Cienne rushed over to Dasher, who was unconscious on the ground. Everyone else had frozen and were looking at Elementine in fright.

"Why'd you zap him? And did you use your powers?" Cienne glared furiously at Elementine. "Keefe, help me heal him," she demanded.

Keefe kneeled and held Dasher as Cienne touched his wounds with elixirs and who knew what else.

"But- how did you not know about your parents?" Dex asked quietly.

"The Neverseen apparently keep information away from us!" Elementine shouted. "I- does that mean humans didn't kill them? Why didn't they come see me? Why is the Neverseen so against humans if they didn't do anything to them?" She began breathing heavily. "Cienne we've been tricked!" And then she fainted. Malik was barely able to catch her so he fell down with her.

"This is bad," Sophie said. "She won't go to our side yet. She'll think there's a reason. You guys have to go."

"But we still don't know what to do when they tell us to kidnap you!" Keefe didn't bother to whisper. Malik thought they were faking it anyway.

"We need to convince her not to tell the Neverseen just yet," Naseem said. "And we also need to tell her that they probably did it for a reason or something, so that she doesn't suspect us. Like Sophie said, we need to watch out."

"I'll carry Elementine," Malik said suddenly. "Keefe and Cienne, you guys help my brother."

Biana turned to them, scared. "But we never finished talking! We need to tell you about Wylie's mom. She didn't die on accident! She was murdered!"

Keefe and Cienne helped Dasher to his feet.
"Sophie, please catch me up on this," Keefe turned to her, meeting her worried eyes. And then he did something that surprised everyone, including himself. He kissed Sophie on the cheek. For some reason, he felt as if their friendship was fading away.

Then he and the rest of the Neverseen kids disappeared.

For some reason, Cienne was avoiding looking at him. She helped Malik put Elementine to bed and then locked herself in her room.
Malik and Naseem were coming up with ways to talk to Elementine without being inconsiderate.
Dasher had woken up to hunger and was eating a little while Keefe told him what he'd decided. "What did you do Keefe?" Dasher finally asked, raising his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" Keefe asked, surprised.

"Cienne isn't here for a reason. What did you do with ah- Sophie Foster when we were there?"

Keefe sighed. "I kissed her in the cheek. Foster-" Dasher interrupted him. "WHAT?"
"Yeah it was a friendly kiss. Like I felt bad for her. I don't know," Keefe started blushing but then Dasher was glowering at him.

"In front of Cienne? Dude you are so imbecile to be an Empath! Did you not feel her emotions?"

"Well, I wasn't concentrating on them but now that you talk about it-"

"You're so hopeless," Dasher began laughing and then he shook his head. "Keefe I thought you were good with the ladies," he grinned.
"Whoa there, Mr. I'm In Love With A Human, and by the way there's nothing wrong with that-" but then he stopped at Dasher's expression.

"I think the Neverseen knows that I'm in love with her," he said quietly. "I just feel it, you know? Something is going to go terribly wrong soon."

"Is this some sort of technique that came with your chronokinetic abilities because you're freaking me out," Keefe said.

"I don't know, actually," Dasher answered.

The next day they went back to school. Keefe found himself in a funny situation. Robert wanted to ask Jolynn to the spring dance. And he didn't know how to.

"She like good looking guys. She would never like me," Robert said miserably to Keefe while they were getting paintbrushes.

"Hold on," Keefe said. "I'm excellent with the ladies. I'll help you."

While Robert protested, Keefe hurried over to Jolynn who was using charcoal.

"Hey Jolynn," Keefe said.
"How may I help you?" Jolynn took an ear bud out.
"What would you say if I asked you if you liked anyone?" Keefe winked.
Jolynn put her earbud back in and began drawing again.

"Uh, I'm not giving up that quickly," Keefe said as Jolynn raised the volume on her music.
Keefe ran back to Robert, grabbed a poster board and helped Robert make a sign that said "if I'm not to ugly, will you got to the Spring Dance with me?" And then he came back to Jolynn.

Jolynn rolled her eyes at him and took off her earbuds. "I don't know what kind of joke you and Robert are working on but-" suddenly she stopped and stared behind Keefe, where Robert had changed the word "Ugly" to "Unlucky" on the poster. It wasn't very original, but Jolynn opened her mouth all the same.

"Robert?" She started.

"Yeah?" Robert answered nervously.

Jolynn walked up and punched him on the arm. "I really hate you."

"Why?" Robert looked heartbroken.

"Because you're lucky," Jolynn took the poster, and wrote the letters "Y-E-S" with charcoal on them.

"And you didn't bother to tell me that you liked me!" She yelled, not bothering to keep her voice down. The other students had started to notice what was going on. When they saw Robert's poster they began to clap, and a few people whistled.

Keefe grinned at them, his work done.

Then Jolynn surprised him by hugging him. "Thanks for helping the idiot," she said, and then went back to her seat and began drawing with charcoal again. This time, only one earbud was in her ear, and a slightly happier tune was playing. Keefe could've sworn that he could hear her humming along.

Robert looked downright happy as he painted a red and white scenery.

Keefe felt a strange, painful jolt as he left the classroom. He wondered if that was what Dasher had felt when he realized something awfully wrong was going to happen

Keefe walked by Dasher and Helena on his way to soccer, who were holding hands. He gave Dasher a thumbs up and a wink, who scowled at him and then rolled his eyes. Helena grinned. They both walked by Keefe shaking their heads.
On his way there, Keefe realized Sophie hadn't contacted him about Wylie's mother's murder. He wondered if she knew who had done it. Also, they hadn't asked her about the summit.
The girl and boy soccer teams prepared for another scrimmage. Keefe walked over to Cienne and her friends, who were talking strategy.

"Um hey that Keefe guy is eavesdropping!" A girl pointed him out.

All of the girls turned around to glare at him. Keefe could feel their suspicious emotions. He also knew several of them thought he was cute. Some were even hopeful. He didn't know which ones though.

"I need to ask Cienne something really quick. And I wouldn't eavesdrop. You are predictable anyway," Keefe said.

A few girls giggled and nudged Cienne as she rolled her eyes and walked over to him, her emotions expectant.
"So?" She crooked an eyebrow. She still seemed a little over the top from the day before, when Keefe has kissed Sophie.
"Have you talked to Sophie since yesterday?"
Cienne's emotions switched to guilt. Uh oh.
"Ok you have," Keefe said. "And it will probably make me depressed or upset, so you guys decided not to tell me."
He was slightly annoyed by this. He appreciated the thought, but he was sure he could control himself.

"Oh Keefe, it has to do with your mother," Cienne said.
Keefe raised his eyebrows. "Did you tell her about her disappearance and more about Naseem?"
"Not just that-" Cienne started, but Keefe had started to get it.

"There's a high chance she murdered Wylie Endal's mother."

The girls beat the boys by one score that day.
Keefe was telling Cienne and Dasher about Robert and Jolynn when Naseem interrupted them. "Are we going back get?" She asked. "Fintan wants to talk to us about the conversations we had. He sent Elementine a message."

"Well, first tell us where Malik and Elementine are and we will be off," Dasher answered. He waved at Helena, who was walking away from them with some of her friends.

Naseem sighed. "They're arguing and even though Elementine decided to not say anything she's going to give it away with the way she keeps looking at us."

"This is all too complicated," Cienne said. "Naseem, have you talked to her like you said you were going to?"

Naseem shrugged. "I tried, but she won't listen. I don't think she likes me."

"Well, how about I take Malike somewhere today so he's out of the way and you both talk," Dasher suggested. "We can go to the store across those few blocks."

"Hey, I don't want to stay with the girls either!" Keefe complained.

"You and I are going to talk to Fintan, remember?" Cienne reminded him.
"Ugh, we get the worst jobs," but Keefe was secretly glad he had some time with Cienne.

"So what about the summit?" Fintan asked, after Keefe and Cienne had given him a brief summary of what Sophie had told them about the Lodestar and (some) of Wylie's capture.

"Sophie said she's not exactly sure when, but a summit will take place soon," Cienne answered. Keefe guessed that she had talked to Sophie about this too.

"Alright, how do you guys feel about skipping school the rest of the week and training?" Fintan asked. But Keefe knew it wasn't a question. It was a demand disguised as one.

"Cool! What's the occasion?" He asked.

Fintan grinned evilly. "I think it's almost time for you guys to capture Miss Foster and Mr. Vacker."