User blog:SecretlyAnElf5307/My Version of KOTLC Book 9–SecretlyAnElf5307

Prologue

The truth never came to her in full, clear pieces. It was always jagged, blurry, and confusing. The line between black and white was thick and gray, and it was hard to try and see both sides of the spectrum without tripping and landing in the middle.

But what Sophie had learned wasn’t that she should try and fully understand everything that came her way—that led to disaster. And although she felt like her life was already a big giant puddle of a lushberry juice mess, she knew one thing.

No matter how hard they tried, the Black Swan couldn’t get away with just playing nice and trying to save everyone with no harm done. Their enemy was crueler, harsher, and they had no qualms about sacrificing their ranks.

So what they were going to have to do wasn’t to try and sneak around—they were going to have to fight back.

And this time, none of them could hold anything back.

Chapter 1

As soon as the light hit Sophie’s eyes, she was up. She hadn’t even closed her blinds the previous night, knowing that she would probably end up late to the Healing Center.

It had been about a week since Keefe had come back with her to the Lost Cities in a coma-like state, and every other morning Sophie rose quickly and early to go and see him. She would sit there and wait patiently, as if to silently beg Keefe to wake up and smirk at her. She’d spent countless hours there—when she wasn’t checking in with Team Valiant and watching over the alicorn babies, she was with Keefe, quietly watching over him as he slept. She was the most anxious out of everyone, and although she would sometimes run into her friends there, there was no question of who was with him the most.

Surprisingly, running into Fitz wasn’t as awkward as she had dreaded. After the official, calm breakup, he’d kept his promise and been one of her most loyal friends. Every now and then she would catch a clenched fist or a wistful glance, but then it would disappear and he would smile and talk with her. She felt oddly relieved. She thought that she would’ve been heartbroken, but she just…wasn’t.

All she could think of, ever, was Keefe. Even Glimmer’s still-secret identity and Tam’s slim reassurances that she was to be trusted had slipped her mind. And that was why she quickly ate her breakfast and practically ran through the halls of Foxfire to get to him.

When she arrived, Elwin was standing over Keefe with his glasses on. As if on cue, when she walked in, he waved. He flashed a few orbs of light around the unconscious boy and then turned to greet Sophie.

Before he could get a word out, Sophie asked, “How is he doing? Is he any better?”

Elwin chuckled and answered, “He’s doing fine, Sophie. His vitals are strong and everything is basically the same. His heartbeat is still a little fast, but that’s okay. It’s not messing with anything super important.” Sophie breathed a sigh of relief and plopped onto the bed next to the blonde boy.

“So, what’s it going to be this time, Sophie? You have any ideas for what you’re going to try to wake him up with? If not, I have a little adventure for you,” Elwin said, smiling.

Sophie's head perked up. Whenever she came to visit Keefe, she would go around the school for a little “adventure,” and she’d come back to tell Keefe and Elwin about it. She knew Keefe probably couldn’t hear her, but it felt nice to have something to talk about, especially when the awkward silence got to be too much.

“Oh,” she said, smiling slightly, “What’s your idea?”

Elwin grinned and replied, “A trip to the secret Mentor’s kitchen. I remember that Keefe showed you where it was when you were here before, so it might be nice to go there again. And, you know, bring us back some food.”

Sophie grinned back, raising her eyebrows before telling him, “If anything happens, you hail me. Immediately. Okay?” Elwin nodded and made a mocking “shoo” sign with his hand before returning to his wall of medicine.

And Sophie walked out of the Healing Center in search of the delicious paradise that was the kitchen.

She walked for about twenty minutes before she finally stumbled upon the entrance that she remembered Keefe showing her. She walked inside and, luckily, found it empty. Spotting a stack of plates, she grabbed one and started filling it heartily. She knew that she couldn’t fill two, because she could see herself dropping one immediately. She didn’t have any coordination, so she couldn’t carry two plates filled with food at once.

Once the plate was thoroughly piled with mallowmelt and custard bursts and countless other desserts, Sophie hesitantly made her way out of the door and back into the hallways of Foxfire.

She had to admit, she was a little disappointed that Elwin hadn’t hailed her. She never tried to get her hopes up, but not too deep down there was an ache that made her wish that he would just hail her and tell her that some progress had been made, no matter how little. But every time she came, every trip she took, she never got hailed. There was never any new news—he was physically healthy—and so she would come back and talk for a while so as to forget the lingering frustration building inside of her.

And then she was back, back in the Healing Center, back to Elwin, back to the unresponsive Keefe. And she was smiling, smiling, smiling until her cheeks hurt with the effort. She was eating the food, trying to manage laughs and talking, but all the while slipping out of focus and letting her eyes drift to the still form of Keefe.

And then she began to forget her disappointment, and she was laughing. And then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keefe’s hand twitch. Elwin’s head whipped around with hers, and they watched it twitch again. They locked eyes, and suddenly Elwin was jumping up and grabbing his glasses and flashing lights everywhere. Sophie watched on as Keefe’s other hand twitched, and then his feet. She was on edge, and then she watched his eyelids twitch. One flicker, two flickers, three flickers, and with every minuscule glimpse of his eyes, Sophie grew more and more restless.

And then, suddenly, she moved in front of him so that she could be closer to his face, and she whispered, “Keefe, wake up.” And then, as if her voice had brought him back, his eyes burst open and his lips parted. Sophie sucked in a breath as his eyes locked onto hers.

And suddenly her whole world was revolving around him saying, “Foster?”

Chapter 2

She stared, shell-shocked. When she’d gotten to the Healing Center that day, she hadn’t expected anything to come of it. Her motto nowadays was “same old, same old.” But apparently it didn’t have to be. And she didn’t have any words to express that.

So she just gaped.

And stared.

And stared some more.

And then Keefe was moving, as slowly as she’d ever seen, to hug her. Sophie buried her face in his neck, trying to pretend that she wasn’t on the verge of crying. She stayed there for as long as she could, gripping Keefe gently, trying to assure herself that it wasn’t a dream, before Elwin made her move over so he could flash assorted lights all over. There had never been a moment in Sophie’s life that was as stressful as this.

At some point, Keefe asked, “How long have I been out? And, uh, um, what…what happened?” And so Sophie gulped and tried to explain everything in full as best as she could. She glossed over the details of what she could, hoping he wouldn’t have a clear enough idea of the moment that he wouldn’t question her. She focused mostly on Tam, Linh, and Glimmer, deciding it would be best to talk about that.

Her mind drifted to the twins as she started. They’d basically been arguing since Tam got back, once they’d settled in and gotten past the overjoyed part. Since Linh was now staying at Choralmere because of Tam’s warning, there was a real problem between the two. Tam didn’t want to go back to Choralmere because of the rocky past he’d had with his parents, so he was trying to convince Linh to leave. Linh was trying to convince him to stay with her, however. Glimmer was basically always with Tam, too, which made Linh uncomfortable and made it a whole lot worse.

“So,” Keefe said slowly, “What you’re trying to tell me is that Bangs Boy and Linh are arguing about what they should do now that she’s living at her parents’ house, and Glimmer won’t do anything but talk to Bangs Boy, and no one knows who she is, and no one really knows if they can trust her, and you’re spending time here?” Sophie flushed and nodded, glancing off towards the door. She didn’t know when, but she was sure that her friends were going to burst in at any moment.

But then it wasn’t her friends bursting in, it was Elwin for the fiftieth time, flashing some more lights. Giving Keefe some more elixirs for the faint ache he had from sitting for a week. Coming in with food. Doing more and more stuff. But this time, as Elwin was about to flash some more lights, he suddenly backed up and away. And Keefe was sitting there, frozen.

And then Elwin came back in, eyes wide, and he said, “What did you do? Did you make me leave? Because I suddenly wanted to leave, and there wasn’t a good reason for it. Somebody explain.” Keefe, eyes even wider, opened and closed his mouth several times before he made a small squeak and almost knocked over Elwin as he left the room.

“KEEFE,” Elwin yelled, “YOU NEED TO COME BACK! I DIDN’T GIVE YOU CLEARANCE TO LEAVE!”

Before Sophie knew it, she was running. She was following footsteps and the small clicks of Keefe’s shoes on the floor, and then she finally spotted him. Channeling her newfound teleporting powers, because this was a moment where she had to make sure Keefe was okay, she skipped ahead and accidentally tackled him.

They fell to the floor, and Sophie could already spot a tear glistening on its way down Keefe’s cheek. She had no idea why he was so upset, but she was absolutely positive that it had everything to do with what had just happened with Elwin.

“Keefe,” she said gently, propping herself up on one knee, “I need you to tell me what happened. Please. I want to help you.”

Keefe shuddered in reply and shook his head. Sophie grabbed his hand, tracing small circles into the back of it. He leaned forward and put his head on her shoulder, shaking. Sophie’s heart throbbed with emotion, and although she didn’t know exactly what had happened, she was biting back tears herself. Seeing Keefe hurt, no matter how small, hurt Sophie.

“Please, Keefe. If you can’t tell me, show me somehow. Let me read your mind. Let me help you, please,” Sophie coaxed.

Keefe croaked out, “I’ll show you, but please don’t read my mind. Please.” Sophie nodded and sighed a little, squeezing Keefe’s hand.

And then suddenly, for no reason, Sophie was standing up. Frozen under a will that wasn’t her own, she was terrified as she leaned in front of Keefe and felt her hands connect with his. She pulled him to his feet under a command that didn’t belong to her mind.

Then the spell was broken, and Keefe fell back against the wall as Sophie collapsed to the ground.

He…he was controlling her mind.

Grady’s face flashed through her mind and she gasped as a thought struck her.

Lady Gisela had transformed her son into a Mesmer so strong that he could control her.

Sophie Foster, the girl with the mind so strong that she had an almost unbreakable wall built up, had been controlled by Keefe.

And if he hadn’t been trying to move Elwin—then what could happen when he did?