Keefe was back to sleep again and the sun was setting in front of Candleshade. Sophie's favorite place in the huge mansion was quickly becoming the rooftop garden. Amy was paying special attention to all the pretty flowers.

"Why did you do all that for Keefe?"

Amy shrugged, sitting next to her on the marble bench. "He's a really good friend of yours who's in a bad position. I looked up the symptoms you gave me and talked to a couple doctor friends and it sounds like he has a nerve disorder. It's probably going to leave him bedridden for the rest of his life, which means he could be stuck there for thousands of years. And he'll probably lose things like his hearing over time. I wanted to do what I could to help."

"Thank you for doing that for him. He really appreciates it."

"So are you guys going to keep going after the Neverseen?"

Sophie shook her head. "Loanmore was a big wake-up call for the Council, and Iltaurielle chewed them out for using kids to do their dirty work. They realized they have thousands of adults with hundreds of years of experience at their disposal. Team Valiant is now strictly on an advisory basis until we're old enough and if we choose to leave once we're adults, then we'll leave. They finally figured out that we're just kids. Wylie's the only one who's even out of school and he's still only nineteen. That's way too young to be getting involved in these kinds of things. So we'll be taking a back seat, and for one, I'm glad. It shouldn't be my job to clean up millenia-old mistakes that I have no part in. So, we're out of the limelight for now. I still have special treatment, bodyguards, weird school schedule; but I'm being allowed to live my life apart from that."

Amy grinned. "Awesome. So will we be able to be better friends because of that?"

"Well, if you'll be teaching us all sign language, then you'll probably be around a lot, so probably. I don't know about me visiting you unless we can make up some story. But yeah, totally."

"Yay." Her sister leaned her head on Sophie's shoulder. "I am so down for the double agent thing."

"You're weird."

They both laughed. Amy sighed, staring at one of the flowers. "This probably has a lot of ramifications for Keefe. I mean, he can't do anything. He's trapped inside his own body.

"Don't worry. If anyone or anything gives him trouble, the Council and the Black Swan are standing behind him. And Team Valiant of course."

"You mentioned somebody named Iltaurielle earlier. Who are they?"

Sophie answered, "She's the person who brought Keefe out of his coma. She's tracking down the Neverseen by herself right now. None of us are super worried about her, since she rides a really big gold dragon and she's an elf with weapons that carries herself like she knows how to use them."

"Cool. So how badly do they want How To Train Your Dragon 2?"

"Really, really badly. Like, Fitz doesn't beg for anything and he will not shut up about this movie. Neither will Keefe, but he's being more polite about it."

Amy grinned. "I have it on order and it's coming. I have to go soon, I've got school, but I'll be taking sign language classes in addition to what I already know, so as soon as you need it, I can start teaching Keefe sign language. And you guys too, so you can understand him."

"Thank you so much for your help, Amy. You've saved us a lot of trouble."

"No problem!"

Mr. Forkle had to take Amy home, so Sophie went back to Keefe's room.

He looked much more peaceful when he was sleeping. She was careful not to disturb him as she continued sorting the movies. The selection Amy had chosen was wide. On Keefe's end was most if not all of the Disney animated movies. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast. Every movie she'd grown up watching. She shelved them in alphabetical order, sliding The Aristocats in between Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

Keefe's new room was much smaller than his old bedroom, but he didn't need the extra space anymore. The room, being in the interior of the building, had no windows, but plenty of natural light funneled through a skylight using mirrors. The wall-mounted TV was on the wall at the foot of Keefe's bed, perpendicular to the door, with one of the shelves under it and the other two on either side. The layout reminded her a bit of a nice hospital room, but with shelves.

The books Amy had gotten were larger and thicker than Sophie had thought. She also wasn't sure if Keefe could read in English. But she set the Inheritance Cycle on the shelf next to a thick hardbound copy of Lord of the Rings. A thought flitted across her mind, wondering how Keefe would have time to read all of these. Then she remembered he had all the time he could ever need.

A knock on the door startled her and she dropped the book she was holding on her foot. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Biana stepped in.

"Yeah. I dropped a book."

Biana sat next to her and started helping her shelve the books. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah…" Sophie didn't like the nervousness in her tone. "Is something wrong?"

"Fitz probably told you we found Alvar."

"He did. Do you want to talk about that?"

"No." She sighed. "I don't like remembering it. He looked horrible and I actually felt upset about it. I wanted to know if you had any advice for dealing with it."

Sophie pushed the box of books aside and set her arm around Biana's shoulders. "I don't really, except that talking about help sometimes. I didn't like my grandma all that much, she was a former Army nurse, strict and all that. But she was also sweet and let us do things our parents might not have agreed with. So I get it."

"Thank you."

"I wanted to talk to you about…something else. I'm not sure if you're comfortable with it, but I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"Okay…" Since this wasn't a serious conversation, Sophie reached over and pulled out more books to shelve. Percy Jackson was at the top of the pile, ten medium to thick volumes. "What's on your mind?"

"Dex."

She almost dropped the book she was holding again and hoped Biana didn't notice. "What about him?"

"Well…do you think we have a chance of being matched?"

Sophie slid the book onto the shelf slowly. "I'm not sure. I don't know much about the matchmaking system. I never got to pick up my packet remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, there are a lot of things that affect it. Whether or not you have an ability, family trees, and family status. I also know matchmakers prefer matching people close to each other geographically or in the same rank as the nobility. To give them the best chance of meeting."

"Well, I'd say you have a pretty solid chance then. Since you both have an ability, it really is fifty/fifty, unless he decides not to register. But since you're both pretty famous and your family trees don't intersect anywhere as far as I know, you've got a pretty good chance. I wouldn't be super hung up about it."

Biana squinted at the title of a book. "Where does this one go? I figured out the ones with the numbers on them, since I saw the order you put them in, but this one doesn't have that."

Sophie took the book from her and read the title. "This isn't in a series. It's a standalone book. So it just goes by itself."

"Okay. This question might be weird, since he's your cousin, but do you think I have a chance with him?"

"Dex?"

"Yeah."

"Totally!" Sophie smiled. "Just be careful. He's a little breakable after I had to let him down."

"Okay." Suddenly Biana paled and looked behind them at Keefe. "He's asleep right?"

"Yes. But he can't tell anyone, remember? I'm the only one he can speak to with any regularity. Until he learns sign language, anything in his head is stuck there. But yeah, he's sleeping." Sophie got up and pulled one of the other boxes over to a different shelf.

"I forgot about that." Biana joined her in putting away the movies. "Do you think he likes me?"

Sophie squeezed Mulan in between its fellows. "You have a chance. I don't want to betray his confidence by saying anything else, but you do have a chance."

"Okay. What's -oh I don't know how to pronounce this- Pinnochio?"

"It's a story about a wooden puppet trying to become a real boy. His nose grows really long when he lies. The original fairy tale was really dark, but the film adaptation was made appropriate for children."

Biana went to put it on the shelf, then stopped. "Where does it go?"

Sophie pointed. "Here, next to Pocohontus."

They finished shelving the movies quietly, with only the occasional question of where something went.

"You're staying kind of late. Don't you have to go home?"

"Yeah. I'm avoiding Fitz."

"Is something wrong?"

Biana shook her head. "He's just asking weird questions. Like what kind of flowers I like."

"What kind of flowers do you like?"

"You too? What is it with the weird questions?" She squinted at the case of the disc she was holding. "What does this say anyway?"

"That's Sleeping Beauty. And I'm genuinely curious."

"Roses. I know a little bit about the language of flowers in human culture and I know they represent love. I also really like the idea that people came up with a whole language using just flowers and I think it sounds really romantic."

Sophie nodded, filing the information away. "Sleeping Beauty goes here by the way, next to Robin Hood and Snow White. I did a presentation on the language of flowers in history class once. It's fascinating. Roses actually have different meanings depending on the colour."

"That's super cool. What's the difference?"

"Red roses represent love and romance, but black ones mean vengeance. Blue ones are, oh boy it's been like five or six years, I think they're mystery and intrigue but I could be wrong."

"Are purple roses a thing? It's my favourite colour."

Sophie nodded. "Purple roses are 'love at first sight'."

"Wow." Biana stared up toward the wall with a dreamy smile and a light blush on her cheeks.

"If you want to learn more, I could look up some information for you."

"Can you actually say things with flowers?"

"What did you have in mind?" Sophie asked. She stacked some of the movies in alphabetical order to make them easier for Biana to shelve.

"Kind of like, 'You're the only one for me'. I think that'd be really romantic."

"Hmm. Let me think." Sophie dug up all the old research, trying to remember the meanings of certain flowers. "Tulips, hydrangeas, and chrysanthemums. Tulips are 'declaration of love', hydrangeas are 'heartfelt', and chrysanthemums are 'fidelity'. Depending on who's giving it, you could also add daffodils, 'chivalry', irises, 'my compliments', or red roses. There are plenty of others, but those are the ones I thought of."

"That sounds really pretty. If we're done for today, both of us should probably go home. Like you said, it is getting pretty late."

Sophie nodded, pushing the half-empty box against the wall. "I was just filling in for Ro while she ran to grab something. She's probably back by now."

They walked back to the vortinator, greeting Ro briefly on their way. Right before Sophie stepped off the annoying lavish front porch of Candleshade, Biana set a hand on her arm to stop her. "If you really think I have a chance with Dex, could you…drop a hint to him or something?"

"Sure." Sophie shooed three crows away from the railing. "I'll be back here tomorrow so if you want to talk more about the language of flowers, that's where I'll be."

"Thanks." Biana pulled out her home crystal and lifted it to the dying vestiges of the sunset. "See you tomorrow."

"You too."


Story is progressing nicely! Drop a review below for a tidbit from my next chapter! (If you don't want one, just let me know.)

Shine brightly!

Ruby