Marella's POV:

My knees buckled as I landed in the same Healing Center I had visited so often when I had attended Foxfire.

"Marella, finally, you're here. You're the first to arrive." a familiar voice called behind me.

I turned around to face the same tall man with crazily messy dark hair and ridiculous gigantic glasses I had become fond of over my time in Foxfire.

"Well, I'm known to be the most punctual of this weirdly always late group." I answered matter-of-factly, crossing my arms over my chest.

Elwin chuckled.

"I guess that's true." he agreed.

"Would you guys please stop laughing around while we should be focusing on Foster's disappearance?" a muffled voice called from the bed next to me.

I looked over at a sad Keefe who had his face stuffed in a pillow with worry in my eyes.

"What do you mean 'Foster's disappearance'?" I asked, my voice full of authority.

He looked up at me with his ice blue eyes from the pillow. They were normally a pretty color, but they were now bloodshot and I could tell he had been crying.

"I'll explain when the others arrive so that I don't have to explain a thousand times today." he said simply, putting his face back in the pillow in his hands.

As if on cue, a searing sound resonated in the room and a boy and a girl, with identical black hair with silver bangs, landing in front of me.

My attention was attracted to the girl.

Lihn.

I felt my cheeks burn up and I tried to repress it. I wasn't going to turn into Sophie, was I?

I studied Lihn, trying to take in all of her beauty. Her long black hair tumbled onto her shoulders and her silver eyes sparkled in the light of the Healing Center.

She looked relaxed, just like the water.

Her lips were stretched into a smile when she saw me.

No, Marella, don't look at her lips, that's just weird, I scolded myself.

I tore my gaze from Lihn.

Ughhhhh, why do feelings exist?, I thought to myself exasperately.

I had tried to stop my sentimental side for Lihn, but I just couldn't. I knew I would be unmatchable if I was in love with a girl.

But Lihn was too important for me to care.

I shook my head to shake the thoughts away from me.

"Are you okay Marella?" Tam asked with his usual bored tone.

I glared at him with my blue eyes.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

Tam gave me a 'sure you are' look.

"Well, first of all, you're shaking your head like you've got a massive headache, and secondly, you've been staying silent and haven't said 'hi', which is completely unnormal." he explained, flicking his bangs over his eyes

I was about to answer with a snarky comeback but Keefe interrupted.

"Where are the others?" he asked to no one in particular from the pillow on the bed.

I was too happy not having to answer Tam's question to reply to the blond boy. Lihn spoke up.

"I'm sure they're coming." she told him with her sweet rosy lips.

I smiled softly at the sight of her smile.

No, don't smile Marella!, I thought, as I mentally slapped myself.

"Well, I guess you could say that but, the only place we're coming from is the other side of the room." a female voice said.

Elwin, the twins and I all simultaneously looked over at the source of the voice. My eyes were met with the gang, standing there, as impressive as ever, with their arms resting on their sides.

Keefe looked over too, though it was just a slight movement of his head from his pillow.

"Oh, come on, stop putting an idiot of a show with that stupid line that was supposed to make you sound cool and just come here." Keefe called from his pillow, which he had seemed to put his face back into.

They all rolled their eyes in annoyance, but came to sit on the beds of the Healing Center in different places.

Someone cleared their throat.

"So, Keefe, what's this about you being all depress-y and sulky and I don't know what?" Tam asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

Keefe just ignored him and kept his head in the pillow.

Elwin spoke at his place.

"Sophie disappeared, she came to the Healing Center because she was unconscious, but then, the Leaping Crystal at her wrist started to glow and she went off to 'who knows where'." he told us quietly.

My eyes widened.

Sophie had disappeared?

Who could have taken her if the Neverseen were gone?

Oh, no it was the Leaping Crystal that took her away.

"What color was the Leaping Crystal?" I asked, breaking the silence in the Healing Center.

If we were going to look for her, might as well know which zone of the world she was in.

"That's the thing..." Elwin said hesitantly.

"It was purple." Keefe said, pulling his face up from the pillow to reveal that his usually artfully messy hair was a bird's nest. His eyes were swollen and his face, that was usually pulled into a smirk, eyes sparkling with mishief, was expressionless and unemotional.

My eyebrows furrowed.

"But-" I was cut off by Keefe.

"I haven't ever seen a purple Leaping Crystal in my life neither." he told me. "And that means we don't even know where she's gone."

We all stayed silent, but Keefe's voice started to sound louder and louder.

"And if I had never taken her to the beach, and we weren't in the water, I would have taken less time to take her here and she wouldn't have been gone!" he exclaimed.

"And if I had taken the Leaping Crystal which we don't know the location, she wouldn't be gone!" he was now yelling.

"Keefe, this isn't your fault. Plus, Sophie can teleport, remember?" Fitz explained.

Keefe looked at Fitz with his eyes sparkling.

"Do you think you can contact her telepathically? he asked, hope in his voice.

"Sure, but no promises." he said.

Keefe smiled for the first time since the beginning of this meeting.

"Let's go!" Keefe jumped off the bed, leaving the pillow lonely and dragged poor Fitz out of the room.

We all looked at each other.

"Well that was weird." Dex stated.

No one answered or agreed.

"Well, you should ask Mr. Forkle about this." Elwin said, rearranging his medical things on his desk. "He might know something about purple Leaping Crystals."

We all stayed silent, no one daring to speak. But one thing was clear: Sophie Foster would be found.

• • • • • • • •

A/N:

So, in this, Fitz is a little silly, but he is not mean!

Just so you know, because I don't like Fitz A LOT, but I'd like to say that Fitz is actually not THAT BAD of a character.

~Ellie

Wordcount: 1307