Hey peoples! Sorry for not updating in a while, school's a killer. We're currently reading Lord of the Flies, which is fine because I like that novel, it's just kind of hard because we're supposed to read it on our own, but the only thing is that I missed one day and they decided that would be the day to have an in-class reading period—of course, because I have no luck whatsoever—and yeah, I missed that so I have to catch up. Anyways, I will inform you that I do currently have the next two chapters already in the making, so you can possibly expect another update soon! (please do not quote me on that; there is a good 99.9% chance that I will be wrong) Anyways, I'll stop rambling, and get to the story now. Hope you enjoy!

Sophie had informed everybody about her transmission with Fitz. She had tried to contact him again multiple times, but to no avail. Fitz just refused to speak to her. After sharing this information, Sophie had been bombarded with a bunch of questions that she could not answer—for example, some being, "where is he?!" Or, "Is he okay?!" And most frustratingly of all, "why is he hiding?" She had no clue why he was hiding. They weren't a threat to him, and he had to understand that he wasn't a threat to them...Or maybe he was, and they just didn't know that. Which would completely explain why he was keeping his distance. But no. Sophie shook her head firmly. She refused to believe that Fitz could actually be a threat to his own friends and family. Granted he was powerful, but so was she and she had came to terms that her friends were going to follow her on every stupid dangerous adventure she encountered whether she liked it or not, so if she had to deal with that, so did he.

Today would be their fifth day at Exillium and they still hadn't found Fitz. Mr. Forkle sighed deeply as the kids turned to him, inquiring on what to do. "Right now, you kids should focus on keeping a low profile," he told them calmly. Keefe snickered from behind her. "Yeah, uh, some of us kind of broke that rule on the first day," he said, smirking at Sophie, who blushed. Mr. Forkle sighed again, but was evidently hiding a smile. "Yes, I had presumed that our little moonlark would do so," he mused, shaking his head lightly. Sophie huffed and crossed her arms. Why was she always the one being teased? Granite stepped in, adding a few points. "Today's lesson includes sparring guys, so be careful. Especially since the other Waywards like to go rough—remember, the Coaches won't do anything about it," he warned them all. Sophie felt herself pale significantly. Sparring? She could barely walk without tripping over her own two feet. She sighed sorrowful, as she put on her one-eye mask. She had a feeling today was going to be a long day.

Before light-leaping back to Exillium, the kids themselves had established a little plan of their own; they were going to try and find Fitz among the other Waywards. It wouldn't be easy, as Granite was not lying about the students wanting to keep their identities hidden. Most of them wore hoods, especially the males, and to inspect ones eyes, you would have to get close up to them as the shade of blue was distorted by the darkness of the black hood and eye mask, so it made it incredibly difficult to tell from afar. And getting close to another Wayward was another problem in itself. The students at Exillium were keen on personal space, and anybody less than a meter away from them was risky. Also, Sophie was pretty sure she was the most hated Wayward at the school for her little stunt on the first day so that was a challenge as well. The only Wayward she had talked to, other than her own friends, was the shade, whom Sophie had also told her friends about; and even that wasn't out loud in the open. He would shadow-whisper to her, and she'd transmit back. Most of the things he told her were warnings—mostly about how to survive in this school. He had obviously been there for a long time, so Sophie trusted him—the others, not so much. Predominantly because he was a shade. But Sophie wasn't going to let any stereotype of an acquired ability blind her better judgement. And though they still haven't exchanged names yet, Sophie knew that the shade would grow to trust her too—she just needed to find a way to earn it. But before she could, she needed to ask him something first; she wanted to know if he knew about the telepath.

Now Sophie wasn't stupid—she did consider the fact that Fitz could most definitely be the mysterious telepath. But she ruled that out quickly on the second day. She had managed to find him among the other Waywards, and had transmitted to him that she wanted to talk. She was still surprised that he had actually came—they met within the forest on their break, managing to leave without being noticed. She had only just wanted to thank him for from practically saving her from another near-death situation. Secretly, she also wanted to see if the boy was Fitz, as there was a good chance that he very well might be. But, much to her surprise, the telepath had spoken even before she had a chance to speak herself:

•Three days ago•

Sophie walked through the thick forest, finally finding a clear spot among the trees to stand and talk. When she turned around, she gasped, finding that the boy was already there, looking at her intently. Or what she assumed was with intent. With the masks and the hood, it was practically impossible to tell. Despite this, Sophie studied him as best as she could, not passing up the opportunity to find Fitz. No other Wayward let her get this close, let alone agreed to talk to her. In fact, she was still struck with how lucky they were to have not been noticed while leaving. But she realized that they only had a short period of time before break would be over. In Exillium, they only had 15 minute breaks, but due to the Coaches being "particularly lazy today" (their own words, not hers), that time was doubled—and although break had just started a few minutes ago, Sophie Foster knew better than anyone that time was never on your side when you wanted it to be. So she had to be quick.

She thought she was eyeing him inconspicuously—after all, they had just been here for a few seconds—but when the Telepath seemingly smiled slightly and let out a soft chuckle, her mind told her something else. "Trying to see if I'm your lost friend, huh Sophie?" He spoke, his voice low and monotoned, which held barely any emotion in it. Sophie momentarily found herself overcome with shock: she was not expecting him to even make a noise, let alone speak—plus he knew her name. How did he know her name? Actually feeling grateful for the hoods for once, Sophie's concealed blush burned on her cheeks. "How did you—" she started, but he just shrugged. "Call it intuition," he said, giving her a small smile. Sophie looked at him cautiously. This still could be Fitz—despite the lack of the accent, he still could be him if she got a look at his eyes. Besides, he seemed the right height for Fitz so that was another thing. He could be lying to her—she had to make sure he was telling the truth. At Sophie's obvious skepticism, he just chuckled again. "Yeah, he told me you would be skeptical," he said, surprising Sophie once again. If this really wasn't Fitz... Was he in contact with him?!

When she continued to eye him warily, he sighed but a small smile graced his lips. "I can completely understand the trust issues," he commented, his hands rising to his hood. Sophie widened her eyes; was he about to do what she thinks he was about to do? "But I'm not lying." Still smiling slightly, the telepath lifted his hood up and off of his head before moving to remove his mask. "You think I'm your friend, but I can assure you, I am not."

He lifted his head.

Sophie couldn't help but feel disappointment wrack up in her stomach. The boy wasn't lying; he wasn't Fitz. Although they were the same build, there were lots of other differences: this boys face was slimmer, and not as defined as Fitz's; and while they both had brown hair, Fitz's was darker, more of a dark chocolate-brown, while the telepath's had a red-ish, slight auburn flare to it. They were also styled differently. While Fitz had his hair longer, and fall in front of his forehead, this boy had his hair styled the typical guy way—it was curved upwards almost, and was not too long (A/N: I'm pretty sure we all know what kind of hairstyle I'm talking about here, lol. Just picture the typical "grade 9 boy" cut. Almost everyone has it at my school). Finally (and most disappointingly), his eyes. They weren't the sparkling teal blue green sea glass colour that she had wished to see. Interestingly enough, they weren't even bright, unlike most elves. Actually, the telepath had navy blue eyes that reminded her of a midnight sky.

Sophie hadn't realized that she had been staring off into space until the boy spoke once more. "Do you believe me now?" He asked, and Sophie snapped out of her little trance, turning to look at him. He had already put his mask and hood back on and he was looking at her with that same intent look he had given her before. Not exactly sure why she felt so breathless all of a sudden, she nodded as a response. Then it hit her: "You've talked to him? Where is he?!" She almost demanded of him. When all the telepath did was smirk at her, she frowned at him. It was a obvious that he wasn't going to tell her; but why wouldn't he?

When asked just that, the towpath raised his arms in defence. "Okay, first of all; I don't even know where he is. All he did was transmit to me this one time, and when we met up, he told me to look out for you guys, because although he had transmitted to you to leave, he had a feeling you wouldn't," he snickered lightly. "Yeah, he was right." Sophie crossed her arms, the annoyed look still on her face. "Well since he's obviously talking to you and not me, tell him that we don't need protecting. And that if he wants to see how we are, he should find us himself," she said sternly. The telepath snorted. "He also told me to tell you guys to leave but sine that's obviously not happening..." he sighed, and looked down at her, "I guess I should tell you that he didn't show me his face and I don't know which division he's in so yeah. I can't really help you out there," he said, answering Sophie's unsaid questions. "Is there anything else?" Sophie thought for a moment before nodding. "Why did you help me the other day?" She asked him, looking curiously. He just shrugged. "You could've died," he said nonchalantly. "Well yeah, but you don't even know me. And from what I see, Waywards don't usually help each other out around here," she said. The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, before smiling his signature small smile at her. "I don't really know actually. You were just—intriguing," he said.

Before Sophie could really ask him what that meant, he looked out and frowned. "We need to go," he said, moving to leave, but Sophie grabbed his arm. "Hold on—I don't even know your name," she said furrowing her eyebrows. She still had a bunch of questions, but he was still right; the coaches would be furious if they don't come back soon. The telepath looked at her hand, then her, and smiled again. "You can call me Aver," he said simply. Sophie let go of his arm, lost in thought, but when she blinked her eyes, he was gone.

Present:

After that, Sophie had trouble finding both Fitz and Aver. She had never shared their secret conversation with the others, telling them instead that she had gone out into the forest to clear her mind. She wanted to transmit to Aver, but she couldn't find him again. She had been lucky the first time—but now she supposed that now that they have talked, he was actually trying to evade her. It was frustrating, as she believed that he actually knew the whereabouts of Fitz, and was just keeping the info away from her because e had asked him too. It also didn't help that there were divisions—Sophie had checked: Aver wasn't in Ambi. And the others were too far away for her to really check. She debated asking the others to look for him, but that would prompt them to ask why, and Sophie didn't really know the answer to that question. Part of it was the fact that she thinks he knows where Fitz is—but there was also something else about him that made her curious. She wasn't really sure, and she wasn't about to give her friends an indefinite answer either. She guessed that she would just have to wait and see.

Sophie sighed deeply as she and her friends used their leaping crystals to light leap back to Exillium. Honestly, she was surprised that she had even been welcomed back considering some of the trouble she had caused accidentally in the past few days; one of them being her rather rash decision to jump off a cliff in order to help an gnome who had the spreading virus that was going on within their species. Keefe had jumped over to help her too, but Biana and Dex had been grabbed before they could come. The two of them together teleported to Elwin to deliver the sick gnome to be under care, but the Coaches had been furious when they returned. The only reason they had not been kicked out was because of the fact that the gnomes had helped out all of them for generations and the sickness, in a way, was effecting them too. Sophie knew she was really lucky, but she didn't regret anything—and she told them that. That gnome would've died had it not been for her and Keefe's assistance, and if she hadn't helped, then she would've never forgiven herself.

She supposed that was another reason why she hadn't been kicked out, because although their expressions had not changed, Sophie could still detect a small amount of what seemed like respect in their eyes when she said that. But even so, good things had came out of her stay at Exillium too. She had met both the shade and then hydrokinetic that helped save her the first day, and they revealed themselves to be twins. Their names were Tam and Linh Song. They had been sent to Exillium since Linh had a little incident with Atlantis, and Tam refused to let her go alone. He was fiercely protective of her and although she was much more mellow, Sophie could tell she was of him too. In order to finally gain his trust, she had let him do something he called "a shadow reading" that apparently measured how much darkness you had in your soul she guessed—she wasn't so sure. It was a whole new concept to her, after all.

Though it was cold, and a little creepy, she let him anyways as she wanted to gain his trust. Now that she has gained it from him, she feels even more trusting in Tam—the same cannot go for her friends, who nearly went into hysterics when she left them a brief message before leaving with the twins. They nearly throttled her for it later, but she found it was worth it. She assured her friends that they would learn to trust them too but they were still skeptical. In the meantime, they all needed to be in this school, in order to find Fitz, who she hoped hadn't left. She'd been transmitting to him every single day and night, but he never replies—she had also tried to track his thoughts like they usually did in Basequest, but he had somehow managed to to block that off too. It was incredibly frustrating; Fitz using his newfound skills made it a lot harder to find him. But no matter how frustrating it was, she wouldn't give up—and she knew her friends wouldn't either. It was just so patronizing at times when you don't know where your friend is, but you know they can hear you.

Their class was held inside the shady looking building they called the School Building for once, as they needed to use the gym. Like most elvin things, it was incredibly large on the inside, rather than the drab, grey and long looking building they saw on the outside. The building had many rooms for many things; even normal classrooms, which made Sophie wonder why they weren't using those rooms instead of always being outdoors.

They say it's a punishment for past Wayward's disobedience, but they're terrible liars

Sophie would've jumped if she hadn't already been used to the soft yet condescending whisper of Tam Song. She found herself scoffing in response.

That's stupid. The weathers always nice—how is that a punishment? Plus, aren't they putting this building to waste by not using it at all?

Like is said; they're bad liars. This building really just reminds them of particular Waywards they had to deal with in the past, and would rather not acquire those reminders by using this building every day. And it's not just for teaching: they store the food, supplies, and other bedded things in here too. That's actually what most of these rooms are for.

Sophie looked around at her surroundings and realized that she had only seen a few classrooms among the vast amount of rooms they had passed. She shrugged idly. She guessed that made sense. Then, remembering the question she had been saving for the shade, she asked, making sure to keep his name out (for privacy purposes, she supposed):

Do you know the telepath who saved me the first day?

There was quiet for a moment, and Sophie thought he wasn't going to respond. Then she heard him:

I know of him, yes.

Do you know how long he's been here for? She asked him, hopefully not sounding too urging.

Why is that relevant?

Just curious.

She heard Tam sigh and her heart was pumping with anticipation with every step she took. She had no idea why—maybe it was the sensation of wanting to know something. Because in Sophie's life, to know things was not an easy place to come by.

After what seemed like forever, she finally got a reply:

I'm not entirely sure: I think he came here about a month ago, but it could be a little more than that. All I really remember from that day was his trials.

From the slight wisp of shock that was evident in his tone, curiosity spiked up within her once more.

What happened? She asked.

It's more like what didn't happen.

She furrowed her eyebrows at that. What do you mean?

She heard the boy sigh again. Well, he was put through the same trial as you and your friends were—the same everyone else always was in. Except, with him, it didn't really work.

What do you mean it didn't work? She inquired. Tam was quiet for a other moment, seemingly in contemplation, before speaking:

Well...He dodged it.

Sophie felt her eyebrows furrow again until her eyes widened with understanding.

He dodged the ropes?!

She could basically sense Tam's nod at the back of her head.

Actually, I guess I should say 'them' you see, the whole yard is basically rigged with ropes. The coaches just trigger the ones you step in. But seemingly seconds before the red coach triggered the trap, his head sort of shot up and he just jumped—literally, jumped right on top of the arch. He also noticed us too, even though we were silent; something only you and he ever did during the trials.

Sophie wondered, perhaps, if that was another reason why Tam had 'approached' her.

We all just kind of stared at him, gobsmacked, and I guess we were all in some sort of trance because suddenly, one of the kids gasped and he was right in front of all of us in seconds. I swear I was looking at the arc the entire time, and I didn't Ben see him move—once.

Sophie felt her eyebrows raise. No wonder Aver was able to catch her so quickly. Tam was silent for a few moments before continuing:

I don't know his name, nor how he did it, but all I do know is that he ended up in the right hemisphere with the red coach.

She gasped lightly. That was Biana's hemisphere. That certainly made things easier for finding him, especially if she wanted to transmit. All she would need to do is find him.

Wringing her fingers, Sophie debated on whether or not to ask Tam if he knew about Fitz. He would probably ask her why she was asking about Waywards—but she really did what to find him. Making up her mind, she asked the question.

Why are you asking about all of these people?

Called it.

Sophie sighed. He's a close friend of mine that went missing a while ago, she explained. She knew her friends would be upset with her for sharing this info—especially if they knew it was with a shade. But Sophie found herself trusting him—she didn't know why, but she did.

Look, I don't know. We don't get to know their names and the only trial that really stood out was the telepath's. there's been a few other ones other than him: two girls, a guy, and then you guys.

Sophie felt her heart race. What did the guy look like?

Um, have you seen our uniforms?

She sighed defeatedly. He did have a point.

Look, I think he might of been brunette? I don't know , his hood fell of when he was upside down but it was kind of dark out.

That had actually helped her more than he knew. But Sophie wasn't about to et her hopes up. She still had to find him: and among these Waywards, that was practically impossible.

I assume your silence means we're done.

She snapped out of her little trance at the sound of his voice in her ear.

Yeah. Thanks, that helped a lot.

Well, either way it's a good thing we're done. Cause we're here.

Looking up, Sophie saw that they indeed were already at the training room, making her exactly how long she and Tam had been talking. A minute? Two? It felt much longer than that but in reality, was probably no longer than that, if longer even. But now that they were here, she felt her heart clench for two reasons: one was because it would be easier to find not only Fitz but Aver too while in here, and the second was because that they were about to spar—SPAR. Sophie swallowed thickly. She really hoped they wouldn't assign partners. She was sure that anyone who wasn't her friends, the twins, and maybe Aver, would love to have a chance to pound her to the ground. After all, she had caused a lot of problems. "PAIR UP!" The sharp voices of the three coaches commanded, and Sophie let out a huge breath of relief. Maybe now she wouldn't get completely pummelled (her friends were still 50x better at fighting than herself, so...). She scoured the crowd, looking for Biana, only to gasp and jump when she felt a hand clamp on her arm. Whipping around, she looked over towards where the person grabbed her: her pounding heart calmed—it was only Biana herself.

Once again did she feel herself let out a breath of relief. "Sophie?" Her friend questioned, moving her hand to her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I startled you. I camas over to ask if you wanted to be partners." Unable to speak, Sophie nodded at her, not knowing why she was sweating beads on her forehead all of a sudden. Biana must've noticed this because her perfect face creased up in concern. "Are you okay? You seem a little freaked out," she said, looking at Sophie curiously. Sophie just nodded, forcing a smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm fine," she assured her, looking out from the corner of her eye to see her coach watching her intently. "We should probably go; I think we're going to start soon," she informed her friend.

Giving her one last look, Biana nodded and grabbed her hand. "Cmon, we're over here." She said, pulling her over to where she assumed Keefe and Dex were waiting. As she did this, Sophie took a chance to scan the room. She couldn't see Aver—his hood must've been up—but she did spot Linh and Tam, who she locked eyes with the latter for a few seconds, before looking away again— and then her attention was caught on something else. It was a glimpse—barely categorized as one to be completely honest, as her eyes only caught it for a millisecond, but she swore she saw it—it was there, she was sure of it: underneath the eyebrows of an unknown hooded figure;

Teal.

So how was that? Im hoping it was decent. I made it a little shorter this time (believe it or not), so I hope it's not too hard to read. Also, I didn't have much time to go over and check over the writing, as I literally wrote more than half of this just now, so I apologize greatly for the grammar mistakes and such. Anyways, I have to go now, but I hope I can update soon! See y'all later!

-Someonewhodoesntcare