Sophie's POV:

"Are we there yet?" Sophie panted, wringing her hands

"Not quite" Mr. Forkel grunted

Sophie groaned, continuing to trek up the mountain

After an hour of convincing her parents that she will be fine, another for promising to follow all the rules and stay safe and being careful, she was granted permission by Edaline and Grady, then spent 20 minutes with Sandor giving her the usual safety talk, another half hour of convincing Mr. Forkel, with a lot of grumbling and arguing and promises, Sophie was finally free to go (aka. me convincing me parents to let me go for a group sleepover to my friends' house two blocks away) 

But that was 3 hours ago

And now, her, Mr. Forkel and Tam (because he insisted, stating he knows her better) were trekking up a huge mountain to go visit her, hoping she has all the answers they need

"Can't we levitate?" she asked again

"No, Miss Foster, as I told you the last 26 times, we can't because the winds are too strong" he answered

Sophie groaned, for once wishing Sandor was there so he could carry her till the top, but unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to come to this....erm....trip

2 hours, and they'd only climbed up half the mountain

She had to keep reminding herself that she was doing this for Keefe, and that was probably the only thing that kept her going

 "Can we take a small break?" she asked, hoping he say yes

"Ok, for a few minutes, perhaps" Mr. Forkel said, sitting down on a rock

Sophie shuddered and pulled her cape tighter around herself as another wave of chilly air hit her. 

The black swan just had to chose a snowy mountain to keep the safe house, right?

Even with all the body temperature regulation and layers of thick clothing she wore, she still shivered because of the extremely low temperature and to top it off, snow

Don't get her wrong, she loved snow, but not when trekking up a huge mountain at noon to find answers that may or may not be useful in waking him up.

He will wake up, she reminded herself again

After the terrible nightmare last night and the reading proceeding that, she was barely able to get any sleep, and her eyelids were droopy now. The 3 hours in the morning training with Sandor didn't add to the situation either.

She leaned against a nearby tree and glanced at Tam, who did not at all seem disturbed by the cold.

Tam had insisted on coming because he knew her best, stating he would be helpful if it came to bargaining, but it was mainly Grady that had wanted at least someone to go with her

Honestly, she was kind of glad that it wasn't Fitz, as after their whole argument and break up, even agreeing to stay as simply friends, things were awkward between them...

She shook those thoughts put of her mind as Tam handed her a water bottle. She took it, giving him a small smile

For now, all she was going to focus on was bringing Keefe back from his weird coma-like state

"You're kidding, right?"

"Unfortunately, no, Miss Foster" Mr. Forkel answered

"You mean we have to jump down?" Sophie asked pointing to the very very deep valley below them

"yes" Tam replied

"So, we climb up this damn snowy mountain only to jump down from it's summit and you claim we won't get turned into pancakes at the bottom cause apparently it's an illusion and there's a secret hideout underground where you've kept her?" she stated incredulously

When they had finally reached the peak of the mountain after 2 hours of huffing, puffing, shivering, grumbling and small breaks, Mr. Forkel told them and let me quote, "You have to trust your instincts now, and jump down into the valley; don't worry, its just an illusion, you'll meet safe ground once you fall about 7 feet, and just be sure to crouch while breaking your fall or you might break some bones. I'll go first, you come after me"

"For the tenth time, yes!" Tam said exasperatedly

"It will be fine, Miss Foster, just trust your instincts" Mr. Forkel commanded

"My instincts aren't really what I would trust right now for jumping down a very deep valley" Sophie grumbled under her breath as she mustered up the courage to say, "Ok fine, but you have to go first" pointing down

"Ok" was his reply before he jumped down

After 238 seconds - yes, she counted - his voice from below yelled, "See? I'm fine! Now you jump!"

She glanced at Tam, and he shrugged, "I could go next" he proposed

"No, I'll go" she took a deep breath and looked down.

Oh my gosh, that was really steep.

Along with the snow, the fog collected a few feet below made the valley seem really deep, and it didn't help Sophie's nervousness at all.

its just an illusion, its just an illusion, she repeated over in her mind as she took a step closer to the cliff

Sophie took a deep breath, imagining it as if she's jumping from Havenfield's cliff for teleporting, before steeling her nerves and jumping off

except this time she wasn't gonna crack the sky and teleport

She squeezed her eyes shut as the wind whipped past her, her hair flying with it

She gasped as she felt her feet touch the ground, and crouched, rolling forwards to break her fall like Sandor taught her

"See? You made it" Mr. Forkel approved as she sat up, blinking a few times to clear her eyesight

They were in a large clearing surrounded by trees and muddy water. 

They were under the illusion in a swamp

"Where exactly are we?" she asked, grasping Tam's extended hand - who had just arrived, miraculously gracefully - and pulling herself up to her feet

"We're under the illusion" Mr. Forkel confirmed

"but..." she trailed off, looking around her, and there was nothing but trees, muddy water, and a bunch of bushed for miles all around her.

"I see no....safe house" Tam voiced her thoughts

"Ah, yes, that would be here" Mr Forkel walked a couple steps away to the edge of a big round rock before facing them again

"You're not saying....?" she asked, praying he'd deny what she was thinking

"Yes, we have to sink down through the water like in Loamnore"

(unedited or reread) 

here's a pic of the mountain and swamp under the illusion 

swamp:

tysm for reading!!

~ booknerd0110