A/N: Whether you're reading this or reviewing a chapter, I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to do so. It means a lot to me.

*Chapter Ten*

SARAH RUBBED AT her eyes and got ready for the gloomy wake-up view. But instead of seeing the familiar dark folded walls with boring tapestries hung on them like she was used to, she saw Lady Gisela standing aloof with a smirk on her face.

"You're pretty smart for someone who was raised in the Forbidden Cities," she said with a thin smile on her face, though her eyes told a different story. She was scowling at the corner wall.

"Alvar's there, isn't he?" guessed Sarah.

Lady Gisela harrumphed and studied Sarah closer. "Yes, yes, he is," she said distastefully.

"I know who you are," Sarah whispered, simpering.

"Ah, you do?" Lady Gisela's voice seemed ecstatic. "I'm glad, then. We won't have to go through all the challenges we thought we'd have to do."

Sarah scowled. "Why'd you send me to the Forbidden Cities and then kidnap me, anyway?"

"Oh, that. There was a slight... misunderstanding, now wasn't there, Alvar?" she turned to the corner, grimacing.

Sarah thought she heard an angry hiss from the corner wall, from Alvar.

"And what do I have to do with the Lodestar Initiative? Wasn't that planned for Keefe?" Sarah added, smiling innocently.

Lady Gisela narrowed her eyes. "I'm supposing you know much already."

"Oh, boy! Understatement of the century!" laughed Sarah, glaring daggers. "And we were going to find out more, but you kidnapped me."

"You could find out more here," Alvar said as he appeared from the shadowy corner. "You won't figure anything out where my little brother's concerned."

"Ooh! Vacker rivalry! Get me some popcorn!" Sarah chortled.

"Dopcorm?" Alvar looked bemused.

Sarah giggled all the while. "Human thing."

Lady Gisela frowned at her. "You need to get on with your training." She suddenly looked interested. "You manifested as an Empath, correct?"

Sarah felt the heat rise in her stomach. Telling them she was a Pyrokinetic would be a fool move. Then they'd Pyro-proof everything! She heard about fireproof chains and ropes. "Yes," she lied.

Lady Gisela raised an eyebrow. "I bet we can assure that confidence. Gethen!" she barked. "Bring him in!"

What's she doing? Sarah wondered.

An elf with very light blonde hair and sharp blue eyes stepped into the room, holding a prisoner bound by ropes. Keefe.


"Keefe!" Sarah cried.

"He won't hear you, my dear," Lady Gisela smiled thinly. "He's unconscious."

Unconscious,

Unconscious,

Unconscious.

The word echoed through Sarah's mind.

Her brother was kidnapped!

Soon all she could see was red, red-hot fire.

She pulled her fury out of her and yelled: "EVERBLAZE!" with pure instinct. She could see Lady Gisela and Alvar's shocked faces and Gethen's fear.

She wanted them all to pay.

Sarah drew the Everblaze through her hand and pushed it. It became a white-hot, blazing fireball.

The Everblaze protected Sarah and Keefe, trailing around them. Trapping Gethen.

She parted a bit of the fire and pushed Gethen out. Sarah heard a small shriek as she did. The fire continued to dangerously lick around them.

She closed her eyes and told the fire to rise.

Keefe was awake and screaming at Sarah to stop.

The Everblaze's walls rose higher and higher and grew thicker and thicker.

The inferno was in the entire hideout. Blazes pouring over blazes. Heat.

Sarah grabbed Keefe's hand and winced when she saw the accidental burn she made in his palm. "Let's go," she whispered. The fiery wall of Everblaze parted slightly, letting them race through the small pathway and up into fresh air.

Mostly, Sarah dragged Keefe.

"Come on, Keefe," she cried. She reached into her pocket but to no avail. "Ugh! They must have taken my home crystal!" she exclaimed.

Keefe coughed. Sarah slapped him on the back several times, making him hack.

Finally, Keefe whispered softly, "There."

A crystal was strewn on the grass.

"Keefe! You're brilliant!"

"Thank..." he coughed, "me later." He coughed again.

Sarah grabbed the crystal and shook it into the light, tugging Keefe in after her.


When Sarah could see again, she noticed that they were in a dense rainforest. Like in the pictures she saw at school back in San Diego.

A long river flowed by, and there were logs floating on top. Wait- no, they were crocodiles. "Uh, Keefe... I think we're in the Forbidden Cities." Now that she checked the crystal, she noticed it was blue. They were in such a hurry to escape that they didn't even ponder where it might lead.

Sarah glanced around, taking in the view. "I think we're in the Amazon rainforest, to be more specific."

"What?" Keefe gasped as he blinked, out of his daze. He covered his mouth. "Oh, wow..."

"Yep. But there's no time to sightsee, c'mon! The Amazon rainforest has a long list of deadly things and I should probably prepare you..."

"Oh, great," Keefe muttered. Sarah yanked his hand out of his pocket and tightened her grip on it.

"Stay close," she whispered, glancing around, as if searching for something. "Aha!" She grabbed a long wooden stick, after making sure it wasn't actually a snake.

"Might I ask what that's for?" Keefe asked, sounding truly frightened for the first time.

Sarah didn't answer, but instead pushed on, traipsing through the muddy ground. "Careful. There might be fire ants," she warned her brother.

"How do you know this stuff?" Keefe asked, in complete awe when he saw his sister battling a snake hanging from a low tree branch. It hissed and slithered back up.

"Eh. Here and there," she said vaguely, kicking a tree and causing some juicy fruit to fall into her open arms. "Here. Eat up," she ordered.

"Ewww," Keefe complained, glaring at the fruit as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world.

"You wanna eat worms instead? They're a great source of protein," Sarah deadpanned.

"Oh, uh, never mind. I'll eat this," Keefe said quickly, shoving the fruit into his mouth. He turned green as it went down. He retched. "Ugh." Then he glanced back at Sarah, who was happily munching on some. "How are you eating that?" he gasped.

"I went camping, and really roughed it back when I was eleven," Sarah said simply.

"Ah," Keefe nodded, acting as if he knew what camping was. He didn't. He quickly changed the subject. "So, how are we gonna get back to Everglen?"

"I don't know," shrugged Sarah. "The best thing we can do right now is try to survive."

Keefe gulped as he processed what she said.

Just then, something flashed into Sarah's brain. "No," she whispered, and crumpled on the damp rainforest floor.


"Sarah..." A lady wearing a black cloak approached her. She glanced around cautiously. "I am Renna," she murmured. "It will be important for you to remember that, later on."

Renna grasped Sarah's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Sarah, I need you to listen to what I am saying. The Black Swan is evil."

"What?" Sarah said, confused. "What's the Black Swan?"

"I was once with them," sighed Renna. "A tale for another time, but I was kicked out once I professed what I felt about their... tactics. They hesitate too much, and then it's too late..." Her voice broke off, as if she was remembering something. "The Neverseen are trying to make amends to the damage the Black Swan has done. They don't hesitate to fix things when needed." Renna grimaced.

"Okay, I don't know about anything you just told me," Sarah frowned.

"You will when the time is right," Renna told her. "Kenric..." she whispered, a single tear swirling down her face. "Kenric died because of the Council. He was my faithful brother and I... I was with the Black Swan at the time, working as a proxy. But the Black Swan didn't do anything to save him!"

Sarah's eyes widened.

"They just let him die. The Black Swan clearly doesn't care." Her eyes hardened. Then they softened as she fixated her gaze on Sarah. "Sarah, you need to know this. I got caught up in my hatred for the Black Swan. The Neverseen installed a special modification to your blood. It allows you to transport yourself from one tree to another. It's a little-known ability, but also incredibly rare one, called Quercatem. You are a Querker, which means you can touch one tree and push yourself into it, through a long process called hypherbaile."

"Okay, okay, I don't need the science lesson," Sarah said exasperatedly.

"Basically, you can teleport yourself through the roots of trees," Renna said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" Sarah said in awe.

"Yes. Just tell the tree where you want to go, and hopefully, if it's connected, you can bring yourself there." The memory faded away until there was nothing left but blankness.


Who was Renna?

That was Sarah's first thought as she pushed back into reality. Keefe was shaking her vigorously. "Wake up, Sarah! Please! I don't know how to deal with those spotted monsters!"

Sarah jolted back into consciousness. "Oh, hi, Keefe," she mumbled, trying to piece together what Renna told her. "Wow, I'm a whatchacallit? Oh, yeah. Querker..." Sarah thought aloud.

"Okaayyyyy..." Keefe said slowly. His face showed obvious signs that he thought Sarah was having delusions.

"I'm fine, Keefe!" Sarah said quickly. "So, you said something about a-" She stopped abruptly and whispered, "Jaguar."

A/N: Another cliffhanger! Also, I formed the ability 'Quercatem' from Latin phrases. 'Quercus' is the basic classification for trees, and I meshed it up with 'translationem,' which means transportation, again in Latin!