sophie told her. "I'm staying. The Neverseen isn't even a threat anymore at this point.. Gisela should be dead- I think... but who else would do that?"

"Maybe they aren't taken," Maruca put in hopefully. "Maybe they woke up and all escaped."

Sophie snorted. She would love to believe that, but the chances of them suddenly snapping their eyes open, getting up feeling perfectly fine, and marching right out of the cave was so unrealistic it was actually kind of funny.

"I don't think so," Sophie whispered. "Look."

She pointed to a small hole in the ground- maybe not large enough to fit a group of conscious elves but certainly big enough to fit a few dwarves.....

"The rebel dwarves," Sophie breathed, scrambling to her feet as she stumbled to the hole. "They were working with the Neverseen, remember? Lady Gisela could've easily told them.. they could've taken them wherever the Neverseen's secret hideout is..."

She leaned over the opening in the ground and peeked into it- nothing but darkness, darkness- and oh, a lot of dirt. Very helpful.

"I think I can fit," Sophie murmured. "I'm small enough."

"Me too," Maruca told her confidently- or at least as brave as she could muster. "Councillor Oralie-" she gave her an exaggerated bow "-you can go back and tell all the worrying parents what happened."

"I don't want to leave you two," Oralie whispered, speaking more to Sophie than Maruca.

Sophie didn't let go of her mothers' hand. "Me neither. But this is what we have to do. You gave me to the Black Swan in the hopes that I could make a change for the greater good. And this is my chance."

Surprisingly, Maruca said nothing about Oralie's newly discovered role in Project Moonlark.

"You're my beautiful moonlark, you know that?" Oralie asked. "But you're also my daughter. And... as much as I want to keep you safe, I also have to believe that you can handle things on your own."

"Battles are hard won," Sophie assured her. "But it's worth it."

She watched as her mom hurried out of the cave and waited until the warmth swept Oralie away before glancing nervously at Maruca.

"You ready?" she asked, pinning back her hair. She waited for Maruca's tiny nod before squirming into hole head first. The cave was dark- but Sophie managed to feel her way through the tunnel.

"It's safe!" Sophie yelled up to Maruca. She felt dirt crumbling behind her and something prod at her boots.

"Hurry up- I'm super claustrophobic," Maruca muttered.

Sophie elbowed her way through the tunnel, the rocks and dirt scraping at her arms as she crawled through the narrow entrance. 

Was Keefe dead? Biana? Adela? All the defected Neverseen members? She tried to tell herself that of course they weren't, otherwise the rebel dwarves would never had taken them in the first place- but if they were unconscious, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between alive and dead, right?

And hadn't the Council rounded up all the dwarves that had betrayed them and sentenced them to Exile? Sophie supposed they could've escaped- or maybe had avoided sentencing in the first place.

"I see light," Maruca murmured from behind Sophie.

And there was- blissful, glorious light -and air, too.

"Stop," Sophie told her quietly. She peeked her head out and almost vomited at the scene in front of her.

Adela, Biana, and Keefe were all gagged, blindfolded, handcuffed, and chained to the rocks of yet another secret cave. None of them looked awake yet- or alive, Sophie thought worriedly -but Adela seemed to be stirring slightly.

The rest of the formerly-bad Neverseen members were also tied to the walls- but they were strapped only with thick ropes and were neither gagged nor blindfolded- which was both relieving and enraging.

It meant that they had a better chance of escaping- but it also meant that Adela, Keefe, and Biana were under much heavier guard.

About a dozen dwarves in all their furry glory were scattered among the cave. Four were guarding Keefe, Adela, and Biana- two on each side and three were patrolling the five defected Neverseen members. Three others were busy digging holes into the ground and the last two...

Sophie choked as she realized they were right below her. She ducked her head back, slamming into Maruca who gave a startled yelp...

Time seemed to slow for a minute as Sophie held her breath, wondering if they had heard her... but the dwarf who seemed to be the leader just shrugged- was that a grin on his face? -and went back to digging.

I'm going to open my mind to yours, Sophie warned Maruca. Can you let me into yours?

Of course. What are we going to do?

Can I inflict on dwarves? Sophie wondered, staring at their furry bodies curiously.

Probably, Maruca reasoned. Can you move your head so I can see?

Sophie cringed and ducked, giving Maruca a few painful seconds to observe the scene before popping her head back up.

Can you make another force field? Sophie asked, feeling bad for inquiring when Maruca had looked so exhausted.

I can try, Maruca admitted. But no guarantees.

Well that's-

A dwarf grunted and Sophie's heart quickened pace so much she felt nauseous. 

"It seems as though we have a guest," the lead dwarf said, flaring his sharp teeth with a menacing glare.

Something pushed her from behind and she and Maruca tumbled face first, straight into some sort of net-like contraption.

Sophie winced as the dwarf's glare hardened on her.

"Sophie Foster."

News Flash: For anyone who hasn't checked my profile, my friend dared me to do this: If this fanfic gets to 7.1K views by the end of June I tell my crush I like him. This isn't just to get views, she actually said that and I'm actually going to have to do it and I'm actually HOPING I don't get to 7.1K views... *eye roll.

Oh look, I let her on my account, this is her typing: Hi peoples! I know none of you- but I do know @squishmallow09 and I really think that my role as a best friend is to kindly torture her don't you think? She's always talking about this one boy in school (I AM SO EMBARASSED PLS STOPPPPPP) And this is her chance! I'll make her (NO WAY WHAT THE-) tell you what happens! (UGH WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MY LIFE)

*grumbles.

Still love you all though. ❤️