Sophie didn't know what to do. Her best friend's best friend was kissing her and her best friend was her crush; It felt like everyone was watching them even though Sophie knew they were alone - she just felt really awkward doing this, still, she couldn't help kissing him back. His coarse lips were pressed against her smooth, warm lips. Or maybe it was the other way round - every thought seemed to shut down. Eventually, Sophie reluctantly pulled away, part of her wanting to go again.

"I..." Keefe began but he was almost immediately cut off by Tam stalking in, his eyes flicking between the two of them deductively.

"You've finally done it, haven't you Hunkyhair?"

"Lord, Hunkyhair," Keefe corrected, smirking at him.

"What did you come here to tell us?" Sophie asked, exasperated.

"There's something over there. I don't know what it was, but I've seen it before, the day the council was overthrown." Sophie looked over her shoulder to see what Tam was pointing to. It was a white flash in the distance, and Sophie couldn't work out what it was. It reminded her of a force-field from one of those human movies she used to watch with her dad when she was younger.

Unconsciously, she stepped forward towards the light, strange energy pulsing through her. Something in her felt weird; like she knew something but it was just out of reach.

Her brain itched to go further, but fear propelled her back. What happened if she went? Her breath caught as she debated possibilities; she could go, but people might die. She could not go, and people might die. Whatever option, death was high.

"If it helps, I'm going too," Keefe said gently, looking at her and meeting her eyes. Sophie blushed slightly, before shaking her head.

"I have to do this one alone," she replied, not looking away. Keefe didn't argue, but he took his arm off her shoulder. She knew he wanted to follow her, but was restraining himself from arguing. Tam didn't look happy either. Sophie sighed - what should she do with two boys always fighting but hilariously alike. Except one of them...

She shut the thought down immediately. It wasn't fair on Keefe to be judgemental over his mother. He couldn't help it any more than Tam could help Linh being...

Again Sophie shut the thought down and focused on the light.

"If I tell you to run, run. If I tell you to leave me and save yourselves, do that. But don't follow me, not unless I tell you to."Sophie struggled to hold back her tears as her mind flickered to Linh and Maruca. Apparently, she was doing a lot of controlling her thoughts and emotions today. She looked back before she levitated away from the pair of boys.

Her minding flicked to her pin, still tucked into her pocket. It was a Moonlark pin. Moonlark. Why did people keep mentioning a moonlark? It couldn't just be because of her pin, could it? No. That would just be too many coincidences. But who gave it to her at the reaping - did they know she was going to volunteer? Did they make it happen?

All thoughts disappeared when she landed on the hill with little more than a bump. Inside the white, flashing light was a man. A whistling man. He smiled in a way that sent chills down Sophie's spine. He wore the traditional Neverseen cloak with the black eye on the sleeve. Automatically, Sophie pooled her emotions, ready to inflict.

"Tut tut tut, naughty," The psionpath inside said wagging his finger at her like a naughty child. "None of your little inflictor tricks, please. I don't have time for them. Not that they'd reach through the forcefield." Sophie tried to ignore him, but his voice bore into her brain like a drill, coming to the forefront of her mind. She balled her fists but kept looking down at the floor angrily. With his next infuriating words, Sophie snapped. She glared daggers at him in frustration, but nothing happened.

"I don't care about you or anything you want from me!" She lashed out furiously. To her surprise, the man just laughed, a mocking laugh, clapping his hands together slowly.

"So she talks," he replied snidely. "That'll be an interesting conversation if nothing else." Sophie glared intently at the man; his snark remarks echoing in her head.

"This isn't a conversation!" she burst out, furious at herself for being lured into talking again. She expected the man to laugh again, but instead, he let down his force-field. Sophie was surprised, to say the least. She looked at him again and tried to back away, his actions scaring her more than she was willing to show.

"I'm Ruy," he told her. "I think not knowing each other's names makes for tedious conversations." Ruy snapped his fingers, making Sophie crash into his force-field. He sniggered as a tear slipped down her face from the shock. Her knees buckled and Sophie collapsed onto the floor, all to his wheezing laugh. "And I think I know who you are."

"You don't know anything about me," Sophie replied shakily, still angry, though very little of that came into his voice, as she stumbled up.

"I think I do," he replied smugly. "You're Sophie Foster, anomaly, genetic experiment, Moonlark. Born to humans but not human; I can keep going." Sophie looked around for a way to escape desperately, finding nothing. She resisted answering, instead trying to make sense of what he'd just said. She didn't understand any of it except her name - how did he know so much about her?

He grabbed her arm with both hands in anger, his sharp nails digging into her soft flesh. "ANSWER ME!" he screamed at Sophie, his calm facade slipping momentarily. Sophie shook her head as an answer, knowing that it would irritate him if nothing else. He growled before pushing her arm with a terrifying 'CRUNCH!'.

Pain shot up her left arm and Sophie felt queasy looking at the bone pushing through her skin. She started hyperventilating, forcing her breathing down. "I've got more where that came from!" he added, pulling out a dripping knife; the blade twinkled in the sunlight for a moment before it was thrust at her neck. Sophie closed her eyes, expecting it to go through her trachea and for her to die. Instead, a massive wound appeared on the side of her neck, the sticky blood spilling out. The blood-loss made Sophie woozy, but she fought to stay conscious.

"What is it?" she asked him finally. "What do you want to tell me about, because you obviously want to tell me something." Ruy smiled again.

"She doesn't know, how delightful," he crowed. "Well, because you were smart enough to figure it out, I'll tell you about your past."

"I know my past," she replied, struggling to her feet. "I know everything I need to know."

"No you don't," Ruy replied swiftly. "Not about the black swan you don't."

AN

This is dedicated to @Violet_Sunrises for making an amazing cover for one of my books. Check out their bookshop. If you're wondering - yes, I will explain why I dedicate each chapter to each person. I find it more personal instead of just dedicating it but them not knowing why you did it. Anyway... I'm getting off-track. Congratulations @VioletSunrises,  and thank you for the cover. I mean, you probably aren't even reading this story so this dedication will probably come as a surprise.

This story is going to use many key elements from KOTLC. I'm not going to just change the name of a character and make them do the same thing, so Project Moonlark exists, the Black Swan exists, and many more. It's a different way to make the story my own, but that'll come in much later on in Book 3.