UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 75

Don't do anything yet, Maruca warned Sophie telepathically. I'm going to try to put a force field up so you can do whatever you need to do and the dwarves can't attack us.

That's what you did last time in Loamnore! Remember? And they have eight hostages that we care about! Sophie noticed Maruca flinch and softened her tone. Sorry. I just meant...

I can try to trap them each in a force field, Maruca suggested. It's not like they're physically holding hostages in their hands... so if I can do it fast enough, then they'll be cut off...

That... might work, Sophie admitted. Are you sure you're up for it though?

Sophie could feel Maruca forcing confidence into her mental voice as she assured her, I am.

Okay. Wait- don't go yet. I need you to hear me out to make sure I'm not going delirious. Stellarlune counters shadowflux- stellarlune can be made by reversing shadowflux. The Black Swan injected a tiny bit of shadowflux into my DNA when they tweaked my genes- so can I reverse that to make stellarlune? Theoretically? 

My head is already spinning Sophie, I don't need code words right now-

No code words, Sophie promised. Just desperate plans for desperate measures and desperate times.

Maruca's voice hesitated. Then I guess that's the best we're going to get.

Maruca snapped her fingers and instantly flickering bubbles of light trapped each dwarf inside it.  Sophie tried to tune out the threats they were yelling- she transmitted a quick sorry to Maruca who looked beyond exhausted -and let her mental voice slip into Adela's mind.

This wouldn't be like reversing the echoes- the echoes had been a memory, a fragment of image and thought inside her brain. The shadowflux was literally a part of her- a darkness buried deep inside her DNA that she had to find a way to somehow bring out...

They needed a Shade to make this work.

And the only Shade in the cavern was the very person that Sophie was trying to transmit to.

But Sophie could remember what Bronte told her on one of their very first Inflicting sessions- "Inflicting comes from the heart, not the head."

So surely other abilities weren't that different?

That could work actually, Adela reasoned, and it took Sophie a minute to realize that Adela was still inside her mind. I know it seems like a lot of what ifs, but... sometimes what ifs are the foundation in which we have to build stability.

Ugh- no more fancy words, Sophie told her. She let her words float around in her mind a little longer.

Keefe. Keefe, listen to me. She took a deep breath and continued. I know you can't hear me- and I know you can't respond. But remember you told me that some part of you would always be there if I needed it? Remember when you told me that you'd catch me if I fell? Well now I'm falling. Hard. And I need you to help me out.

You see me differently than most people do, right? You see my emotions from far away- you feel them. You know things that people never knew or will know about me- not even Fitz. And surely you can see the darkness inside of me too?

I need you to focus on that. And let me see it. Remember your dad's theory? How emotions can change once you're aware of what you're truly feeling? That's what I need to do. I need to know that dark part of me so I can change it into something that's going to get us out of this mess.

Sophie held her breath, waiting for something to happen- and then something pulsed. 

Not pulsed- more like pressed? Or prodded?

But Sophie could feel it- near her heart. It was dark and slimy and she knew before knowing that it was that tiny bit of shadowflux that the Black Swan had put into her- the vital bit of information they'd neglected to give her. But now it was probably going to save her life- or multiple lives, actually.

Because abilities came from the heart. Not the head.

And if Keefe's heart was still beating, that meant that he was certainly still alive. But his head was still silent- could that mean...?

Sophie refused to let her mind wander to things that really weren't going to help. She kept her consciousness wrapped around the slimy darkness in her chest and transmitted to Adela, I got it.

Just to let her know- but Sophie knew that she had to do this on her own.

Here goes, Sophie told herself as she let her mind focus on the darkness inside of her.

Letting everything else fizzle and fade out of view until it was just that single bit of shadowflux inside of her.

But the darkness didn't want to move. It wanted to stay, curled up and nestled deep inside of her where no light could ever reach it- or change it -and Sophie could understand that. 

Sometimes all she wanted was to hide away from a reality she was being forced to face.

But that was what she was made for- and maybe the shadowflux was made for something else too.

So she willed it to fill with warmth. And light.

And when that wasn't enough to convince it to come out of its shell, she fed it memories. Her and Keefe on his porch, laughing and talking and crying with each other.

And her family. Grady and Edaline curling close to her and holding her like she was never going to be let go.

And hugging Dex without an ounce of any awkwardness or nervous energy.

And with each memory she forced, the darkness shifted.

Slightly.

But it was there. Turning lighter and brighter until finally- finally -it burst.

As Stellarlune. Knocking everything backwards- sending the dwarves vanishing to oblivion, the defected Neverseen members and her friends opening their eyes again...

Except for Keefe.

Sophie really, really wanted to punch something. The dwarves were gone- but Keefe's mind was still silent. At least he was alive but...

The rocks on the edge of the cave crumbled in a careful pattern to reveal a long, winding staircase with a single inscription that read Moonlark.

"I can go with you," Maruca whispered, spotting the entrance too.

But Sophie shook her head. "I have to do this alone. Take Keefe to Elwin- see what he can do. And... take the Neverseen with you. The Council can decide what happens to them, but speak in their defense."

Maruca blinked. "But what about you?"

It takes a special person to see darkness inside of someone and not condemn them.

"I have to do this alone," Sophie whispered.

Maruca nodded, leaving Sophie to wonder how long those stairs went down forever.

LONGEST. CHAPTER. EVER!!!! 1113 words to be exact. But meh, hoped you guys liked it! <3