Hiii! Have you guys read my other new story yet? It's far more angsty, just a warning. Ummm… Sooo… I have absolutely nooo idea how she's gonna trick Dex into making her this gadget thing, especially 'cause he's working on the twiggler. Or maybe I dooo have an idea on what she's gonna do, and I haven't told you yet. Hehehe. ALSO! I put a small hint in one of Tam's lines in the last chapter, about what's gonna happen faaar in the future, can you find it? I also apologise for the quality of the last chapter… Her explanation was a bit rushed and stuff, sorry 'bout that…
I have no ideas on how to get Dex to build me that gadget that Linh suggested. But I don't really have time to think about that, because everyone started yelling the moment I showed back up in the Crooked Forest.
'Where have you been?' Biana shouts, running over and hugging me tight. I bat her away, landing on my backside on the damp ground.
'Are you okay?' demands Keefe, rushing over and tugging me up to standing. I shake him off too, and he folds his arms. 'What happened?'
'Yeah! Biana saw you, but then you left without us!' adds Dex.
'Did you see me leave?'
'No,' admits the other girl, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
'Where were you?' Calla asks softly, sitting above us in a bent-over tree.
'I can't tell you.'
'Why not? Your room smelt like smoke, and you left a cryptic note!' Bi mutters.
'I dropped a candle, because I'd had a nightmare, which is why I screamed last night,' I say quickly, hiding my sparking fingers behind my back, and stepping a little bit farther into the trees.
At that moment, thank all the gods ever, Fitz and Sophie bust into thin air, wearing Foxfire uniforms, and the others run at them, dragging them down into a group hug. 'What happened?' Biana asks, glancing back at me, then turning to hug Sophie tighter.
'We couldn't get to Luminaria,' she admits, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
'So you teleported to Foxfire? Without me?' my cousin wonders in mock shock and horror.
'Yep.'
'Sorry if we worried any of you,' Fitz tells us, then notices me in the trees. 'Kara!'
'What!' Sophie whips around and faces me. 'Where were you!'
'She's been refusing to tell us,' grumbles the technopath.
'Why?'
'We don't know,' says Biana. 'She showed up and won't tell us a thing.'
'She is right here,' I remind them, crossing my arms and hiding the flickering lights on my finger tips. 'You don't have to act like I'm not.'
'Just tell us,' Keefe pleads, walking over and tugging me towards everyone.
'What if Sophie and I just read your mind? We could use Mr. Forkle's logic that you're putting us in danger so we can break the rules of telepathy,' Fitz announces.
'We don't have to do that,' exclaims Sophie, glancing at me. 'Right?'
I fold my arms.
'Some on, Sophie,' Fitz whispers. 'We need to know.'
'It honestly has nothing to do with you guys,' I tell them.
'Fine.' Sophie finally agrees after a few looks from Fitz, and a probable telepathic conversation that I don't bother trying to eavesdrop on.
'Again, you don't have to do that.'
'I think we do,' says Foster softly.
'No, you really don't.'
But they link hands and reach for my forehead. I can feel their presence in my head, I'm not sure how. It's more than what most people say they can feel when a telepath enters their consciousness. I can sense every move they make, but I don't think they realise that. So I concentrate on all of my memories I don't want them to see. Every telepathic conversation, telepathy practice session, this morning, my conversations with the twins, any of Keefe's memories I've helped him find, everything I don't want them to know. And it works…
'How are you doing that?' Sophie whispers, ripping her and Fitz's hands from my temples. 'How are you blocking me?'
You never said you could do that, Keefe transmits, and I avoid jumping. He's never started the conversation before, and I guess that means that our brains really are subconsciously connected constantly.
I didn't know.
Weird.
I know, Keefe. It is weird.
'What's going on?' calls Calla from the trees above, hopping down to face all of us. 'What's wrong?'
Sophie rubs her head, glancing at Fitz and definitely having a telepathic conversation with him. When she finally looks up, she asks, 'Are you a telepath?'
I flinch, and she's got her answer.
'Since when?' wonders Dex, breaking into a grin.
Biana laughs, and then covers her mouth, remembering she's supposed to be mad at me for refusing to say where I'd gone.
Keefe mutters something about the 'Genius Moonlark,' and then turns to Fitz. 'Don't get mad at her for hiding this from you guys for months, okay? Her telepathy has been acting weird and she was worried something was wrong, which is why you weren't told.'
'Keefe!' I yell, fisting my hands at my sides to avoid the angry flames from spurting out.
'What?' he asks innocently. 'You said you were gonna tell them weeks ago!'
'I said I'd tell Forkle! And I never said when! I never said anything about these guys!'
'You knew?' Fitz asks his 'best friend,' and I wince. This isn't going to go well. But, as we walk back through Calla's tunnel and I concentrate on not burning it down, and Fitz and Keefe and Sophie argue, and Calla gives wise interjections, and Dex and Biana try to trick me into telling them where I was, I still can't figure out how to get Dexy to make me that gadget. But I think I have an idea…