I awoke the same way I went to sleep. In darkness. There were small lights in whatever room I was in, and a body in a chair beside me, but the faint outline of the windows was dark. The machines were bright. They hurt my eyes.

I shifted myself up, wincing in the pain throughout my body and head. The body in the chair sat up, rubbing sleep or exhaustion from their eyes. My sight was too blurry to see who it was.

"Sophie? Oh honey." I recognized my mom's voice immediately and she sat down next to me and pulled me into her arms. It hurt, but I gritted my teeth against it so I could just be held by my mom.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice scratchy. The last thing I could remember was being in the interrogation room, and my head hurt so bad.

"Trix, the man who was getting interrogated, he has... powers. You don't have to worry about him now," She quickly stated, misreading the worry on my face, "some government branch is coming to get him, see what he can do. But basically, what I heard was that a strong gust of wind blew from him, throwing you through the glass." Her voice hitched at the words, but the resurfacing memories hurt less than the way her eyes turned glossy.

And the fear that filled my body, fear that his powers got discovered, fear of my powers getting discovered—once I thought of that, I couldn't think of anything else. I can never tell my parents, not with the disgust in my mom's voice.

"What... What's going to happen to him?" I asked, trying to mask the fear of my own future with the fear my mom expects. Fear of Trix.

"No clue. We just know he's really locked down right now, no chance of him getting out. Nothing like this has ever been seen before, so many precautions are being taken." I watched as a small smile spread across her face. "We had to sign a billion NDA's and agreements not to say anything."

I didn't respond, just leaned into my mom, into her arms, and stayed there for the rest of the day.

~~~

"Miss Foster?" I drew my eyes away from the TV just long enough to look at the face that belonged to the voice in the doorway, turning my attention back to my show immediately after.

"What's up?" I asked, not realizing that by saying that I invited him to turn off the TV—the show I was watching—and sit in the seat closest to my hospital bed. The doctors said I would be cleared later that day, so I was just wasting time until then. Only I was planning on just binging stuff, not having some serious talking to by the guy that suspiciously knew everything about everything.

"I wanted to give you time, after your cousin's house blew up and all of this happened, but I have to ask now. I'm aware that you had access to the journal, read through it. What do you remember?" Mr. Forkle asked me.

"All of it?" I asked, phrasing it like a question. "Photographic memory that you gave to me." I wanted to laugh as a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

"Yes, of course. Here, I have this," he handed me a journal similar to my parents', "can you write down everything it said?" I nodded, taking it from him. I don't know exactly how it worked, but I didn't remember anything that the journal actually said. I just remembered what the pages looked like, and it was like I was reading it in my mind. I brought the first page to the front of my mind, taking the pencil Forkle was handing me and getting ready to start writing. Only, when I looked down on the page, an exact replica of the words I had been envisioning, in my parents' handwriting, was already on the page. My eyes widened in shock. Forkle took the book from me, looking at it himself.

"Projection." He whispered, more to himself than to me. "You... you projected the page from your mind into this book. We thought... but we never actually believed..."

"What are you on?" I asked, gesturing to his neurotic pacing and mumbling. And where can I get some? is what I didn't say. What I would've said, before, but now it didn't feel right to make jokes. It didn't feel like me, it felt forced and sickening and I just couldn't stomach it. Too much bad was happening for there to be any good.

When he didn't answer, I let the wall between my mind and all other thoughts drop, zeroing in on his.

We planned for this, mapped it out with her other powers, branching it off the telepathy, but how could it have worked? It was unstable at best, it is purely a miracle that it worked. This makes everything so much easier, if she can project her memories we can-

I put the wall back up, staring at him in shock.

"I can project my memories? Like, print them out of my brain?" Mr. Forkle turned to me, surprised. He didn't realize that I'd read his thoughts, but I watched as the realization hit him.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked.

"That you branched it off my telepathy and it'll make things easier. You mean with the journal, right?" He nodded rapidly.

"Can you project the rest of it right now?" I did, getting through with it much quicker than I would've been able to if I had to write everything down.

He was about to leave when I asked him a question of my own.

"My mom said that Trix is being tested on, experimented on... what's happening to him?" Mr. Forkle's face softened as he strode back towards my side.

"I went to go see earlier, I don't think you should see, but you can look into my mind if it'll bring you closure to know." Though his words worried me, I needed to know what happened.

His face, mouth opened in a permanent scream.

Limbs strapped to a metal table, flailing against the steel restraints.

Wires hooked to machines, tubes hooked to his arms and chest.

Vials of liquid being inserted into his skin.

Screams, screaming, so much screaming.

I withdrew from Mr. Forkle's mind with a gasp, feeling too hot and too cold, like I invaded his privacy, like I saw too much. Like I saw a terrible future awaiting me.

If I got found out, if the wrong person knew about my powers, that would be me. I would be strapped to that table, screaming with masked doctors surrounding me, watching and taking notes of reactions. Tearing me apart to see how I worked.

When I looked up to ask Mr. Forkle how he saw that, if that would happen to me, he was gone.

~~~

"I'm fine mom, really." I tried to assure her as she grabbed my arm to help me out of the car. I pushed it off gently, wanting to do this myself. Even if it's something as simple as walking into the palace after getting back from the hospital, I like to have the independence.

As soon as we walk in the front door, I notice Keefe standing there with another familiar face.

"If you really didn't want to see me, you could've just said." Brant told me with a smile on his face. "You don't have to go and nearly die again." I let out a small laugh, glancing over to see Keefe do the same.

"Don't worry, Brant, for once I didn't go to drastic lengths to avoid you." He came forward to hug me and ruffle my hair, not unlike when we still lived under the same roof, with Jolie. He moved past me to talk to Edaline and Grady behind me, leaving Keefe and I to ourselves.

"Are you okay?" That was all he said to me, grabbing onto the sides of my arms and scanning my entire body for any injuries. There were plenty of small cuts and bruises to be seen.

"Yeah, I'm fine. This is nothing compared to getting thrown into a house." That didn't seem to make him any happier.

"I was really worried." He told me. "But, I didn't want to come to the hospital and overstep." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Overstep? Keefe, I love you. You should be mad at me, not the other way around. I should be worrying about overstepping." I sighed, looking down at my feet. Although I had to say it, I really hoped he wasn't actually too mad at me. I'd deserve it, but that doesn't mean I want it. "I'm really sorry. It was never your fault and I never should've blamed you. There are no excuses, no matter what was happening, because you had nothing to do with what happened. If I really didn't want somebody to show up, I should've communicated that. I could've told you what was happening and told you why you couldn't come. But, I'm glad you did. You saved me. I didn't realize it then, but I would've died if you hadn't been there. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you, the way I reacted."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Foster. I understand how you were feeling, and I don't blame you for the way you reacted. You were stressed and under a lot of pressure, you had to get those feelings out somehow. I'm just glad you stopped self-sabotaging and blaming yourself. It's so much better for you to let those feelings out instead of unleashing them on yourself. I knew that you just needed someway to let it out, I knew you wouldn't actually stay mad at me. I mean, look at me. How can you stay mad at this face?" He gestured to his annoyingly perfect face and I laughed, shoving at his chest gently before wrapping him in a hug.

"Thank you." I whispered into his shirt.

"I love you, too." He replied. When I pulled back, he looked much more at ease. "So, I met your... um, Brant."

"Just call him my brother. He might as well be, and he's filled that role for a while. It's easier that way anyway." I turned my attention to him behind me. He was laughing with my parents as they hugged. We all missed him, and I was glad more than anything that he was finally back to his old self.

"Yeah well, he's pretty cool. I'm glad you have him, he seems like a good guy."

"The best." I replied, still looking in his direction. Keefe wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in tight. "Did you invite him over today?" My boyfriend nodded.

"He'd already come over when we met, the day you saw Trix, and we talked a bit then. I figured he'd want to come over to see you now, see that you're better."

"Thank you." I said again. I just couldn't say it enough, not to Keefe. Not when he did everything for me.

~~~

I was laying on my bed and reading a book when my phone vibrated. I got to a good stopping point then looked to see what the text I got was.

Beebee: do you want to come over?

Me: can't. got grounded after the whole sneaking out thing. mom and dad put me on house arrest

Beebee: i'll just come over then

She probably wanted an excuse to come into the castle, but I didn't care. I would do anything to spend some time with my best friend after all I put her through. I love her like a sister.

She showed up in record time, appearing in the room I was staying in without me even knowing she had arrived. Dex and Keefe also decided to come bother us after hearing she was there. We had all been lounging on the bed or around it, watching some movie Dex picked out, when I decided to talk to them about everything that had happened.

I told them about the journal, about my projecting, about Trix. What Mr. Forkle showed me.

"It's not your fault." Keefe said before I could even finish speaking.

"What?" I asked.

"It's not your fault, what happened to Trix. He's the one who chose to use his powers on you, he revealed himself. You're not the one putting him through this. You're guilty of nothing."

"Is it selfish of me that I wasn't thinking of that?" I whispered. "That I was thinking about my own... powers, and my own future?" All my friends did was smile.

"She's all grown up." Biana wiped fake tears for her eyes.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You're not putting everything on yourself." Dex explained. "You're worrying about yourself and what's going to happen to you. For pretty much the first time in your life. That's a good thing, Sophie. You need to focus on yourself more."

"And we're not letting that happen to you." Keefe reassured me. "No one's going to find out about your powers, not before we help you get rid of them or learn to control them."

I was about to respond and thank him, but I got distracted by my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I answered quickly when I saw who was calling.

"We found it." Me. Forkle exclaimed, sounding almost out of breath.

"Found what?"

"Their main headquarters. Your parents discovered it—from the looks of it—right before they died. And how to get rid of your powers. We need to go back to where they kept you."

so basically i'm extremely behind. i usually like to have two or so chapters ready per one that releases, but i just finished this about a few days before it's releasing so screw my life i guess. the ending is rushed but who really cares because the story is ending soon anyways and i'm feeling a little salty because i'm loosing all motivation but still want to get you guys a good ending while still doing a chapter a week. idk, it's draining me thoufh. so i hope you guys enjoyed!

Avery, out ->

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