A/N Guess who didn't update on time again? MEEEE. I'm sorry. I had an excuse for about four days because my dog chewed up my computer charger and my computer was dead, so I had to wait two days for one charger to come, only to find out that it didn't work on my computer type, so I had to wait two more days for the right charger to arrive, but after that... I'm just lazy. Sorry.

Also, guys, I'm probably going to be late for this next Friday update because I have a dance competition this weekend. I'm SUPER sorry you have to deal with this crappy updater. Anyways, here's the next (pretty long, actually, so yay) chapter:

"Keefe?" Sophie asked in surprise.

"Um... no offense, Keefe... but... what the heck are you doing here?" Biana asked.

Keefe fidgeted uncomfortably. "Got a scroll thirty seconds ago saying there was an attack at the greenhouse. Fitz had told me you were both there. I knew Sophie had to be behind it."

"Actually, this time it was Biana." Sophie said it in a joking tone, but her comment made Biana glare at her like there was was no tomorrow.

Keefe let out a harsh laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah," Biana grumbled, staring at the ground.

"She finally got a wild side!" Keefe exclaimed. "Nice!"

Biana blushed, cheeks a rosy pink.

Keefe smirked.

Slowly Sophie felt a pit in her stomach. Was Keefe flirting with Biana? She hoped not. She knew that Keefe liked to teasingly flirt, and usually it was innocuous. Still, Keefe's so-called 'innocuous' flirting with Sophie had formed a full blown relationship. One that she hoped wouldn't be compromised by Biana.

But that was all just stupid, right? Biana had already learnt her lesson after the whole matchmaking ordeal. Which she still needed to talk to Biana about.

She noticed Biana and Keefe staring at her strangely.

"Okay there, Foster?" Keefe asked concernedly.

"Yeah," Sophie said. "I'm fine."

"Sure..." Keefe said skeptically. "Hey, you realize we won't be able to go on our date today, right?"

Sophie frowned. "Why not?"

"There's a hundred people waiting to be interviewed," Biana cut in. "These interrogations can last from a minute to an hour."

"What about sleeping?" Sophie asked.

"Sleeping bags."

"Food?"

Biana rolled her eyes. "We're in a greenhouse."

"Entertainment?"

Keefe did an exaggerated gasp. "I'm not entertaining enough for you? Man, I need to step up my game."

Sophie smiled. "Nah, you're fine."

"Thanks," Keefe said, intertwining his hand with hers, smiling at her. She smiled back.

Biana shifted uncomfortably.

Seeing Biana's temperament, Sophie changed the subject. "Anyways, how are we going to keep the interrogators from finding out that Biana was the one who triggered the plants?"

"Frame someone. Isn't it obvious?" Keefe asked.

"We can't frame someone!" Sophie exclaimed, appalled.

Keefe looked at her helplessly. "Well, what else can we do?"

"Um, tell the truth?" Biana asked.

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "It's the Council. Who knows what they'll do?"

"Yeah," Keefe agreed. "They could let you off without even a warning, or they could send you to Exile."

"That's not our council," Biana said. "That's the 'fighting the Neverseen' Council. They're much more civil now. They'll know I wasn't trying to provoke anyone."

"You really think that?" Sophie asked worriedly. "Because, no offense, but I don't."

"Neither do I," Keefe cut in.

Biana looked down, her face red. "Okay, so maybe it's a bit of a long shot, but the Council has changed."

"No, they haven't!" Sophie exclaimed. "Remember Kenton Arbel?"

Keefe sighed mournfully. "I tutored him in astronomy. He was a good kid. Didn't deserve what happened to him."

A year ago, a young, talentless Level Four named Kenton Arbel had been expelled and hauled off to Exile for a crime he hadn't committed. He was in his last, hopeless stage of ability testing, when suddenly a small flame had burst from his hand. Although Kenton hadn't seemed to have any stigma around Pyrokinesis, the teacher did, smashing his fiery hand with the first thing she could think of, a crystal bottle.

The bottle wasn't to take out his fire, but to hurt him and his ability.

However, the fire hadn't stopped, but had only grown larger, too large for Kenton's control. Instead of staying calm and following the protocol used if one manifested Pyrokinesis, she had screamed at him, calling him a monster, telling him to stop. Kenton's stress, the screaming, and the intensity of the situation had only made the flame grow bigger, until other things had caught fire. Soon, the whole room was filled with flames.

An alarm went off. The teacher light-leaped away without her student, choosing only to save herself. Kenton's burnt and crumbled nexus afterwards showed that he was close to mastering leaping, but because of the chaos of the situation, he forgot to protect himself, and when he landed on the evacuation field, he was faded, bruised and scratched from the bottle, and his hair was on fire.

Compared to others, that was lucky- two prodigies died that day.

Kenton was sent to Exile without a tribunal, sentenced with a fate worse than death- a memory break. During the break, the probe discovered that he was innocent, and the teacher was at fault. Still, he stayed paralysed in his little world of insanity.

Sophie had offered to heal him, but the scandalous tragedy was already very public, and the Council was afraid that their reputation would be even more ruined than before if the 'murderer' was healed- the rest of the Lost Cities believed that the tragedy could have been prevented if the Council had installed more fire safety mechanisms.

And still, throughout all of the accusations, Lady Cadence was never punished. Instead, she was promoted.

It was disgusting.

"He most definitely didn't deserve what happened," Biana said. She groaned. "You're right. The Council still sucks."

Sophie nodded. "No kidding."

"There's no way I can turn myself in!" Biana said. She smoothed back her hair, looking stressed. "But we can't frame someone. That would be wrong."

Suddenly, an idea started to form in Sophie's head. She smiled.

"Foster. Fooooster. Foster," Keefe said, poking her arm. "Sophie. Soph-soph."

"Shut up!"

"Sorry," he shrugged, looking the least bit sorry. "Your eyes glazed over and you started to get your 'amazing idea that's going to kill us all' face, though."

"Hey!" Sophie said. "Not all of my ideas have killed people!"

"Yeah, but they have started a war, burnt down a school, gotten us expelled... should I go on?" Biana asked sarcastically.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Nope, you've said enough."

To her surprise, Biana looked hurt. She looked down and said a simple, "Sorry. I've said more than my share of stupid stuff."

Keefe gave Sophie a perplexed look. He pointed discreetly at his temples. Sophie entered his mind.

Was that about the matchmaker's thing? Keefe thought.

I think so, Sophie transmitted.

You need to talk with her about that, Keefe reminded her.

Not now, she transmitted. Not now.

Fitz told me that's what you were here to do, Keefe thought.

I know he did... Sophie nagged. I don't know how.

I get it, Keefe thought, nodding thoughtfully. Take your time.

I will.

"Um... guys?" Biana asked. "Do you mind including me in your little conversation? Because I'm feeling like the third wheel. I don't want to be the party pooper interrupting your alone time or whatever."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry," Sophie said apologetically. "I didn't mean to leave you out."

"Whatever. I can leave you guys alone if you want," Biana said half-heartedly.

"No, don't go, I needed to talk to y-" Sophie sighed as Biana walked away. Across the room she slumped against the wall next to Jensi. He looked just as tired and defeated as Biana.

"Is Biana ok?" Keefe asked. "Because I know she's upset with you, but she seems angry with herself."

"I don't know," Sophie said. "I guess she feels like a third wheel. I mean, I'm one of her best friends, and it's no secret that she likes you."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Keefe said. "That's how I felt when I saw you and Fitz."

Sophie didn't know how to respond to that. Instead, she said, "Hey, you want to hear my idea for Biana's interrogation?"

"Yeah, sure," Keefe said. "Hey, you wanna sit down?"

"Sure," Sophie said, walking over to a bench. Keefe stretched his arm around her as she started to speak: "So, what if we did blame Biana?"

"What?" Keefe said, confused. "Isn't the point of this to pretend that Biana's innocent? Also, you haven't exactly told me what happened."

Sophie sighed. "I'll tell you later. Anyways, we'd make it seem like an accident."

"Wait, it wasn't?" Keefe asked.

"It sort of was, sort of wasn't," Sophie said. "Basically, we'd play it like she dropped something really heavy, which shattered the floor and made something fall from the gnome's ceiling, which made a bigger noise and sounded the plant."

Keefe nodded. "That could definitely work. Just one problem. There's going to be other people testifying against her. Blaming her. Possibly causing a tribunal."

"Yeah, that's true," Sophie said. "Then everyone will have to be in on it. We'll just have to trust that they'll feel guilty enough about the Kenton incident to not want something similar to happen again."

"They can help us plant evidence!" Keefe said. "Genius!"
"I'm not a genius," Sophie muttered.

Keefe raised an eyebrow. "We both know you are."

"Thanks."

"You know, we're going to be here a long time."

"Yeah."

"You wanna just, I don't know, talk? Like a normal couple?"

Sophie smiled. "We're anything but normal."

"So that's a no?"

"No, I do want to talk to you," Sophie said. "It's been awhile since we just talked.

For a while they conversed, and every once in awhile they tried to check in on Biana to see how she was doing. After around thirty minutes of banter, they noticed something disturbing- she was talking to Stina.

Stina was obviously harassing Biana, and neither of them looked happy. The bullying was concerning enough, but there was an underlying issue.

"Um, Sophie?" Keefe asked. "How are we going to get Stina, of all people, to help us?"

Sophie groaned. "This can't be good."