Hey people! I hope you enjoyed that first chapter! This next one is just the tiniest bit violent…the only violence is a flashback to an instance of child abuse, so that could be a trigger for some people. Italics are flashbacks.

Thanks so much to my first reviewer, silverfox02029! Everyone please review on this chapter too!

silverfox02029: Thanks! I'm so glad you like the story and YES, YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT STELLARLUNE! I've noticed over the course of the series that Silveny has a very strong connection with Keefe, and since Keefe becomes more sensitive to a variety of connections in Unlocked and Stellarlune, it seems pretty likely that Silveny's connection could be strengthened enough that she could communicate with Keefe without Sophie's help. I don't have a super great understanding of Shannon Messenger's world and how everything works, but I hope that clears it up for you! Thanks so much!

Candleshade. So many happy memories.

In the Lost Cities, most of us had great parents. Sophie had Grady and Edaline. Fitz and Biana had Alden and Della. Dex had Kesler and Juline. I was the son of Lady Gisela Sencen and Lord Cassius Sencen. The disappointment. The failure.

It was better before I started Foxfire. There was less I had to do to impress my parents. I was just a kid.

I stumble into the room where Daddy sits at his desk, slaving over his book. I don't remember what he called it. Something dumb. He's Daddy.

I rest my chin on the edge of his desk and look up at him. "Daddy?"

"Mm?"

"I scwaped my knees," I pout, rubbing the bleeding joint.

Daddy looks up from his work and glances at my legs. He takes one look at my tear-streaked face and picks up his three-year-old, lifting me above his head. I squeal with delight as he starts to spin me around, making a birdlike chirping sound.

Daddy hugs me against his chest and kisses the top of my head, then carries me to the bathroom and hands me an elixir. I swallow it and my scraped knees almost instantly start to heal.

I was simultaneously mourning and nostalgic—though I guess sometimes they're the same thing. There used to be so much less stuff to worry about. No Neverseen. No girls. No daddy issues.

Not that I didn't want the girls.

I sighed, went up to my bedroom, flopped down on the bed, and waited for sleep to catch up to me.

I back into the corner, whimpering. I messed up again. She's gonna kill me.

My mother reaches up to her hair as she approaches me. When it comes down, a hairpin has joined the vial in her hand. Sharp and pointed at the tip. The six-year-old version of myself starts to panic.

"When will you learn, Keefe?" My mother shakes her head. "Eavesdropping will get you nowhere. It doesn't hurt anyone but you."

"I'm sorry," I whisper, a hint of my baby voice breaking through. "I didn' mean to?"

"You didn't mean to put that gadget your little friend made in my necklace?"

I shake my head. My mother sighs and grabs my wrist, yanking me forward. I whimper. I want Daddy. He's not always the best father, but I need him. Mommy doesn't hurt me when he's around.

My mother rotates my hand so my palm faces up and lowers the hairpin toward my skin. I whimper again and she holds a slender finger to my lips. She stabs the pin into my palm and drags it down, from the base of my fingers to my wrist. I let out a small cry as tears well up in my eyes. Mommy holds the glass vial to my hand and lets my blood drip inside. She corks it and pulls me away from the wall.

"Go get cleaned up," she hisses. "Come back as soon as you're done."

I nod and go rinse off my hand, my blood staining the perfect porcelain bowl.

—

I winced when the light hit my eyes. The memory was just as painful, though it was one I didn't know I had until now—another one my mother stole from me. Something must have triggered it.

I inspected my hands, and sure enough, there was a scratch, nearly parallel to the scar that ran the length of my palm. I'd never remembered where the scar had come from. Now I knew. It hadn't seemed like a deep cut in the memory, but my mother had likely done it more than once.

I sighed and pulled myself out of bed, wincing as my shoulder reminded me of its irritation. I'd stage an accident in my alchemy session later.

There was one strand of hair that simply would not go into place, and I contemplated cutting it off before deciding that girls might think the imperfection was attractive. I pulled on my pale blue Level Six uniform and flicked another tuft of hair into place.

There. No flashbacks. No memories. No hurt. No pain.

Just me.

—

DEX

"Ow!"

I snapped my hand back as Keefe jarred the beaker for the fifty MILLIONTH time and spilled more of our elixir on my hand. I glared at him. He grinned not-so-apologetically.

"Remember, I can dye your hair green," I mumbled.

"I can smash all your gadgets."

"I could get rid of your hair."

"I could ask Biana to the Solstice Ball."

"I could break Sophie and Fitz up."

He grinned. "Can you do that?"

I shook my head. "I'm not risking the wrath of Wonderboy."

"Well, what if I turned his hair blond right after?"

"Then he'd be mad at both of us."

Keefe pouted and bumped the beaker again, only this time it spilled on his hand, not mine. He yelped and clutched his hand, the sound attracting Lady Galvin from across the classroom.

"Mr Sencen!" she said exasperatedly. "How is it that every time you come to my class either you end up in the Healing Center or something else ends up on fire?"

Keefe shot her a grin. "Healing Center! Good idea! See ya!"

"Mr. Sencen!"

Keefe saluted her and danced out the door.

—

When Keefe came back, his hand was bandaged and his arm was wrapped in a silver sling. I frowned. "That didn't happen in alchemy."

"Nope," he said, almost proudly. "Yesterday."

"With the verminion?"

He hesitated, then said, "Yes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you get it taken care of yesterday?"

"Um." He rubbed his neck with his good hand. He had a habit of doing that. "Foster wanted to talk."

I smirked.

"Then Grady caught us in her room and lectured me on how I was never, ever supposed to be alone with her behind a closed door, never on a bed, and I absolutely must not make physical contact." He rolled his eyes. "It was just a hug, I mean—"

He bit his lip. I suddenly had the feeling that someone was behind me.

I turned around to meet a pair of smoldering teal eyes. Two pairs, actually—though the second one was softer and a little annoyed, like she'd been through this before.

Fitz's eyes locked on Keefe, narrowing accusingly. "What did you say you were doing with my girlfriend?"

"Whoa, relax, man." Keefe raised his hand in surrender. "I was over at Havenfield and we went in her room, it was nothing—"

"And cuddled with her on a bed? Alone?"

"She was lecturing me! Come on, I had to give this same speech to Grady yesterday!"

That only seemed to make Fitz angrier. I grabbed Biana's arm and pulled her back a few steps in case Wonderboy got physical.

I didn't know exactly what was going through Fitz's mind, but it must have been particularly aggravating. His jaw clenched, and a second later, Keefe's face was turned to the side with the impact of his punch. Biana shrieked. Keefe put a hand to his face and winced as he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

A crowd started to gather when Keefe punched him back. You couldn't really expect Keefe to take it lying down, so within seconds, it was a full-scale war.

"Guys—GUYS!" I tried pushing between them, but they were moving too fast and everyone around was yelling and Fitz and Keefe were yelling and girls were screaming and I couldn't think and I couldn't breathe and everything was chaos—

"SHUT UP!"

Everything went quiet and still. I turned to see Biana, her hands pressed to her mouth, alarmed that she had shouted so loud. Fitz and Keefe were both staring at me. Keefe's good arm was paused in mid-punch.

"Can you guys calm down?" I half shouted. "You're fighting over a girl! And while she's totally worth fighting over, she's not, I dunno—the last custard burst or something. You don't get to own her! So how about you let Soph control her life and stay out of it!"

Fitz looked like he was about to explode. Keefe was grinning widely and looked rather impressed.

WHAM!

Stars burst in my vision and I felt my head smack against the wall behind me.

Pandemonium ensued.

I stayed pressed against the wall, trying to avoid the crush of people cheering on Fitz and Keefe. My head was starting to pound. I couldn't take this much noise.

"All right, boys, that's enough! Break it up!"

The room gradually got quieter. I edged closer to the wall and rubbed my head. That was going to bruise.

Once my head cleared, I could see Elwin prying Fitz and Keefe apart and inspecting the very large bruise on Keefe's cheek. "Healing Center. Now."

"But I—"

"He—"

"What abo—"

"Now!"

Keefe looked indignant, but he reluctantly followed Elwin and Fitz. Elwin looked back at the last second and saw me rubbing my head. "Dex, you come too."

I shrugged and started after them. Biana trailed behind me, probably making sure she had something to tell her parents about Fitz.

"Dex, let me see your head," Elwin said, rummaging through a shelf of elixirs and disregarding Fitz and Keefe. I shot Keefe a silent apology and stepped forward.

"Hmm." Elwin flashed a purple orb around my head. "No concussion. Here."

He tossed a matching elixir at me. I caught it and tipped the violet liquid down my throat. The headache started to shrink, though the bump was still there.

Elwin handed Keefe and Fitz a pair of pale blue and teal elixirs, respectively. I would have bet Iggy he did it on purpose.

"Dex, you can go," Elwin said distractedly, roughly tilting Keefe's chin up to see his bruise. "You too, Biana. I have to be a responsible adult and take these two to Magnate Leto's office."

Keefe stuck out his lower lip. Elwin shook his head.

"Are you okay, Dex?" Biana asked quietly.

I reached up to the bump on the back of my head and winced. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You know—" She looked up at me, her eyes teasing. "That was pretty brave back there."

I blushed. "Thanks?"

She laughed.

"You're not going to ask if I'm okay?" Fitz grumbled.

"You got yourself into this mess," Biana shot back. "Deal with it."

Both Keefe and I grinned. She was fiery.

It was kind of cute.

I mentally slapped myself. I'd had a crush on Biana since the beginning of the school year, but I hadn't done anything about it for fear of Wonderboy. He had some serious anger issues.

I felt a tug on my arm and turned back to Biana.

"Come on," she said. "Universe in two minutes."