AZALEA WAS CRYING when she opened the door. Immediately, Juline Dizznee wrapped her in a hug and led her into her house.
"What's wrong?" Juline asked in a motherly voice.
"Chandler and Monica are going to have adopt baby," Azalea wailed, referring to a human Television show she was watching.
Used to Azalea crying over shows, Juline put her arm around Azalea and rubbed her shoulder.
It had been about six months since Azalea had decided to move to the lost cities. Every week, Juline would come to visit her. Juline said she wasn't comfortable in disguise and revealed to Azalea that she was the snowwoman in the Collective.
Mr. Forkle sent Juline to update Azalea about everything that was going on in the Lost Cities, but Azalea didn't allow her. Everytime Juline tried, Azalea would scream really loud and put her fingers in her ears.
Juline said that Azalea would fit in nicely with the triplets.
The Black Swan also sent another agent to help Azalea adapt. Igor Hankwitz, a twenty year-old Beguiler, son of Al Hankwitz, one of the Council's most trusted Emissaries. Iggy visits Azalea many times a week, using his father as a cover. The younger Hankwitz is supposedly interning with his father. And since his father is frequently sent to the Forbidden Cities for missions, and the Hankwitzs have been helping the Black Swan for a long time, Iggy was sent to make sure that Azalea had a friend.
Sometimes, Juline would suggest bringing Azalea back to the Lost Cities, to remind Azalea that she was still an Elf. Azalea's behavior deeply worried Juline.
Azalea didn't cry, she didn't shout. She didn't show any sign of missing Keefe, or even Elvy. The first thing Azalea did when she came to the Forbidden Cities was to buy furniture. And Azalea was good at it. Mr. Forkle told Azalea to make her place a home, and boy did she do it.
The living room had white walls, with prints of flowers and leaves. Azalea and Iggy had bought potatoes and carved out designs, dipping them in paint and printing them all over her living room. She bought a plain white couch, decorating them with not pillows, but soft toys. There were Winnie the Pooh Bears, Stitch soft toys, and a ton of other animals littered all over the couch. The mat was a soft grey, and there was a glass table in the middle of the living room. The couch faced the Television, which was set on top of a black shelf. Tall potted plants were placed on the two sides of the Television, bookshelves next to them. The bookshelves were full of books, some well loved, and others treasured. Azalea loved to read.
The kitchen was like any other kitchen. Azalea never used it, only when Juline came around. There were baskets of snacks and drinks, the cutlery was store-bought, but the plates were handmade. After finding clay, Azalea got to work and made animal shaped plates. There were fishes, cats, banshees, horses, cows, sheep, and there were all outlined messily in black.
The small apartment had two rooms, one that was used, and the other wasn't.
Azalea's bedroom was simple. It had a closet full of clothes that Azalea bought (Mr. Forkle only got her T-shirts and leggings.). There was a small desk, with a small succulent beside a pink pencil holder. The succulent was planted in a pot with bight dots all around, courtesy of Azalea herself. There would usually be an unfinished embroidery bracelet or two lying around, waiting for Azalea to finish it up while she watches a show. Her bed was simple, there were two pillows, one for Azalea to lie on and another for her to hug.
The other room was empty. There was nothing in there except for a trunk in the closet. It had some Elvin items in there. Elixers, an imparter, a pink leaping crystal, and Carlisle Lysander's journal.
That was the reason why Juline was so worried about Azalea. She acts as if she never lived in the Lost Cities. She fit in so well with her new lifestyle.
She never goes into the second bedroom because of the trunk.
She pretends to not hear Juline when she talks about the Lost Cities.
Her house was so human.
And the worst: her plates were in the shapes of every animal you could think of, but no dogs. No dogs, no wolfs. No reminder of Elvy.
But no matter how hard Juline tried, she couldn't bring herself to snap Azalea out of her trance.
Because Azalea didn't know her mother was a leader of the Neverseen.
Azalea didn't know that Keefe, her older brother, had left for the Neverseen.
And Juline didn't know how Azalea would react to the news. Juline didn't want Azalea, who has grown to be like a second daughter to her, to be sad. Right now, Azalea was free. Azalea was happy.
Ignorance is bliss.
But Juline knew that knowledge is power.
And Juline needed to tell Azalea, and she needed to tell her now.
AZALEA WAS CATCHING Juline up with the latest episodes of 'FRIENDS'. This wasn't unusual for the two. They would spend the day watching shows together, Juline would go back home for the week, and when she came back, Azalea would fill her up on what she'd missed.
Once Azalea wrapped out her very elaborate description of the episode, Juline held both of Azalea's hands in hers and said, "Honey, we need to talk."
"Okay?" Azalea asked questioningly. "What about?"
"The Lost Cities. Your home. We need to talk about your friends and what has been going on."
For the entirety of the time Azalea spent in the Forbidden Cities, she forced herself not to think about the Lost Cities. It wasn't hard, considering she'd done it before.
When she was banished, she had forced the memory of her mother abandoning her at the mountains out of her mind. She refused to let her mind drift of to Keefe, or her friends.
And now, she was doing the same thing.
She hadn't even noticed that she was doing it.
"Azalea," Juline said in a comforting voice. "A lot had happened in the Lost Cities. And I'm afraid to say that you are very far behind in the knowing. And I need to tell you. I can't just go around letting you act like this."
"Act like what?" Azalea asked.
"Like everything is fine," Juline said.
"But everything is fine!" Azalea chuckled.
"To you," Juline said again. "But you being ignorant isn't helping anyone. We don't know how, but you play a big role in deciding the future of the Lost Cities."
"Why?" Azalea couldn't help but ask.
"Because your mother was a leader of the Neverseen."
AZALEA WAS ALL caught up with the news now.
[you could skip this part, it's a recap of all the books]
'Okay,' Azalea thought to herself. 'So, Sophie was living in the Forbidden Cities before Fitz found her, brought her back to the Lost Cities, and got her enrolled into Foxfire. Sophie found out that Biana pretended to be Sophie's friends because Alden told her too. Combined with the news that the Ruewens weren't adopting her, Sophie got mad and ran off. Dex followed her, and the two were kidnaped. Everyone thought they were dead, Sophie managed to get Dex back safely but she herself had faded. Elwin managed to saved her and the Ruewens changed their mind. Sophie found a female alicorn, changing the timeline of extinction. Alden and Sophie go to Exile to perform a mind break on Fintan. Alden sees Prentice Endal's cell, resulting in Alden's mind breaking. But, Sophie saved him, using her new Inflicting powers. Most Inflictors can only inflict negative emotions, but Sophie can inflict positive emotions. However, Alden's mind broke again during the Elite Dedication, which included Wylie Endal. Sophie wasn't able to save Alden as her powers were damaged as a result of her fading. Together with Keefe, they ride on Silveny to a Black Swan hide out where Mr. Forkle gave her an ounce of limbium in. The limbium would have killed her because of her allergy if he hadn't also given her a shot of human medicine. After the healing, members of the Neverseen attack. Fortunately, Alden's mind is healed and Silveny has been successfully rehabilitated. Sophie, Tiergan, Quinlin, and Fitz go to Oblivimyre to heal Fintan. Fintan managed to gain consciousness and summons Everblaze, setting the place on fire. It killed Councillor Kenric and Fintan. During Councillor Kenric's planting, Sophie attempts to go into his mind to find out who put the tracker on Silveny. After she makes it deep inside, he detects her. It is a violation of the Elf-Ogre treaty and Sophie has to be punished.The Council decides her punishment along with the newest councillor, Dame Alina. Sophie's punishment is an ability-restricting device created by Dex. Sophie finds an unregistered pyrokinetic- Brant - Jolie Ruewen's ex-fiancee. Brant and Grady fight, and Fitz, Dex, Keefe, Biana, and Sophie go to Mount Everest to ambush the Neverseen. But the Neverseen already knew about it. The group finds out that the leader of the Neverseen isn't Cassius Sencen, but Gisela Sencen. In order to keep the teenagers safe, their parents agree to send them off to live with the Black Swan. The gang and Della manage to get to the Black Swan hide out- Alluveterre, Councillor Kenric's cache in Sophie possession. They find out that Gisela Sencen was tortured by Ogres because Gethen- a telepath working with the Neverseen - got captured. Della, the Collective, and the gang go to Exile to save Prentice, Fitz get badly hurt, and Sophie uses Kenric's cache as a threat. The Black Swan trade Gethen for Prentice and the gang are sent to Exillium.'
That was what happened before Azalea met the group. But after Azalea left for the Forbidden Citites, Keefe joined the Neverseen, Exillium camps are set up at Foxfire, Lodestar symbols are found and the code is cracked, Wylie gets kidnapped and questions about his mothers' death arise, Sophie becomes an Enhancer, Sophie, Tam, and Fitz go to a Neverseen hideout via the Lodestar mirror in the elite towers and meet Keefe. Then, Sophie goes to a Peace Summit in Lumenaria, but the tower is destroyed by Gethen using outward channeling. Mr. Forkle got stabbed by Gethen and Brant get crushed by debris. Gethen, Brant, Ruy, and an unknown prisoner escapes. But Keefe finally come back, with Kenric and Fintan's cache. Sophie goes to find her human family, but she only finds her younger sister- Amy. Surprisingly, Amy remembers her.
[start again here]
Now, Sophie is trying to contact Gisela Sencen to find out where Nightfall is.
"YOU CAN'T JUST take a vial of my blood?" Azalea asked Juline after she was done explaining. Sophie wanted to contact her mother, and they'd found an Imparter in Keefe's room. And they needed Azalea's blood for that.
"Of course we could," Juline said. "But, Azalea, it's been almost half a year. Surely you can't expect to stay here forever?"
"I know, but I love it here." Azalea said.
"I know you do," Juline said. "We'll keep this place for you. So you can visit anytime." Juline hadn't discussed this with the Collective, but she was sure that she would be able to convince the Collective to keep the apartment.
Azalea put her head in her hands. "Could you give me a day or two?"
JULINE LEFT AFTER making sure Azalea ate and went to sleep. Juline hated that a girl her age had to go through such a situation. Just because of her mother.
Juline never wished for harm to be bestowed upon anyone, but she really wished that Gisela Sencen would soon get what she deserved. She closed the door to Azalea bedroom as softly as she could. In a hurry to get back to her family, Juline quickly packed all her items and leaped away.
As soon as Azalea heard her door shut, her eyes opened. She got up from bed and picked up a book. She read, got lost in the words, and her own vivid imagination. Her eyes lingered on every word, as if she were purposely taking her time to read. She digested the story, the words and pictures etched in her photographic mind, creating an imprint.
She shut the book.
And suddenly, reality hit her. The room was dark. It felt plain, and empty to her.
But it was reality.
Azalea opened a drawer and took out a bottle. Like clockwork, she twisted the cap open. She shook the bottle and three pills dropped out, into her palm. In one swift motion, she put the pills into her mouth and swallowed it.
It was only then could Azalea sleep.