Hey guys! I meant to update earlier today but something came up.

Oh and btw the chapters i posted so far are kind of the build up to the main plot so they mostly do explaining and setting everything up. It may be a little slow but plz bear wit it! I promise that it'll get way more interesting once we reached the climax!

To springgirl: idk, you should read and find out ;)

This chapter is longer than my other ones so i hope it's an okay amount. Anyways, here it is!

Chapter 5- POV Jewel

It was like Jewel dropped a bomb on them… which she guess she kind of did. It probably wasn't easy to accept the fact that their efforts in defeating Neverseen went to waste since Neverseen was still alive. But luckily, one of the adults suggested that they introduce themselves first before asking more question. Jewel was thankful for that since being stared at by a bunch of strangers wasn't helping her. To be honest, she felt really scared and uncomfortable in the unfamiliar environment. She's never actually been in the elf world except in Neverseen's base, which she could hardly call it a nice place. After everyone finished introducing themselves, Jewel could tell that they were eager to get more information, but were holding back for her sake. She also could tell that they didn't exactly fully believe her. She guessed it was pretty hard to trust a random girl who came to tell them that the whole time they believed in the wrong thing. And Sophie definitely wasn't convinced that Jewel was her sister. But Jewel didn't know how to prove it. As if Elwin, the doctor, could read her mind, he smiled at her.

"So how do you both feel about taking a DNA test?" He asked, looking from Jewel to Sophie. They both froze with anxiety mixed with discomfort. Jewel hated doctors and going to one never seemed like a good idea.

"How are you going to do that?" They asked at the same time, tugging out a loose eyelash in perfect synchronization. All pairs of eyes rested on them as they looked at each other. They burst out laughing, despite the pretty devastating situation.

"Maybe we really are sisters!" Sophie exclaimed, struggling to catch her breath as she continued to laugh. Jewel laughed along with her.

"We are, trust me!" Jewel replied in between gulps for air. Elwin smiled at them as if he enjoyed the scene.

"You two sure look related. Except for the eye color, which always seems to be the exception." He said with a wink. He held up the two eyelashes, which, who knows when he took it

"With this, I can extract a piece of DNA from it and see if they match up. If they do, then that means you're sisters." Elwin explained as he took off. "I'll be back in no time. For now, take a breather. It helps relieve stress." He called out before turning the corner. However, no one moved an inch. The mood once again turned serious.

"I'm going to have to inform the council." One of the adults, who Jewel suppose was Alden, said with a heavy sigh. He shifted his gaze to her. "Are you okay with talking to them in a few days?" Jewel nodded. She needed to warn them herself anyways. She just hoped that they will believe her. A pretty looking woman, who introduced herself as Edaline, came up to her.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Edaline asked, her face filled with concern. Jewel glanced at Sophie, feeling a bit jealous that she had been staying with such a nice adoptive parent. Jewel shook her head.

"Not at the moment, but it's okay. I could probably find shelter somewhere close." Jewel replied politely. Edaline glanced over at her husband, Grady, as if to confirm something. He nodded slightly and gave her a smile.

"We would be happy if you wanted to stay with us. Though we would have to take some time cleaning out Jolie's room and preparing it." Grady offered. Sophie opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it.

"No, it's fine. I don't want to cause you any more trouble than I already have." Jewel replied, even though inside she was actually really happy that they offered. Edaline and Grady exchanged worried glances.

"But where else would you stay?" Edaline asked.

"With me." A male voice said. Everyone turned around to see who spoke. Jewel's heart did a little flutter when she saw who it was.

"Keefe, are you sure?" Sophie asked, surprised. Biana shifted her gaze at Keefe, stunned. Her eyes begged him not to.

"Yeah," He replied, confidently. "My house was just starting to get a little lonely with only me and my dad." Keefe smiled with a wink, but it still didn't seem to convince the others.

"You really don't have to do that." Jewel said. His gorgeous blue eyes rested on her. He gave her a big grin.

"But I want to. So you're staying with me." Keefe declared. He looked around to see if anyone was going to disagree with him. He smiled proudly when no one said a word. "Great. Now that's done with, let's go play some Base Quest!" The shortest boy, Dex, stared at him with complete disbelief.

"Now?!" Dex exclaimed, incredulously. Across the room, Jewel noticed the pained expression on Biana's face. Jewel kind of felt bad for her. It wasn't hard to see that the poor girl likes Keefe. Sophie, on the other hand, clearly was worried.

"Keefe… do you want to talk about—" Sophie stopped when Keefe's smile strained. Jewel could sense that something wasn't right. Keefe quickly recovered, plastering a bigger smirk on his face.

"Come on Foster! This time, I'll win for sure!" Keefe insisted. He walked out the door with Fitz and Biana following close behind, both concerned. Dex started to follow but glanced back at Sophie. She shook her head slightly.

"I need to talk to Jewel, tell Keefe I'll sit this one out." Sophie said. Dex nodded and gave a small wave. Sophie gestured Jewel to follow as she left the room. They walked outside and sat on a nearby bench.

"Jewel, I need you to do me a favor." Sophie paused. "You see, Keefe had some family issues before and um… his mom was part of Neverseen. Six months ago, when we defeated Neverseen, she was in the base when it erupted into flames. We don't really know if she made it out alive but it didn't seem like she did. I know Keefe is trying to hide it, but I think he's really confused about the whole thing so could you look out for him?" Jewel sat still for a second. She couldn't believe that his mom was part of Neverseen. For some reason, Jewel had the sudden urge to give the boy a hug. She nodded at Sophie's request and gave a shy smile. Sophie breathed out in relief and thanked her. The two of them sat there in awkward silence.

"So…" Sophie spoke as she turned to face Jewel. "Exactly how old are you?" Jewel looked up to see Sophie's face lit with curiosity.

"Thirteen," She answered. Sophie brightened.

"So you're younger than me by a year!" She exclaimed. "When I was with my human family, I had a little sister. Even though she was a pain in the butt sometimes, we had a really fun time together! What about you? How was your family?"

"Well living in Paris was really awesome. I never really ran out of things to do. It was really cool too cause I always saw new people walking around, touring. I lived with my mom and my older brother. He's three years older than me. He always treated me really nicely, although sometimes we did have our sibling quarrel." Jewel giggled, laughing at an old memory. "And when I manifested at five and kept hearing people's thoughts, it really scared me. But no one believed me when I told them, except for him. He always supported me."

"I manifested at five too! Although I didn't really have anyone who I could confide to. He must be really nice!" Sophie commented. Jewel smiled at her and nodded.

"Though he probably thinks I'm dead now." Jewel added, sadly. Sophie waited for her to continue. Jewel took a deep breath as she opened her mouth to speak. "Sorry, it's kind of hard to talk about… but, um… they kidnapped me when I was ten years old. They didn't even bothered to come up with an excuse to them. Kidnapping was a real problem in the human world so it wouldn't seem like I was actually abducted to the elf world." Sophie gave an apologetic, comforting smile as she put her arms around Jewel.

"Sorry, that must have been terrible." Sophie said quietly. Jewel nodded silently, not trusting herself to speak just yet.

"Sometimes I'm glad I don't remember most of it. So I don't have to remember the pain." Jewel admitted. Again, they sat in silence, but this time it felt more comforting. After a moment of silence, Sophie spoke again.

"Honestly it's really hard to think of you as my sister. But, I feel like we are. Like there's this special bond that links us together, you know?" Sophie said. Jewel smiled at this.

"When I was running away from Neverseen, I saw you. It was like I was watching you, living your memory. It felt really familiar and warm. So I guess that's why I ended up where you were." Jewel confessed. The girls exchanged smiles, feeling closer to each other. After chatting for another hour, Sophie suggested that they join the others.

Sophie and Jewel found them all laying on the grass, panting. Biana ran up to them as soon as she saw them, the others following close behind.

"Hey, you just missed an awesome game!" Biana reported, her eyes constantly sliding towards Jewel. Keefe trudged closer from behind her, groaning.

"She's just saying that because they won." Keefe moaned pointing the Vackers. Biana and Fitz high fived each other and grinned.

"It was awesome!" Biana exclaimed at the same time Dex mumbled, "It was horrible."

"He's just saying that because he got beat up by a girl." Biana said proudly. Dex replied with a moan and covered his face.

"That really hurt!" Dex complained. "This is why I hate the Vackers." He said jokingly. Fitz nudged him with his elbow.

"Hey I thought you were over that." Fitz teased.

"If only, Wonderboy. I'm still holding a grudge." Dex grinned, though it seemed a bit forced to Jewel. She was starting to think that Dex had a thing for Sophie. It seemed like all of them did. Jewel glanced over at Keefe, feeling disappointed. His eyes suddenly met hers as he tilted his head with question. She quickly looked away, hoping her long blonde hair could hide her embarrassment. Oops, she forgot he was an empath. In the corner of her bright purple eyes, Jewel saw a jealous expression flashed across Biana's face. It passed so quickly that Jewel didn't even have the time to blink. She looked over at Biana to find a nonchalant smile. Maybe it was just her imagination, Jewel thought. She certainly didn't want to get on Biana's bad side though. A few minutes later, Elwin came to find them, telling them that the results came out. They went back inside, meeting with the adults. They all waited on the couch for Elwin to finally spill.

"So based off the DNA test, it is safe to say that Jewel—" He paused for dramatic effect. Suspense filled the air, everyone on their toes. "— is indeed, Sophie's younger sister." Jewel let out a breath of relief. Hopefully this will convince everyone. Though she still saw some doubt on some faces. She sighed. Why couldn't they just get over the fact and accept her? Jewel started feeling uncomfortable again. She wondered if she could survive the feeling of always being an outsider.

"Another thing to inform the council about. Who knows what kind of uproar this will cause." Alden sighed, shaking his head. He turned to Jewel, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You up for meeting with them tomorrow instead?" Honestly, no. Jewel didn't want to be stared at even more. She never liked a lot of attention, but that seemed unavoidable now. And she suspected that after she meets with the council, the whole Elvin world would know about her. She shuddered at the scary thought. Then remembering that she hasn't answered the question yet, she quickly bobbed her head up and down.

"Yeah, of course." Jewel squeaked, finding her voice again. Keefe smirked at her, making her blush. Gosh, just how many times will she embarrass herself today?

"Good. It's getting late, everyone should go home and rest for the night now." Alden advised, putting a hand on Jewel's shoulder, letting her know that she was included as well. She gave a timid smile, unsure of what to do.

"Come on! I need to give you a tour of your new home!" Keefe said, looping his arms with hers. Jewel tense. She wasn't used to people showing her affection, not after being locked up in that place for so long. She looked up, meeting Keefe's breathtaking blue eyes that could melt her with just one glance. She felt her cheeks flaming. Keefe gave her an assuring nod. She breathed in deeply, forcing herself to relax. She felt her shoulders losing some tension as she was led away by Keefe. She quickly waved goodbye to the others. Sophie held up her hand to her ear, signaling that she'll call Jewel later. Jewel took one last glance at the new faces that she hoped would soon become recognized as her allies.

As sad as it was, Jewel has never light leaped before. She nearly puked from the terrible spinning in her head. She crouched down, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to block out the dizziness. Keefe walked over to her, rubbing her back.

"You okay?" Keefe asked her. Obviously not, she thought, but kept her mouth sealed, not wanting to risk barfing. Instead, she slightly shook her head. But, even that caused her to feel nauseous. Keefe smirked at her with amusement in his eyes.

"I never heard of an elf with light-leaping sickness." He teased. Jewels glared daggers at him, wishing she had the energy to shoot back a remark. She must be the only elf in history to have this pathetic problem. Before Jewel's brain had processed the movement, she was swept up from the ground. She let a startled yelp, wrapping her arms around the closest thing, which happened to be Keefe's neck. She let out another surprised squeak as she realized he was holding her up princess-style.

"Geesh, you didn't have to scream." Keefe said, wincing. Jewel's face reddened. She was so glad that it was too dark outside to see her face. But then again it didn't matter since she was sure that he knew the giddiness she felt. Instantly, embarrassment replaced her happiness. He was carrying her. Realization hit her hard. She avoided Keefe's gaze as he carried her towards the mansion, which supposedly, was his "house". Jewel could never understand why the elves lived in such luxurious places and that it was normal to them. Then again, she was pretty new to all the elf experience since she could really only remember her time as a human or in Neverseen.

Not to mention, Jewel, in all her life, has never been this close to a boy before. Well other than her human brother, but that didn't count. She couldn't help but wonder if she was heavy. It would be so embarrassing if she was. All the worried thoughts made her mind wary and stressed. Jewel laid her head against Keefe's shoulder. She didn't even notice how tired she was due to all the worrying. Keefe's soft, consistent movement almost put her to sleep. But that was before Jewel found out how good Keefe smelled. A lovely sweet scent found her nose as Jewel noticed, was from Keefe. He smelled extremely nice. Great, Jewel thought. She had officially became creepy.

Thank god they finally reached the house. Any moment later, Jewel was positive she'd die from her exploding heart. As they came to the front porch, Jewel summoned all her will power to look Keefe in the face, though it barely lasted a second.

"You can let me down now." She whispered shyly, averting her gaze again. Keefe seemed to be holding back a laugh as he gently let her down. He led her inside his house, showing her the bathroom and her room.

"If you need anything, you can probably find me three rooms down the hall." He added, pointing to his bedroom. "Now," he said, turning to her. "We need to find you some new clothes. I'm not Biana-level, but I must say, I'm pretty proud of my fashion sense." He brought her into another room, bigger than the rest, if that was even possible. Inside, a stern looking man sat on the bed.

"Dad, Alden probably told you already but Jewel's staying with us for a little while." Keefe said slowly and uncertain. The man, Keefe's dad, looked at her. She froze up with nervousness. He raised an eyebrow, almost like he was amused.

"There's no need to be nervous. Your welcome here. Feel free to treat this as your home." He replied. "Now, if will excuse me, I have some business to take care of so I might be back a bit late." Keefe's dad said, getting up to leave. Jewel stepped aside for him to walk pass. Jewel noticed Keefe had a weird expression on his face as his eyes trailed after his dad.

"Something wrong?" She asked after his dad left.

"No…" Keefe examined her for a second. He sighed and sat down on a nearby couch. "It's just… things aren't the same after we found out about my mom being part of Neverseen. I mean, our relationship was never good to begin with, but now its plain awkward." Jewel thought back to her earlier conversation with Sophie. She still wanted to give Keefe a hug, but she controlled herself and sat down next to him instead.

"It will get better," Jewel comforted, surprised with how confident she felt about it. "You guys just need some time to get your head cleared up. Time will heal everything."

"Thanks, I really hope it will." Keefe said with a meek smile. They sat in silence. Neither of them wanted to break it. It was as if the other's presence was enough for each other.

"Oh, right! Clothes!" Keefe exclaimed, making Jewel jump at the random statement. He grabbed her hand, causing her heart to do a somersault. He brought her in one of the enormous closets. Jewel gaped at all the glittering dresses. Each shone with their own unique style. Jewel stared at them, flabbergasted.

"Woah…" She walked over, reaching out to touch the smooth fabric. She stepped away and shook her head. "There's no way I can wear these." Jewel declined. Keefe stared at her with interest.

"Why not?" He asked, his voice filled with curiosity.

"Why? Because… I obviously can't accept this. I mean, they look really expensive! What if I were to spill something on it? It'd ruin the dress!" Jewel replied, shaking her head vigorously. Keefe stared at her with wide eyes, patently with disbelief.

"That's you reason?" Keefe retorted, astonished. Jewel glanced towards the endless amount of fabric.

"That… and their way to fancy for my taste." She admitted. Keefe broke up laughing.

"Welcome to the Elvin World, Jewel. The place where elves always wear fancy things." Keefe joked, widely spreading his arms to emphasize. Jewel laughed.

"Can't say it's really my style." She said, eyeing the clothes.

"They're my mom's old clothes. I guess you and Sophie really do have a lot in common. Both of you have a sucky fashion sense." He remarked, acting disappointed.

"Hey!" She put a hand over her heart, acting offended. She playfully nudged him, getting one in return. They shared a smile. Keefe sighed.

"Guess, I'll lend you a shirt." They circled back to his room, as he dug around in his wardrobe. He then threw a piece of fabric to a surprised Jewel. She looked at the shirt in her hands. "Here, put it on."

"Here?" She squeaked.

"Yes, here." He responded, his voice dipped with sarcasm. He rolled his eyes. "No, silly. In the bathroom. I'll be here, so just come in when you're done." Jewel scurried off, showering quickly and brushing her teeth. She threw on the shirt Keefe gave her, examining her reflection. It was like the length of a short dress on her, Jewel noticed. She hurried back to Keefe's room. She quietly knocked the door, calling his name.

"Keefe, I'm coming in." She announced. She pushed open the door, revealing a shirtless and surprised Keefe staring back at her. Her heart nearly burst out her chest as she ogled his six pack. Remembering the situation, she quickly shut the door.

"Sorry!" She yelped, hiding behind the door. Keefe came out the room and scanned her body up and down.

"I didn't think you'd be so quick. Biana takes FOREVER in the bathroom. By the way, the shirt looks good. It's a bit big though, hope you don't mind." Keefe said nonchalantly. Jewel eyed him closely. Was she just overreacting? Jewel shrugged the thought off and followed Keefe to her guest room. He stood by the door as she walked in.

"Are you fine being alone?" Keefe asked. Jewel looked back at him and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Great. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight." He winked. Jewel blushed.

"'Night." She replied. After he left, Jewel threw herself on the bed, exhausted. She cuddled against the blankets, immediately drifting off into sleep.

"Jake! Jake!" A younger version of Jewel called out. Someone was chasing her. Her fear increased with every step she ran. Tears brimmed against the corner of her starry purple eyes. Shadowy figures shifted around her. The dead leaves crunched under Jewel's shoe as she dashed through the woods. Autumn colored leaves covered the ground, making it hard to see the roots of the trees.

"Jake! Help— Ah!" Jewel cried out as she tripped over a tree root. Terror filled her vision as she saw the black figures cornering her.

"Jewel!" She heard her brother's voice in the distance. Her heart paced and she stumbled to her feet, trying to escape the creepy people. She pushed past the bodies that tried to stop her.

"Jake! Jake! Jake!" A crying Jewel shouted. Hope replaced the fear as Jewel recognized the boy running towards her.

"Someone stop that kid!" A voice boomed from behind her. Jewel spun around and saw one of the men pointed a weapon at her brother. A meddler, present-day Jewel recognized, as she relived the scene. She felt the dread return when she saw her brother coming closer. No! She screamed in her head.

"Get away, Jake! Run away! They'll hit you!" She screamed at him. But he was stubborn. He charged at the cloaked figures with a stick. It happened in only a matter of minutes. A man held her down as she saw another person aiming at Jake. Then as if time slowed down, Jewel struggled helplessly as she watch the man pulled the trigger. Suddenly, a surge of energy flushed through Jewel. The man who held her down screamed in pain, his hands flying to his head. Jewel then kicked out of his grasp and sprinted towards her brother. She shoved Jake away and all she saw left was a bright light coming straight towards her.

She woke up, sweaty and gasping for air. Her heart thumped wildly, running 100 miles per hour. She took a minute to catch her breath, trying to calm herself. She closed her eyes, hoping it would help. Then she heard it. A soft rattle. Jewel popped her eyes open towards the sound, fear wrapping around her once again. Nothing. Everything appeared the same. No wait. Jewel squinted her eyes in the dark moonlight. She gasped. A familiar, small envelope with a black swan printed on the seal, was place between the window shutters. Approaching with caution, Jewel gently wrapped her finger around the delicate paper. She opened it to find a note waiting for her. Six handwritten words appeared on the folded note.

Be Careful. They're coming for you.