Keeper Book Nine Fanfic

Hello! I couldn't think of a better name for this fanfic, so that's why the name is so lazy. pls dont edit except for fixing spelling/grammar mistakes.
== Chapter One ==
=== Kenly ===
It's getting harder to sneak back. There's more security now, because of the Neverseen. It's been several months since I've gone to the Lost Cities. I'll need to go back soon. I need to see if Giesla has triggered Keefe's powers. If she has.. then I need to find him. I can help him. I catch a glimpse of blonde hair. It belongs to a teenager. A crowd of girls are following him, giggling. I pull my sweatshirt hood up, hopefully hiding my face. It can't be him. He can't be here. Why would he be here? I slip through the crowded sidewalk, falling into step beside him. I catch a glimpse of ice blue eyes. It is him. Keefe. He's here. In the Forbidden Cities. "Hello" I say to him, like some random girl. "HI" He mumbles. "Do you want to see something cool?" I ask him. "Sure" Keefe says. He doesn't sound like he does. I grab his hand. "Follow me" I say, pulling him along behind me. By now, all of the girls are glaring at me. I ignore them, pulling Keefe through the crowd of people.
== Chapter Two ==
=== Keefe ===
I don't know why I'm following this girl. I don't know her. But.. she seems familiar, somehow. Like I knew her before. Which is ridiculous, of course. She's just a random human. A memory pricks at the back of my mind. One I can't quite grasp. The girl leads me to a forest and pulls me inside. This was stupid. I shouldn't have followed this girl who I know nothing about. I turn away. "Lodestar" The girl whispers. I freeze. How does she know about Lodestar? I need to find out. I wish I could at least see this girl's face though. That would at least tell me better if I can trust her. "Are you coming?" The girl asks. I nod, following her through the woods. We arrive at a small lake. "Who are you?" Keefe asks. "Why did you bring me here?" "One question at a time" The girl says. "Fine, who are you?" I ask. "Kenly" The girl says. "And I'm Keefe!" I say. "I can help you" Kenly says. "I don't need help" I inform her. "You do" Kenly insists. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be in the Forbidden Cities" I feel the color drain from my face. "Gielsa triggered your powers, right?" Kenly asks. I nod. I see no point in lying. Kenly clearly knows. She stares over the lake. "So.. are you going to help me?" I ask. "Not here" Kenly says. "It's to dangerous" I nod. Here, a human could see. "So.. where then?" I ask. "You know where" Kenly says. I sigh. I suppose I would need to face Foster at one point. Might as while be before I've been gone to long. "How do we get to the Lost Cities?" I ask. "Wait here" Kenly says. She walks away, coming back a few minutes later with a satchel. It looks like it's mostly empty. Kenly holds up her necklace. It looks like it's just a solid silver piece, but when Kenly pulls it open, I realize it's a locket. Inside is a clear crystal. A leaping crystal. Specifically, a home crystal. Kenly grabs my hand and pulls us into the light. We're standing outside a very familiar ominous tower of doom. Candleshade. Why does Kenly have a home crystal to Candleshade? I open my mouth to ask her, then close it again. I don't want to use a command on anybody. Kenly leads me to the Leap Master. How does she know where it is? "This will work" Kenly says. She places her hands on my temples. An indescribable feeling of warmth and peace sweeps through me. Then it's gone, replaced with cold hardness. Something feels different. Like I don't need to worry about using my power. I need to want to use it. "It worked" I whisper. And everything fades to black. 
== Chapter Three ==
=== Kenly ===
"Keefe, wake up" I say. I blink back tears. It's been an hour, and Keefe hasn't woken up. "Keefe!" I shout. I need to get Keefe help. First I need to hide my face better. I pull a dark purple cloak out of my satchel. I pull of my sweatshirt, before pulling on the cloak, hood up, concealing my face. Keefe didn't see my face. If he did.. I don't know what might have happened. I shouldn't have tried to help Keefe. Here, all alone. Nobody to help if things went wrong. Things did go wrong. It worked, but now Keefe won't wake up. I should have known better. I should have known that something would go wrong. I need to out of this house. I need to find somebody to help Keefe. "Who might you be?" A voice asks behind me. I spin around, finding four figures with black cloaks. The Neverseen. The one with her hood pulled down smiles. "I don't think we've ever met" She says. "We have" I say. "Have we?" Giesla asks. "I guess I'll need to pull your hood down and see" She steps forward. I kick her in the stomach. Hard. She flies into the wall. The person with the medler fires, and I duck. I grab Keefe, shout "Havenfield!" and let the light carry me away. 
There's a lot of people outside Havenfield. Great. They see me as soon as I arrive. Double great. Their shouting and screaming comes to an abrupt end. "Who are you?" Somebody asks. I can't tell who. Before I can answer, I feel a stabbing pain in the back of my head, and then everything is gone.
== Chapter Four ==
=== Keefe ===
I wake up to cold, hard floor pressed against my cheek. I feel rope on my wrists and ankles. Did Kenly do this to me? Is she part of the Neverseen? I open my eyes. I see Kenly lying on the floor. She's wearing a dark purple cloak. The hood is pulled down, and she's facing me. Memories flood back.
I chase Kenly through Candleshade. We're young, maybe two or three. Kenly races outside. I follow her, and she scrambles up a tree. "That's cheating" I say. "No it's not" Kenly informs me.
We're in Atlantis. Kenly tries to convince Mom and Dad to get us a pet. They refuse, instead getting us books to study for the Foxfire entrance exam. "But we're only five" I complain.
The flood of memories is to much. It's dragging me down. Years of memories. Memories that I remembered, but not with Kenly in them. So many memories. Years of memories. I fight against them. It's no use. The memories pull me down. I still don't know why Kenly is in all these memories. It seems like I'll never know, but then..
"Keefe! Give me back my book! I'm trying to read!" Kenly says, annoyed. "There's no time for reading" I inform her. "There's always time for reading" Dad says. "You would do well to follow your sisters example, Keefe" Kenly glares at him. She snatches her book back. Setting it on her desk, she says, "Keefe, do you want to draw?" "There's no time for drawing" Dad says. "You need to study" "The Foxfire entrance exams aren't for years!" I say, annoyed. "You still need to study" Cassius says. "Study, study study!" I shout. "That's all you want us to do!" "Because studying is important" Dad says. "Having fun is important!" I say. "What's all this shouting?" Mom asks, placing a hand on Dad's shoulder. "Keefe doesn't want to study" Dad says. "Kenly is being smart and studying, but Keefe is refusing to study" I notice Kenly's hands are clenched. "Keefe is plenty smart!" She shouts. "Your the stupid one!" Dad is to shocked to answer. "Kenly! I thought I raised you better than that!" Mom says. "And stay out of this conversation!" Dad notices the drawing that I put on Kenly's desk. It's beautiful, a portrait of the two of us, laughing. he grabs it. "this is what you do with your time?" He asks me. "You could be studying, and instead you waste your time with this?" "It's not a waste of time!" Kenly shouts. "Your a waste of time!" She adds. 'Don't talk to your father like that, young lady!" Mom shouts. "And I thought I told you to stay out of this conversation" dad rips the picture I drew into shreds. Dad sees my sketchbook on Kenly's desk. He reaches for it. Before he can grab it, A terrible sound fills the air. It's shrill, and really, really loud. So loud it hurts. Dad crumples to the floor, and mom covers her hears. I curl into a ball, hands over my ears. Kenly is the only one not affected. In fact, she seems to be the one causing the noise. Her terrified eyes fall on me. "Make it stop" I whimper. Kenly drops onto her knees beside me. "I don't know how!" She cries, eyes big and terrified and brimming with tears. "Stop!" She shouts. "Stop!" The sound stops. I pull my hands away from my ears, and Kenly wraps her shaky arms around me. "I'm sorry Keefe" she sobs. "I don't know what happened. I couldn't let Dad destroy your drawings, and then it got really loud, and" "It's fine" I interrupt her. "It's not your fault" "We'll need to se if the Council agrees with that" Mom says. Her voice is laced with anger, and dad isn't moving.
Elwin says dad will probably be fine, but the Council is scared. The fear is obvious on their faces. They kept the Tribunal quiet, but not a secret. They sentence Kenly to Exile. "It's not her fault!" I scream. I run over to Kenly. "Don't send her away. It was an accident!" I wrap my arms around Kenly. "She almost killed your father" Emery says. "She didn't mean to!" I insist. Mom wraps an arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from Kenly. I wriggle loose. A goblin is leading Kenly away. "Kenly!" I shout. "Keefe!" Kenly wiggles away from the goblin, running towards me. "I don't want to leave!!" She says. Fear is etched into every line of her face. "I don't want you to go" I say. The goblin comes over, placing a meaty hand on Kenly's shoulder and steering her away. I start sobbing. How can I live without Kenly? How can I live, knowing that my twin sister is locked away in Exile? For something that was an accident. Mom puts an arm around my shoulder. Kenly turns, seeing me sobbing. Seeing Mom's arm wrapped around my shoulder. Her features harden. She twists away from the goblin. He grabs her, and then..
I'm in the present again. Everything makes sense. Something happened, and somehow, I have no idea how, Kenly was erased. That was why she didn't want me to see her face. Because it would make me remember. Remember her. Anger at the Council bubbles deep inside me. They would have Exiled a seven year old girl for something that wasn't her fault! The Council had better hope that it's a long time before I see them again. I have a few things I would like to say to them. Involving quite a few swear words. And possibly a few punches to the face. 
== Chapter Five ==
=== Kenly ===
I wake up to a nasty headache. I can feel that the hood of my cloak is pulled down. I crack open my eyes. I'm lying on the floor, in a small room. One of the walls isn't a wall, but metal bars. I see Keefe, lying not to far from me. He's facing away from me. Maybe he didn't see my face. Maybe he doesn't remember. "Thanks for defending me" Keefe says quietly. He does remember. And he's just fine. Years of memories coming back to him wasn't to much. It probably would be, except he had those same memories. They just weren't complete. "I couldn't let Dad destroy your drawings" I say. "They were so beautiful" Keefe laughs. "Your drawings were always so much better than mine" He says. "No they weren't!" I say, laughing. We used to argue about this all the time. "Do you think Mom remembers me?" I ask. "Probably" Keefe says. He turns over, facing me. "Your hood was pulled down when I woke up" "we need to get out of here" I say. "There wouldn't be much fun in letting you escape" Giesla says. I prop myself up to face her. Keefe does the same thing beside me. "hello" I say, nice and casual. "I would say it's nice to see again, but it's really not" I narrow my eyes. "Because I didn't miss you" Giesla sighs. "You both need to come with me" She says. Another person comes up next to her. Gethen. He's holding chains. Giesla unlocks the door to the cell. He unties my writs and then chains them together. Giesla comes in and unties the bonds on my ankles while Gethen chains Keefe's writs together. Giesla unties Keefe's ankle bonds and flips up my hood. I guess Giesla doesn't want anybody to see my face. "Get up" Giesla orders us. Keefe and I pull ourselves to our feet. Giesla leads us out of the cell, to wherever we're going.
== Chapter Six ==
=== Sophie ===
I'm sitting underneath Calla's Panakes tree, trying to calm down and think of a plan to rescue Keefe and whoever that other person is. Flori is sitting next to me, well Sandor paces around. Suddenly, Lady Giesla and Gethen appear. Keefe and the person from before are with them, and they both have their hands chained in front of them. Giesla pulls out the gun thing she uses to launch lethal doses of soropdine. She points it at Sandor, then Flori, then me. Sandor draws his sword. "Put your sword down" Giesla says. "Or I drug your precious Moonlark" "We have the antidote" I say. "Not for this variety" Giesla says. "I didn't put the cure for this variety in our store house" She glares at me. "I really didn't appreciate you burning that down" I glare right back at her, as Sandor reluctantly sheaves his sword. "Why are you here?" He demands. "Getting a little revenge" Giesla says. She presses a dagger against the throat of the person wearing a cloak. "Tell the Moonlark to sleep" She tells Keefe. I know Keefe will never do it, but.. if he doesn't, this person will die. Keefe's eyes widen. "Now" Giesla says. Keefe's eyes tell me that he's sorry, as he mumbles "Sleep" and then everything is gone, replaced by crushing darkness. 
== Chapter Seven ==
=== Kenly ===
We get back to the Neverseen hideout, and Gethen sedates me and Keefe. When I wake up, we're back in the cell. There are bonds on my ankles again. "Keefe?" I whisper. I'm not sure if he's awake or not. Keefe groans. "I take it that means your awake" I say. "I'm awake" Keefe confirms. "How are we going to get out of here?" I ask. "There is no way out" Giesla says. I study her face. Giesla doesn't seem to care that she kidnapped her children and is holding them hostage. I hear a quiet whirr and a sedative fills the cell. I breathe it in, and everything goes fuzzy. I try to hold my breath, but soon I need to breathe in. The sedatives wash everything away.
Eventually I wake up again. I'm not sure how long I was sedated for. My head feels fuzzy. I prop myself against the wall. Keefe lifts his head up. "I was hoping somebody rescued us" He says. "So was I" I say. My necklace catches the light. My necklace with a leaping crystal in it. The Neverseen didn't take my necklace, and that is their mistake. I manage to grab my necklace, but it's difficult with the bonds on my wrists. I manage to grab it, but can't quite get it open. Keefe scoots over. I hold the necklace still for him as he pulls it open. Light reflects off the crystal. Keefe grabs my hand. It's awkward, but it will work. We pull ourselves into the light.
"What do we do know?" Keefe asks. "I'm.. not sure" I say. Lord Cassius doesn't live at Candleshade anymore. "We should probably try to get up to the Leap Master" Keefe groans. "That will be fun" He says. We crawl/hobble over to the vortinator, which takes us to the Leap Master. "Where should we go?" Keefe asks. "Havenfield?" I suggest. "That's probably the best place" Keefe agrees. "Are you going to put your hood up?" "Everybody will find out who I am anyhow" I say. "better sooner than later" Keefe nods. "Havenfield!" He shouts.
== Chapter Eight ==
=== Keefe ===
Nobody except a few gnomes are outside when we arrive at Havenfield. They see us right away, and come running over. one of them goes inside to get Grady and Edaline, and the other two untie me and Kenly. Grady, Edaline, Elwin, Fitz, Biana, Tam, Linh, Dex, and Marella come outside. "where's Sophie?" I ask. "The command that you used on Sophie-" Grady starts, but Kenly interrupts. "The command he was forced to use on Keefe" She says. Everybody notices Kenly for the first time. Everybody seems very confused as they remember what happened and who Kenly is. Kenly looks like she's trying not to laugh. "As Grady was saying" Edaline says after everyone recovers. "The command that Giesla forced you to use on Sophie.. made her fall asleep" Her voice gets quiet. "And nobody can wake her up" I feel like somebody punched me in the face. "How long were we kidnapped for?" I ask. Nobody seems to want to answer. "Three weeks" Biana says finally. "And three days" "What!?" Kenly and I shout at the same time. "That is.. a very long time" I mumble. "How long has Sophie been asleep?" Kenly asks. "Three weeks" Linh says. "If Keefe made Sophie fall asleep, than can he wake her up again?" Kenly asks. I shrug. "It can't hurt to try" I say. Biana leads me and Kenly up to Sophie's room. Sophie is lying in her bed. She looks peaceful. But she's not moving. Sandor is pacing across the room. Flori is sitting by the bed. Ro is there to. "uh, hi Ro" I say, in a please-don't-murder-me kind of voice. Ro glares at me. "How about you glare at Keefe after he wakes up Sophie" Kenly suggests. Ro turns to look at Kenly, as do Flori and Sandor. "Who are you?" Ro asks. "Kenly" Kenly says. Then she turns to me. Everybody holds their breath expectantly. I whisper the command that will bring back Sophie. "Awake"
== Chapter Nine ==
=== Kenly ===
After Edaline explains everything to Sophie, and Elwin gives her a checkup, to make sure there are no side effects from Keefe's command, we meet outside. Edaline comes outside. "Grady hailed the Council" she says. "To tell them that Sophie is awake, and that Keefe and Kenly are no longer kidnapped. They're coming over to ask a few questions. In fact, there they are right now" The Council comes over to were we are. "Miss Foster, we are quite relived to see that your alright" Councilor Emery says. "We haven't given Team Valiant any new assignments well you were asleep" "We do have a few questions we would like to-" He trails off, noticing me for the first time. The rest of the Council notices me too, and I can tell that they all remember me. Keefe, seeing that they don't look sorry, only confused, stands up. I grab his hand, trying to tug him back down, but Keefe pulls his hand away from mine. And starts yelling at the Councilors. I excepted him to yell at the Councilors, but they look so startled, and none of them have anything to say back. And the look on their faces is priceless. I burst out laughing. I don't know why it's so funny, but it is. 
== Chapter Nine and a Half ==
=== Sophie ===
I have no idea what's going on. All the Councilors came to ask us some questions, and when they saw Kenly, they seemed to remember something. Then Keefe started yelling at the Councilors, and Kenly started laughing. I'm really confused. Nobody else seems confused. "WHY DID YOU DECIDE IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO EXILE A SEVEN YEAR OLD, YOU *F WORDING* IDIOTS!" Keefe is yelling at the Council. "ESPESCIALLY FOR SOMETHING THAT WASN'T HER FAULT! YOU'RE THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF STUPIDITY! *F WORD* YOU!" Keefe then proceeds to swear at the Council, well also insulting them in very creative ways. This is so weird. Fitz, Tam, and Dex all look like they're trying to not laugh. "What's going on?" I ask Biana.
== Chapter Ten ==
=== Keefe ===
Kenly and I have been in the Lost Cities for a few days. The Council gave Kenly a registry pendant, and we're staying at The Shores of Solace. Kenly has taken to calling it The Shores of Eternal Suffering. Lord Cassius does not appreciate it. I'm not sure how, but Kenly managed to convince Ro to not punish me.. to badly. I had to sit through a lecture from Sandor and Ro. Sophie, surprisingly, wasn't very angry. Nobody really was, I guess because I got kidnapped. Now I need to go back to Foxfire. Kenly is going to Foxfire to. The Council decided to just put her in the same level as me, but give her more time to prepare for the Elite level entrance exams if she needs it. "You'll show me how to get to my classes, right?" Kenly asks. "Ditching is much more fun" I say. "Keefe!" Kenly says. "Do you want to be part of the nobility?" I shrug. "Think about it this way: if you join the nobility, you can make people call you Lord Hunkyhair. Also, then you'll have new people to annoy" "ooh, yes" I say, rubbing my hands together. "And wait, you know about Lord Hunkyhair?" "I have my ways" Kenly says. "Can we just go to Foxfire already?" Ro complains. Kenly grabs her satchel. I follow her to the leap master. "Foxfire" Kenly says, and the beam of light sweeps us away. I show Kenly where her first class is, and then head to History. After History is lunch. I sit at my usual table with Sophie, Dex, Marella, Fitz, Biana, Tam and Linh, except now, Stina and Maruca are sitting there to. Kenly follows me over to the table, sitting down next to me. "I'm surprised you don't have detention today" Kenly says. I shrug. After afternoon sessions I wait for Kenly by the leap master. "Have you seen Kenly?" I ask Sophie. She shakes her head. "Maybe she went home already" She suggests. "Kenly said she would meet me at the leap master" I tell Sophie. "She probably got lost then" Sophie says. "I'm going to go find her" I say. Ro trail behind me. Soon we're the only ones in the hallway. I pull out my Imparter. "Show me Kenly Sencen" I say. The Imparter rings. And rings. And then stops ringing. I'm definitely worried now. A cry of pain rings through the halls. "That sounds like Kenly!" I say, dropping my Imparter and running towards the sound. "Wait!" Ro shouts, chasing after me. I ignore her. I turn a corner, and see Gethen holding Kenly. She's struggling to get free, but Gethen has a pathfinder pulled out. Seeing me, he raises the pathfinder to the light. I tackle him right as he pulls Kenly into the light.
== Chapter Eleven ==
=== Kenly ===
We land in a tumbled heap. Gethen is still holding me, and he pulls me up, keeping a firm grip. Keefe scrambles to his feet, glaring at Gethen. "Let. My. Sister. Go" He growls. "I don't think I will" Gethen says. Keefe charges at him. Gethen lets go of me, and I scramble away. I notice that we're on the edge of a cliff. Gethen and Keefe are wrestling. Keefe seems to be winning, but then he stumbles on a rock, and Gethen pushes him. Off the cliff. "Keefe!" I scream as he falls, down, down, down. So far down that I can't tell when he hits the ground. "You killed my brother!" I scream at Gethen, angry tears leaking down my face. Gethen collapses, as the same noise from all those years ago fills the air, only louder. I have no idea how much louder it must be for Gethen. He manages to pull out a leaping crystal and leap away. I crawl over to the cliff edge. I can't see where it ends. But maybe it's a good thing. I can see Keefe's registry pendant. It's dangling off of a ledge a few feet down. I use telekinesis to grab the pendant. I move away from the edge, clutching the pendant. I look at it, wishing that I could see the blonde haired smirking boy who wore it. But I'll never see him again. Never. I start sobbing. I can't stop. Keefe is gone. Gone. How will I tell anybody? How will I even get back to the Lost Cities? That doesn't seem important anymore. Nothing seems important.
== Chapter Eleven ==
=== Sophie ===
Kenly is in a sobbing heap when we finally get a crystal that can take us to where she is. Ro hailed me on my Imparter, and I went to Foxfire. Ro explained exactly what happened to me, and then I hailed Dex, who hacked into Kenly's Registry file to find her location, but none of us had a crystal that would take us there, so I hailed Biana. Luckily, her dad's Pathfinder could take us to where Kenly and Keefe were. Then Dex decided to make sure Keefe was with Kenly, and he was, but then his feed cut off. So we quickly leapt to where Kenly is. Keefe isn't anywhere in sight. "Where's Keefe?" I ask. Kenly sobs harder as she raises a shaky hand and points off the edge of the cliff. All the color drains from Biana's face, and Ro mutters a curse word. Realization dawns on me. "No" I whisper. I run over to the drop and gaze down. I can't see the ground. There's no telling if Keefe survived. How could he? The cliff looks impossible to climb, and if I can't see the bottom, I can't teleport. Sandor pulls me away from the edge. "We should go back" He says. I can barely concentrate on light leaping, but none of us are faded when we get back to Havenfield. Kenly managed to stop crying, but she won't meet anyone's eye. Fitz, Tam, Linh, Marella, Stina, Wylie, Maurca, Grady, Edaline, Alden, Della, Kesler, Juline, the entire Collective and the entire Council are waiting for us. Great. Now we get to explain to all these people that Keefe is dead. "Where's Keefe?" Fitz asks. Kenly looks like she's trying really hard to not cry. "Did he get kidnapped?" Fitz says. I shake my head. I wish that's what happened. Then there would be a way to rescue Keefe. "Then where is he?" Dex asks. He looks like he's guessed what happened, but can't believe it. "He's.. dead" I say, forcing the words out. Saying those words makes it more real. The tears that I was holding back break free. Beside me, Kenly sinks to her knees and start crying. Everybody else seems shocked. Biana starts crying as well. 
== Chapter Twelve ==
=== Keefe ===
I should be dead. I shouldn't be alive. It's pure luck that I'm still alive. I managed to grab onto a ledge just a few feet above the ground. It was jarring, and now my shoulder hurts. A lot. But at least I'm still alive. I can see Foster again. If I can get back to her. My registry pendant ripped off, and I don't have a home crystal. So, I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no way to get back to the lost cities. Hopelessness settles over me. I fight it back. I need to make it back. For Kenly. For Sophie. If I do get back, I need to tell her. I've waited to long. Now I might never get a chance to make up for all those years without Kenly. To tell Sophie I love her. Love is the right word, Ro was right. It wasn't just a crush, like I've tried to convince myself I should have told Sophie. I should have listened to Ro. And now, it might be to late. I stumble forwards, trying to find somewhere. Anywhere, really. Even being in one of the forbidden cities would be better then being here. I glance up at the sun. It's still high in the sky, so I have plenty of time to at least find a shelter. I don't know what the temperature will be like, but I'll assume it's cold.
I don't know how long its been. Days, weeks, even a month might have passed. I don't know how to get back to the Lost Cities. after a few days in the wilderness, I found a small town. I've gotten used to living here, in a small shelter I made in an alley that seems forgotten. I scrounge for food in the woods, and Happy Zucchini Farmer Fred is happy to give me the zucchini he doesn't sell. I also help him grow his zucchini and manage his stand, so I have some money to use on food. There's a school that I only go to because I have to. This life has it's struggles, of course, but it's much simpler then my old life was. I could easily settle into this new life. Except then I would need to forget. Forget Kenly. Biana. Dex. Fitz. Forget Sophie. I could never, ever forget Sophie. I could never forget any of them. And I couldn't forget that I'm an elf, even if I tried. I can always read the humans emotions, a constant reminder that I'm not like them. I have to get back. I have to find a way. Otherwise, everybody thinks I'm dead. And then the Neverseen win. I can't let that happen.
== Chapter Thirteen ==
=== Kenly ===
I sink onto my bed. I wait for sleep to come. I want so desperately for sleep to come, even as I know that it won't. It's been three days since Keefe died. I haven't gotten a wink of sleep. I definitely won't get sleep tonight. Keefe's planting is tomorrow. I don't know how I'll possibly be able to wear green, the color of life. Yeah right. If it's the color of life, why do we wear it to plantings? A way to remember dead people? If the people are dead we shouldn't wear the color of life. It's like suggesting that they might still be alive.
I hate the stillness here. There should be a breeze to rustle my simple, pale green dress. To brush against the leaves. I hate the golden sign that arches over the entrance, saying that 'Those who wander are not lost'. It seems like another stupid, stupid implication that dead people might still be alive. I hate this entire place. I slip my hand into the pocket of my dress and curl my fingers around Keefe's registry pendant. It's really the only reminder of him that I have left. That, some drawings, and Mrs. Stinkbottom, his stuffed gulon. I slip into the crowd when I get to the wanderlings. Then I slip away. I can't watch. I just... can't. I find Sophie among the wanderlings. She's sitting on the ground, staring at two trees. I sit beside Sophie. After a moment, Sophie says "One of these trees is Dex's. The other is mine" "From when everyone thought yo were dead?" I ask. Sophie nods. "Part of me wishes Keefe could be like that. The other part of me knows it's impossible" She says. We're both quiet for a few moments. "I miss him" I say. Sophie doesn't respond. I glance over at her. Tears are streaming silently down her cheeks. "I loved him" She says. "I didn't realize it until now. Not even when he left. He even signed his letter with 'love, Keefe' but I didn't realize I loved him. I was too mad. And now he's gone. It's too late" Sophie's tears are coming harder now. "He loved you too" I say. "He left" Sophie says. "Why did he leave if he loves me?" "To protect you" I say. "To protect everyone you love" Sophie nods. "I think you're right" She says. "You might know Keefe better than me" "I don't" I say. And with that confession, it's like a dam breaks. All the tears I've been keeping away break lose.