"Dude." Keefe stared up at the huge home.
Around him, the boys milled around aimlessly, kicking at broken prices of clay pots, brushing aside fallen pieces of wood. The place had really deteriorated since they had last come.
Like, really deteriorated.
The windows windows were boarded up with planks of wood and steel. The roof was in pieces, brown and green moss covering some parts, and loose shingles hanging off the side of the building on other parts. Water dripped for a broken pipe, and endless drip, drip, drip that was really driving Keefe crazy.
Dex had walked up to the door and was peering through the dusty window next to it. "Should I knock?"
"Is anyone even here?" Keefe said doubtfully. "Looks abandoned."
Fitz shook his head. "No one's been here for weeks, and he wouldn't have left without a fight."
Keefe kicked a shard of clay off the front porch. "Looks like a fight to me."
"Or," Tan said, stretching out the syllable, "They just fell off their hangings with the bad weather." He pointed up, to the chains where the pots must have hung before.
Keefe stared at the house doubtfully. He squeezed past Fitz, who was standing in the middle of the path, and placed a hand don the door.
With a long creeeeeeak it swung open.
Keefe froze. "You know, it looks abandoned. All in favor of leaving, say aye."
Tam scowled, and a rush of shadows swung past Keefe, blowing through his hair. The door swung crazily at the dark 'wind.'
"Dude, the Hair!" He complained.
Tan rolled his eyes and stepped past him, followed closely by Fitz. Only Keefe and Dex remained outside, both uneasily eyeing the dark house.
"You know, in human movies, this is how they die. They walk into an abandoned house and when they hear creaks—"
"Dizznee," Keefe warned. "They're going to force me to walk in, and I don't need the feeling that someone's watching me."
Dex nodded earnestly. "Yeah, well, just remember that you'll be the first one if you're the last one to go in." With that, he waltzed into the house.
Keefe hesitated.
"No freaking way." He muttered. He paused, about to walk out of the yard, but the gate clanged shut behind him. He whirled around.
No one.
"Wait for me!" Keefe yelled, and plunged into the darkness.
***
"This is so sketchy," Keefe muttered, close on Dex's heels as they looked for Fitz and Tam.
"I doubt anyone's gonna jump out and murder us." Dex reassured him.
It was not reassuring.
"I'm just saying though," he paused to look back at Keefe, "in the event where someone does jump out, I'm shoving you at him and taking off."
"Gee, thanks Dexy." Keefe muttered. Dex shrugged as the turned into what looked like a kitchen. Keefe shivered subconsciously, eyes darting around, noting the sharp knives in the corner.
"You know," he whispered. "I don't think this was a good idea."
Dex nodded, now looking uneasy. "Let's go find the others and get out of here."
They stepped out of the kitchen, and Keefe walked ahead this time. A faint light came from the room across them, and with a surge of relief, Keefe saw the backs of Tam and Fitz.
"Hey, we should—" he sucked back a yelp as a hand clamped over his mouth and he was yanked back into the shadows. Dex's face appeared in front of his, a frantic look in his eyes.
Keefe glanced back at the Fitz and Tam, except...
Blood rushed from his face as he realized those people were not Fitz and Tam.
The two Neverseen agents shifted as they spoke in low tones, one turning and looking around the room.
Keefe froze as his gaze seemed to rest on them for a moment, but the man looked away after a long moment. Keefe glanced at Dex, motioning quietly for the kitchen. They backed away, then took another door to a different hall.
Keefe almost screamed when his back collided with a shoulder.
Geez, he was so jumpy today.
"Did you find—" Fitz broke off his normal voice at Keefe's rapid head shaking.
His voice filled Keefe's head seconds later. "What's wrong?"
Keefe winced. He was so used to Sophie's soft voice when she transmitted to him that he had forgotten what it sounded like when other telepaths besides her did. Fitz's voice seemed so loud compared to Sophie's.
"Neverseen agents, room across from the kitchen."
Fitz's nodded, turning to Tam. Quickly, shadows seemed to surge and move and shrouded around them. It felt like a cold, dark blanket, and it was a bit unnerving how quickly the shadows responded and formed knives at Tam's command.
They boys crept through the doors and halls, and Tam motioned for them to stay behind him for a moment as he collected more shadows to conceal them. Keefe crept past him when they shadows settled over them more steadily, peeking past the doorframe at the agents. They still stood there, conversing quietly.
"You'd think the old man would have hidden it more. He's a lot more stupid than I thought." The other agent tossed a glinting object to the one who had spoke. He spoke again, "He probably has the the passcode written down somewhere here."
"Yeah, like we'll find it in this dump."
Keefe felt the shadows drop for a moment at the voice, and he ducked back into the halls. Tam was already recovering, but Keefe saw the dark scowl etched across Bangs Boy's face.
Glimmer spoke again, a haughty bit of amusement in her voice. "Suppose he died from shock just from asking him the password."
A snort, then Keefe heard, "My techniques aren't that terrible."
"Yeah, well, you can be pretty incompetent sometimes."
"Rude."
Glimmer laughed, a sound that surprised Keefe, since when he heard about her all he heard was: dark, gloomy, and goth.
Words he could've described Tam with, but he chose to live rather than tell Biana that.
Fitz's voice filled Keefe's head. "Tam and I are going to grab them from the other door. You and Dex stay at this door, alright?"
Keefe barely had time to nod before the shadows evaporated around him, and Tam and Fitz disappeared.
Minute passed before Keefe heard Fitz's voice again. "Wait a second. Tam wants to try something."
Keefe shrugged, then remembered Fitz probably couldn't see him behind this wall. "So you want me to trust Bangs Boy?" He thought impishly.
No answer.
Keefe shrugged again and knelt to the ground, peering around the door frame. He watched with interest as the events began to unfold.
"It's so bloody dark in here," the other agent, who Keefe decided he would call Drawl, because he seemed to stretch out every syllable he said, (which he thought was very annoying, even after a few sentences), complained.
"Aw, scared of the dark?" Glimmer cooed, snapping her fingers. "I'm sorry, I can—" she frowned and snapped her fingers again.
Dex tensed and straightened quickly as they flickered and disappeared. "What in the—"
Keefe felt a chill spread across his back, and suddenly they reappeared. Glimmer was still snapping her fingers, but no light was appearing at her fingertips.
Shadows swirled around them, twining around her arms as if a caress then dissipated with a whoosh of wind. The shadows stayed away from Keefe and Dex as they stood, but as it spun in tiny black tornadoes around Glimmer and Drawl, it touched their cloaks and faces. Despite the shadowy hands tugging at Glimmer's cloak, it did not fall.
Glimmer slapped at the shadows around them, seemingly panicking. Drawl was crouching now, as if trying to crawl under the shadows, like you would smoke. His face was bare of the cloak, and straight black sandy brown hair fell around his eyes.
"Get the light going, Glimmer," he snapped, trying to pull his cloak back over his head.
Glimmer ignored him, still frantically slapping away the prying hands of shadow.
A voice came from the darkest corners of the shrouded room. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to get light going in shadowflux."
Tam twisted his wrist with a sharp movement, and abruptly, the shadows curled around Glimmer and Drawl's wrists and ankles. They tightened around them, drawing tight and pulling Glimmer's arms to her side.
Drawl face-planted as the chains simply took his arms and feet out from under him.
Glimmer stilled, and though her hood was still fastened to cover her face, Keefe knew she was staring at Tam.
"Shadowflux." Fitz stepped out of the shadows next to Tam as she spoke. "And yet you don't struggle to control it."
Tam shrugged. No-one spoke for a long moment, then Drawl, from where he lay on the ground, snapped, "He can't control it for long! Summon light or—"
He was cut off as a shadowy hand slapped over his mouth, muting him. His eyes were wide over the shadowflux, but anything he was trying to say was inaudible.
"I wouldn't test me," Tam said softly. "How about we have a little chat?"
***
Glimmer and Drawl didn't speak for a long, long time. So long that Keefe was beginning to wonder whether it was worth it to even question them.
"It's one question," he finally broke the tense silence. "Literally, all you have to answer is whether or not the Neverseen is going to ever end the siege."
Glimmer eyes him with indifference. Despite the shadows around her feet, neck, and wrists, she seemed indifferent to the shadows now that they weren't grasping at her hood. Tam had apparently abandoned the idea of unveiling her, which Keefe himself wanted to do. It was easier to question someone whose face was in view.
Drawl meanwhile squirmed from the sofa Tam had sat him on. Dex and Fitz stood behind them. Tam stood yards away from Glimmer, while Keefe stood off to the side.
"It's a simple question," Keefe repeated, and edge of annoyance in his voice.
Drawl groaned, finally flopping back against the sofa—or trying to. His bonds kind of kept him from sitting comfortably. "We aren't even privy to the Neverseen's information."
Glimmer shot him a look, but Drawl shrugged—or, again, tried to. It was actually funny to Keefe how limited his movements were from the ropes of shadows.
"It's not like we owe any loyalty to them anymore, anyways."
"Doesn't mean we tell them anything we know." Glimmer hissed.
"What do you mean you don't owe any loyalty to the Neverseen?"
Drawl craned his head to try to see Fitz, but he gave up when a shadowy hand slapped his cheek.
"You see," he addressed Fitz behind him, despite not being able to see him. "The Neverseen threw me out and left Glimmer to rot."
Keefe exchanged a glance with Fitz. "They threw you out?" He asked.
Drawl snorted. "They don't want useless elves in the group." He put extra emphasis on useless, and Keefe nodded to Fitz.
"He can't use his ability anymore," Fitz said, after a brief silence.
Drawl grimaced. "Stupid Telepaths."
"Your ability doesn't work anymore?"
"Umber is to blame for that," Glimmer said quietly, apparently unable to help herself. Keefe caught a bit of regret in her voice and felt the sorrow coming off her in waves.
At Tam's cocked head, Drawl clarified. "She practiced on me." He smiled bitterly, voice void of emotion as he spoke. "Shadowflux can stunt abilities. We found that out firsthand."
Keefe stared at him. They'd practiced on one of their own?
"Doesn't matter to them," Drawl said, reading Keefe's shocked expression. "We're expendable in their eyes. We die, they just recruit more teenagers. They aren't hard to convince that they're being done some injustice." His gaze traveled from Keefe to Tam. "You two weren't hard to convince."
Keefe clenched his teeth together and watched as a slithery hand coiled it's way around Drawl's throat, then chin, then mouth, binding and gagging him effectively. His eyes bulged above the Shadowflux.
"What do you know of the Neverseen's plans?" Tan asked, voice deceptively soft.
"I told you. We aren't privy to anything." Glimmer glared at them, voice filled with venom.
"Three weeks ago you were." Tan cocked his head. "And you know exactly what I want."
"I've been stuck with you people for weeks," Glimmer said bitterly. "They're not gonna trust someone who could've been swayed by you."
Tam was silent for a long moment. Then he shrugged. "Fine."
Before Keefe could cry out, the shadows around them twisted and twirled and swirled angrily. An arrow formed, and Tam positioned it on Glimmer, it's edge sticking into her gut. Keefe felt her fear go up four notches.
"Yo, Bangs Boy!" Keefe shouted above the wind as the shadows grew thicker, darker, louder. "You don't wanna do this!"
"Stay out of it." Tam didn't look at him, only tightened his fingers as the shadowflux tightened around Drawl's throat.
Keefe watched helplessly as a sick sort of smile fell over his friend's face, even as the shadows called just slightly.
"He's bluffing." Fitz's voice filled his head. "He's not actually going to kill them."
Keefe glanced sharply at his best friend, then back at Tam.
"He already told me the plan. Just wait."
So Keefe waited.
"Don't kill me." Glimmer inhaled tightly, clearly holding her breath to keep her stomach as far from the arrow as possible.
"Why shouldn't I?" Tam asked. "You clearly are no use to us, since you aren't privy to the Neverseen's plans. So tell me, Glimmer, why should I spare you?"
Her face was almost visible as the hands tugged her hood away from her head. Her eyes, formerly so panicked, were calm, but Keefe could feel her indecision churning in her.
"Because, I'm your sister." She said finally.
The bands of shadows across her wrists flickered, but Tam recovered quickly. He let out a short laugh.
Glimmer watched him steadily. A bad feeling welled up in Keefe's gut. She felt so certain.
But it was impossible.
"That's impossible," Tam said. "As far as I remember, I only have one sister, and Linh is a Hydrokinetic," he shrugged, hands spreading. "And you seem to be a Flasher."
"She's not lying," Keefe whispered.
Tam looked at him sharply. "What?"
"Her emotions," Keefe said slowly. "She's not lying."
Tam stared at him for a long moment, the looked at Glimmer. Her face was still covered.
He walked closer, and the arrow seemed to dig in further as he stalked to her. One hand clenched at his side, he yanked her hood down.
Keefe sucked in a breath at Linh's face—but older.
Glimmer glared at them defiantly, the pale blue eyes glittering almost grey. Tam was frozen, hand still clutching the crumpled hood in his hand. His other hand had grown slack, but despite it, the shadows still swirled around her wrists.
And as if a spell had broken, Tam stumbled back and the shadows dissipated in a flurry of shadows.
Glimmer made no move, her eyes tracking every agitated movement of Tam as he scrambled for composure.
Keefe stepped closer, and she swung to meet his gaze. He stopped several feet from her, tilted his head.
Her eyes were two different colors. At first, Keefe had thought they only looked grey because of the angle he was viewing her from, and because of the darkness.
But no. One eye was a stormy gray-blue, while the other was a pale blue.
"It's impossible," Tam said. His voice was panicked, and when Keefe glanced at him, he really registered his emotions.
Shock, hurt, anger...
But not disbelief.
"It would have been better if that were true," she said softly. "But I am your sister."
"Linh is my sister." Tan said, but his voice was strangled.
"Linh is your sister. Aoi was your sister. And I am your sister."
Updated: 5-27-2022
A/N: so, this is a headcanon of mine, probably very random and honestly not very plausible, but it's that Tam and Linh have two more sisters, but their parents kept it from them. Basically, they have two older sisters, also fraternal twins. Their parents had them, saw that they were twins, and hid them away. And no-one knew about them.
I can't reveal all of it, because it'll be part of another chapter, but that's the short of it. But really I had forgotten about Glimmer and what had happened to her when the Neverseen took over in the previous chapters, so this is my way of figuring out what happened to her. And I wrote all of this on a on a whim, I did not plan any of it, so it just happened... and I went with it.
I'm in finals right now, so can't guarantee that I'll be able to write, but I figured I'd publish this since I finished it when I was waiting for my brother at soccer practice. Hope y'all enjoyed!