Despite Stina coming to help me, I still have nightmares. About every bad thing that happened in this universe. I relive my kidnapping and my mind breaking. The panic when Sophie said that the Neverseen had kidnapped Keefe and the pain when I didn’t know that Dex was here. All the stress of adjusting to a new universe with the same people who didn’t know me. Then I wake up and remember all the good. Seeing Dex for the first time, getting to know Sophie, the sleepover at Everglen, when Dex told me he liked me. I could go on with the good a lot more than the bad. I go inside and get ready, and I remember that I have to take midterms today. I sort of… breeze through them. It’s the only way I won’t panic. After I’m done with my last subject, it’s time for study hall. I was careful not to go over the time limit.
How’d it go? Sophie transmits to me.
I don’t know. I think it went pretty well. I transmit back.
Grady and Edaline will come up to talk to your teachers about your scores later, since there’s no school tomorrow. We’ll just stay late.
Is Dex staying too?
I think so. We might end up getting triplet duty.
I can handle them. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be helping.
Fiiiiine. But you’re in charge.
Ok. I sever the connection and try to read a book, but I’m too worried about how my midterms went. The chimes sound, and all the prodigies start filing out. Grady, Edaline, Juline, and Kesler all leap in.
“Could you watch the triplets while we go talk to Dex’s mentors?” Juline asks me and Sophie.
“Sure thing.” I reply.
“Thank you so much.” She and Kesler walk off to find Dex’s first class, and I’m left with three screaming balls of energy, who are currently trying to see how hard they can pull Bex’s hair before it comes out.
“OW! STOP!” Bex screams.
“NO! WE’VE ALMOST GOT IT!” Rex screams back.
“How about we don’t pull her hair?” I suggest.
“NO THIS IS THE BEST!” Lex shouts.
“I think we can find something better to do. How do you feel about taking a trip to the very special, very secret, very magical yard?”
“IT’S JUST A YARD.” Rex shouts.
“But it’s not ‘just a yard’. This is a very special yard. It makes everyone in it three times faster than they normally are. You guys can race, then we’ll be back in time for your parents, so they won’t find out about it. Actually, because you’ll be so much faster, you can probably do three races.”
“YEAH YEAH YEAH! LET'S GO THERE!” They all chant. We start walking, and Sophie comes up next to me.
“Where are we actually going?” She asks.
“Just a random yard they’ve never been to before. They’ll be so excited, they’ll think that they’re faster than normal, but if they actually are, it’s because they’re actually channeling.”
“Huh. I never thought of that.” Soon, we find an area that will work.
“We’re here! Try running around, and see how fast you are.” They all take off, thinking that they’re faster than they actually are. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll race.” I say, when they get back. I show them a quick route with lots of twists and turns. “Ready… go!” They take off, and Sophie and I watch carefully to make sure nobody wipes out. Bex wins the first race, then Rex. Lex wins the last one, then we have to practically carry them back since they’re so tired.
“Thank you so much for watching them. What did you guys do?” Juline asks when we get back.
“WE WENT TO A MAGIC YARD HERE THAT MAKES YOU THREE TIMES FASTER THAN NORMAL.” Rex says, just as loud, despite how tired he is.
“Sounds fun.” She says.
“CAN LORI WATCH US NEXT TIME TOO?” Lex asks.
“We’ll see.” I say.
“Mom, Dad, how did I do?” Dex asks. I walk over to Grady and Edaline.
“What did I get?” I ask.
“You passed everything! You need a little more work in Agriculture, but you’re good in everything else. Also, next week you’ll start Study of New Abilities.” Edaline says.
“We’re proud of you, kiddo.” Grady says. I lean in for a hug, relieved that midterms are over.
“I’ll be right back.” I say and walk over to Dex. “I’ve got your charm here.”
“And I’ve got yours. Here it is.” He hands me his charm that he got for me, and I hand him the little heart charm. It definitely matches his eyes. He got me half of a heart, and when I’m confused, he shows me that he has the other half, and they click together, like the best friends necklaces humans have.
“Aw, I love it!”
“I love mine too! It matches my eyes.”
“That’s why I chose it. I’ll go home and change, and meet you at the place.”
“Alright.” I leap home, and put on a simple light blue dress, do a little makeup, and leap to the location we agreed on. “Wow, you look amazing.” Dex says.
“So do you.” He’s wearing a dark blue tunic, embroidered with silver patterns. We spread out a blanket in a patch of grass and start unpacking the food he brought. We joke around while we eat, and talk about how nice it is to finally get a break.
“Butterblasts!” I exclaim when it’s time for dessert.
“I know you like them.” He smiles.
“They’re better than Mallowmelt.” I say, grabbing one and shoving the whole thing in my mouth.
“You look like an adorable little chipmunk!” Dex laughs. I probably do, with so much of the flaky pastry in my mouth. The sun starts to set, and we lay back, watching all the stars. I already have all of the star charts memorized, but it’s still amazing seeing all of them twinkling in the sky. It’s beautiful how many stars you can see when all the pollution from humans is kept out.
“It’s so beautiful.” I say.
“Just like you.” Dex says. When I look over at him, he’s not looking at the sky, he’s looking at me. I turn over on my side, so I’m facing him.
“Can we just stay here forever?”
“Sure. No more Neverseen, no more worrying, just us.” I scoot closer to him, staring into his eyes. My gaze falls down to his lips, and we kiss. It’s amazing as ever, and we both have huge smiles on our faces when we pull apart. That was the first time he kissed me here.
“You know, that was probably the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
“Me too. But my other one isn’t hard to beat.”
“What happened?”
“So, I used to like Sophie before you came here, and when I told her, she just kissed me to prove that we would be better as friends. And we are. All feelings are firmly in the past.”
“Wait, seriously?” I laugh.
“Yup. That was one of the top ten most embarrassing moments of my life.”
“One of the top ten? What beats that?”
“You end up in situations you would never think were possible when you live with triplet siblings.”
“Fair enough.”
“So, what do you want to do after Foxfire?”
“Honestly, I’ve been so focused on the Neverseen, I haven’t given it much thought. I know I want to go through the elite levels, assuming I survive, but after that… I guess I’ll be fighting to destroy all the weird stereotypes elves have, like about talentless elves, and multiple births.”
“I’ll fight right along with you.”
“Do you think you’ll register for the match?” I ask.
“Maybe not. My parents were a bad match, and they were fine with it, so I guess it’s up to you.”
“I don’t think we should. I want to see how people would react if it was someone in our group. With you being a member of Team Valliant, I want to know if they’ll treat you the same way they treated your parents.”
“Wait, do you know your biological parents?”
“Uh, why?” I do know my mother, but I decided not to reveal it in case it brought up questions about Sophie.
“If you don’t know them, then you’d be unmatchable anyways.”
“Unmatchable?” I repeat.
“Yeah. Sophie is. We think she knows one of her parents, but she won’t give it away. That’s why she broke up with Fitz. He wouldn’t be with her unless she got rid of that status, and whoever it was freaked her out so much that she broke up with him.”
“Wow. I guess it’s a good thing that you don’t care then.”
“Yeah. It’s getting late.”
“We should probably get back.” Neither of us move.
“I don’t want tonight to end.”
“Me neither.” He leans in and kisses me again. I sigh and stand up. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah. Goodnight.” I hold up my home crystal and leap back to Havenfield to find Edaline waiting for me.
“So how was it?” Edaline asks.
“Amazing.” I reply.
“Who don’t you go get ready for bed?” I go upstairs and find Sophie on a call with Keefe.
“Yeah, we can go after Elwin lets you leave.” She says.
“Sounds good. I’m not exactly excited to go back to Lord Grumpypants’s place, though.” Keefe’s voice comes from the imparter.
“Maybe you can come stay at Havenfield.” Sophie suggests.
“Really?”
“Of course. If you want to.”
“I would love that.” I can almost hear the smile in his voice.
“Great. After the date, we’ll go get your stuff from the Shores of Solace, and we can move you back into the other room.”
“Thank you so much. I love you.”
“Love you too.” She hangs up the imparter and notices me, standing in the doorway. “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough to know that you’re going to be an amazing couple.” I answer.
“So how was your date?”
“It was great.”
“Dex is a great guy.”
“I finally heard the story of the awkwardest kiss in the universe.”
“Please don’t remind me of that.”
“Ok. But I have it from him that I’m a better kisser.”
“Wait he kissed you? That’s so cute!”
“Yeah. I’m going to go change.” When I come back out wearing pajamas, Sophie isn’t on her bed, where she was before. I assume she’s downstairs, double checking that Keefe can stay here. I’m getting tired, so I turn off the lights and fall asleep.