Hehehehehehehehehehe... I updated? YUP. AND IT'S... DECENT.

9/10/2018

Chapter 14: WOULD YOU JUST PUT ME DOWN?!

"Shhh," Keefe whispered to her, not quite seeming to notice the fact that she had just had a complete emotional range of very potent feelings. "It's okay. I'll get-"

"I'll just transmit. We should stay here in case-" Sophie froze at the cracking sound, and watched as the small clear vial's contents turned from what looked like water, to a viscous liquid that appeared to be very similar to honey. "What in the entire world is going on?" She hissed.

EVERYBODY GET IN THE GUEST BEDROOM, She transmitted to the others in Everglen. AND BE QUIET AND SUBTLE SO YOU PEOPLE DON'T-

Sophie was cut off by the door slamming open and Biana rushing in with a Fitz chasing after her to stop her from getting up.

NOBODY DO WHAT BIANA AND FITZ JUST-

Tam burst into the room, running into Biana by accident. "Sorry!"

NOBODY DO WHAT TAM JUST-

Dex came into the room. "What's-"

YOU PEOPLE SHOULD JUST SHUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sophie mentally screamed at them. She then promptly motioned to the vial. She shifted away from Keefe, who had been hugging her from behind, to make her position more normal.

Della and Alden were the civilized people of the group and quietly entered, having heard Sophie's mental screaming fit.

"Is there anyone nearby?" Alden whispered.

"There could be a bug." Sophie shrugged. The others looked at her weirdly, but Alden must have remembered when she used the word a little while ago.

"Some sort of spying device." Alden defined it. They "Ohhhhhh"ed in unison.

"Maybe I can track any thoughts and Dex can check for any technological differences," Sophie suggested. She didn't wait for their responses and instead began to check for anyone nearby, checking in all the corners of darkness and anything that looked out of the ordinary. The coast was clear.

"Anything?" Fitz asked her once she had opened her eyes. She shook her head. There was an audible relief.

"THEN WOULD YOU JUST PUT ME DOWN?!" Biana screamed at Fitz who had been carrying her to make sure she wouldn't injure herself more.

"I'M TAKING YOU TO YOUR BEDROOM!" Fitz screamed back in response, even though it probably hurt their ears quite a bit. It certainly hurt Sophie's. He stomped out of the room with Biana flailing in his arms. She wondered what it would feel like to be cradled in someone's arms like that...

"How are you doing over there, Dexipoo?" Keefe asked.

Dex scowled in response, fidgeting with the vial. He turned it upside down, the thick liquid seeping through the cork top. Dex froze, his body completely still, his eyes blankly staring through the window before he suddenly turned towards Sophie. "Dex? What's going-"

He popped open the vial, the cork cleanly sliding out, along with a couple of drops that dotted the floor. Sophie still may as still as she could on the bed, not quite comprehending what was happening. Dex shook the vial out at her, the liquid pouring out instantly, about to-

Keefe' hand was out, and the liquid floated around in midair. Telekinesis, She thought. Fitz leaned forward and Dex was floating up up up, all the way to the high ceiling, still staring blankly at Sophie. The gears in her mind were going around and around and around nonstop, for she was trying to figure out what was happening and all the fears and things that could go do very wrong at this moment. Keefe morphed the liquid into a ball, and in one second, Sophie was going up up up as well, closer and closer to Dex. She felt the air brush past her hair and slide down her neck as her eyes froze in their wide open position. She grabbed a pillow, trying to fight herself back down down down onto the ground using levitation, but she flew closer to Dex instead. A warm hand latched onto her wrist and was pulling her down. She looked back into teal eyes, and then... she was being pulled apart by two forces: Dex's Telekinesis, and Fitz's hands. She needed Fitz, she needed him right now, she needed him to help her fight against this thing that was not Dex.

"Dex." She said to no avail.

"Dex." She repeated.

"I'm sorry." She said to him. And then she ripped Fitz's hand off of hers and levitated over to Dex. He splashed the liquid at her, and she used the pillow to block it. Her heart was racing, and her mind was flying through the air faster than the speed of light as she spun.

"Sophie!" Keefe tried to grab her leg, but she kicked his hand away.

"NOT THE BEST TIME, KEEFE."

From the corner of her eye, she could see Linh and Tam levitating faster than ever towards her.

"No. Get away. Now." She told them. She could handle her best friend, right?

And she dug into the feeling in her core, gripping onto the vial and all of its contents in the room. She strained, the pull in her gut going deeper and deeper before all of it was back in the vial, and the vial was floating next to her. She panted heavily before her fist came into contact with his jaw, and she shut her eyes so she wouldn't have to see what she was doing to her best friend. Her lungs were being compressed on the weight that she was punching Dex, she was punching Dex, she had punched Dex.

There was an ache in her butt that continued to spread over her body when she had not so gracefully landed back on the floor.

Dex was on the floor too, unconscious. Although he had gotten a better landing than she had, having landed on a cushion.

"What was that?" Alden asked incredulously.

Fitz started walking over to Sophie, helping her up, while Keefe walked over to Dex. "We could all see that he was trying to get the elixir on her. Which means that you don't need to drink it, just direct contact with skin. I am almost sure that he had been under the elixir." Keefe was careful with Dex, gently lifting up his arm. There was a small dot of the elixir still under Dex's forearm.

They hadn't noticed that in the midst of the chaos, Della had decided to check on Biana to make sure she wasn't under the same conditions.

Fitz's hand was still resting on her forearm, his arm slyly tucked around her waist. She beamed up at him, glad that she hadn't gotten the elixir on herself. "Wait, why don't we read that note?"

Alden had already gotten to it. "Neverseen."

"What does it say?" Keefe asked. He looked as if he already knew what it would say, and glanced over at Sophie.

"Nothing." Alden held out the paper so they could see it. There was nothing but a Neverseen symbol in the bottom right-hand corner.

"Was that... mind control?" Sophie asked. "I-I mean, it just seemed like someone was controlling Dex with that elixir."

They gaped at her, and she sucked in a breath, wondering if what she had said was wrong. "Forget I-"

"It's powerful." Fitz interrupted.

"Too powerful."

"And unexpected," Linh noted, shooting a look at Sophie. Sophie passed it on to Keefe.

"Yeah." Sophie wasn't really sure what to say.

"What do you think they'll-" Tam started.

Biana was levitating through the doors with Della chasing after her. "I FIGURED OUT HOW I CAN MOVE NOW!" She plopped on the bed. "So-" She saw Dex in the corner. "W-What—But—I thought—Wait—did—I—" She was next to Dex immediately. Keefe guarded him from Biana cautiously.

"You have to be careful. He could still have some of the elixir on him." Sophie was watching this intently, wondering how much Biana was freaking out inside.

"Elixir? WHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST ONE TO KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS?!" Biana screeched.

"Because-"

"NOT THE BEST TIME, FITZ."

"Oh, that's what I did to Keefe earlier."

"That's because they need to learn their manners. Now, WHAT HAPPENED TO DEX YOU PEOPLE?!"

They all winced at that, specifically Tam.

"We'll fill you in later," Linh grabbed Biana's wrist, who was still floating in midair. "But we have to be careful. We don't know if he'll do the same thing again when he wakes up."

If this were a book, that would be right on cue for when- Sophie thought.

Dex was fidgeting on the floor, groaning about some sort of headache.

When he wakes up.

Sophie heard him mumbling about Biana.

"Dex," Biana whispered.

"Why am I on the floor?"

"I don't know because some people," She cleared her throat. "don't tell me anything."

"Do you not remember what just happened?" Sophie asked.

"No. Should I?" He raised his eyebrows, slowly sitting up before immediately laying back down on the floor again. "It- hurts." His face twisted up in contortion, his legs squirming in the floor.

"Where?"

"My," He panted, his breaths coming out in long careful exhales. "Chest."

Sophie hadn't realized she had moved over next to him with Biana, and her hands felt hot, yet cold, and her chest felt compressed, and everything just felt wrong. Like it was an upside down world, and maybe it was. Because in any world, you shouldn't have to be scared whether your best friend is okay, or have to wonder whether your other best friend is going to die from being stabbed, or have to wonder whether your other friend is okay after having so many burns and a sprained ankle. Because that's something anyone should be concerned with. Because it shouldn't be happening, it shouldn't-

"Careful. We have to make sure none of the elixir is on him." Fitz whispered.

"We might be able to get him to-" Tam was cut off, something that was happening way too much.

"Hold your breath and close your eyes," Linh ordered Dex, and he frowned, but complied. A rush of water swept around him and enveloped Dex. A second later, Linh managed to separate the two liquids, whatever was left of the elixir, and put it back in the bottle. Dex was soaking wet. Linh seeped the water out of his clothing, accidentally spraying Tam in the face with some of the water.

"You've got to be kidding me." There was a small puddle of water beneath Tam's feet.

Linh ignored him. "Okay, now we can all fuss over Dex. And somebody get Elwin." Dex weakly smiled at that.

"I will." Tam wiped the water off of his face with his sleeve. "But I never finished my question. What do you think they'll do with this elixir? What if they control everybody?"

"What if they don't?"

"They will. Or else they wouldn't have it."

"So they're controlling everybody? And we don't know who?"

"Yes."

"And this is the weapon they were talking about?"

Sophie didn't have the heart to answer.