CHAPTER 1: AMBUSH, A KISS, AND A WHOLE LOT OF YELLING Alicia cheerfully hummed songs from Hamilton as she walked out of the sushi restaurant. (A/N: I love Hamilton!!! Especially the Schuyler Sisters and You’ll Be Back) Her stomach was full of amaebi (sweet shrimp served raw) and hotate (raw scallops), a salmon skin hand roll, and a lot of rice. (A/N: My favorite types of sushi!!!) She loved living in the Bay Area because of all the delicious food!!! Whipping out her phone to check the time, she paused momentarily to look at her home screen, a picture of her and her best friends Rosie and Veronica. The perfect trio. They had met in 6th grade and were still close friends the summer before sophomore year. Aha! 12:47. Just enough time to grab dessert and head over to Rosie’s place to play Wingspan, a strategy game where you housed birds and had to provide food for them. There were a lot of other little things you could do to gain points, like tucking cards, laying eggs, putting food on cards, and completing the round and end goals. Then at the end you tallied up all the points from the different categories, and 99.99% of the time, Rosie won. By a lot. (A/N: I usually win when I play Wingspan with my family!!!) Anyway, after that, Alicia had to do a bunch of prep for the school year. Even summer was busy for Alicia. She groaned internally, then remembered that her favorite dessert place was a few blocks down the street. Alicia skipped along and went inside the dessert place. Even the atmosphere was amazing. “Half of a pandan waffle please," she told the server. (A/N: I LOVE pandan waffles) A few minutes later, it was ready. Absolutely delicious as always. Crispy on the outside, chewy and mochi-ish on the inside. She dropped a few bucks in the tips jar and walked out, but stopped abruptly when something sharp pinched her neck. She had read too many spy novels to not know what was going on. Quickly whipping her head around, she saw nobody. She stumbled as the world around her spun and blurred, and she collapsed on a nearby bench. The last thing she saw was two figures in black cloaks moving towards her. They were whispering and she caught the word "moonlark". Then her vision faded to black. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sophie hadn't slept all night, as usual. She rose at around 5 A.M. and went outside (bringing a pillow and blanket, of course) to watch the glorious sun yawn and shine its glorious rays over the land. The creatures in the pasture grazed, and for a moment all seemed peaceful. Sophie's worries seemed to slip away until she realized what was happening. Keefe was sending her mental breezes. "Thanks, Keefe. I kinda…needed that," Sophie said quietly. "'Course, Foster. No one else is around to cheer you up with their awesome empathy skills," Keefe joked. He moved a bit closer to Sophie. It was almost (almost!) imperceptible. Then he ran his fingers through his hair and whispered, "Sophie, I need to tell you something." “Sophie”?! Keefe never called her “Sophie”! [CONTINUED IN NOTES AND CREDITS]
He took a deep breath, and said, “Ever since I met you I’ve loved you. I've loved everything about you and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you." It took a few seconds for her to realize what had happened. She started jumping for joy–internally, of course, and Keefe fanned the air. "Whoa, whoa, no need to announce to everyone that Keefe is so awesome and has the best hair in the world." Sophie tried to throw her pillow at him, unsuccessfully, as Keefe had quickly caught it. She glared at him as he smirked. “Awww, is Lady Foss-Boss upset?” he teased. She tried to keep from smiling (and did try valiantly), but it tugged at her face and she gave up. (A/N: Comment if you got the Team Valiant reference!!! I actually didn’t notice until I was editing LOL) Keefe cupped her face, slowly leaned in, and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. His arm moved to her waist, and the other to her hair. After what seemed to be an eternity, he pulled away, leaving her breathless. Suddenly, she heard a crisp, accented voice. Fitz. “W-what…is HAPPENING?!?!?!” Oh no. She hadn’t officially broken up with Fitz yet, and she was torn. She contemplated teleporting away or apologizing to Fitz. The first option certainly seemed more appealing. What did she have to apologize for anyway? Fitz was the one who had major anger issues and often blamed her for everything. She decided to deal with it later. Grabbing Keefe’s hand, she ran towards the cliff, preparing to teleport. But, alas, fate had other plans in mind. Sandor, who was patrolling the pasture, barked, “Sophie, get back here IMMEDIATELY! I am NOT letting you out of my sight!” Reluctantly, she slowed down, and prepared for another lecture from Sandor about safety that she had heard a million times. Surprisingly, Sandor gave her a scolding look, and said, “Fitz wants to talk to you.” Sophie had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from saying, “Since when did you side with Fitz?” Ugh, Sandor must have been greatly influenced by Grady. Keefe shot him an annoyed look. Sophie took a deep breath and spun around to face Fitz. His teal eyes were narrowed and his fists were clenched so tightly that they were white. Sophie gulped silently. “I can’t believe you would choose him over me,” Fitz said through clenched teeth. “What does he have that I don’t? I’m the Golden Boy because I was the youngest elf to manifest as a Telepath, at least before I discovered you! I’m a Vacker and my family is respected! We’re Cognates, and we’ve been through so much together on missions for the Black Swan and we used to always be together at Foxfire! Keefe’s the son of some greedy, selfish, stuck-up elf and a leader of the Neverseen! The NEVERSEEN!” Fitz huffed. “I’ve always tried to help you, but Keefe has only gotten you in trouble by running off by himself and joining the enemy! His dad hates you and his mom wants to kill you, while my parents actually want us to have a future! WHAT DOES HE HAVE THAT I DON’T?!” Fitz was screaming now. Keefe stared at Fitz, the hurt apparent in his eyes. “Ouch…so much for being my best friend…” Keefe faltered. “I–I can’t deal with this right now. I’m sorry, Sophie.” He turned around and left, leaving Sophie to deal with Fitz. Alone. Sophie took a deep breath and said, “Fitz, you’re right about all of that. Everything you said is true. But you missed something.” Fitz was panting heavily. “What is it, then?” he snapped. “I love Keefe, and I don’t…feel the same for you. I know this probably hurts, but it’s the truth, and… I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” Fitz turned to face the sunrise and walked away. Sophie sighed, and levitated to her window. She flopped onto her bed, then immediately screamed. Grady and Edaline came rushing to her room. On the wall, there was a message scrawled in blood. “WE HAVE THE MOONLARK. - GISELA.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ooh, what's that gray heart and gray star? Maybe you can click them! What happened? Oh, the heart turned red and the star turned yellow! And the number next to them went up by one! Thanks for reading! Follow me to support me and help me produce more content! @-sokeefe-gurlie- out ------->
