So... I wrote this when I got the sudden thought of What if there was a failed Project Moonlark? I wrote this back before Unlocked came out, so it takes place right after Legacy. This is totally unrevised, but I thought I'd post it because I might rewrite it sometime in the future.
!!!SPOILERS FOR KOTLC BOOK 8!!!
Useless.
Sophie sighed, more from disappointment than from frustration. The secret in Oralie’s cache had been her only hope of finding some way to help Keefe, but all it contained was a snippet of the complicated relationship between Oralie and Kenric. Right then, a familiar plump figure glittered into view.
“Something’s… come up,” Mr. Forkle told Sophie after nodding to Councillor Oralie. “No, it doesn’t have anything to do with Mr. Sencen, Miss Foster, but it is still serious. It’d be better if I show you.” Oralie mentioned something about having things to attend to, letting Sophie light leap away with Mr. Forkle.
“What’s going on?” Sophie asked as Mr. Forkle’s heavily secured office door glittered into view.
“I didn’t know where else to have her for now, so I had her wait in here while I got you,” Mr. Forkle said, ignoring her question.
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Almost nothing works the first time you try it. Project Moonlark was the same way.”
Sophie’s heart skipped a beat. Her mind began to piece things together. “You mean…?”
“Yes. The girl on the other side of this door is the first, and, well, failed, attempt at Project Moonlark.”
Before Sophie could even react, Mr. Forkle put in the combination and the door to his office swung open.
There, in the corner, barely visible, sat a girl. She was curled up in a ball; long, fiery red hair spilled from the hood of her gray sweatshirt, hiding her face completely. But Sophie could tell from the girl’s heaving shoulders that she was crying.
“This is Jesslyn Timber,” said Mr. Forkle. “We couldn’t keep her in the Forbidden Cities anymore. We had to bring her home to keep her safe.”
“You don’t have to talk like I’m not here,” Jesslyn said, composing her tears. Sophie knew why she was crying. She had just been torn from her family, her friends, and the world she grew up in only to be brought to a new, totally unfamiliar and fantastical city, only to be told that it was her real home and she couldn’t go back. Sophie remembered the day she was brought to the Lost Cities. She had felt exactly what Jesslyn was feeling now.
“I guess it’s time you both know,” Mr. Forkle sighed. “Miss Timber, I’ve told you about Project Moonlark already--”
“And I still don’t know what any of this has to do with me.”
“Yes, I’m getting to that. As you both know, we took DNA from two elves for Project Moonlark, so they never met each other. This also gave us the advantage of splitting the DNA just in case there were any problems.” Jesslyn’s face was expressionless. “Well, I’m sorry to say that our first attempt did go horribly wrong, and the result was a Talentless elf. We decided to keep her in the Forbidden Cities, thinking she could live a peaceful life thinking she was a human, but somehow, the Neverseen found out about this. Not knowing she was Talentless, they thought they had finally found the elf that could trump Miss Foster. I believe you can guess the rest.”
“So you’re saying… I’m basically a failed lab experiment.” Jesslyn concluded. Her expression would have been challenging for even an Empath to read.
Sophie could tell from Mr. Forkle’s face that he had no other way of putting it. “Yes.”
“And you tore me from my life to tell me that!?” Jesslyn yelled. Angry tears streaked her face.
“Would you prefer being torn from your life and then forced to do whatever the Neverseen tell you?” Sophie asked. Jesslyn looked at her with rage-filed eyes. Why wouldn’t she? Sophie realized with a pang of guilt. I’m the one the Black Swan wanted her to be.
“No,” Jesslyn said quietly, her anger unexpectedly melting away. “I guess not.”
Sophie wasn’t quite sure what to say. For the first time, she noticed that Jesslyn’s eyes were brown with flecks of gold. The same as Sophie’s.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be yelling at my sister.” Jesslyn smiled sadly.
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