I've called many places my home before. In California, then the Lost Cities, now back in the human realm.
They've all felt temporary, like there's always somewhere I was heading for next. With my human family, I knew I didn't belong and there wasn't a moment I was with them that I couldn't help to think of how nice it would be when I could go off on my own and live a quiet life, both figuratively and literally. In the lost cities, I never knew what would happen next. The neverseen was constantly changing things and forcing me to move from place to place. And as much as I wish it could be different, I know here is no better. We can hide from the world all we want, but eventually we will be found, by the black swan, the council, or the neverseen, I don't know, but I do know that it won't be pretty when it hits.
The longer we wait, the more catastrophic it will be when we return.
But for now, I pretend away our problems, because Keefe is happy and we're not in immediate danger at every second of the day, which is more than I can say for when we're in the lost cities.
Living on a tightrope can be nice.
Until you fall.
By the time I had gotten out of the shower, Keefe was almost done making dinner. I had set the table before I got in.
I was wearing one of the oversized shirts we had bought with pajama shorts and I noticed Keefe had also changed into his night clothes, long, blue plaid pajama pants with a gray t-shirt. He stood over the table with a pot in hand, some sort of soup pouring out into his bowl.
"Mmm, that smells delicious," I compliment as I quickly walk over to my seat.
"It's some type of cheesy soup. I got the recipe from a friend at school," Keefe says casually as he pours me some of the soup.
My mind flashes to the girls at school, their arms around Keefes shoulders, flirting relentlessly with their glossed lips. I wonder if he could tell what awful people they are, how they treat people who are different from them. I wonder if he likes it when they flirt and talk with him everyday.
"Whats got you in a mood?" Keefe asks and I realize I've been glaring at my soup with my white knuckled hand clutching the spoon.
I take a deep breath and shove the thoughts away, with it the emotions. I wipe my face with a smile and blow on the steaming soup.
"Nothing, just the reminder of school. So, who's your friend?" I say as I close my mouth around a spoonful of the white soup. It burns my tongue but after a second, I'm pleasantly surprised with the cheddary taste.
"Oh, Avery? We're in the same English class. We're usually partnered together for projects and reading," Keefe innocently eats his soup, also seemingly happy with the flavor.
I try to keep my emotions at bay but all I can picture is Avery and Keefe sitting together in English, the one class we don't have together. Shes probably fallen head over heels for him, and who could blame her? Anyone would.
I did.
I shake the thought away before Keefe could sense there was something wrong. "That's cool. My English class mostly just has the worlds most boring conversations about the meaning of sky colors. If humans focused all this learning into actual useful things for life, maybe they wouldn't be so completely lost after they're done with school."
"I know right? Like, I think all this stuff is interesting and all but when do humans learn things they actually need to know in life?"
I shrug my shoulders because I really don't know and likely never will. My mind has yet to catch up to the concept of taxes or even the science behind airplanes.
So many unexplained human things.
The suns up when I realize we were supposed to set an alarm for today, because today is a monday and on mondays we have to go to the treacherous building filled with lectures that stretch time and pe lessons that haunt me.
I groan into the pillow, considering pretending I never woke up and skipping today but I somehow woke up actually well rested and don't feel like I want to shut my eyes again. I can't remember if I had any nightmares or not, which I'll take over my normal nights.
I guess my groan must have woken up Keefe because he also groans from his side of the bed.
I'm surprised to find myself missing waking up in his arms, even though we never really did that consciously, only in our sleep. But today I woke up on the very edge of the bed and faced away from him and Keefe was on the opposite edge.
Keefe apparently felt this same way because arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me to his chest. His arms hug me lazily and his head buries itself into my neck.
"Good morning to you too," I say teasingly, even though I love this just as much as he does, and I know he knows that, too.
I can feel his eyes flutter open, his eyelashes tickling my neck. His lips brush my neck once, and then again and again and again.
"Gods, I want to do this every morning," he mutters as he moves from my neck to my shoulder. I catch the Percy Jackson reference and giggle.
My eyes shut, enjoying every moment, every kiss because although he's still drowsy from sleep, I know we have to get up and get ready soon or we'll miss the bus.
I turn so my back no longer faces him and meet him nose to nose. His eyes are only half open and his mouth curls into a small dreamy smile as he looks at me. I put me lips to his, which he gladly accepts.
One of his hands that are wrapped around my back now traces my spine, making zig zags and feeling the bumpy ridges though my shirt.
I pull away for a breath and smile at him as I give him the awful news. "We have to get up, we're going to miss the bus."
"Screw the bus, lets stay in bed forever and forget everything else." His eyes are now more open, and although his plan sounds good, my stomach grumbles, reminding us of the life necessities.
"Or we could eat and head over to school," he says as he begrudgingly slides his hands away and sits up.
I sigh before sitting up as well and heading to the kitchen to get out some cereal. We have thirty minutes before the bus comes, which isn't too bad.
I pour my self cereal as Keefe gets ready in the bathroom. he comes out as I'm almost finished, wearing his casual human outfit, jeans and a random t-shirt.
"Did you ever get to doing Mr. Williams assignment? Also do we have a test today?"
We did, in fact, have a test that day. I knew how to solve all of the problems and I'm sure I did fine on it, but no one wants to spend almost two hours first thing in the morning solving forty math equations.
I never wanted to leave that class as much as I did today.
"I think any sort of energy I started with today has been ripped from me by that test," Keefe says as we walk out of the classroom.
"I don't think I can do anything else all day," I agree.
We walk to gym together, him finally dreading it just as much as I do.
My well rested-ness did not get me very far in the day because during gym, while we were running the track once again, I tripped on some stupid rock.
"Shit," I muttered as blood trickled down from my knee.
"Woah Foster, I've never heard you use such profanity, this world has changed you," Keefe says in a serious tone before he sees the scrape on my knee, then mutters the same words I had.
Ms. Jacobs sees me on the ground and jogs over quickly.
"You should go over to the nurses office and get a bandaid for that, Keith you go with her."
I get up and me and Keefe begin walking back to the building.
"I've got to say, I'm impressed at how long its been since you've needed to go to healing center- er I guess its the nurses office now," Keefe says as we near the doors.
"I know, right? I guess when I'm not be constantly threatened and chased by neverseen members, I don't actually get hurt as often," I sarcastically remark.
Once we get to the office, all the nurse does is gives me some ice and a wet paper towel to wipe it off with. Typical human nurses. After there's a big bandaid on it that I'm sure I'll need to switch out because the bleeding was not done, the nurse tells us to head back to class.
"I want my magical Elwin concoctions back," I whine as we head back outside.
"I should have raided that place when I had the chance," Keefe agrees, shaking his head as if stuck in past memories.
"I don't want to go back. All I'm going to do is sit there in the dirt." Our class is in view now. I can see Ms. Jacobs walking the track with a clipboard in hand and the groups of students running round and round.
"Is the Sophie Foster suggesting we ditch? Wow, first cursing and now skipping class, it's starting to seem like you're rubbing off of me." Keefe looked almost proud of the suggestion.
"One problem, we don't have a bus to get back," I point out.
"No, but we do have the most powerful elf on the planet that can teleport us back," Keefe also points out.
I consider it for a moment. I haven't used my powers in forever. Part of me wonders if that will have any sort of effect of them but I brush the thought away before I could overthink it.
"Isn't dangerous to do that here? What if someone sees us?"
"We could just go in the woods, no one would see us. Or we could walk the hour and a half back home..." Just the thought of walking that long with this much exhaustion was enough for his idea to sound better.
"Okay, fine, but we'll have to walk for a bit and find a clearing so we don't hit any trees on the way down."
"Whatever you need, we shall find." Keefe gives a salute that I roll my eyes at and we turn away from the torturous track and to the woods that lined the edge of the grass behind the school.
It was twenty minutes until we found a clearing and stopped walking. The woods weren't as open as I wished they were, bushes and random plants were spread everywhere and I tried not to think of the amount of bugs that must be around here.
"I don't think they'll be able to see us from over here," I say as we go to the center of the clearing.
I take a deep breath as I take his hand in mine.
"What if I forget how to do it? I haven't used any of my powers in weeks." I imagine us plunging to our deaths as I attempt to teleport but can't, Keefe screaming and me shutting my eyes, hoping, hoping, hoping...
"Don't think of that. It's muscle memory, just because you haven't used you powers for awhile doesn't mean they've gone away. Have trust the great Foster powers, I do," Keefe assures as he squeezes my hand encouragingly.
His talk doesn't comfort me as much as I wish it did, but I start to lift us into the air anyway. My shaky telekinesis isn't much comfort either but I shut my eyes and take deep breaths.
I know what to do.
It's muscle memory.
I peek my eyes open and wow we are high up. I shut them again, focusing on the back of the apartment where no one can see until the brick and bushes are all I can see in my mind.
I drop us and the plunge sets me off balance. We spin and its all I can do to hold on more tightly to Keefes hand in hope that it doesn't slip away from mine. I don't know how close we are to the ground, but every second feels like we're going to hit it. The image is gone and all I can think of the ground, of us on the ground, only a messed up mix of limbs and blood.
Think of a place think of a place think of a placethink ofaplacethinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink
and then something pops into my mind. Something I couldn't keep my mind off of since I arrived here. The thing my life always seems to circle back to, time and time again.
And we fall.
8/2/23
unedited
why did this chapter give me flashbacks to when we had to run a continual five laps around the track everyday for pe in middle school? scary times. anywayyyyy i had two choices for how the plot for this story could have gone and i finally decided on one. should i tell you guys what the other one was? lmk if you want to know bc i thought it was pretty good. i know you guys want more chapters sooner and more often than i give them but i promise im not giving up on this story, its just not possible in my schedule to be writing every day, even if i want to be. thank you so so so so so so much for all your comments and support, i really appreciate all of them. i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and to give you hope, ive already started writing the next one! bye my loves<3333