unedited

Chapter Nine 

Sophie smiled at her two friends sitting at the table while she quickly handed them each mallowmelt before taking a seat. "It's been so long since I've seen you guys," she commented, looking at the twins.

They both nodded in agreement, "Working with the Black Swan is more than we thought it would be," Tam replied. "It used to be easier but lately it's been a lot more work. Considering you've been doing the paperwork end of it, I'm assuming you'd understand." 

Sophie nodded, saying, "Yeah, I've noticed there's been an increase in notes I've had to take at meetings. But I heard yesterday you guys went to San Diego, which is where I'm from. What did you guys do there?" 

"Actually, we went to make sure everything with Amy was fine. The council put the Black Swan in charge of her situation," Linh explained, grinning. "What about you? I heard you were in a meeting with the council for over eight hours." 

Sophie nodded, her mind hurting just thinking about it. "Yeah, it was rough. It was also classified information, so I wish I could tell you more. The only person I'm allowed to tell is Fitz because the council is making sure I keep up my cognate bond with him. We're really strong and they don't want us to end up like Alden and Quinlin." 

"How is Fitz?" Tam questioned. "I haven't talked to him in about a week." 

"Oh, he's really good from what he told me yesterday," Linh answered for Sophie. 

Tam, confused, looked at her. "At what point did you talk to him yesterday? We were in the Forbidden Cities all day." 

She looked down. "Before I went to bed. We have daily calls before we sleep." 

The grin on Sophie's face outshined the large frown on Tam. "Are you two finally together?" she asked. "Fitz is supposed to tell me this kind of stuff!" 

Linh shook her head. "No, no we're not together." She hid a smile. "Not that I'd mind it." 

"This is really something I don't want to hear," Tam complained. "I really don't want to know about my sister's love life. Please keep me out of it." 

"Says the one who constantly talks about Syden." 

"Right!" Sophie exclaimed. "You know, I still haven't heard a thing about her besides that you're dating her. I've never even met her. What kind of friendship is this?"

Suddenly Tam perked up. "Well, there's really only so much to tell. Her name is Syden, she has black hair, and she's a guster." A grin appeared on his face. "And she's really cool."

"How long have you known her?" Sophie questioned. 

Tam shrugged in response. "We talked a little when we were younger, after we defeated Neverseen and moved to the Silver Towers."

"Oh, wait, I think I know who you're talking about," Sophie stated, her mind drifting to a memory from a few years previous. "If it's who I'm thinking about, she's really pretty."

"The prettiest," Tam concluded, grinning. "She's amazing, I'm excited to introduce her to our group. We just haven't all gotten together in so long." 

"Yeah, since we opened our scrolls. Honestly, that's the last time we talked to you, Sophie. You were so busy for a long time," Linh added. 

Sophie nodded. "Yes, but I'm more free now. We all need to find a day for all of us to hang out. And you can bring Syden."

"Well, all you have to do for us is set a time and we'll make sure we're free right away," Linh informed. 

"I think a good bet is Sunday," Sophie stated. "I have it off and everyone else is at least free for an hour." She frowned. "Well, except you guys, usually."

"We can be free Sunday if we set it in stone. What time?" 

They started to talk more about hanging out, and called all their friends to make sure it could be set, and eventually they had planned out the meeting. Sophie grinned, saying, "It feels like we're having a party since everyone will be over." Her mind traveled over plans for telling Edaline about the food they'd need when the front door opened. 

"Hey, sweetie," Grady said, smiling. "Just have to grab something really quick and then I'm back out of your way." He noticed the twins and looked confused for a moment, but smiled anyways. "I didn't know you two were going to be here. When Edaline said Sophie had people over I assumed Keefe would be at least one of them." 

"Keefe is at work," Sophie explained. "He's doing someone's portrait. He's been working on it for over a week now and today he's just doing finishing touches." 

"Do you know who it's of?" Linh asked, taking a sip of the drink in front of her. 

Sophie shook her head as Grady made his exit to find whatever it was he needed. "No, he didn't say. Just said he was doing some lady's portrait. She wanted something to decorate her house that wasn't store bought."

"Sounds weird that he does art for a living. I always assumed he'd do something with more action," Tam commented. 

"He loves art and he's passionate about it. He's also completely talented, and I'm proud of him for doing it. I'm also secretly glad he didn't fall down the action path, he most likely would've pissed off the wrong person and got himself killed." 

"You're not wrong," Linh replied as Tam laughed. Grady came back into the room holding a small object and waved goodbye to them as he opened the door and quickly ran out back to where the animals were. Sophie watched his back and then turned back to them as Linh asked, "Did you ever think about working with your parents?"

Sophie thought about it before shaking her head. "I mean, the thought popped into my brain, but it's just not the thing I want to be doing forever. I love being able to work for the Black Swan and the council. I help out with the animals when I can and if I'm needed, but generally the work I'm doing is what I love. Even if it was absolutely horrible for almost a year."

"I still can't believe that happened to you," Tam stated. "What ever happened to the guy? We haven't seen him around any of our missions." 

"He's on probation, I guess. Forkle didn't go into too much details," Sophie replied before asking, "Do you guys see Forkle a lot?"

"He's usually the one who gives us our missions, which usually take about a week or two, so you definitely see him more, but we do see him," Linh answered. She was about to say something else when a look of realization dawned on her face. "Wait, we were supposed to meet him today actually. What time?" She looked to Tam. 

"Six," he replied. 

"It's almost six," Sophie informed them. "Do you guys need to get going?"

"Yeah, the last time we were late things definitely did not turn out pretty," Tam replied. "We'll see you on Sunday, Sophie." 

She quickly hugged her friends goodbye before they ran out the door. "See you Sunday!"

---

sorry for the short uneventful chapter but y'all wanted to see tam and linh so there u go and oof i got some plans for chapter ten and you're all going to love me and it's also a big sorry for not updating but hey i told y'all ahead of time so don't hate the player, hate the game. the conference was literally so much fun and the show went really well!! i'm proud of us. i have lots of fun stories from conference that i'm probs gonna turn into one storytime on my yt channel eventually so like stick out for that

chapter questions:

1. what do you think the surprise in chapter ten that i'm planning is?

2. ok so this stems from me being exposed in my ap english class today lmao. i read the last page of a book first, idk why it's just something i've always done and my teacher overheard me mention it and yelled "emily! that's sacrilegious to literature" from across the classroom so i was wondering if you have any weird rituals you do while reading?

3. what's your favorite social media? (mine is obvs twitter lmao)

also not really a question but can y'all believe we're already at chapter ten(ish) like it feels like i just started this yesterday. this book is gonna go so quick rip.