Phoenix and Wild D claim no ownership over Keeper of the Lost Cities. All characters, events, and places mentioned in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series belong to Shannon Messenger. OCs like Anise belong to the bookhawks, and so does the plot. Story by Wild D, with support and editing from Phoenix.

Chapter one

If you looked at the Lost Cities, you wouldn't guess it was ruled by villains. Anise stared at the sky, which was just as clear and brilliant as before, the buildings polished and shiny. But it wasn't the same. You could smell the sickly sweet fires in the distance, where the unmentionables were being kept. You feel the tension in the air, waiting, watching. You could see the white eye that adorned every available surface. And you could hear the silence. It was the worst of them all. The usual chatter of the elves bustling to their workplaces was gone. Anise hated it more than anything she'd ever heard.

She darted through the shadows, wary of the movements near her. It was best to stay to yourself in cities like these. Especially where she was going. It was hard to walk silently in the heeled boots she had worn, but she managed.

Heel, toe

Heel, toe

Heel, toe

Heel, toe

Click, click, click

She was close now. Closer, closer, and then she stopped. She sidestepped into an alley and pulled out her black handheld mirror from her purse. One of her pins was loose, and she fixed it back in her hair. She had kept it in a knot as she was leaving, but it was Rabta's idea to put it half up. "It will remind them you are young"

She smoothed a wrinkle on her shirt, pressed the back of her collar to make it crisp, and pulled out the tube of lipgloss Amina had given her, a sparkly pink she saved for special occasions, and painted the color on her lips, the way soldiers put on armor before battle. Isn't that what this was? War?

She could have been labeled as vain. Maybe she was, but she was Anise Tara Fathdon, and Fathdons never look like slobs, even on their deathbeds.

Anise was only a few steps away from the ornate silver and gold door, and she saw how they had woven the eye into the patterns. They didn't leave anything behind. She pulled at the jeweled handles and stepped inside.

This was Anise's first time inside the Seat of Eminence, and she had spent an inappropriate amount of time wondering what color the aura around her would be, even consulting the thin volume in the library, The Seat of Eminence, hub of the nobility. There had been a chart listing colors and abilities, but genetomorph was nowhere on the list. Her mother, a woman full of answers, had none for her. There had only ever been one genetomorph before her to enter the building, and she was dead. She was in a dark room, and there were another set of double doors, plain metal, and uninviting. She started to walk towards it-

"Anise Fathdon?" A male's voice called out to her, and she turned. They had sent an escort. What was she, a little eight-year-old unable to go into an official building on her own?

"It's not uh-niece, it's Anne- iss," She crossed her arms. "Show yourself"

"I'm not supposed to show you my face, just get you to the interview room."

"Well, I don't take orders from a stranger, so you either show me your face, or I leave," she wondered if he could hear the slight crack in her voice. He stepped into the light and pulled down his hood. He held out his arms as if to say, You happy?

"Adlers are cheating," he sighed and reached behind his neck to turn off the device. She had expected more of a fight, as he was a member, but he had a given-up quality to him; like he was somewhere he didn't want to be but had exhausted all escapes.

"My name is Ruy, and, no, you don't know me," he was mentioned in the History she taught at the primary school, a member whose familiarity in the neutral provinces helped the Neverseen form a banished army. He may have seen the spark of recognition in her eyes, and he turned colder. He held out his tablet, and she took it to press her tongue on the small panel on the bottom side. It flashed red, just like she knew it would.

"I thought it might not work with you, can you convert to your original DNA?"

Anise shook her head at him, "I can't shift on-demand, it takes preparation. Can we use one of the alternate methods of identification?" That was a complete and utter lie, because Anise had all the preparations done, but something about shifting in front of a Member made her feel violated.

"We have the ID questions, I guess that will do," though she couldn't hear him she thought he sighed. He pressed something on his tablet, and read off the page.

"Name?"

"Anise Tara Fathdon"

"Ability?"

"Genetomorph"

"Mother's name?"

"Ismene Lyra Fathdon"

"Mother's ability?"

"Technopath"

"Father's name?"

"Why are you asking me these questions? They are generally accessible to the public, I could be someone else posing as Anise, and you wouldn't even know because you asked me easy questions. Do the gene match," Anise wondered if she had chosen the wrong time to stop him. Would he become suspicious that she didn't answer the question about her father?

"Fine, lick it again and we'll see if it matches your father's," he looked at her closely, waiting for an external reaction. He was. She had underestimated him. Lucky for her, being a genetomorph had its benefits. On the top of the list? Genetomorphs make great fakers.

"My father's file isn't linked to mine."

"Why not?" He fell right into this one.

"Because he's dead, and as I'm sure you know, the deceased have special files. And my mother filed a match fail a year before that, so my custody was given to her," Ruy's face softened ever so slightly, and she knew he would drop it. What was it about a sob story that made people like you more?

"I'll match it to your mother's then." he held out the thing, and she licked the strip. It flashed green.

He motioned for her to follow him to the doors, and licked a piece of the wall, and without a designated strip, it looked very disgusting. Perhaps it was for security purposes. Ruy seemed to think this too because he pulled quite quickly.

She must have been giving him a funny look because he explained, "We hired a new technopath when we built this room, and he made some mistakes."

"Why hasn't he fixed it?"

Ruy grimaced, and said softly, "Fintan was convinced he did it on purpose, so…"

Anise sniffed, which Amina called her "sophisticated version of a gulp of fear", and followed Ruy through the doors.

Wild D: I know, I know, that's like the most basic cliffhanger ever! But don't worry, I am actually a person with her very own, very original ideas, you just wait until the next chapter to see them. I know everything seems really murky, and don't expect it to get cleared up any time soon. If there was an emoji for schadenfreude, It would look just like me.

Bye, and don't die.

(before reading the next chapter)