I opened my eyes to blue sky and the chatter of birds. The ground below me was covered in leaves and moss, and green trees created a canopy above me. I could make out the slow trickle of a stream in the distance.

I groaned and sat up, needles of pain stabbing every bit of me. The throwing star in my arm dug into my flesh, causing a fresh flow of blood to come from the wound. I gritted my teeth and pulled it out, unable to suppress the small sound that escaped before setting the weapon on the ground.

My back and arms were covered in tiny scratches and bruises. I looked up at the shredded branches above me and the many green leaves on the ground. We must have fallen a good ten feet.

"Where are we?" I wondered aloud, searching the clearing for Tam. I found him lying on his back beside me.

I yelped and jumped to my feet.

He was transparent. I could see the mossy ground under him, and his normally dark hair looked like smoke. I was tempted to step on him to see if he was still solid.

He faded, I thought, but dismissed that idea. We didn't light leap. So what happened to him?

I bent down to poke his arm and my finger passed right through him. I recoiled, startled.

I looked at my hands to make sure I was still solid and almost leapt out of my skin—again.

I was white as snow. Every bit of color had drained out of me, leaving me looking like I'd turned into a ghost.

My hair, I thought, forcing myself to focus on one thing. I followed the sound of the stream to its source and looked at my reflection in the waving water. My pale eyes widened as I looked at my white hair, still styled, but bleached of its amazing blonde color.

"This isn't good," I mumbled. "This really isn't good."

I ran back to the clearing. Tam still hadn't woken up yet, and despite my annoyance at the guy, I was worried about him.

"Come on, Bangs Boy," I muttered, trying to poke him again. Once again I couldn't touch him. "You gotta wake up, man. I'm freakin' out."

No response.

"Hey, as much as I'd like to, I can't leap out of here with you like this," I told him. "So wake up, and we can get out of here, and Elwin can fix my hair."

He still wouldn't move. It was hard to tell if he was even breathing.

He couldn't be dead. Linh would kill me. Then she'd find a way to kill him too.

But there was nothing I could do about that right now. I was hurt, and I needed to find a way to stop the bleeding before it got serious.

I took my cloak off and started ripping it into strips, which looked way easier in the human movies Dex had shown me. It was hard to wrap my arm with one hand, but I managed to tie it off. It wasn't the best, and I could see the blood starting to seep through, but it would do for now.

I sighed, and got to my feet, looking around. There were no distinguishable landmarks—just trees and bushes, like we were in a forest or something. But judging by the weird mechanical sounds in the distance, I guessed we were in the Forbidden Cities. And that was bad.

I didn't know how we had gotten here. I had no idea there was a way to travel this quickly without light leaping. But then again, I could only guess how much time had passed since the Neverseen base.

I groaned internally. Sophie's gonna kill me. Fitz might kill me also. I'm so dead when I get back home.

But then another thought struck me, making my stomach churn. They wouldn't think I betrayed them again, would they?

I had no idea, but I had to get back. I had to explain what happened, before their own ideas took shape.

I can't lose them again, I thought as I knelt down beside Tam again. I couldn't live with myself if that's what they thought.

***

"Tam!" Keefe's voice echoed in my head. Something shook my shoulder, causing spikes of pain to shoot through my entire body. "Get up! Linh will kill us both if you're dead, so you better wake up right now or I'll—"

I groaned and forced my eyes open. Every inch of me felt like I was being stabbed by hot knives.

"Dude," Keefe breathed, leaning back, relief covering his face.

"Why are you shouting?" I mumbled, ignoring the pain and sitting up. My breath hitched at the movement, but he didn't seem to notice. "What's wrong?"

"I've been trying to wake you up for a good half hour," he told me.

"So no one's trying to kill us at the moment?" I mumbled. "Then leave me alone."

Keefe looked like he was trying to decide whether to be annoyed or concerned. "Yeah, well, as much as I'd like to do that, I can't because, uh...I don't know if you've noticed, but...you're kind of transparent, just a bit."

At first his words didn't register. What did he mean, transparent? But I looked at my hands and one of the words Linh forbade me to say slipped out.

"I know," Keefe said, eyeing me with concern. "I don't know what's up, but we were both affected by...whatever the heck happened back there. I got most of my color back, thank gosh. It was scary. I thought my hair was damaged permanently." Keefe hesitated. "What did happen?"

"Umber," I remembered, tugging on my bangs as I thought--or I tried to, anyway. My hand passed right through them. "She tried to vaporize us, but I used her shadows to leap away."

"You can do that?"

"I've only done it once, and that was with Sophie enhancing me," I said. "I guess that's why I feel so drained right now. Plus, it's hard to concentrate when you're getting attacked."

"Well, you may have overshot," Keefe said dryly. "We're in the Forbidden Cities, by the way."

"Well, we'd better get out of here then." I took out the leaping crystal and my stomach dropped. "You've got to be kidding me."

The crystal was cracked in half, hairline fractures covering its surface. There was no repairing it, and no leaving either.

"Guess we're not getting out of here any time soon," Keefe said, sighing. "I don't suppose you're up for another shadow leap just yet?"

"Unless you want to kill both of us, then no."

"Right."

There was a short pause.

"How did that even happen?" Keefe finally asked, gesturing to the broken crystal.

I examined the pathfinder. "The crystals are sensitive to light right? So if you shoot them with shadows it breaks them? I'm not a Flasher, I don't know how things work. The point is, we're stuck here for a bit, whether it makes sense or not."

He sighed and sat down beside me, and I noticed the bandages on his arm. "You're hurt."

He glanced down. "Yeah. But it's fine. Really. I can barely—" he winced. "Feel it anymore."

"Well I'm convinced," I said sarcastically. Keefe rolled his eyes.

"Seriously. I'm fine."

"You're lying, but whatever." I pulled my knees up to my chest and pulled my hair in front of my eyes as I prepared for the question I was about to ask, relieved when it half-worked. "Just out of curiosity...why didn't you try and leap out of here while I was out?"

Keefe gave me a look like that was the stupidest question in the universe. "Uh, cause Sophie would've been mad at me. Duh."

"But you could've left me and gotten help," I argued. "Or at least, tried to."

"You're welcome," Keefe said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't about to leave you, because that would make me look bad. And I didn't know if I could cover both of us with my concentration, and you were definitely not in a condition to leap."

"Isn't that true," I muttered. "But...I don't know...I thought you hated me or something."

"Hate's a strong word, Bangs Boy. I hate the Neverseen. You're more like a major annoyance." He turned his ice colored eyes away from mine and gestured to my hands. "But can you explain this, please? Cause it really freaked me out."

I sighed. "I don't know. You act like I'm an expert at this."

"Aren't you?"

"Are you an expert on everything Empath?"

"Yes. Most of it. I hate to admit it, but textbooks do come in handy once in a while."

I huffed. "Fine. Shadows respond to energy—it's how I control them. That's essentially what shadow vapor is. When Umber attacked me, the energy she sent with them was hostile, so they did some—" I looked down at my hands. The fingertips were the only things turning back to their normal color, so I corrected myself. "—a lot of damage. But I was able to use them to my advantage, and they stopped hurting us."

"And you turned transparent because...?"

I reached up for my bangs again. "I took the brunt of it. I was the only one that would stand a chance of surviving and getting us out, and I figured if I didn't, you could still leap out of there if you had to."

"So you're telling me you almost vaporized," Keefe summed up. "That's wonderful. How much longer do you think until you'll be ready to leap?"

"Let me just think back to the many times this has happened before," I grumbled. "I don't know, Keefe. I could try, but I can't guarantee we'll end up where we want to go. We might not even make it anywhere."

"Yeah, you already made us fall like ten feet," he told me. I wondered why I wasn't hurt, but then remembered I would have passed through anything that attempted to catch me. Good thing I hit the ground solid enough.

"Well, while we're here," I said. "Can we talk about what happened? Why in the world would you pull a melder to your mom? We could've escaped!"

"Really?" Keefe asked, his voice turning sharp. "Because it sure doesn't sound like it. Umber is way more powerful than you and you know it. What could you have done against her without the element of surprise?"

I hated that he was right. I didn't stand a chance against her. I just hoped Linh was never in her way. I didn't know if I could protect my sister from someone as powerful as that.

Linh. She must be worried sick.

"What are the others gonna think happened to us?" I asked quietly.

"Well, if your attitude is any indication, they probably think I betrayed you and joined the Neverseen again."

At first I thought he was joking, but his tone was way too bitter for him to be anything but serious.

I blinked in surprise. "Are you for real?"

"Yeah. I am."

The statement was so absurd, I snorted. "You're crazy, if that's what you think."

Keefe looked offended. "What?"

"Do you really think they'd give up on you so easily?" I asked him, still unable to comprehend how easily he dismissed his friends' loyalty. "Sophie still believed in you even after you betrayed her for the second time and left us stranded at that Neverseen base after stealing my leaping crystal and rescuing Alvar. Remember that?"

"You don't need to remind me," he muttered.

"Yeah, I do. Because I need you to understand that somehow you've found the six people who will always, no matter what, stand by you. And even if they think you joined the Neverseen again, you're gonna prove them wrong. Because we are going to get out of here, and you can show everybody you're not making the same mistakes again."

Keefe stared at me. "Why do you do that? Defend me like that? I thought you hated me, just as much as you thought I hated you."

I smirked at him. "Hate's a strong word, Sencen. And..." my smile faded. "I know what you're going through."

"So you've tried to shoot your mom with a melder?" Keefe asked dryly. "That seems likely."

"No," I answered quietly. "But...our father always had a thing for punishing Linh. Him and Mom considered it her fault if I acted up. They decided that it was her job to keep me in check, and every time I didn't, they took that as a sign that she was choosing me over them." I tugged on my bangs, trying my best to hide behind them. "My parents are convinced I'm holding Linh back, and on some level I agree. But...whenever they'd punish her along with me...well, let's just say Dad isn't quite powerful enough to defend himself."

Keefe was silent for a count of five. "Wow."

"Welcome to my world."

"Yeah, I don't like it much."

"Trust me, neither do I."

"But they're getting better, aren't they?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Mom is, at least."

"Then you want to trade?"

I snorted. "I'm good."

We sat in silence for a while and I watched the color slowly creep up my wrists. I remembered Keefe was injured and glanced over at him. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, eyes on the ground and filled with guilt.

Uh oh. I knew firsthand what that could do to you. I'd seen Linh go through it when she flooded Atlantis, and I felt the same every time my parents gave me a look that said, "This is what happens when you act up—your sister gets punished right along with you."

I knew it could tear you apart. And no matter how much he annoyed me, I couldn't allow Keefe to suffer through that.

"Hey," I said quietly. "It wasn't your fault. You had to."

He snorted. "Not according to you."

"Yeah, and that..." I took a deep breath. "That wasn't fair of me. You were doing what you thought was right."

"But I hurt her," he protested weakly. "I freaking paralyzed her. She's still my mother, not matter what she's done."

"You had to."

He gave me an unconvinced looked.

I could tell this wasn't helping, so I tried a different tactic. "Look. I'm not even going to pretend to know what's going on in your head—I'm not an Empath, or a Telepath. And shooting your mother with the melder isn't something you should ever have to do. But you did, and you need to come to terms with the fact that she forced your hand. You're saving Sophie, and Fitz and Biana, and everyone else. So every time you feel guilty about anything she did to you, just remember—" I waited for him to meet my eyes. "You're not the one who attacked you guys on Everest. You're not the one who's betrayed your family. You're not the one who allied with the ogres to try and wipe out the gnomes. She did that. She hurt you. And this is just payback."

Keefe nodded, slowly, and I could see his ice blue eyes start to clear. "Thanks."

I breathed a small sigh of relief. "Yeah. No problem."

Keefe looked me over with concern. "How much longer?"

I repressed another sigh. "I don't know. I mean, I feel fine, but...I don't know what'll happen if I try to leap us yet."

He nodded. "Can you stand?"

I nodded and pulled myself to my feet. The world blurred for a second and I started to lean, but I felt Keefe's hand on my arm, steadying me.

"You good?"

I blinked and nodded once my vision cleared. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

He nodded and let go.

I scanned the area, trying to catch a glimpse of anything we could use to determine where we were, but nothing stood out against the green and ground.

"So we have no idea where we are," Keefe summed. "And you're not sure if you can get back. Who knows what they're doing. They could be sending search parties. Everyone knows Foster just can't live without me," he added, running a hand through his hair with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, but my annoyance gave way to worry at the considerable amount of blood seeping through his makeshift bandage.

"They wouldn't send search parties," I said, deciding to ignore his last comment. "We haven't been gone long enough."

But even as I said it, I thought about how worried my sister probably was. I promised her I'd be safe. I couldn't even imagine what would happen if I didn't come home.

"Uh-uh." Keefe nudged me. "None of that. If I'm not allowed to feel guilty, you're not either. Besides, you need to focus."

I forced those thoughts out of my head. Keefe was right, surprisingly. I had a job to do.

I quickly assessed my energy levels. Every visible part of me was solid again, and I felt strong enough. Hopefully I could get us home.

Strong ENOUGH, a voice in my head reminded me. That doesn't mean you have energy to spare.

Shut up, I told myself.

"Get ready," I warned Keefe. He blinked and held out his hands.

"Whoa, slow down. I thought—"

"I'm ready," I assured him, scanning the clearing for decent sized shadows. My eyes and senses locked simultaneously on the shadow of a massive tree at the edge of the empty space.

"Can you get us to Everglen safely?"

"Probably."

"And how do I know you're not gonna disappear completely this time?"

"Well if I do, you can make fun of my hair all you want and I can't exactly get mad, now can I?"

Despite that offer, Keefe looked at me, concern filling his eyes. "Look, man, I don't know if I can—Biana and Linh would actually murder me if I let you kill yourself getting us back this soon—"

"I'm not killing myself," I told him firmly, ignoring the weird feeling in my chest at the idea of Biana caring about me. "And you should really be worrying about Sophie's reaction when we get back. She's gonna be mad. You should brace yourself."

"Thank you for those amazing words of encouragement," Keefe said sarcastically with a role of his eyes.

"Nice knowing you," I said, and grabbed his wrist pulling him towards the shadow. As soon as the sunlight left our skin, we dissolved into darkness.

***

We materialized in the living room of Havenfield. Sophie was pacing the floor, with Edaline pleading with her to stop worrying.

"They'll be fine, Sophie," she assured her adopted daughter. "They're—" her eyes widened as she caught sight of us. Sophie looked back at her mom when she became silent, and her gold-brown eyes slowly found us.

She gave a small squeal, and covered her mouth with her hands, her shock, relief, anger and concern hitting me like a sledgehammer. "You guys are okay! HOW COULD YOU JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE THAT, YOU GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK! You're hurt!"

"We're okay," I assured her, waving the air in front of me.

"I think okay might be a bit of a stretch," Tam muttered, as he swayed and leaned heavily on me. I wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders, steadying him.

"Any place we can rest and catch up?" I asked Sophie. She uncovered her mouth and nodded, her rage lessening.

"You guys can crash in my room for now. I'll hail everyone else." She looked at Tam. "Linh's at Fitz's house. She's been worried sick."

"Knew it," Tam mumbled. His bangs were in his face, but he didn't bother flicking them away. I was equal parts relieved and concerned.

"You help them, Sophie," Edaline said, getting to her feet and hurrying to the kitchen. "I'll hail everyone else."

"Did you guys learn anything?" Sophie asked as we slowly made our way up the stairs.

"That my mom's still a huge jerk," I muttered angrily.

Sophie sighed. "I'm sorry, Keefe. Anything that could help us beat them?"

I grimaced as we reached the second story landing. "Aside from the fact that me and Tam are of interest to the Neverseen, nothing much. This mission just was a wonderful way to waste our time."

Sophie glanced at me, but didn't say anything.

We reached her room, and Tam took his arm back. "I'm fine."

"Really?" I asked, not hiding the skepticism in my voice as I pushed him with one finger. He nearly tipped over, catching the edge of the door just in time. "Oh yeah, you look just fine to me."

He glared at me.

"I'll go wait for the others," Sophie said with a quick, concerned look at my arm. "Let me know if you need anything. Elwin should be here soon to help with that."

She left, her footsteps slowly fading.

I gestured to her massive bed. "You wanna lay down?"

"Way ahead of you," Tam muttered, and flopped onto the bright comforter. I sat on the other side of the bed and we waited.

Sure enough, a few minutes later our friends came storming up the stairs and into the room, demanding answers. Tam sighed and sat up as they barged in.

"Dude!" Fitz practically yelled at me. "You can't scare us like that, man! We thought something happened to you guys!"

"How long have we been gone?" I asked. Sophie sighed.

"A little over a day."

Tam and I glanced at each other. We'd been in the forest for a while.

"Are you guys okay?" Biana asked as Linh tackled her brother in a hug. "What happened?"

I glanced at Tam. "You want to explain or should I?" He shrugged and motioned for me to start, wrapping his arms around Linh.

I sighed. "Where do I even start?"

"After you guys left," Dex said. "That'd be a good place."

I thought for a second. "Well, we stepped out of the beam of light and into a dark room..."

I explained the turn of events, miming explosions and obviously making me look even more amazing than I already was. I could tell my friends knew I was exaggerating, but they didn't stop me.

"Well this is a relief," Mr. Forkle said, stepping into the room and making me pause while explaining what it felt like to leap with shadows. "I'm glad you made it out safely."

I nodded.

"Was the mission worth it?"

Tam and I glanced at each other. We definitely didn't learn anything new about the Neverseen's plans, so big fail there. But he smirked at me, like you were already explaining anyway. Why don't you tell him?

Okay, so he was still annoying. But there was definitely something less hostile in the way he looked at me, and vise versa. Linh was looking back and forth between us as if she noticed it too.

So maybe the mission wasn't such a waste of time after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheesy ending, cuz why not. Again, I suck at creating plots, I really do, so any advice you can give would be amazing.