Flashback ( PDFDrive )

FOUR
YOU OKAY?” FITZ ASKED, WAVING a hand in front of Sophie’s eyes
and snapping her back to the present.
“Yeah,” she mumbled, swiping away the strands of hair sticking to
her sweaty forehead. “Sorry. I was just . . . thinking.”
“About?” he pressed.
Sophie considered telling him the truth—it certainly wouldn’t have
been the worst fear she’d ever admitted to him. And if Fitz hadn’t run
away screaming when he found out her genetics had been modeled off
alicorn DNA, this probably wouldn’t even faze him.
But . . . she was tired of making her friends give her pep talks—
especially when she already knew what he would say: No matter what
the Black Swan had in mind when they created her, she still had a
choice in the matter.
She wasn’t a robot. Or a puppet.
She was a girl with strange abilities and a different way of looking
at the world. What she decided to do with those things was up to her.
And she didn’t want to be a killer. So . . . she wouldn’t be.
Even if she was a natural.
Plus, maybe it really was just beginner’s luck.
Either way, she decided she was done practicing her aim.
“Sorry,” she repeated, “I realized I was showing off.”