Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-43347423-20200111144721/@comment-43347423-20200117160240

Okay, y'all are right. It's Keefe and Sophie. And I also added in a ton of stuff about who I think Glimmer is, so... enjoy!

Chapter Six

Sophie wheeled around to face Keefe. “What did you do?”

Keefe raised his hands up in the air. “I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

“I can vouch for Hunkyhair this time,” Ro said. “We’ve been at his dad’s place the whole time. He demanded to know if Hunkyhair’d manifested, and if so, what he manifested as. It was not a pretty conversation.”

Sophie felt bad for not realizing they’d need to tell Lord Cassius about Keefe’s new ability. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Keefe said, and followed it up with a nod. Sophie wanted to believe him, but… she wasn’t sure she could.

“It’s okay to not be fine, you know.”

“I know. But we should probably start heading to Forkle’s office, so…”

He was right, so they got going. When they got there, Keefe knocked loudly and yelled. “Hey! I didn’t do anything this time!”

From behind the door, they heard a muffled “Come in!”

Keefe opened the door, and Sophie, Ro, and Sandor followed him inside.

Magnate Leto was sitting at his desk, and he motioned for Sophie and Keefe to sit down in the chairs. “I trust you’ll take up guard outside?” he asked the bodyguards.

Sandor grumbled something about secrets hindering his ability to protect his charge but followed Keefe’s bodyguard outside.

“Since Mr. Sencen–” Magnate Leto began, but was interrupted.

“I didn’t do it!” Keefe said immediately.

The principal sighed. “I didn’t say you did.”

“Then what were you going to say?”

“That since you manifested something completely opposite one of Miss Foster’s abilities, her enhancing, we thought it might be good for you to have a session together, focusing on those abilities. No one else has the same power as you two, and we think you might be able to learn from each other. It will be sort of like being Cognates, only you’ll have opposite powers to balance each other out. Miss Linh and Miss Redek have already tried this idea out, and it works quite well,” Magnate Leto said.

Keefe smirked. “Now I’ll have my own ability session with Foster, just like the Fitzter!”

Sophie laughed. “It’s not a competition.”

“Oh, yes it is!” Keefe said. “And Team Foster-Keefe is going to win.”

Sophie blushed, then realized that Magnate Leto was still there. He gave them an amused smile, but then told them to head to their sessions. He handed them their new schedules, and Sophie saw that she’d have the class with Keefe that day, and the Mentor supervising would be…

“Councillor Oralie?” Sophie practically screamed. She couldn’t have a class mentored by her own mother, the same mother she’d been trying so hard to avoid.

“Yes, Miss Foster,” Magnate Leto agreed. He raised an eyebrow. “We simply thought that she’d be best for you two since she walked you through your countdown, which you were able to repeat with Keefe to teach him to control his abilities. We’re also willing to add Miss Redek and Miss Linh,"

Keefe side-eyed Sophie. “What’s going on here? What do you have against Oralie? She always seemed pretty nice to me.”

Sophie swallowed. “Nothing. I was just surprised.”

“Okay, clearly there’s more to it than that… but I’ll let it slide.” He winked, and Sophie felt her cheeks heat again.

They left after that, and Sophie wondered how she’d be able to survive her new session with Oralie and Keefe.

Sophie rushed through her first few classes, and at break she sat with her friends but didn’t pay much attention. That is, until she noticed the Glimmer interrogation back on track.

“Why would you join the Neverseen if you already knew the Black Swan?” Tam asked, his tone making it clear that he wasn’t joking around.

Glimmer sighed. “Back then, the Black Swan were as much the bad guys as the Neverseen. At first, I even thought they were the same group. And then I found out that the Neverseen had my, uh, I guess I should say hopeful.” Her expression soured, but then mixed with grief. “I found out that my fiance was with them, and that he wanted me to join. So I did.”

Linh’s mouth dropped. “You had a fiance?”

“I’m not sure why that surprises you. I’m a lot older than a Level Eight. I’ve picked up all my match packets. But, um, he’s not around anymore.”

“Wait,” Keefe said. “Did he… die? Like, when we were fighting you?”

“Yes.”

Sophie knew that she shouldn’t have been, but she immediately tried to replay all the male Neverseen who had died. Glimmer had said “he,” and the only one she could think of was…

“Brant.”

And then all the pieces clicked together.

Sophie’s jaw dropped. “But you’re… you’re supposed to be dead!” she said to Glimmer.

“I am,” Glimmer agreed.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Keefe asked. “Do you know who she is?”

“Yes,” Sophie said. “Can I tell them?”

“Well, I should probably get it over with,” Glimmer agreed. “Just… everyone, promise not to hate me? And don’t tell anyone without my permission.”

They all nodded their agreement, and then Glimmer finally flipped back her hood.

Fitz was the first to speak. “You look just like Sophie,” he murmured.

“But… you had black hair before!” Tam said.

“You’ve seen her?” Biana asked.

Tam shook his head. “No, but I saw some of her hair stick out of her hood once.”

“I had hair dye.”

And then more pieces clicked together in Sophie’s brain. She already knew who Glimmer was, but then she remembered what she’d seen. In Jolie’s room, black hair dye. And Jolie would totally pick a name like “Glimmer,” and join the Neverseen for Brant.

“But… you’re a Conjurer,” Sophie said.

Jolie looked surprised. “Who told you that?”

“Well, no one, I guess. But I saw a Conjurer textbook with doodles of Brant in it, so I assumed it was yours,” Sophie replied.

Jolie laughed. “I drew on whatever I could find. But that was actually my mom’s. It was before I manifested as a Flasher. And I also used to be afraid of the dark,” Jolie added, and Sophie remembered the lights in Grady and Edaline’s room. “My parents would tell me that all I had to do was take control… and now I can.”

“Okay, hold that thought,” Dex interrupted. “I can tell Sophie knows who you are, but none of you have actually come out and said it. Can someone please inform the rest of us?”

Sophie raised her eyebrows at Glimmer, who took a deep breath.

“I’m… Jolie.”

That sure caused a lot of ruckus. And they didn’t calm down, even when the break ended. But then Sophie remembered what her next session was.

Her next session was the one with Keefe and Oralie.