1: A whole new world

Delilah woke up to the sound of tapping on her window. She slid down her bed, put on her purple bunny slippers, and walked towards it. When she swept open the curtains she almost let out a scream, before the FLOATING BOY covered her mouth. "Shhh! I'm not going to hurt you," he said. She slapped his hand away. "And why should I trust a random teal-eyed teen who is magically floating at my window that he's not going to hurt me? Wait, are you a wizard?" she asked. The boy gave a blank stare. "Look, I know this might be a little weird for you–"

"A LITTLE?" Delilah squealed.

"OK, a lot. But you need to come with me," he said, holding out his hand after holding up a wand-looking thing with his other one. Wait… this boy seemed familiar to Delilah. And the wand-thing had a crystal in it. She let out a gasp. "Your Fitz Vacker! You're an elf!" she said. The boy paled, confirming her suspicions. "How-" he asked, but got cut off by the excited teen.

"You're a fictional character! You shouldn't exist! If you exist, then so does Project Moonlark, and Keefe, and Abilities, and–"

"What do you mean? I'm as real as possible. Just come with me. Please," he pleaded.

"Heck yeah!" Delilah said, grabbing onto his hand. Fitz seemed confused when her dark skin collided with his, but he raised the pathfinder anyway. Delilah was consumed with light, and felt a weird sensation… like kittens hugging her body. It was so warm, she didn't want to leave. But it ended just as quickly as it started. She found herself facing huge, bright gates that shone with light, despite the darkness. It hurt her eyes, especially since she wasn't wearing her glasses. Wait! She wasn't wearing her glasses. "Fitz! I need my glasses!" she yelped. Fitz was confused.

"Why do you need your glasses? Do you have an experiment you need to do here?" he asked. Delilah gaped at him. "WHAT? ELVES HAVE PERFECT VISION?" she yelped.

"Wait, you have trouble seeing?" Fitz asked.

"It's called astigmatism, idiot. I thought elves were supposed to be smarter than this," she said.

"We just don't have that kind of stuff here. I have no idea what this 'Astigmatism' is."

"Ugh. It's when you have blurry vision. From birth. So I need glasses to fix my lenses. Let me go back," she said, folding her arms.

"Wellll, you can't go back right now. So you have to let me search your mind to see what it looks like, and let Edaline conjure it," he said. Delilah's eyes lit up.

"Edaline? OMG OMG OMG!" she started jumping up and down.

"So childish," Fitz muttered under his breath, thinking Delilah hadn't heard. She shot him a glare. "How would you react if one of your favorite book serieses were real and that series includes the best people ever? Wait, KEEFE! Let me see Keefe. I've had enough of your Ritz Cracker face," Delilah said. Fitz sighed.

"I have no idea what a Ritz Cracker is and I'm sure I don't want to find out. Well, anyways, can you tell me stuff about you? Like your name, age, ect.?" he asked.

"My name is Delilah Tesk, you can call me Lilah. I'm 15 years old, but by elven calculations, 16 and a half. I'm an African-American female–"

"How are you a female? And what's an African-American?" He asked. Lilah was infuriated.

"What do you mean, how are you a female? Just because I don't have long, silky hair like literally every stereotypical girl does doesn't mean I'm a boy. An African-American is someone whose parents are African but live in America. Those are Human continents, by the way," she added. Fitz still looked confused. "Doesn't your hair grow?" he asked.

"Yes, yes it does. It looks like I barely have any hair, but I have a lot. It's kind of just braided into sections that are pressed onto my scalp. Humans call it 'Cornrow' " she said.

"Okayyyy. Still a bit confused, but I'm assuming your hair is naturally fluffy."

"FINALLY! SOME COMMON SENSE CAME OUT OF THE RITZ CRACKER! Now let's go wherever we're going. And, one more question, am I some sort of second moonlark?" Fitz coughed. "That information is classified," he said, picking up the pace.

"So I am?"

"Classified."

"I am!"

"Whatever. Quick warning, Team Valiant and the rest of the Black Swan will be there. It might get a little noisy. You know everyone, right?" He asked. Lilah nodded. Then she realized something. "But I'm wearing my PJ's! Can I change?"

"Fine, you can borrow some of Biana's clothes. But be quick. They've been waiting for a while now." Delilah nodded and took off, already knowing where Biana's room was. She opened the door and entered the extremely large room. It was way larger than hers, and she lived in a mansion. She spotted a pink door and opened it, revealing a closet the size of her room. She walked around, looking for the right clothes to pick, but nothing was really her style. She thought of her fitted white crop top that fit with everything. Oh, she just wished she had it. Then she thought to try something: if she was a second moonlark, maybe she would be able to conjure things. So she snapped her fingers. At first, nothing happened, but then a blue hanger with the crop top appeared in her hands. She did a quick victory dance and put it on. Next, she thought of her favorite pair of jeans, denim flares. It took a little longer than the last one, but Lilah didn't mind. Once she put everything on, she decided she needed extra stuff, including her glasses. So after snapping lip gloss, her Bebe black and purple glasses, her Nike shoes that were the same color as her glasses, and her over-worn black Hollister jacket, she was ready to go. She didn't need to snap her gold studs, because those stayed in her ears for a week before she cleans them. She stepped down the stairs to face the crowded living room.

They all turned to look at her. Some people turned away quickly, probably because of the amount of skin showing. Elves didn't have crop-tops, so Lilah didn't think too much of it. Dex, Keefe, and Fitz had their jaws to the floor. Sophie gave a big smile. Mr. Forkle gave a tiny one. Tam was one of the people who looked away, and Linh just blinked. The twins really did look like k-pop idols in real life. Granite, or Teirgan, had also looked away, and so did Alden. Della looked about ready to cry, and Biana looked angry. At her. Grady just folded his arms, looking her up and down. Edaline was nowhere to be seen. "OK, for some reason this dude isn't really looking like a dude," Keefe said, breaking the silence.

"Why does everyone think I'm a boy? At least Sophie knew, right?" Lilah said, turning to Sophie. Keefe's jaw dropped wider, and so did Dex's. Sophie flushed pink. "I thought you were a boy at first… but you started to act a little like a female, so I just assumed that you were transgender," she said, interested in her feet. Lilah sighed.

"OK, so I know you were watching me. Nice. My name is Delilah, but my friends call me Lilah. And my enemies call me Godzilla Lilah. Which is just about every human, apart from my family," She said. Keefe laughed. "Oh, I am so using that nickname on you," he said, clutching his stomach. "OK, so you're a girl. Good to know. Fitz said that you went to go change into Biana's clothes, but I don't think she would wear anything like that," he said, pointing to her clothes.

"Well, I found out that I'm a conjuror. Yay," she said, doing little jazz hands. She heard a few gasps around the room. "Also, you can stop looking away now. This is what a normal teen wears these days. At least, a human teen. It's OK." Tam finally looked up, and his jaw parted a little bit, but he shut it just as quickly. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take a shadow-reading on you right now," he said. He closed his eyes, not waiting for a response, and she felt a cold sensation wash over her body. It became normal temperature after a little bit, though. Tam looked at his friends, and they looked at each other. Lilah realized they were having a telepathic conversation. "Hey, guys? The secret convo thing is kind of cool, but do you mind filling me in?" she asked. "Sorry, this is kind of private…" Sophie said. Lilah sighed, and pulled out her phone from the pocket of her jacket. Some people stared quizzically at the phone. She went to her messages, and sent one to her boyfriend. How she accomplished that goal, she didn't know. But she had to make up a cover story. And quick.

Lilah:

Hey, Aaron

Aaron:

Where are you? Everyone is looking for you!

Shi….takii mushrooms! What should I do? She thought. Then an idea sprung up into her brain. "Hey, are my friends and family's minds going to be erased?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Alden responded.

Lilah:

Are you feeling alright? I think we need to get you to a doctor. I'm in my bed, texting you right now!

Aaron:

But your parents called! They said you weren't there!

Lilah clicked the call button, and after a few seconds Aaron picked up. She quickly put the phone to her ear. "Aaron, there's going to be gas filling up your room very soon," she said. Everyone turned to look at her, confused (apart from Sophie of course, who was panicking.)

"What do you mean!?" he yelled, the room probably hearing it.

"What is that?" Dex asked. I put the universal "SHH!" sign to my lips, and he instantly kept quiet.

"Who was that?" Aaron asked.

"Look, Aaron. You need to be calm when the gas gets into your room. Always know that I love you," she said, tears leaking down her face.

"Babe, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

"Call Elia. Tell her that I said goodbye," she said, tears flowing down like a floodgate. They would not stop. She let out a sob. "And don't forget my parents and my brothers. Please, Aaron."

"O-okay. I love you too," he said. It sounded like he was crying too. And then she hung up the phone. She put it back into her pocket and tried to wipe her tears, but they kept on coming.. Everyone was staring at her at this point. Sophie walked up and hugged her. "I know, I know. It felt horrible when I came here too, and had to leave my family. It's all going to be OK. You'll have the best adoptive parent ever," she said. Lilah noticed how she didn't pluralize it, but she didn't press for details. "Thank you, Sophie," she said, pulling back. Her tears had finally stopped, and she wiped her eyes. "Who was that you were talking to?" she asked.

"My boyfriend," she responded flatly. Sophie's eyes widened.

"Oh no. How long were you with him?" she asked, clear concern shown on her face.

"A year and a half. And now he thinks I'm dead." she said, looking at the floor.

"Yea, I heard. It's weird to see you switch languages that easily. I forgot about that," Sophie said.

"Um, what are you guys talking about? We don't speak English, remember," Tam said. Sophie bit her lip, and Lilah nodded, letting her say what was going on. She sat on the stairs, watching as she talked to the other elves. She looked at her apple watch. It was 12:32 A.M. Lilah sighed. It was going to be a long night.