I wasn't going to post this chapter. This one's pretty short, but I'm sick and that last chapter was long so deal with it.

Sophie had arrived at Everglen with a tired Sandor at her heels five minutes after Mr. Forkle called.

She wished she'd broken her ankle on the way.

"-what they took," Mr. Forkle was saying when she entered the house. They were gathered in the foyer, Mr. Forkle resting in a chair with Physic pressing a cloth against a side of his forehead. Everyone looked up at her when she entered. They all looked tired and bedraggled-probably because they had all just gotten out of bed.

"Sophie." Fitz sent her a weak smile, which she returned with a twitch of her lips. He patted the area on the couch next to him, gesturing her to sit. She walked over quietly, only a slight warmth flourishing in her cheeks when Fitz laced his hand through hers and squeezed reassuringly.

"So," she said. "What happened?"

Mr. Forkle sighed. "A few minutes ago, two Neverseen members-"

"You know who they were," a goblin with his arm in a sling interrupted, his face in a glower.

"No, I don't."

The goblins nostrils flared. "A fellow brother of mine just risked his life for you." Mr. Forkle closed his eyes. "You know."

Mr. Forkle nodded slowly. "A Godspeed..." Alden's face showed the most shock out of all of them. "And an Empath."

Sophie looked down at her and Fitz's entwined hands. This is real, Keefe is gone.

Fitz gripped her hand so much she couldn't even feel it anymore. "So...it was..."

"It was Keefe Sencen," the goblin said, his eyes looking like they were trying to drill holes into Mr. Forkle's head. "I saw him."

"Wait...so he was with a Godspeed?" Fitz asked, his voice thick. "What is that?"

"A very rare ability." Mr. Forkle closed his eyes. "Simply, it makes you fast, dangerously fast."

"Only about five elves have ever been recorded to have that ability in Elvin history but...they do not live long." Granite spoke, his voice sounding pained.

"You have one?" Alden asked, a strange curiosity glinting in his teal eyes.

"We had one," Granite's eyes were lost in memory. "She died many years ago."

Oh...

That's terrible, Fitz's voice filled Sophie's mind.

Yeah. Sophie closed off her mind, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fitz nodding in understanding.

"The Godspeed and Empath set fire to one of our vaults in France," Mr. Forkle continued. "They took...files. They hold information."

"And is this bad?" Fitz asked.

The entire Collective looked at him. "Yes. The information in those files is about us-about you and Sophie and everyone and anything that is affiliated with us. Now that they have that information, they know our weaknesses, our flaws, our abilities-"

"You can still fight them; you have an army, don't you?" Fitz interrupted, earning a scolding glare from his father.

"An army is nothing against knowledge," Mr. Forkle looked so mad he could have had smoke curling from his nostrils. "Who we are," he gestured to Granite, Blur, Squall, Wraith and himself, "is meant to be secret, but now...the Neverseen..."

A thick silence filled the room, making Sophie squirm and pull her now sweaty hand out of Fitz's grip.

I'm sorry, she finally practically yelled into Mr. Forkle's mind, making him jump and look at her with wide eyes.

What?

I'm sorry. I knew that Keefe was attacking the Black Swan with Aeolus-

Who is Aeolus?

Sophie remained silent. Uh oh.

"Sophie, come with me," Mr. Forkle ordered, pushing Physic's hand away and standing up before walking to the stairs without even looking back to see if Sophie was following.

Sophie did follow, as quickly as she could: she had to get this over with.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asked, grabbing Sophie's wrist as she passed him.

She shook off his hand. "Nothing," she retorted quickly, her eyes never leaving Mr. Forkle's hunched form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LINE BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sophie entered Alden's aquarium/office/place-Sophie-really-didn't-want-to-be-in-right-now as quietly as she could-though she never remembered Mr. Forkle asking to use this room.

Mr. Forkle stood behind Alden's desk, his hands planted on its wooden surface. His glare shifted to Sophie from this right index finger when she closed the door.

"So..." he began.

Sophie flinched.

"...When were you going to tell me about this Spyball predicament?"