*Chapter Twelve*

"WHOA," Sarah breathed. "You don't have to do that, Sophie. Now you're just making me feel guilty. I endangered Keefe. Hence, I should save him," she resolved with a pang of fear.

There were still the jaguars to deal with. She was no zoo expert, that was for sure.

Sophie tugged out two eyelashes before she spoke. "Look, Keefe is wild and unpredictable." She giggled nervously before returning to her stony face. "It's not your fault he got left behind."

"Plus, you were just getting used to the ability," Linh added softly.

Sarah's ice-blue eyes widened. "Why are you guys defending me? Clearly, it's my fault. It's as simple as that." She shook her head, sighing.

Fitz shook his head. "It really isn't. Trust me when I say that we all are annoyed at Keefe for his disappearing acts."

"He's done it before?" Sarah asked. Honestly, she wasn't surprised. She'd seen her brother do plenty of crazy things before. This was not so different from his typical behavior. "Actually, never mind," she jumped in. "But, seriously, I feel responsible for bringing Keefe back. I messed up, I gotta fix it." She put her hands on her hips, her lips spread into a thin smile.

Sophie sighed. "You're stubborn. I can see that. But-"

"No buts," Sarah interrupted, an intense look of fiery determination glinting in her eyes. "I'm going," she added, even more firmly. "Alone."


Sophie tried.

She yelled for Sarah to wait.

"IT MIGHT BE A TRAP!" she shouted, but Sarah ignored her and slapped her hands on the tree.

She heard the mixed screams and the cluttered footsteps racing towards her.

She didn't have much time.

"The Amazon Rainforest," Sarah muttered under her breath, imagining an Amazonian tree perched beside a horde of jaguars.

Sarah hoped it understood where she meant as she closed her eyes and flew through the roots.


Sarah rolled out of the tree, reforming. "Keefe?" she shrieked, dusting off her legs and getting up to her feet. "Keefe?" She glanced around. There was no jaguar in view. Nor Keefe. "Keefe?" she asked again, her voice rising.

Sarah fell to the muddy forest floor and started crying. "K-k-keefe!" she sobbed. Did the jaguars eat him? she wondered. Sarah bit her lip so hard that droplets of blood trickled down her chin. She wiped them off with her tunic sleeve, sniffling.

A pitter-patter sounded. Sarah glanced up. "Wow. This is just the best day of my life," Sarah said sarcastically, shielding her eyes.

It was raining.


Sarah lifted up her tunic's back, slinging it over her head to keep her face dry.

"Keefe?" she yelled, breathing heavily as she trudged through the rain. "Ugh! I hate rain! Why must it rain?" Sarah complained as a torrent sploshed down over her, completely drenching her clothes and exposed skin.

"Weeeell, it is called a rain forest," a snarky voice said from behind her.

A very familiar snarky voice.

"Keefe!" Sarah cried.


Keefe fell down to the rainforest floor as Sarah tackled him with a ginormous hug.

"Hey! THE HAIR!" Keefe screamed as his artfully-styled dirty blonde hair got mud all over it.

"The natural shampoo," teased Sarah, rubbing a dollop into his hair. "Also TASTES GOOD!" Her voice took on a furious tone as she squashed a handful of mud into Keefe's mouth.

Keefe spat the mud out. "Hey!" he cried. "Why'd you do that? I'm gonna have to wash my mouth out when we get home."

"Well, you did pull away from me when I was trying to Querk us back home!" Sarah yelled, restraining herself from throwing a powerful punch at her brother.

"Actually, that was my doing," a pleasantly sour voice came from above them.

Lady Gisela and the Neverseen were in the Amazon rainforest.

A/N: Okay! This chapter's a little shorter, but I'm still fighting the dreaded writer's block, so it's to be expected.

Chapter Thirteen will come out soon, I promise! The information will be on my profile.

Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, or favoriting!