"Hey, Linh," Sophie smiled uneasily. She glanced over at Keefe, but he was already stepping over the tiny rivulets on the floor and towards the raised dais Linh was sitting on. Sophie reluctantly followed him.

The two of them sat on either side of Linh to create a sort of three-point star, crossing their legs underneath them. Linh had her eyes closed again, and Sophie shifted uncomfortably, about to open her mouth and—

"Do you hear that?" Linh whispered. Sophie went still. "The water . . . it's singing."

Sophie scrunched her brows in confusion, craning her neck. She stole a glance at Keefe.

He was already staring at her.

He smirked when her eyes widened, winking and shifting his gaze over to Linh. Sophie's cheeks heated.

Keefe cleared his throat. "Do you think you can help us?" He murmured to Linh.

Linh slowly opened her eyes, as if awakening from a trance. She looked at Keefe, and then at Sophie, studying.

"Yes, I think I can."

◦ ◦ ⊰⊱ ◦ ◦

"Help us with what?" Sophie asked. What had Keefe brought her here for?

"I'm going to try to help you heal." Those glowing silver eyes bored into her.

Impossible.

That's what it should have been.

How she should have reacted.

But . . . after today, after what she had learned—

"Okay." It wasn't like she had that much left to lose.

Even Keefe looked taken aback, probably expecting more of a fight. He recovered quickly, the corner of his lips twitching. "This is going to work." She couldn't tell if he was trying to convince her or himself.

"This is going to work," she repeated, reaching for his hand. Linh grabbed her other, linking the three of them together in a circle.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Linh instructed. "Keefe, I need you to monitor her emotions the entire time." He nodded solemnly. "I'm going to take my best guess and say that whatever we're about to dive into is unknown territory for all of us." She turned to Sophie. "I'm essentially going to do the Hydrokinetic's version of a probe to the different pools of energy within your body; especially your heart and mind. If I find anything wrong, I'm going to access healing taps and try to see if I can soothe the turmoil happening within—or figure out a way to fix it."

Sophie only had one question. "Will it hurt?"

Linh shook her head. "I don't know. Water healing is a new concept to me, and I've never done anything like this before, so I don't really know what I'm looking for until I see it, but . . . there's a possibility that it could. Especially since whatever is happening within is already causing you such obvious pain."

Sophie tightened her grip on Keefe's hand. "Bring it on."

She didn't feel anything at first. She closed her eyes, letting the only thing tethering her to the ground be her grip on Linh and Keefe's hands.

Then she felt it.

The water wasn't just creeping up her arms.

It was inside her. Running through her.

Searching. Looking. Poking.

She felt it as it seeped beneath her pores, ran alongside her veins, writhing and twisting and rushing to the places she hurt the most. Places she hadn't even known she'd been hurting.

For a few seconds, all she felt was bliss. Pure, uncontained bliss as the water soothed her aching bones and calmed her racing heart. As it cooled and compressed around the ugliest parts of her, taking them in, wiping them off, and fixing them up. Peace.

It started, then.

It started as a low hum.

A slight tremble.

The beginnings of a storm.

It started quiet and low, almost undetectable. But she felt it. The warning bells started ringing in her mind, the serenity from moments before being overtaken with waves of panic.

Somewhere far away, she heard the low murmur of a male voice. "Linh," it said. "Linh."

But even the almost-familiar sound was washed away as the water overtook her limbs. She threw up mental barriers in a desperate attempt to keep it out as she felt it creeping up her body, but it was no use. Linh was right. The water was singing. It was singing in her mind, in her blood—angry singing, harsh singing.

There was nothing she could do as the water pierced her heart. Right through the center, it felt like, it dove in, bringing with it a new wave of agony. No longer was it soothing. Every fiber of her being writhed and fought against it.

Someone was shouting in another world, the din blending with the roaring in her ears. Stop! Stop! Linh, you're hurting her!

Something big and ugly reared its head inside. She felt it—was glad for it as it ferociously roared and surged forward to combat the water. Out. Out. Out. Get it out. The same headache she'd been experiencing for weeks flared up again. Her skull was pounding.

Finally—finally—the water receded, pulling away from her body in a swell. Sophie let out a gasp as she ripped her eyes open and shoved her conscious back into the world.

A pair of strong arms caught her as she melted to the ground, enveloping around her stomach.

She keeled over and vomited.

Shivering, she pressed into the warm body behind her as someone stroked her back. Everything was swimming, shaking. Her entire body was off-center.

"Easy, Foster," Keefe murmured in her ear as she gasped for breath. Right. She was slowly starting to remember where she was. She blinked water from her eyes and turned to face the Hydrokinetic on her other side, who was just opening her eyes.

Linh looked up. Sophie must have been seeing things, because she could've sworn her silver-blue eyes were faintly glowing.

"Oh my God," Linh said. "I know what's wrong."

{an} hey guys, sorry, i've been in the hospital and just got out (f in the chat for mental illness💔) definitely was NOT where i thought this week was going, but anyways~~ GUYS REVERSED IS BACK who's excited?!?