Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Chapter Six

A few weeks later, I still hadn't told anyone about the Quintessence except Keefe. Alden had said to tell only those we absolutely trusted, and for some reason, I hadn't told Mom. It was strange. I did trust her... maybe I'd tell her later. But right now, Biana and I were confronting Sophie. She'd basically been ignoring us, her best friends, for the past three weeks. We were going to make her come over to the Vacker's house soon, and she was going to have fun there.

"Sophie!" Biana and I stood in front of her in the hallway with our arms crossed.

"Hmm?" Sophie mumbled, hastily shoving her memory log in her bag. She tried to hide the log from us, even though most of us knew she had it. 

"Are you mad at us?" Biana asked. Sophie, eyes wide, shook her head.

"What? No, why?"

"You haven't hung out with us in weeks!" I burst out. It was true. She hadn't been to Everglen since the Elementine incident. Biana nodded, agreeing with me.

"Come over to my house this weekend. You're super stressed," Biana told Sophie. It was true. There seemed to be permanent dark circles around Sophie's eyes these days.

"I think I'm busy this weekend," she muttered lamely. I raised my eyebrows at her. Seriously? This girl needed a break. 

"Next weekend, then," Biana said bossily, and I nodded. We weren't going to let her get away that easily.

"Uh... sure." Sophie looked like she wanted to jump out of the window.

"I'll let my parents know so they'll be home," Biana whipped out her Imparter and walked away down the hall. Sophie smiled. It looked more like a grimace. But she was definitely going to enjoy herself next weekend. Biana and I would make sure of it. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't step in to help someone that so desperately needed to unwind?

The next weekend, Sophie and I leaped to Everglen together, and she immediately looked happier. I knew she'd missed us, and hanging out at the Vacker's house. I'd missed her so much. Sophie had looked so worried all the time since that night a month ago. It was like she couldn't think about anything else. But I knew she'd forget about it while we were at Everglen.

Keefe was already there and declared that he was going to beat Sophie, Fitz, and me in base quest, so of course it was totally on. After we absolutely destroyed Keefe and Biana three times in a row, he refused to play if he wasn't on Sophie's team. He grumbled about conspiracies all night after he and Sophie lost in the first two minutes. Sophie and I laughed until we couldn't breathe anymore at the hilarious look on his face. Keefe was such a sore loser!

That day was the most fun I'd had in weeks, and I could tell that Sophie agreed with me. But soon, she started slipping away from us again. Finals were only one month away, and she was terrified of being kicked out of Foxfire. So all she did was study, study, study. She also spent a lot of time stressing out. I offered to tutor her in Elementalism and Alchemy, but after a couple of sessions of her constantly ripping out her eyelashes, I gave up. Sophie Foster was not capable of chilling out.

Dex had invented a new elixir that was supposed to reduce stress, and he and I were pressuring Sophie to try it. The elixir contained an ingredient called limbium, which could apparently clear minds. Finally, right before our P.E. class, Sophie finally agreed. Dex and I cheered as she downed the elixir in one gulp. We all went into the changing rooms, moving on like any other day. Sophie looked a little off, a bit strange, though. Kind of dizzy and sick-looking.

"Hey, Soph, you okay?" I asked her as she reached hesitantly for her uniform. She coughed.

"Uh, yeah, I just..." She froze, and I realized that there were huge red bumps all over her arms.

"What in the world?" I whispered. Sophie looked faint.

"Allergy," she choked out, and collapsed. I screamed. Fitz and Dex rushed over, and, seeing Sophie on the floor, looked at me.

"She said it was an allergy... I don't know what that is, but I'm getting Elwin," I said, and dashed off. I heard Fitz saying 'Try to pick her up' to Dex, and a horrible retching sound behind me.

I reached the Healing Center in less than thirty seconds. Elwin looked up at me. I'd been to see him many times for headaches before. He probably thought that this was just a routine visit. I liked him a lot, he was always nice to me. Sometimes, I came to see him to get sleeping elixirs from him. I had bad insomnia most nights. He even gave me a bright neon-green T-Rex stuffed animal after I told him about how much I loved Verdi. 

"Ah, Cassia," Elwin said, putting down the medicines he was shelving.

"Another headache?" He asked. I shook my head, and Elwin's expression turned to concern as he realized I was panting like I had run all the way from Candleshade.

"It's Sophie," I gasped. "She fainted, and she's covered in these red bumps, she said it's an allergy... and I think she threw up, too!" Elwin's eyes widened. I hoped that he knew what an allergy was. And that it wasn't something serious. But, judging from his expression, it was.

"Where is she?" He asked, and I ran out, Elwin following close behind. We reached the P.E room in record time, where Fitz, covered in vomit, was starting to carry Sophie out. Elwin took her from Fitz, telling him to change, and sprinted out. Fitz went over to our gym teacher, presumably to tell them what had happened to Sophie. She looked even worse than when she first collapsed. Dex and I followed Elwin to the Healing Center, running as fast as we could. My temples started aching, I needed Elwin's special headache cure... but I couldn't tell him that, not while Sophie was so sick.

The second Elwin entered the Healing Center, carrying Sophie, Bullhorn the banshee started shrieking his head off. The screaming seemed to pierce my skull. I cried out, clutching my head. Dex steadied me, looking into my panicked eyes. 

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried. I nodded, even though it hurt. I was fine. I was totally fine. Sophie needed attention, not me. Just then, Biana rushed in.

"The P.E. teacher said Sophie was sick," she said and looked at Sophie, who was still passed out on a cot. Bullhorn was still screeching, his shrill tones like a dagger to my brain. I felt terrible. My head was pounding worse than it ever had before. Biana was trying to talk to me, but her voice sounded like it was a mile away.

"Cass, are you okay? Cass!" I mumbled a response and leaned against her for support, breathing heavily. Elwin looked at me and said something that I couldn't understand, the pounding was too loud... My vision dimmed into near blackness, and I gasped. The last thing I felt was Biana's arms around me, and then nothing.

Cover: Biana Vacker