*Chapter Seven*

SCARED, BUT CURIOUS, Sarah followed a shaking Keefe up the vortinator AGAIN, and through tons of swirly hallways. Wow. Sarah was already getting lost. Why did Candleshade have to be designed exactly like a haunted maze?

Finally, Keefe stopped after countless twists and turns, and Sarah panted, out of breath. Keefe had practically ran the entire way!

Sarah glanced back at Keefe, who looked unfazed. She guessed he was used to running for his life, a thought she was not particularly comfortable with.

Keefe pointed to a rather ornamental double-door entrance just across from them.

Sarah's mouth fell into a perfect 'o.'

The sleek doors themselves were very intricately decorated, with carefully-chiseled swirls and subtle patterns. But it was what was through those doors that made Sarah truly gawk.

There were countless lines of old portraits on the corky-brown walls.

"They're family portraits, drawn over the generations," Keefe explained.

Sarah examined a few with her jaw slack. They were extremely well-drawn. "I guess this is where you got your artistic ability," Sarah commented as Keefe walked over to the end of the wall.

She followed him over to four portraits. Two were covered with cloth, and the other two were recognizable as Lord Cassius and Keefe.

"So, um, why are you so down?" Sarah asked him, her light blue eyes soft and worried.

Keefe sighed. "Not 'down.' I guess I'm just confused as to why this is here." He took off one of the cloths and revealed a portrait of Lady Gisela. "Oh, wait, not that one. I totally understand where Dad was going with that."

Sarah crunched her eyebrows together. "What do you mean? Is that your mom?"
"Yep." Keefe's voice was blatantly frustrated. He kicked the walls, his iron gaze on his mother's portrait.

Sarah frowned. Her eyes looked down at the floor. Her kidnapper was Keefe's mom? Yeah, that explained a lot, actually.

"But anyways, I meant this one." Keefe stuffed the cloth back onto Lady Gisela's traitorous portrait and revealed the other one.

It was a young child, no older than three. A girl. She had dirty-blonde hair the same shade as Keefe's, and ice-blue eyes with the identical look of amusement as Keefe had. Somehow, she looked familiar.

Signed on the bottom in elegant handwriting said: Karcey Sencen.


Sarah gasped.

Keefe nodded. "I think it's you. I don't know why I didn't ever notice it, but you kind of have the same eye color as me. And you dyed your hair, right?"

Sarah nodded. "I was rebelling against the school etiquette."

"What kinda school doesn't let you have pink hair?" Keefe pouted.

"Eh. They expelled me for that. The next school I went to allowed pink hair."

Their solemn focus immediately went back to the portrait. "And you just discovered this?" Sarah asked quietly.

Keefe nodded. "The doors were always locked. But yesterday, I saw Dad come in here. I never went in here. I guess I figured it was a second office or something. It looked boring. But then I saw his face. Dad looked super fidgety, and he just kept muttering, 'No, no. It can't be.' I was super curious, you know me, so I spied on him until I saw where he stashed his keys."
"Where?" Sarah asked, in complete awe.

"Underneath his pillow!" Keefe laughed.

Sarah snickered. "Wow, I didn't know stony Cassius was a softie." She laughed at her corny joke.

"He isn't," Keefe put in.

Sarah shrugged. "It's still funny." She frowned. "But is that really me? I mean… it's kind of a long shot…"

"Yeah." Keefe was quiet. Then his gaze snapped up to Sarah again. "No, remember? My mom- or our mom?" He sighed. "She kept calling you 'Karcey.' Yeah, we thought she was pretty crazy when you told us, but what if she wanted to, I don't know, maybe trigger some memories?"
"Mmm-hmm," Sarah nodded, lost in thought.

Keefe frowned. "I hate to encourage Fitzphie bonding, but I guess we'll need full Cognate power on this."
"What?" Sarah asked, finally snapping out of her daze. Her full attention was now on Keefe.

"Cognates. You know?" Keefe sighed, rolling his eyes distastefully. "Never mind. Fitzy will be more than happy to explain to you what that means." He looked as if he wanted to say more, but was afraid of what Sarah would say.

Sarah shrugged. She could tell Keefe was disturbed by something, but she couldn't understand what. After all, she had only spent less than three days in the Forbidden Cities.

"To the Leapmaster!" Keefe announced, and they raced out of the room, ironically only to bump into Lord Cassius.

"Oh, hi…" Sarah didn't know what to say now that she'd seen the portrait.

Lord Cassius frowned in his usual, haughty way. "Hello… Sarah."

Keefe, however, was impetuous. He narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me I had a sister?"

Lord Cassius's normally steely expression paled to something unsure and insecure. "Whoever said you had one?"
"Whatever!" Keefe exclaimed. "We saw the portraits!"

Lord Cassius significantly flinched at that. Keefe smirked at how twitchy his father was. "I... usually keep those doors locked. How ever did you get inside?"

Keefe smirked again, pleased to have such a large reaction. His eyes glittered with malice. "I stalked you."

Sarah rolled her eyes as Keefe exaggerated the truth. Like always. Well, in the few days she was in the Lost Cities and knew him, that was. "Keefe, you just followed him for a few minutes. That's not stalking."

"It can be," Keefe winked. Then his gaze hardened like stone onto his father. "Care to explain what's going on?" His voice transformed from his joking tone to a much, much, much more serious one.
"No, because there is nothing to explain. At least, to you," Cassius shot back. He did not show any expression through his facial reaction.

Can Keefe really be my brother? thought Sarah as she watched Keefe ping-pong arguments with Lord Cassius.

Finally, she stepped in with a twinge of vexation. Why did girls always have to settle disputes? "Lord Cassius, please tell us. Am I a Sencen?"

Keefe's lips tightened as he awaited his father's answer. Sarah reassuringly squeezed her possible-brother's hand.

Then came a short, bleak response. "Yes."


Lord Cassius didn't bother to elaborate anything, instead he simply gave them the plainest, most basic answer they could ever hear. Just one word. That 'yes.' He turned his cold, unfathomable eyes to the walls. He didn't say anything more. "I believe you should go," he said emotionlessly. His eyes were bottomless pits. Sarah just pursed her lips in frustration.

Keefe, however, was a different story. Instead of being the droopy boy he normally was around his father, he was cool and direct. And confident, too.

"No," Keefe said quietly, narrowing his eyes. "We're not going anywhere until you give us the full explanation."

Lord Cassius ignored him and started walking at a brisk pace towards the vortinator.

Keefe grabbed his father's arm and closed his eyes. "You're feeling guilty. And angry… Huh. I actually feel some wallowing in there! I wonder if I should send in an application for your prize of First Emotions Ever Experienced." Sarah snickered slightly, but all amusement quickly faded. Keefe was reading his father's emotions to hopefully turn him around into explaining things. Since he was an Empath, like his father, actually, Keefe could feel what others felt. Sometimes it could be overwhelming. Sarah had heard that Sophie's emotions were so strong Keefe could feel them from across the room.

Lord Cassius grumbled something about his insolent son, but he stared endlessly at Sarah. "Yes, Karcey is your sister, Keefe. I suppose I had to tell you." He sighed. "If that's all you need, then please leave me be."

Sarah shrugged and started to head to the vortinator, trying to put on a show of indifference, but Keefe was very insistent. Very, very insistent.

"Tell us everything!" Keefe said quietly. "Everything."

"When the time is right, I will tell you!" Lord Cassius roared. "Now leave!" His angry voice echoed through the empty hallways of Candleshade. Yep, Sarah thought. Definitely like a haunted maze.

Keefe began to say something again, but Sarah tugged at his wrist. "Come on, Keefe. It's pointless right now, but maybe we can force it out of him later." Her eyes were pleading. Then her voice adapted a much more teasing tone. "Besides, don't you want to see Sophie?"

Keefe sighed and realized his sister was right, although he had to wonder where she got the ideas about Sophie. Did he let too much out?

Then his mind went blank as his father's words enveloped around him. "Your sister…"

His sister. It was so strange to refer to Sarah, or Karcey, as that. His sister.

He had never had a sister before.
He was always alone.

Now he wouldn't be.

Sarah held onto his hand and smiled at her brother, who was self-consciously mussing his hair, probably for Sophie, Sarah thought with a wide grin. They clambered into the Leapmaster and together the siblings light-leaped to Everglen, in the hopes of finding some answers.