Hey all, back again! I know I'm being slow reading and reviewing, but I'm trying really hard to avoid spoilers still, since I have a lot of chapters to go on this monster baby yet.
OK, so a small note about the rating. I chose T, but it's been pretty K up until now. I just want you to know the rating was not just overkill. This chapter is still relatively K, but in the coming chapters, I'm going to be starting some very intense scenes that involve intrigue, darkness, and a little smattering of romance. I promise it won't get overboard, but I just don't want y'all to be shocked after being lulled by the previous chapters. I do NOT promise that everyone will live, and I do NOT promise any actual death, but I'm just putting that out there...
Reviews:
First of all, thanks for putting up with my little note at the end of the last chapter. Each of you wrote such a sweet answer. You helped me feel much better:)
Smiles: Thanks for understanding! You made me feel so warm inside with that review! Thank you so much! And yes, I got it:) I come from a long line of Punsters™ so sometimes I can't help but let one slip out.
KOTLC 1 Fan: Thank you, and Thank you! (lol)
PokeMANS: I'm glad you like him! Yeah, my cousins speak Russian, but honestly I love the sounds of so many languages. I didn't have an exact song in mind that he was singing, leaving it up to the reader's preference, but I kind of imagine his voice being in timbre like Tiny Tim's in the 1970 movie 'Scrooge.'
I never really thought of Sophie's mothering side coming out for Danny like that... but I like it! That would honestly be so amazing! I don't really have the pacing to stick it in here, but if you would like to write that yourself, you have my permission;) (just be sure to credit me for the OC)
And one last thing, thank you for sharing a little of your personal experience. It means a lot to me to see where other people are coming from. (That was indeed the incident I was referring to.)
7: Thank you. I was pretty upset, and the support I got from everyone was wonderful.
booksaremylife: Magnificent? My story? Oh, my stars and sonnets! Thank you! Here is the update!
Chapter 25
The next afternoon, after a quick text, Kelse and Keefe - his hair brown from an elixir Kelse had given him - waited on the streets of Mysterium, just outside of Slurps and Burps for Mr. Forkle to come get them. He arrived in a huff.
"You kids are going to run me ragged," he grumped. "Pretty soon, I'm just going to have to give Sophie her own crystal."
Dex popped out of the store.
"Hey guys," he said with a smile. "Sophie's coming in just a minute. She just had to go home and change after Foxfire."
Sure enough, Sophie glittered into view down the street. Her tunic was rumpled, and the dark bags under her eyes were puffy. Her hair floated in stringy wisps around her head. Dex reached out his arm and hugged her when she came over.
"Didn't you sleep at all, Soph?" He murmured, making her hair puff around his face.
"I'm fine," Sophie rasped, her voice sounding too raw.
"Don't try to tell me that when I practically had to carry you through the school day. You can't keep this up."
Sophie pulled away and smiled tiredly. "I love you for being worried for me, cuz. But I can't reach Silveny, and you understand why I won't take sedatives."
Dex shuddered sympathetically.
Mr. Forkle leapt them to Alluveterre and led them to the boy's common room. He sat them down, watching Kelse almost hungrily. Before she could speak, though, Danny burst in.
"Kelsey!" he shrieked, launching himself into her arms from halfway across the room. She laughed and stood to catch him, falling back down as he knocked into her. Dex and Keefe, on either side, reached out to steady her. Danny dove at each of them, then snuggled back into his cousin's lap, bouncing and fidgeting. The rest of Sophie's group filed in and found seats. Finally, Kelse decided it was time to address the t-rex in the room.
"You probably are wondering why we are here," she began, addressing Mr. Forkle. "Other than to see Danny, that is."
The wrinkled man nodded. "There have been rumors of an attack in the human world, one right along the lines of the Neverseen's agenda."
"Indeed," Kelse said stiffly. "If you feel you need conformation about the blame, I can assure you your suspicions are correct, but that is not part of the information I am willing to share today."
She exchanged a pained, worried look with Keefe as she spoke, and saw the relief in his eyes.
"Oh." Mr. Forkle seemed to study them. Kelse knew it must seem odd, after promising informations, to be so selective, but she couldn't share that.
"I believe you will find what I have brought much more valuable than the details of a past raid." She paused for effect before announcing "I have found an item recently taken from you. To be specific, the lost cache."
Gasps echoed around the room. Keefe buried his head in his chest, trying to shrink, and Danny climbed into his lap.
"You- have it then?" Mr. Forkle managed at last, hope gleaming in his eyes.
"Not here," Kelse admitted. "It would have been much too dangerous to try such a thing. But I have a way to retrieve it."
"Have Sophie manifest as a Conjurer?" suggested Dex helpfully, "and see the location in your brain?" He had dimples. Dimples. Had he always had dimples? Kelse realized he had, now that she thought about it. Why was she just noticing now?
Pushing that away, she smiled tightly. "It may not be so far from the truth as you think. Don't worry, Sophie, I'm not expecting you to do anything," she added. Sophie had turned a delicate pink at the mention of manifesting again.
"I think we can all agree that you blame Keefe for the loss of the cache," she said, making Keefe bury his head in Danny's hair as everyone else glanced at him.
"Blame him?" Tam snorted. "It was all him."
"But I want you to know," Kelse continued bravely, "that it's because of Keefe that we will have the ability to get it back."
Everyone looked surprised, including Keefe. Understanding flashed in his eyes a little late, and he silently transmitted worried support for what she was about to do.
"I have not been completely upfront with information from my past. You all know the basics, like who my mother was, because of Danny, but what you don't know is how that affected my genetic makeup."
Sophie leaned forward, as if piecing together what she could deduce. Everyone else, with the exception of Keefe and Mr. Forkle, looked mystified.
"I have been wondering what the mixture did to your DNA," the man admitted. "I myself studied genetic science at great length, you know."
"You don't say," said Sophie drily, blushing to the tips of her ears.
"As recently as last month, no one held out any hopes that I could manifest a special ability. My mother's influence is too strong. That's one reason I can never take this off." She waved her watch. "But one day, after Keefe and I had bonded, I thought I could feel his emotions. It turned out that I had, but couldn't repeat it. Later, through some accidental trial and error-"
"And some very confusing not-so-accidental experimenting," Keefe put in, face a mask of mischief.
Kelse glared, then went on as if he hadn't spoken. "-we discovered something startling." She looked around the room, her insides trembling. "I have a new, never before heard of ability. I'm a Borrower."
There was deafening silence for a moment. Then, Sophie said "Like in the book!"
"Thank you!" Kelse reached across the couch for a high five. Keefe sighed dramatically.
Mr. Forkle looked like steam was about to explode from his ears. And possibly his eyes, nose, and mouth, too. "Fascinating," he murmured. "Your human DNA must have diluted your limbic system, so the genetic information morphed to create the strongest alternative it could."
Morphed? Kelse really wished that guy would morph some tact. She could only imagine how much he embarrassed Sophie.
"The point is, I know where the cache is. If there is a Conjurer I can borrow…"
"Conjuring is a very complicated ability," Mr. Forkle warned. Also he'd interrupted, not that anyone else seemed to think that odd.
"I seem to be able to draw on the experience of my host as well as on their ability. It's nothing conscious, no mental link, but I can feel their confidence and skill levels."
The man reached out his hand. "Would you care to demonstrate?"
Kelse took the hand and closed her eyes, concentrating on the feeling of his ability surging through her. After a few seconds, she felt as if her mind needed to stretch, in the way muscles need to. As she stretched, sharp needle-like phrase fragments pierced her head. She gasped. "What…?"
"Human thoughts," Mr. Forkle chuckled. "Sharp, aren't they?"
"ой небеса" she said. [AN In English 'oh heavens!' but it made more sense for her to speak Russian] "How do you stand it?" After a moment, though, something tickled at the edges of her consciousness, and she felt the right walls slide into place as she brushed over the spots.
The Black Swan leader grunted in surprise. "How did you do that?" he asked. "Putting up the protective barriers is an advanced skill."
"Your mind has much experience with it, though," Kelse observed, "and you are even now employing them." Suddenly, she felt him probing her. In a flash, she had put up a wall in front of his path.
"How?" the man wondered.
"An especial talent of yours as well?" She smirked and pulled her hand away. "It has everything to do with such things. For instance," she laced her fingers through Keefe's; "I can feel Sophie's curiosity from here."
"I think that settles it," Sophie said. "You can come home with me, and Edaline will help you."
At Havenfield, Keefe and Dex took Danny to play with some exotic creatures. Kelse worried, but Dex assured her he had everything under control.
"Concentrate," said Edaline gently, when they'd joined hands. She was kind and sweet, and made Kelse lonely for her own mother. "Picture exactly where the cache is. Are you certain it's still there?"
"There were no plans to move it today, so like 98.6% sure," said Kelse.
"Let's start with a closer object." Edaline picked up a mug from the table. "Look at the mug. Sense it," she directed. Then she put it on the floor under the table. Kelse peeked at it, then straightened. "Feel for it with your mind," Edaline directed. Try to wrap it with strings. Then, picture pulling it away. Picture it here, in your hand. As you snap, give the strings a little tug."
Kelse did as she was told. The mug popped into her hand. She dropped it in surprise, then looked under the table. It wasn't there, of course. "Amazing," she breathed.
Trembling with anticipation, she tried for the cache. At her snap, the marble dropped into her palm. Sophie squealed with delight, and hugged her fiercely. The adults (Mr. Forkle had stayed) breathed huge sighs of relief.
"Find a safe place for this," Mr. Forkle instructed Sophie. "If you don't feel up to that, let someone you trust do it, just don't ever let it be lost again."
Sophie took the sphere timidly, then handed it to Sandor.
"You take it," she said. "I don't ever want to know where you put it."
Sandor wrapped his meaty hand around the cache.
"You need never worry about this again, Miss Foster," he squeaked.
Kelse and Keefe visited twice in the next week. There was something about Dex's bubbly, innocent, yet responsible personality that Kelse couldn't help but feel drawn to. One afternoon, she let him play with her watch. He held it in his hands reverently, turning it and sensing the mechanisms inside.
"This technology, the way the human and elvin are mixed, it's amazing!" he breathed. "I could spend hours playing with it." Kelse watched the rapt glow of his face, taking pleasure in his excitement. His fingers, so strong yet so sensitive, held her eyes as they skittered around the device.
"The nexus band is still trackable," he remarked after a moment, "but I think that using the human tech, I could disrupt that, if you're ok with me taking the back off." He tapped the back of the watch.
The device was precious and irreplaceable, but Kelse had come to trust Dex. After all, she was already trusting him with the most valuable part of her life, and Danny loved him dearly. The little boy's attachment to his new unofficial guardian was growing daily by leaps and bounds.
"Yeah, just- be careful," she said, hesitating only a moment.
"Always," said Dex with a smirk. He began to gently pry the panel off. Kelse hovered her fingers over his wrist in an uncertain question. Dex looked down at it.
"Oh, sure," he said, and his cheeks colored slightly. She rested her cold fingers on his warm wrist, smiling when he flinched.
"Sorry, they're always like that," she apologized.
"It's fine," he mumbled.
The awkwardness vanished in a moment, though, when his ability began to course through her mind. Every gear, every circuit, every wire made sense, like a beautiful puzzle just begging to be taken apart and put back together. As he worked, she found herself anticipating each move, instinctively feeling each touch's necessity. The sense of harmony was calming and perfect.
Ten minutes later, he'd gotten the piece back together. "There," he declared. "Now even the ogres couldn't track this. I should have thought earlier about the uses of human technology in this way. I think I've just made a breakthrough- this could change undercover operations forever!"
The moment lasted only a few minutes longer. Biana, Keefe, and the others burst into the room, laughing. Sophie, carried along in the tide, was as red as a beet.
"It's true!" Biana was shrieking. "I dare anyone to deny it!"
"I do," Tam said, his voice obstreperous.
"Well, you're allowed," Biana granted generously. "I mean anyone else." Keefe and Fitz were both as red as Sophie, but they said nothing.
"What's going on?" demanded Dex. He and Kelse had been sitting on the floor, but they stood now.
"I just said Sophie's liable to be the prettiest of us, that's all. What's your opinion, Dex?" Biana's eyes gleamed wickedly.
"Oh, I dunno," Dex hedged, glancing at Kelse. "Of course, I think my cousin is as beautiful as she can be."
"O-ho!" crowed the brunette giddily. "And what about Kelse? You keep your beauty hidden. Maybe you're the prettiest of all. Why don't you show us?"
Kelse's heart pounded. She'd been careful to keep her hair over her face while in the presence of these teens. None of them knew the truth thanks to her vigilance, and she wasn't anxious to change that. Having Keefe know had been a release, but it didn't mean she was eager for her disfigurement to become common knowledge. Biana kept goading, and reached out to move Kelse's hair. Kelse shoved her hand away just in time with telekinetic force, but she was slow. She began to panic, and her blood rushed in her ears, blotting out the sounds in the room and making it spin. Vaguely, she heard Keefe warn Biana to stop. Vaguely, she saw him try to grab the other girl's arm, but everything was moving in slow motion. Before she could react, Biana's hand darted out again, and this time Kelse was powerless to stop it. Her hair was pulled away, and the light hit her scars.
The room fell silent. There was a long, horrible pause, then Keefe grabbed her, spinning her so her face was buried in his shoulder. He wrapped his strong arms around her tightly and rocked tenderly. She started to shake with suppressed sobs. His emotions - anger and protectiveness and worry - coursed through her, soothing her.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" he fumed, his voice likely directed at Biana, although Kelse wasn't about to look up. "This wasn't your affair. Why'd you have to butt in?"
"I- I didn't know! I was just having a little fun! Oh, Kelse I'm so sorry! What… What happened?"
Keefe hesitated, but Kelse nodded into his broad collarbone. As long as she didn't have to move, maybe it was time they knew the whole story.
"Before she was born, her mother was hit by a melder," he began. "The shot went right through her human physiology and hit baby Kelse on the side of her eye. She's gotten plenty of ignominy from the Neverseen - and her father - for it. The last thing she needed was for you to come along and reopen that wound."
There was ashamed silence for a bit longer- Kelse wasn't sure how much time passed. Then, timidly, thin arms wrapped around her in a gentle, loving gesture. She recognized Dex and turned to hug him back, keeping her face well hidden in his shoulder. Sophie's arms joined the hug, and they stood there for a long minute. Then Keefe took her back, his wonderfully solid arm still hiding her face, and put up her hood. Dex carefully strapped her watch to her wrist, then stepped back as Keefe held it up. Twisting the correct crystal, he leapt them away, back home to the dugout.