𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧

C-h-a-p-t-e-r T-w-e-n-t-y-N-i-n-e

"Hey," Biana said as she opened the gates of Everglen to let Sophie in. "You made it."

Sophie decided against a sarcastic remark and instead plastered a smile on her face. If she survived the afternoon, Gisela was going to owe her. "Yeah." She had been picked up by Ruy and quickly told Gisela of her afternoon plans, a little more interesting than just a day hanging out with a friend.

The gate closed, causing a small ringing echo to resound through the estate. A cricket chirped in the distance. 

This was horrible.

"So, what are we going to do?"

Biana stared at the ground and shrugged. Great.

"Um, is your family around?"

Biana's eyes narrowed. "I knew you'd ask that."

"What?" Sophie's mind ran through their previous encounters, wondering if she somehow let it slip she was with a secret organization. Terror was clearly etched across her face.

"I know you like my brother."

Sophie had to stop herself from laughing. First of all, why the T-Rex would Sophie have a crush on the snobbiest elf in the worst family of the entire elven population? Second of all, if Sophie did have a crush on him, how would that explain the shouted argument? But, Sophie realized, if she could use this as her cover for wanting to be around the Vackers, maybe spying wouldn't be as hard... 

First, she needed Biana to trust her.

"I don't like him," Sophie said. If Biana and Sophie ever became 'friends' again, she would reveal her 'crush' later. "This was a bad idea."

She turned to walk away but Biana grabbed her arm before she could. "Wait. I'm sorry. It's just. . . girls always use me to get to my brother. I guess I sort of expected it."

Sophie kind of felt sorry for her, but it was hard to after what she had said years ago. Little did Biana know Sophie was only using her for secrets. "That's not what I'm here for. Besides, you were the one who invited me over."

"I-I know." Biana stared at her hands, wring her fingers so tight it looked painful. "Can we maybe start over?" Sophie wondered how hard it was to ask that question. Her hands seemed to say it all. 

"I guess we can try." Hopefully it would be smooth sailing from her.

Biana exhaled, seeming relieved. "Good." Her eyes lit up. "I know! We can give each other makeovers. I have all the serums to change our hair color, and we can try on some of my mom's gowns." It seems the ship sank from an iceberg.

A telepathy session with Gethen sounded more fun, but Sophie had just crossed a bridge and she didn't want it to burn. Her mind ran through ways to have them do something else. Of course, Biana probably thought she needed the makeover.

"Makeovers?" Someone scoffed behind them. "You girls sure know how to have fun. Maybe you can braid each other's hair and giggle about boys while you're at it."

Sophie spun around to see Fitz Vacker standing next to Keefe Sencen. Great. The day was just getting better and better. She had to spend the afternoon with the worst possible people ever.

Sophie gave Keefe a glare that he understood meant shut-up-or-you'll-regret-it-later. 

"What are you guys doing here?" Biana asked, shooting a pointed look to Fitz that Sophie didn't understand.

"We came to see if you guys wanted to play base quest," Keefe answered.

Sophie recalled playing the game a few times during the Children's Program. One team guarded their base while the others attacked. If the attackers made it to the base without being tagged, they won. Light leaping wasn't allowed, but special abilities were.

"How about boys against girls?" Sophie said, wanting to gain favour from Biana once they won.

"Fine," Biana agreed. She turned to Fitz and Keefe. "You guys have to quest first."

Sophie chose to be sentry at the vivid red tree they'd picked as their base. She was their last line of defense, but she wasn't too worried. Maybe her training skills could come in handy. She didn't know the grounds as well as Biana. She went off to go search for the boys, leaving Sophie alone. 

Sophie used her telepathy skills from Gethen's training, tracking. Keefe's thoughts were soft and muted, probably because he knew Sophie was a Telepath.  Fitz's were louder. He was thinking about the lake. Sophie geared her thoughts and listened towards that direction. In ways she didn't know how to explain, she felt their presence. Her mind somehow touched them through the air, telling her exactly were they were. 

She kept her concentration strong as she stayed connected to their thoughts as they snuck through the meadow. They dashed through the forest, slipping by Biana, all the while her thoughts followed them. Their thoughts closed in on their base, and Sophie worried slightly.

She took off, not sure whether she was seeing with their eyes or her own. Her hands connected with flesh and she opened her eyes to see her hands gripping both of their arms.

"How did-" Fitz glared at Keefe. "It must have been your sasquatch feet crashing through the bushes."

"Maybe..." Keefe gave Sophie a questioning look. She shrugged, she wasn't sure how she had really done it. A lot of her telepathic skills didn't make sense to her.

"Don't be sore losers," Biana teased, catching up with them. "I can't believe Sophie tagged you both on her own-she can be my base quest partner anytime." She grinned, Sophie gave a small smile back. Hopefully the ice had broken.

Some bushes rustled and Sophie turned to see Alden and Della Vacker. 

"Sophie, it's good to see you," Alden said. Della gave a warm smile.

"Why do you guys smell like smoke?" Biana asked. Della glanced at Alden.

"Just something we're looking into. No reason to worry." Sophie had to stop herself from snorting at Alden's infamous words. There was definitely a reason to worry.

"So," Della said, swiftly changing the subject. "What have you all been up to?"

"Beating Fitz and Keefe in base quest," Biana said. 

"Sounds fun," Della remarked. "Who's staying for dinner?"

"I can't-I have homework," Sophie said. Really, all her homework was done. She needed to tell Gisela about the suspicious scent of flames and ask Gethen about tracking.

"Well, maybe next time." Alden smiled. Sophie tried to smile back, it being more like a grimace.

Sophie leapt back where Ruy should be picking her up. No one was there. She would have to wait. She grabbed her imparter, about to call the annoyingly late elf, when a slip of paper fell out of her pocket. It said one word.

Moonlark.

a/n-

SORRY IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO UPDATE. i meant to update sooner but i ~procrastinate~ . 

so, yeah, hopefully you enjoyed the chapter. i'm currently working on to other fanfictions so my updating schedule is super horrible, sorry. anyways, onto writing the next chapter.

bye-bye :D