-Sophie Foster stood in front of the tall mirror in the bathroom of the venue. People would be arriving any minute now, and Biana was fixing her hair, humming happily. Sophie was nervous, this Gala was really fancy, and all for her. The teal and red dress she was wearing was a little uncomfortable, and she was worried about tripping in the kitten heels she was wearing. She wasn't ready for the fancy dancing or the music, the way Fitz's eyes would look in the light- She flushed scarlet. Before her favorite gossiping elf could notice, Sophie asked, "Someone's super happy, may I ask what exciting thing happened to lift your spirits so high?"

"Well it's your Winnowing Gala! I'm about to watch you and your soulmate dance... Gazing into one another's eyes!" Biana couldn't help but giggle.

"There's something else," Sophie pried playfully, trying not to focus on the thought of so many eyes being on her at once.

"Nope," Biana assured her, popping the p, though her cheeks too were dusted with pink. Sophie was about to say something else when Edaline popped her head in.

"Hey girls, you almost ready?" Sophie's mother asked cheerfully, dressed in a rusty orange gown.

Biana nodded, and answered for her, "Yeah, we're ready now."

Sophie smirked slightly and thought, "Saved by the bell, huh? I'll get her next time."

She followed her friend out to the ballroom where her parents, the rest of the Vackers, and Dex were making last minute adjustments to napkins, flower arrangements, catering, drinking cider, goofing off etc. Della was ruling the room, ordering around servers as she arranged the tables to the very centimeter of perfection, while Alden had already cracked open a bottle of sparkling ryter cider with Grady. Dex and Fitz were playing a shuffle-board like game with fallen napkins and telekinesis until Della scolded them, though it was ineffective as the two boys only smiled wider. Getting in trouble was half the fun.

The boys were starting up the game yet again when Fitz looked up, noticing the two teenage girls walking towards them, and waved, letting his guard down long enough for Dex to win. Fitz didn't seem to notice, as his eyes were glued to Sophie, who blushed deeper. "Well?" She asked her cognate as Biana walked over to Dex, "How do I look?" Fitz stuttered a bit, stumbling over his mumbled words as he smiled at Sophie like a kid excited for the christmas present he reaaally wanted. Sophie smiled back, not needing an answer with words, and hugged him, her arms draped on top of his shoulders and hooking behind his neck, her chin resting in the nook between her arm and his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, one hand pressed against her mid back. "Thanks, Fitz," chuckled Sophie, "glad you like it."

"LOVE it," Biana corrected, sounding like she was dancing on rainbows.

"Might want to wipe the drool, there, Fitz," joked Dex.

"But if I can trip all the other guys on Sophie's list, I can have her all to myself," Fitz gloated teasingly.

Biana pouted, "No fair! She's got to save some dances for the rest of us. I call the first Tira Buesto song that comes on!"

"Hey! Tira Buesto is the best," argued Dex, "that's not fair."

"Too late, I already have dibs! Right Sophie?" Biana batted her eyelashes innocently.

Something was different between those two. Their very air and attitude around one another was very... peculiar. Overly optimistic? No, peppily positive. That was closer. With a knowing smile, Sophie replied, "She called dibs."

Shrugging, Fitz agreed, "Dibs hold great moral weight in the eye of the universe."

With a frown, Sophie looked up at her cognate and asked, "Have you been reading more of those weird human psychic- magic books again?"

"Multispecial studies is weird."

"I'll drink to that," Alden said with a chuckle as he walked over, his glass of cider in his hand like a goblet.

"No alcohol, honey! Most of the guests aren't old enough," Della yelled from across the room and Alden rolled his eyes slightly, a smile mirroring the action.

"It's cider, darling," he called back, then turned to the teens again, shook his head and downed the rest of the cider in his glass. He then quietly said to them, "With all of her planning, I wish it wasn't cider." They all laughed.

"People are here!" Edaline cheered from the door, and Sophie felt a wave of dread wash over her like she was standing on the shore, and the waves were crawling up the beach to meet her feet. All eyes would be on her tonight- they'd see if she tripped or how badly she danced, or if she spilled something- SNAP! Sophie looked up to see her hands entwined with her cognate's, whose smiling face shone like a light in the dark.

"You're worrying," he chimed, and she smiled guiltily. "You're going to be great, Just because there are doilies over the placemats doesn't mean the room will be filled with a bunch of snooty stuck-ups. We took all of those off the list."

She was about to say something about how she felt better now when people started to swarm them- asking questions with painted lips or making comments about how the venue looked nice. It was like suddenly the world revolved completely around her. Sophie smiled and nodded as best she could, answering questions like where she got her dress (Hiliandri's) or how did the think of the glow worms by the windows (she hadn't, Biana did), or how cognate training was going (well), though she avoided the questions about her and Fitz being... romantically involved.

"No, Jensi," Sophie blushed, holding Fitz's arm tighter as he talked with some boy Sophie didn't recognize. Fitz was her life vest in this swirling chaos, "We're not dating."

"You guys sure act like it though," the stout sugar-holic pointed out innocently, "holding hands, leaning on eachother..."

Florence smiles evilly because the two lovebirds hadn't ever considered that anyone would be watching.

"That's... that's..." Sophie was really stuck now.

Fitz looked over at her with a small expression of concern, asking telepathically, "Everything okay?"

Sophie released the death grip on his arm she hadn't realized she had been holding as she tried to think of an excuse before Jensi could open his mouth... Luckily, Grady broke through the sea of people and saved her, to start the first dance. She was so nervous, she tended to stumble on her own feet, her face pink with embarrassment as she tried to keep her head up and smile like Della had instructed.

"You're okay," Grady whispered to her under his breath with a small smile, "you're doing great."

"I'm tripping over my feet," Sophie replied in the same hushed voice. Her nerves were firing off with her anxiety over this whole thing, causing for her arms to shake, and her teeth to chatter slightly. Her stomach was in knots that tightened with every step as she felt all eyes on her. They were scrutinizing and judgemental- or at least, that's what she thought as she stumbled across the ballroom with her father.

"Oh yeah?" Grady challenged with a raised eyebrow and a chuckle, "Well I fell flat on my face before your mother and I's dance at her Winnowing Gala."

"You did?" asked Sophie, surprised. She hadn't ever seen Grady as particularly smooth, but she had never thought him such a clutz!

He nodded, "Definitely, on the way up to meet her at the center of the ballroom, I tripped over my own two feet and face planted right in front of her." He nodded again when he saw how taken aback she was by this new information, and laughed, "Yeah, I know. Great first impressions, right? I'm surprised she married me."

"Don't let her know that," she joked, referring to his surprise, "she might change her mind."

"She can't," Grady smiled lovingly at his wife from across the room, "she's stuck with me, whether she likes it or not."

When the song ended, her father handed her off to Fitz with a kiss on the cheek, and went to go dance with Edaline. She had barely accepted her cognate's hand when there was a loud BOOM! Slowly, like in the movies, the large, grand wooden doors of the ballroom fell to the ground, almost squishing a few elves. Sophie and the rest of the guests watched in horror for a moment as elves dressed completely in black, wearing vests, one shoulder capes, fitted pants, clunky combat boots, long hoods that covered their eyes, and black cloth tied around their noses and mouths like a mask. They looked like something out of Assassin's Creed in all honesty. They had weapons hanging off belts draped around their waist, back, shoulders, and sometimes even necks while they carried more in their hands. The jade colored tattoos on their arms were shown freely, even framed by the outfit ensembles, and the irises of each and every one of them, flitted around like a real eye, making any kid who made eye contact with it cry.

Sophie squeeze Fitz's hand for a moment before charging forward, her cognate beside her. The elves tried to defend themselves against the attackers, using what they learned from self defense courses the Council issued about a year ago, but they weren't as skilled as the Neverseen agents. Phasers stepped up and protected as many people as possible with force fields as people light leaped their families and anyone they could hold under their concentration on away. Elves used telekinesis to block attacks and gain distance as they worked to use their abilities to their advantage.

Dex had light leaped the triplets out of there, but Sophie figured he'd return with an arsenal of gadgets. Biana and Della were invisible, busy sneaking people into the force fields, or tripping up the Neverseen fighters. Alden was using telekinesis to protect the phasers holding the force fields, and trying to get ahold of the council on his imparter. Grady was mesmering goons to turn on their leaders and cause mayhem, while Kesler described where different helpful elixirs were to Edaline, who could conjure them for people to use to fight back. Juline was freezing weapons with her ice, while Sophie fought back to back with Fitz. Fitz used telekinesis, like many elves,  while entering into enemy minds and messing up their orders, while Sophie inflicted the worst emotions she could muster.

She didn't have time to think clearly about how much time was passing, or how many people she left gripping their heads in agony, their bodies limp and shaking on the floor as dark emotions ate away at their hearts. She didn't have time to worry about who the Neverseen had hurt, or if her friends and family were okay. All she could do was inflict, shove back, inflict, shove back. The goons were circling around her and Fitz specifically, and Sophie supposed that they were who the Neverseen were after.

Sophie noticed Fitz was starting to get tired, and reached back, grabbing one of his hands and sending a burst of energy to him. Realizing that everyone was starting to get tired now, she transmitted to Fitz, "Help me make a path, I need to get to the phasers." Understanding what she meant, he knocked aside goons with one blast of his mind, giving her the chance to dart out of the ring.

As she was giving energy to the phasers, even though most of the non-Black Swan affiliated elves were gone, she noticed that not many goons from the ring were following her- they were all circled around Fitz- Fitz! They were after Fitz, but why? Sophie didn't have time to think of an answer before she ducked from the swing of a shining silver blade. She shot some sadness at the attacker and dashed off. By the time she was running towards the mob of attackers around Fitz again, the attackers were dispersing to the rest of the resisting elves as one single goon brutishly slammed her cognate into the wall. Keefe.