Here's that longer chapter, as promised. It's still short (1500 words... *sigh*), but you'll finally get more of a hint as to what's really going to be going down in this book from now on. :)

8/25/2018

"What the heel?!" Sophie exclaimed. She ignored the looks they gave her after she said that. "You're saying that the Neverseen targeted Nightfall again because you heard them talking about a weapon that was still in their destroyed base?!"

"Yes." Biana sighed, burrowing deeper into the covers of her bed at Everglen.

"What else did you hear?" Fitz asked.

"I'm not sure. Just look in my memory." Biana told Fitz. He complied, and Sophie heard Elwin digging through the medicine cabinet. Dex was on the bed, and Tam was on a chair, blankly staring straight at Biana.

"What do you think it is?" Tam said to Keefe, noticing that he had been silent most of the time.

Keefe thought while Sophie impatiently tapped her foot on the floor, resisting the urge to pace back and forth.

Linh was discussing the best ways to treat some of Biana's burns with Elwin.

"I don't know, but I do know that the Neverseen don't exaggerate. If they think something is powerful, it's probably twice as powerful as what you'd expect." Keefe said. Sophie was trying to comprehend what he had said, but all she could think about was, Another dead end, another dead end, another dead end... another person hurt.

She gave in to the urge and began to pace back and forth.

"Woah," Fitz leaned back, and all heads turned his way towards him and Biana. "They gave almost no information. It was really vague."

"Was there anything else they said?" Dex's tone was careful, as if he was scared that the Neverseen would climb through the window at any moment.

Fitz and Biana exchanged worried looks. "They said it could bring down the Council and the Black Swan for good."

...

"How is she?" Mr. Forkle was outside of Biana's room, having received word of what had happened.

"She's doing well." Sophie responded.

"And the weapon?"

"We don't know anything about it, besides that it seems to be extremely powerful."

"A weapon... interesting," Mr. Forkle noted. Sophie rolled her eyes at the vagueness of his statement. "Anything can be a weapon. There are numerous types. A literal weapon, like those guns humans use. Or a disease, similar to the drakostomes and the damage it did to the gnomes." Sophie blinked. He was right. It didn't have to be something that could harm them immediately, like a fire. It could be anything. Anything could be turned into a weapon...

"Yeah." She agreed.

"Is Ms. Vacker awake?" Mr. Forkle asked.

Sophie shook her head. "She didn't get much time to sleep earlier, so she's resting now."

He nodded solemnly. "I'll go talk to discuss with the Collective. This is important-"

Sophie cut him off. "But don't you have any clue as to what it might be? About-"

"You kids, always getting ahead of yourselves." He muttered. "We'll have to see." She repressed a sigh. "Have you seen the memory?"

"You can ask Fitz for the memory. He watched it, but I didn't get to." Sophie answered, not sure if she wanted to see what the Neverseen's horrors looked like once again in action.

"Okay." He quickly dismissed himself.

Linh walked up to her in the hallway. "Did he get any information?"

"You know him by now and his vagueness." Sophie rolled her eyes at the reminder of the Black Swan's habit of keeping one too many secrets from them.

Linh shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"What do you think about this... weapon?" She asked.

"I think it's not something to be expected of the Neverseen. They're always up to something new, and their priorities seem to change faster than that human pop song by that girl singer."

"Hot and Cold by Katy Perry?" Sophie raised her eyebrows, shocked at her knowledge of the song.

"I don't know who the singer is," Linh said. "But that sounds about right."

Sophie smiled.

"Back on topic," Linh continued. "If they have a big plan and this is a big weapon that could do harm to many people, it has to be something different and it has to be for a good reason. We still don't really know the true meaning of what their purpose is; what drives them."

"You're... right. And very smart." Sophie complimented, noting her words. Much more helpful than the Forklenator.

Linh grinned. "Thanks," Her Imparter flashed with a message. "Tam wants to talk right now. I'll see you later."

"Bye." Sophie called out as Linh walked away. She walked into the guest bedroom and sat down on the bed, trying to focus on the things that Linh had said. Unexpected. She thought. Basically everything the Neverseen does. She sighed, sprawling over the bed, accidentally knocking over a few of the pillows onto the ground. She made a mental note to pick them back up later.

If they want unexpected, then let's figure out what is expected.

She started to make a list, grabbing a pencil and a notepad after she had looked in a drawer at the desk across from the bed. She started to write down as many things that she could think of:

Kill and injure people

Makes fires

Be absolutely insane because they are

Do stupid things that I have to fix so nobody dies

What am I even writing anymore

She groaned. This was not going to work out. She wasn't skilled at calmly planning things. She preferred to actually have ideas. Which she did not have.

Great. She needed Mallowmelt. Or custard bursts. Or some sort of food that would make her brain work normally. Not that her brain was normal.

Once again, great.

She tossed the notepad back into the drawer, ripping the sheet of paper off of it and stuffing it into the newly discovered pocket of her white blouse (YAY IT HAD POCKETS!). She picked the pillow off the floor and laid it in its place on the bed.

The door clicked open. "Hey Foster."

"Hi Keefe." Sophie didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

"There's Mallowmelt downstairs, so me being-" Sophie immediately ran to the doorway and grabbed the plate out of his hands.

"Thanks." She took a bite of the sweet treat before backing into the bed frame and jumping backwards onto the bed. "WAAAAAH- Oof." She had jumped into thin air, but caught herself on the bed just in the nick of time.

"Clumsy Foster." Sophie glared at Keefe while she scooted back on the bed and continued to eat her delicious plate of Mallowmelt.

"It felt like the right thing to do in my head, but the execution of it was... a little elusive?" Sophie responded with her mouth full.

Keefe smiled. "Why don't we talk about that weapon?"

Sophie's smile disappeared. "Yeah."

"What do you think it is?"

"I was talking to Linh about it," She said instead. "She thinks it has to be something unexpected, because that's what the Neverseen is. They're called Neverseen for a reason: you aren't supposed to see them, you aren't supposed to know what they're doing, hence the name. I agree with her."

Keefe blinked before slowly nodding. "That's true. That's interesting."

"Did you hear anything about a weapon when you were...?" Sophie felt a small twist in her gut, and didn't really want to finish the sentence. But she most definitely still wanted the answer.

Keefe sucked in a breath. "I'm sorry," He whispered. "I know, I..." He sighed. "There were projects that the Neverseen had been working on. It could have been this, but I don't remember."

"It's okay, it-"

"No, it's not. I tried to help, but..."

"Stop it, don't think like that."

"I can't help it, Sophie."

"Don't call me Sophie!"

"Everybody else calls you Sophie..."

"But when you say Sophie, it means that you're feeling bad or guilty, and I don't want you to feel like-"

"I KNOW!"

"..."

"I'm so sorry, I-"

Sophie had finished her piece of Mallowmelt. "Can you get me another piece of Mallowmelt if there's any left?"

"Sophie, I-"

"Keefe."

He tackled her with a hug, his arms wrapped around waist tightly as he softly whispered apologies in her ears. It sent chills down her back, but then she felt how warm it was when he was hugging her and all traces of them vanished.

"It's okay. Just go get me some Mallowmelt." Sophie pushed him away and handed him her plate.

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

Keefe was about to leave the room, but stopped at the door to ask, "What if it takes down the Black Swan? What will we do?"

"I don't know, but I swore an oath and intend to keep my promise."

Together they whispered, "I will do everything in my power to help my world." When Keefe returned with a plate of Mallowmelt, she said told him thanks, and he just smiled.

"We should get plan- WHAT THE HECK?!" Sophie screeched, before Keefe covered her mouth with his hand, and she suddenly had flashbacks to when she had brushed her lips against his, and shivered at how close they were, and how he was pressed flush against her-

And then she mentally screamed at herself to get herself together. Because a vial had just appeared in the guest bedroom with a note. And it certainly didn't look familiar.

Besides the signature of an eye at the end of it.