"Okay, I could have sworn that Forkle explicitly said not to give the coordinates of this place to anyone. And yet." Aeyva gestured around the training room at Ashcrest. "I pretended not to notice when Tam started showing up. Sophie came a couple of times; whatever. But can someone please explain to me why HALF THE BLACK SWAN IS HERE AT THE HIDEOUT?" She yet again gestured wildly to everyone who wasn't supposed to be there: Della, Fitz, Biana, Tam, Linh, Wylie, Maruca, Marella, Sophie, Dex, Jensi, and also Blur for some reason.

Celine walked in, braiding her long silver hair. "Oh, look, the apocalypse."

Wylie crossed his arms. "I'm here for the mission to go talk to Brant." He glared at Avilyn.

"Actually, Forkle already decided who was going, and I don't recall you being on the list," she said smoothly, swinging a dagger around her finger. "Plus, we're perfectly-no, actually, we're more capable than any of you guys to handle tough situations. We train all our lives for catching the Neverseen."

Tam nodded, and Wylie glared at him too. He stepped closer to Avilyn, crossing his arms and looming threateningly over her (a threat that didn't bother her in the slightest). "I couldn't give two lusters what the hell you train for," he said darkly. "I've been kept out of all the action for ages while watching over my dad-who was in a coma-and I'm sick of it. The Black Swan can send out fifteen-year-old girls to fight war criminals all it wants. But I. Am. Going. To see Brant."

Avilyn set her jaw, shifting on her feet. Something in his eyes made her understand. He was just trying to protect his father. "Aeyva?"

Aeyva glanced at Wylie, and then back at Avilyn. "I'm not in charge of him," she said finally. "I'm not going to stop him."

Jensi jumped up then, his eyes bright and boyish. "This is the greatest day ever! I manifested this morning!"

Keefe looked relieved. "So Dex was right." At least that was one thing he could actually understand. There were a million other things he didn't, like the strange connection he felt to Sophie when he was near her, for one, but he would figure those out eventually. He hoped.

Jensi nodded, still bouncing up and down, a huge smile on his face.

Mr. Forkle walked into the room and paused at the shocking amount of people lounging around it. A kind-of half circle had formed around Jensi and Keefe, who both straightened when they saw him.

"I hear that you manifested?" Forkle asked tentatively. Jensi cracked a smile. "And... you're a Mesmer like Mister Sencen predicted?"

"Yep." Jensi answered. Celine grinned.

"Welcome to the team, shortie."

"I am not short," Jensi protested.

"Yes you are," Faelyn and Celine said in unison, then turned to glare at each other good-naturedly. Aeyva rolled her eyes but smiled.

She looked around at all of her friends. At Kayleey, who was laying on a couch with her legs laid across Phoenix's lap; at Lyana, who was laughing at something Aerin had said; at Avilyn, who was sharpening a knife with another knife and watching everyone else with an analyzing gaze. These girls were her friends. Her family. Her sisters. Her life. And sure, they argued, and got annoyed with each other, but that never lasted. And when it mattered, they were always there for each other. She would take a bullet, or an arrow, or a knife for any one of these girls at any time.

A hand on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Dex.

She bit her lip. "I'm not sure."

"It's not like it's anything worse than you've handled before." That was true. Still, something about Brant just unsettled her to her core. She knew by now that she should trust her Descryer senses, they had never led her astray.

"You're right." She shook her head, attempting to clear it of all of the worry and doubt. All she accomplished was making herself dizzy.

"Hey." Dex grabbed both of her hands in his. She looked up, meeting his eyes. She could get lost in those eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this right now?" He spoke softly, so only the two of them could hear. "It's okay if the answer is no."

Aeyva pulled her hand out of his to rub her temples, refocusing herself. "Yeah. I'm fine. Brant just freaks me out a little."

Dex chuckled lightly, sounding relieved. "I can't say I blame you."

"What does Brant want with Prentice anyway?" Sophie asked, turning. "And what does he have to offer in return? Besides that weird 'unlocking Keefe's potential for the greater good' or whatever." Keefe stiffened next to her at those words; it was pretty clear Keefe didn't like talking about stuff like this. Sophie slipped her hand into his as a small comfort.

"Prentice probably has information that Brant will want. What it is, and if Prentice remembers it is a mystery to us," Mr. Forkle stated. "As for what he has to offer in return... We have reason to believe he's kidnapped and is hiding a member of the Neverseen."

"Well, let's get this over with, then," Wylie said, straightening.

"Mr. Endal, you aren't-"

"Who's gonna stop me? You?"

He sighed. "Do we really need to have this conversation again?"

Aeyva waved everyone over and everyone who was assigned to visit Brant linked hands, their eyes on the starstone she was holding. A beam of light shined through the ceiling window above.

"Wylie. This is not your fight. I assure you that you do not want to get more involved in this war than you already are."

Wylie waved his hands in the air. "Oh look! I'm walking over! I'm following them! What are you gonna do about it?"

"Wylie-"

Wylie grabbed Tiergan's wrist just as they all flashed away.

❤︎

Hadriel folded his arms, staring down at the rest of his dormmates. They were currently all standing around in the thick of a forest, waiting for their next instructions.

"Alright, take off your clothes."

Everyone shot each other uneasy glances. Ezra sighed. "Kid, what are you-"

Hadriel silenced him with a glare so scathing Faelyn would be proud. "You wanna get tracked down and killed by Gisela? Everyone strip." That got people moving, and he took off the bag he was carrying and tossed it on the ground in the middle of the small crowd. Ezra glanced at him, then bent down to unzip it, revealing what Hadriel hoped was enough of the girls' and Keefe's clothes. He didn't have anything child-sized, so they would have to do their best with what they had. He felt the ache in his chest start to resurface for stealing from the people who had taken him in despite their reservations about him, but he ignored it.

A young woman who was maybe in her early thirties helped Winona into one of Lyana's cropped tunics, which nearly reached her ankles. Hadriel swallowed hard, looking away.

"So, who are these people you say we have to talk to?" asked a teenager who was slightly older than Hadriel and had considerable patches of white on his skin. Hadriel was pretty sure his name was Ronan. An elven name. What had his name been before he was taken away from the human world? Had he had a family, aspirations, someone he loved?

His throat felt dry, but he spoke. "There will be a meeting of human leaders tomorrow. We have today to get there. They have to know who is behind the mass extermination of their-our-species. They have to know who the terrorists really are."

Winona toddled over to him. "Hage? Are elves all bad?"

No. They aren't. But there was a good chance most of them were. Very few of the girls he'd been staying with for the past few days had treated him without contempt, and everyone at the Neverseen hideout seemed to be perfectly satisfied with the plan of killing humans. Lyana was... an exception. But there was no reason to complicate things.

"Yeah, Winnie. Elves can't be trusted."

❤︎

"Okay, I'll admit, this is not at all what I came here for," Cloud said, anxiously pacing in Gethen's bedroom. Lyra was flipping through letters, but she froze.

"You came here looking for something specific?"

Cloud clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug little half-moons into her palms. "I need the copy of Gethen's file from the registry."

Lyra's brow furrowed. "He doesn't have a file in the registry."

A laugh escaped her lips. "Yeah. And why do you think that is?"

Lyra blanched. "You removed it?"

"What? No. Our father-"

"What are you doing?"

Lyra and Cloud both whirled towards the new voice. Cloud's blood was now effectively boiling. Gethen had been hiding even more than she thought, which was good and bad news-partially good because that meant she had a new lead to follow. She also had to deal with Seraphina and now...

Her dad folded his arms. "You finally show up and don't so much as say hello. Did I never teach you politeness?"

"You taught me neglect awfully well; I'm really just following in your footsteps," Cloud said, batting her eyelashes. Lyra covered her mouth to hide her laugh. "Allow me to introduce you to my friend Lyra. Lyra, this is my father, Lord Sterling Gaebury."

Lyra gave a slightly awkward wave. Sterling just gave a cordial nod. Lyra was surprised by how unalike they looked; Cloud must have taken after her late mother. While they both had weird names and the same nose, Sterling was short and had bluer eyes and darker skin, and didn't seem like the smiling type.

"If I may ask what you're doing on this floor...?"

Cloud blew air out of her cheeks. "Dad, where's the printed file?"

The color drained from his face. "What?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. Where do you keep all the family history you don't want anyone to see? Because it could help us."

Sterling straightened, regaining his composure and clearing his throat. "I see. Black Swan business, then."

Lyra shot Cloud a glance. "He knows about the Black Swan?"

"It's fine," Cloud grunted. "He's not going to do anything with that information."

Sterling grimaced. "Yes, ah, to quote my own daughter, she will 'make sure no one ever finds the body' if I ever divulge information I've learned regarding the organization."

Lyra nodded. "Got it. So, you have a printed copy of Gethen's registry file?"

"Indeed. But I'm afraid Gethen's own sleeping quarters would be a far too obvious place to keep it. I find your lack of critical thinking disappointing," he said while flicking a speck off of his jerkin. Cloud rolled her eyes.

"We found letters he wrote, instead. To one Letitia Windsbrook."

Sterling frowned. "I think I remember that girl. Redhead, very tall. Always getting into trouble. I often advised Gethen against going out with her."

"There are no dates on the letters," said Lyra. The name was bothering her slightly because she felt like she'd heard it before. "But if you skim them it's pretty obvious that she was getting increasingly annoyed with him, saying that he was waiting longer and longer between sending letters."

"Because that boy had no sense of time management."

"He manages his cult just fine," Cloud muttered, going over to the stack of envelopes. "He wouldn't have kept them if they weren't sentimental. Which means-" she waved one in the air- "he had a weak spot. We just need to track this girl down."

"You'll find that isn't possible," Sterling said. "She disappeared entirely a few years ago. Before Gethen left us, actually. I don't know if he still had contact with her after that or not, but she's been entirely wiped off the map and the registry."

Cloud wrinkled her nose. "What the hell?"

"Just when I thought we had a lead," Lyra sighed, glancing at Cloud, who just clenched her jaw and crushed the letter in her fist.

"Dad." She glared at him. "The file."

He opened his mouth and then closed it, his expression shifting suddenly, and nodded, gesturing for both girls to follow him.

"That's you, isn't it?" Lyra whispered.

"Shh. He won't notice."

❤︎

"You had better not try anything on my dad, psycho."

They gathered in a cave. Set into a mountain. Aeyva couldn't begin to guess where they were. She, Avilyn, Lyana, and Celine were silently standing in a carefully planned formation around Keefe, their weapons easily accessible in their pockets and belts. Ro stood the closest to him, never letting him out of her sight. Wylie had his arms crossed beside his father and Tiergan, who hadn't bothered with his disguise. He didn't need to.

"Mm." Brant swayed on his feet, his eyes trained on Keefe. "Such a young little boy. Shame he's mama's guinea pig..."

Tiergan spoke up, eyeing Brant carefully. "Do you know what he can do?"

He waved a dismissive hand. "Of course, of course. Lots of planning. Lots of failed experiments. Vespera has her experiments and Gisela has hers-both sick, twisted women with horrible worldviews if you ask me. Little Baby Sencen is going to incapacitate the world, giving her the power to-" he made a vague swirling motion with his hands- "control who does and doesn't have abilities. And emotions, apparently."

Bile rose in Keefe's throat. "Have you been... watching me?"

Brant's eyes wandered across the crowd that had come to visit him, his expression not conveying any useful information. "Someone has." He sighed. "But, you know, she doesn't realize that humans fight back. Vespera is feeding a multispecial war and I don't think that Gisela has realized that yet..." He returned to staring at Keefe. "Regardless, you're going to be her weapon and her toy. Unless you get the Moonlark off your back. That's your weakness, Baby Sencen. And she knows, yes..."

"She can't kidnap Sophie Foster," Celine said, her brow furrowing. "She's too heavily guarded."

"A mistake," Brant sighed. "A distraction. And a missed opportunity."

"He's speaking gibberish," Aeyva muttered in Avilyn's ear. Her ability felt as if it were tingling and her mind was racing with possibilities of what he meant.

Prentice stepped forward then. "You requested my presence here. Why?"

"You know just as well as anyone that secrets are currency, my friend."

Prentice lifted his chin. "Will you answer a question of mine if I answer yours?"

Brant hummed, considering it. "Alright. A question, then," he said with a twisted, scarred smile. "Just one." Prentice had an almost crazed look in his eyes.

"Is Eleanor Wright alive?" he asked desperately. Brant barked a wheezy laugh.

"That's it? That's your one question?" He leaned forward, and nearly every one took a step or two back. "Prentice, Prentice. You always did get fixated on things. I know everything about everyone who's ever been in the Neverseen. I know things about Elin Pyren that would make you sick to your stomach." Aeyva raised an eyebrow-the rest of the Neverseen acted like Elin was a new recruit, although now that she thought about it, he must have always been there, being trained. "I know things about Halley Ember that would rattle your core." This made Avilyn shrink back. "I know things about Gisela Sencen," he continued, his mouth stretching into a crazy grin, "that make Vespera Folend look like a saint! And that's the question you decide to ask." He continued to chuckle to himself like this whole situation was an amusing game.

"I have to know," said Prentice through gritted teeth.

"You're a fool," Brant spat. "Why don't you just ask..." He was thoroughly enjoying the look on Avilyn's face as he turned to her. "That one." Aeyva shot her a sideways glance. Avilyn's jaw was clenched, her shoulders tense. She'd never been particularly open about her experience with the Neverseen. She could very well know who Eleanor Wright was.

"Oh yeah she does," Celine muttered under her breath. Avilyn looked at her sharply.

"Is she alive or not?"

Brant's eyes darted between the girls and back to Prentice. "Yes," he said finally.

"Where is she?"

His smile widened again. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"You bastard!" Prentice growled.

"I answered your silly little question," said Brant. "Now I have a few things to get off my chest. One. You can tell Letitia that her little game had better be up because she's not being protected anymore." He bared his teeth. "Two. I want to know what you collected about the experimentation on Jolie."

"Jolie?" Celine said quizzically.

"Experimentation?" Lyana said.

"I don't know anything," Prentice said vaguely. Brant's eyes flashed and he lunged for him. Wylie, Tiergan, and Ro were quick to move forward, separating the two of them.

"I said not to try anything," Wylie said, shoving Brant backward. Brant stumbled, then straightened.

"He knows." He started to shake his head, and Aeyva noticed then that his hands were shaking as well. "He knows, he knows, he knows! Gisela wanted her, didn't she? Didn't she? WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR WIFE IS DEAD?" Ro pulled him back again, but he wasn't really trying anything anymore, shaking with crazed laughter. Prentice swallowed.

Brant was collapsing, now on the ground on his knees.

"Cyrah Endal," he said, "was asking too many questions, too many questions about sochlodine. You know that, don't you? Because she read the files that you were studying!" He was laughing again. "Some... some... husband." He hiccuped.

"Shut your mouth," Prentice said then, his voice hard.

"And you... you knew everything about Jolie. She told you things I didn't know, didn't she? Second defense. Gisela was onto her early. Tried to move her to third, but I said-I said-" Brant's breaths were shallow and shaky. "I said she would change. She chose you over me. We should both be dead. Everyone who trusted Jolie Ruewen should be dead."

Prentice shook his head. "I don't even know who you are anymore, Brant, but you've gone entirely off the walls." But Brant didn't stop, his voice wheezy and hoarse.

"You know what Gisela really doesn't care for? Love. That's why Letitia is next. And Cassius. And the Moonlark. I just want to know what she did to the woman I loved. That's it. I'll give you anything you want. I have someone back there you might like to meet." Brant turned, slowly, to the back end of the cave. It was too dark to see anything. Wylie started towards it, but Brant held out an arm that immediately flickered with flames.

He leveled his stare at Prentice. "Tell me."

Prentice swallowed, glancing around him and blanching when he saw that everyone was staring at him.

"Dad-" Wylie started, faltering when Prentice glared at him.

"Son, it's not your job to decide everything I do."

Wylie opened his mouth again, but this time, Celine cut him off. "I say we don't tell him. Why would he be so desperate to get this information if he didn't need it for somethi-"

"Because Jolie's his fiancée!" Lyana shot back. "Don't you have ears?" She was getting increasingly annoyed with how slow things were moving, they hadn't gotten any useful information, and Prentice had wasted their one question by asking a stupid one.

Celine swiveled, turning to Lyra. "Well, how do you know that there's not another reason that he wants to know?"

Lyana blinked, unable to think of another retort.

"Gotta say, I agree with Celine on this one," Aeyva mused.

"And miss the chance to see this person that Brant mentioned?" Lyana said, gesturing wildly to Brant. "Obviously he brought us here for something important."

Celine rolled her eyes. "Whatever we do, this freaking stupid Jolie girl is clearly something important."

"Don't talk about Jolie like that!" Avilyn snapped. Everyone turned, gaping at her. "She's not stupid, and definitely not a thing!" Brant nodded, and Celine's eyes widened.

"Calm down Avi, I'm sure Celine didn't mean that-" Aeyva started before Celine could say something snappy and cause more conflict.

"CAN YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND MAKE THE DEAL WITH BRANT?" Lyana bellowed, startling everyone suddenly. "Honestly, you would think we're a bunch of schoolchildren." She didn't wait for anyone's permission before she turned to Brant. "We'll tell you whatever you want. Just show us who this person is."

Brant's charred lips pulled back, twisting into a sickening grin. "Two people." He turned and began walking farther down the cave. A fire dancing across his good hand illuminated the pitch dark, and two small, huddled figures came into focus. Bound and gagged, their hair matted and their faces dirt-smeared, and an unmistakable lack of pigment in spots on their faces. Gisela's mutants.

Celine groaned. "This is your big plan? Wow. 'I'll offer you some mutants for some possibly critical information!' How stupid do you think we are?"

Brant was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his tone was low. Dangerous. "All I want to know is what happened to the woman I love." His voice broke. "Please."

Aeyva stepped forward and placed a hand on Celine's shoulder. "The mutants could be useful," she whispered. "And I think he really did love Jolie. A lot. I mean, ask anyone who knew them."

Lyana swallowed hard, unable to break her gaze away from the mutants-no, kids. It was wrong to think of them as anything less than that. Frustration was bubbling up in her chest, and she couldn't stop thinking about Landen, Landen-

"Does the death of Yvonne Cormier ring a bell for you?"

Everyone froze and shot Avilyn strange glances. Brant looked mildly interested.

"Maybe it does. Doesn't it ring a bell for you? Or did Gisela never tell you who her favorite assassins are..."

Her expression seems to be torn between confusion and anger.

Aeyva ran her tongue along her teeth. "Avi, I think we're going to have to have a discussion about your time with the Neverseen." Brant smiled widely and Avilyn flipped him the bird, scowling.

The human girl spat out her gag suddenly and bared her teeth. "Don't tell him anything." Her voice was hoarse from lack of use. "He doesn't want what you think he wants."

Brant ignored her, his gaze latching hungrily on Prentice again.

"Jolie."

Prentice set his jaw, his eyes darting momentarily to Tiergan, who had been silent for most of the duration of this very strange meeting. All eyes were on him when he spoke.

"Jolie started to change," he murmured. "Started coming back with rambling reports that didn't make any sense. Said she kept seeing blood. Kept going on about pills and serums. I didn't know what to do, so I told her-" he closed his eyes as if trying to remember- "told her to get out. And there were names. Heath Whistler. Lavaeya Ember. Eleanor Wright. But she couldn't-or wouldn't-tell me their significance."

Brant clutched his shaking hands to his chest.

"I don't know why I called swan song. My memory is spotty. But I do remember that they were creating things because they knew we were creating things. And Jolie Ruewen learned more than she should have, but she had to have gotten there by bargaining."

"Her hair was white," Brant said then. Avilyn brought a hand to her hair, and Lyana suddenly had an itch to scratch the splotchy part of her arm. "Her hair was white on the day that I killed her." He slid to the floor slowly, looking resigned. Looking like he wished he was dead. "You can have them," he added as an afterthought. "I don't want to deal with them anymore. And watch the Moonlark. Don't let Gisela get what she wants. The things she's done..." He shook his head and said no more.

Aeyva returned her attention to the mutants. It was bothering her that the girl had removed her gag so easily. Almost as if she was only there because she'd allowed it...

Aeyva closed her eyes, letting flashes of the future flood her mind. A blinding blast. Ropes lying abandoned on the ground. An Imparter message. It all went by in moments, and her eyes fluttered open again.

"Approach with caution," she murmured to Avilyn beside her, who silently nodded. Tiergan, Celine, and Lyana followed them, on their guard. Prentice and Wylie were whispering to each other.

Lyana kneeled beside the girl. "What's your name?"

She eyed her with distrust. "Persephone."

"We can get you out of here. Someplace safe. You won't ever have to be a prisoner again."

The boy beside her startled everyone by tearing apart the ropes binding him, ripping off his gag, and starting to laugh. Tiergan jolted and held out an arm to keep the defense team back. The boy stood and stretched, cracking his back and sweeping his quickly-turning-whiter bangs out of his eyes.

"Please," he said with mild amusement, a dark glint in his eyes. "We don't know anything but prison."

Persephone looked uneasy, glancing between her fellow kidnapee and the crowd before her, but her finger started to glow and she slid her nail along the ropes across her arms, slicing through it as if it were merely clay with a soft sizzling sound. The rest of her binds slid off easily and she stood tall, but without the defiant expression of the boy next to her.

"I didn't get it before, but Hage was right," he said. "All you elves care about is politics and trading information. I thought maybe there were good elves."

Lyana's heart skipped a beat. "You know him."

"You know where he is?"

Her throat burned. "I wish I did."

"Then we aren't going with you," he growled, grabbing Persephone's wrist.

"Yes, you are," Tiergan said firmly. "We can help you."

"Ain't no elf has ever helped any of us." He stepped forward, but Tiergan blocked his path.

"You don't know where you're going."

"I know exactly where Hadriel is," he snapped, "and that's where the hell we're going. Seph?"

Persephone bit her lip. "Please just let us go. I don't want to hurt you."

Aeyva drew back a bit. "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly. "You can't-"

"Some of us have killed each other!" Persephone gripped her friend's hand tighter, and her eyes started to glow. "Now move." Aeyva pushed her friends back, anticipating what would happen next. Persephone thrust out her free hand, more color leaching from her skin as she did so, and a golden blast exploded in the cave, knocking everyone backward. Prentice and Wylie scrambled back, and Brant remained where he was, his knees tucked into his chest, mumbling to himself. Aeyva coughed and squinted through the resulting smoke, crouched on the cave floor. No human should ever be able to do that. No elf should be able to do that. Elven powers were controlled and precise, with the exception of fire and water maybe. These mutants were humanified chaos. The very air around them seemed to ripple with changes in reality.

And then they just... vanished.

The Black Swan members all huddled together, making sure they were all okay after the explosion.

Brant wasn't even smiling anymore. "You would be wise to get out of here," he said quietly.

❤︎

"Windsbrook."

Tinker glanced up, the side of her mouth not covered by the bronze mask stretching from the left side of her forehead to her chin twitching upward. She was bent over a long work table, her messy red hair spilling over her shoulders, parts Faelyn couldn't name scattered about. "Einar. You haven't come here in many years, have you? Reina's death too hard on you to visit an old friend?"

Faelyn took in the metal arches and pipes and complicated series of gears that made up Widgetmoor, her gaze finally falling on the five-handed clock tower. "She was certainly a talented techie. And a close friend. But I'm not here to talk about her."

"Adalea, then?"

They locked eyes.

"Yes."

"Would you like to see her workspace?" Faelyn hated that she always talked in questions. She had never believed that the question was more important than the answer, but then again, she and Tinker had never seen eye to eye on many things.

"You know," she said slowly, "I never understood your fear of fire until I found out that Kayleey was a Pyrokinetic." This made Tinker freeze. Very few people knew she was Kayleey's first cousin as they never talked to each other anymore. "It's a family curse, isn't it?"

Tinker dropped the strange way she usually spoke, her voice becoming low. "I may be the family freak but at least I'm not Fintan. I didn't realize I was being visited only to be interrogated."

"I know you infiltrate the Neverseen so well because you know how to get in their heads. And I'm sick and tired of everyone hiding things from each other!" Faelyn snapped suddenly. Tinker's eyes flashed.

"It's unrealistic to expect everyone to tell you everything."

"You knew what Kayleey was and never told any of us?"

"You never asked! The last time we even spoke was, what, two years ago?"

Faelyn regained her composure, reeling in her breathing. "Right," she said softly. "But I've kept your secrets for a long time. I'll continue to keep them if that's what you want, Letitia. But Adalea is dead-" this made Tinker take a horrified step back- "and you're not keeping her secrets from me anymore."

Tinker removed the stacked lenses from her mask, setting the contraption down on her work table to wipe her eye. "Where did you all bury her?"

"Alluveterrre. On the river. She'll always be with the water."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" She was clearly back to questions again. She motioned for Faelyn to follow her, starting towards a more hidden area of the hideout. There was a large metal door with a panel on the side, and she pressed her palm to the panel, making it creak open. Both women stepped inside.

"There's no way she built all this." Screens were hovering in midair, wires crisscrossing the walls, multiple keyboards in different areas.

Tinker laughed softly. "You don't really think I would let her take on such a task without my help, do you?"

"Well, I guess we all have a little bit of Technopath in us," murmured Faelyn as she sat on the bench before the middlemost screen. "Did... did she do it? The project you two were working on... you figured it out?"

"How do you figure I monitor the Neverseen?" Tinker tapped something on a metal band on her wrist and all the screens flickered to life at once. She walked over and pointed to each holographic image in turn. "Gisela's Nightfall, the backup hideout for training and part-time members, storage. It's the main hideout I have the poorest footage of. Just this one hallway and I hardly ever see anyone I recognize, except-" Her breath hitched as someone appeared on the screen, eerily familiar. No cloak, just a black military-style vest, and blond hair that reached midway down his neck. He passed through the hallway and disappeared as quickly as he'd come.

Faelyn turned to her, feeling her stomach clench at the sadness in Tinker's eyes. "Right. Have you seen anything useful?"

Tinker shook her head, drawing back. "Do you count a group of people escaping as useful?"

"Must be some of the humans," Faelyn muttered, "which means Hadriel took people with him. But hang on. This isn't what Addy said she was going to try to do. She mentioned a-" she squinted, trying to remember the dream- "informational tracking system...?"

"Hacking the Neverseen's cameras on us? Don't you understand how close to impossible that is?"

"Well, I hope you're still working on it, because we've had to ditch hideouts."

Suddenly there was a call from somewhere on the other side of Widgetmoor. "Tinker?"

"Is that Dex?" Tinker's tone of voice made it sound like she already knew the answer. "Have you seen what you needed or would you like to see my latest project?"

"What is it?"

Tinker smiled. "Finally. Questions. You're learning. I have to be able to target the Neverseen's drones and eliminate them by the hundreds. It's lengthy and tedious, so I commissioned Dizznee to come to help me. He's very good, don't you agree?"

"I know, Aeyva talks about his talent when she thinks no one notices she's been ranting about her crush for an hour. I'm going to head back to Ashcrest; we have an untrained Mesmer on our hands. Just..." Faelyn bit her lower lip. "Do me a favor and hail me if you see anything substantial here."

They headed out, shutting the door to the camera room. Faelyn reached for her pathfinder.

"Oh, Tinker?" She was used to calling her by her real name, but Tinker had been the nickname Faelyn came up with years ago and from what Faelyn had heard, she'd allowed it to stick.

"Yes?"

"Do yourself a favor and burn those old letters. You won't get over your grief if you don't."

Tinker swallowed hard, and their eyes locked one more time before Faelyn glittered away.

❤︎

Celine peeked inside Kayleey's room.

"Hey, Kay? Just wanted to see how you were doing, since I know you haven't been feeling super great lately." Kayleey looked up from scrolling through a screen on the wall adjacent to her bed, presumably doing some sort of research.

"Oh, hey. I'm alright at the moment. What have you been doing?"

Celine shrugged. "Just been training since I got back from the meeting with Brant. I hate not having an assignment; it's boring. There's a bunch of Keefe's little friends here, but that's not super interesting either."

Kayleey shrugged, pulling her knees to her chest on the bed. "Yeah."

"Forgot to ask, how did that thing go with Fintan?"

"It was really weird, to be honest. He's the creepiest dude ever. Marella and Linh are nice, though."

"That's good, I guess." Celine stepped over to one of the shelves mounted on Kayleey's wall. A familiar bracelet lay beside a book titled A Healer's Guide To Natural Remedies. She picked it up, turning it over in her fingers. "You don't even wear this anymore?"

Kayleey glanced over. "Oh. I do, all the time, I swear. I just take all my jewelry off for a certain amount of time every day, because my skin can't handle it."

Suddenly Celine's matching bracelet felt out of place on her wrist at the thought of the secret Kayleey had kept from her for so long. She dropped the one she was holding. "Kayleey, did you stop spending time with me because of your whole... y'know... immunocompromisation thing?"

Kayleey sighed. "I'm really sorry. I've just had a lot to deal with ever since I manifested all my abilities at once, and I was a lot less social in general. I know I shouldn't have stopped talking to you, but I didn't feel comfortable telling anyone about it."

Celine's jaw tightened. "You told Phoenix."

Kayleey's stomach churned. "That's-"

"Different?" Celine's gaze dropped to the floor. "Yeah. Cause you liked her or whatever. But I thought we were friends, Kay. I thought we were cognates. We used to tell each other everything. Including crushes, I didn't even know you liked girls!"

"Things change," Kayleey snapped a little more harshly than she'd intended. "We grew up and apart..."

"Oh, so you just drop people after a couple of years? I hope you told Phoenix that ahead of time, 'cause she probably deserves to know."

Celine's throat burned. She regretted coming to talk to someone she had thought was her best friend. Guilt washed over Kayleey, realizing that she'd hurt her feelings.

"Cece-"

"Don't call me that," Celine snapped abruptly, pulling her bracelet off her wrist. "Just call me by my name, alright? Some Cognate," she muttered.

Kayleey bit down on her thumbnail. She'd forgotten they were Cognates. At this point, she and Celine's close friendship felt like a hazy dream.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for us to become so distant. Can't we just... get to know each other again, be friends?"

Celine turned back to her. She walked forward and cupped Kayleey's face. Kayleey's pink lips curved upwards, and she wrapped Celine in a hug.

But Celine shoved her back. Kayleey tumbled over in shock, throwing out her hands to soften the fall.

"I never wanted to be friends," Celine hissed, suddenly overcome with the urge to make Phoenix as jealous as she felt.

"What the f-"

Celine cut her off with a forceful kiss, all her anger went into it, she wanted Phoenix to walk in and yell at Kayleey, she wanted her to be mad. Phoenix had taken everything from her.

Kayleey was so shocked at first that she didn't even move. Then she tried to wiggle away, hurt and confused, but Celine had always been the stronger one and she gave up. It didn't take long for Celine to pull away; she didn't like Kayleey that way. All she could feel was anger. Maybe now Kayleey would feel just as betrayed as she did.

"Phoenix won't be happy about that, will she? And your whole world revolves around her, doesn't it, you lovesick whore?"

Kayleey was disgusted. "What the actual-"

Celine sneered. "Love. Sick. Whore!" she snapped.

Celine stormed out, glaring daggers at Phoenix who was coming in. Phoenix's expression shifted to confusion as she entered carrying a container of custard bursts.

"Not sure what that was about. Anyway, I'm back. The fridge is fully stocked again and I brought you some snacks. How's that research coming along?"

Kayleey just hugged herself tighter. "Um, fine," she mumbled. She couldn't remember what she was researching before. Phoenix noticed her somber demeanor immediately and set the container down on the floor, sitting next to her on the bed.

"What's going on?"

Kayleey didn't meet her eyes. "What would your definition of cheating be?"

Phoenix's eyebrows shot up. "Um, purposely having romantic interactions with another person? Why...?"

"What if someone were to... forcefully kiss me and call me a whore?"

"That's abuse! Kayleey, what happened?"

Kayleey buried her face in her hands.

"I don't know what I did wrong. Nix, I just lost my best friend."

❤︎

"Did we get anything back from the raid?"

Crypto shook her head. "Some very juvenile prank technology. Leftover weapons. That's it. Nothing of use; they've obviously already abandoned the hideout."

Gisela slammed a fist on the table, swearing loudly. "Why is it that the Black Swan is accomplishing more than we are?"

Ruy made a face. "No... they literally aren't. We've exterminated a significant percentage of the worldwide human population, we have a bunch of humans at our disposal even considering the group that escaped, we have a plan in place to immobilize the goblins, two Councillors are dead and one is waiting for orders, the ogres are keeping their noses out of our business and their rebels work for us, the dwarves have been humiliated by their previous leader and are too busy cleaning up the mess we caused for them to really participate much in what's going on, the trolls are also out of commission thanks to Alvar, who we're all still pretending isn't dead-would you like me to go on?"

"Shut your mouth, you useless sack of garbage."

Ruy blanched. "Okay. Try going into battle without me. I can't wait to see how it goes."

"ARGH!" Gisela picked up the nearest gadget and hurled it across the room. "My Archetype is GONE, Ruy! I am sick and tired of my son evading every way we try to track him, I am sick and tired of Vespera Folend changing plans, and I am sick and tired of the Moonlark and her pesky little friends and silly little war symbols!"

"Some of us are doing actual work here," Nightshade said lazily, taking another long swig of whatever was in that flask he was carrying.

"Yeah, and how about the fact that we lost sixteen Technopaths who are probably now in Exile?" Crypto said, her tone growing rather hostile. "Our most powerful human was a freaking five-year-old who escaped and could unleash whatever she's got in her on the rest of the world, and you're the one who's failed to get the one guy who could control her abilities, not us. He's your kid."

Gisela's nostrils flared.

"Plus, if we go into battle with him we're screwed," Selena said uneasily. "He could command us to do anything-or worse if your fancy procedure worked he could very well take away our abilities."

"Fine," Gisela snapped finally. "Obviously we need Keefe to get anywhere. So let's just-where's Gethen?"

"Probably being productive, unlike someone I know," Ruy grumbled.

"If I hear one more word out of you-"

"You'll what? Get rid of your only Psionopath? Sure. Gethen's arranging the final plans for infiltrating the goblins with Serena. It's a process. I think Trix is working on that too, or maybe he's with the second defense taking care of the trelliofate situation, which is moving slower than it should. What are you doing again?"

Gisela was silent for a moment, sweeping her gaze across everyone in front of her, and crossing her arms. "Alright. We're going to pull from the second defense. I'm going to go track down the assassins."

Everyone shot each other wary glances as she left the room.

"Does she honestly think the Embers are going to get Keefe back? Seriously?" Crypto said skeptically. "She might as well have sent a bunch of techies."

Nightshade shrugged. "The Embers aren't bad. They've taken out lots of people. They're quiet and fast. Not much fun on party night, though."

Ruy shot him a strange look. "Brother, who even gave you the coordinates to this hideout? Why aren't you with second defense?"

Nightshade blinked. "The second defense hideout? They ran out of booze."

❤︎

omg we did it!!! even though everyone has a lot going on in their real lives, we finally managed to put together chapter twenty for you guys. this couldn't have happened without annabeth yelling at everyone to go write all our unfinished scenes, so give homegirl some love in the comments!!!! (thank you annabeth, we love u sis <3)

between school, sports, and stressful home life, production has definitely slowed to a halt in a lot of ways but we just want you all to know that there is hope for the future - we have a sequel in its planning phase and a rewrite in the works so we can publish a revised version after our first draft is finished. we'll keep you posted on progress and we will def take recommendations for both (what stuff would you want to see in a sequel about the characters as adults; what characters, relationships, and plot points need to go more in depth for an edited version?).

just for funsies, tell us your favorite kspp ship in the comments: hadryana, sokeefe, kaynix, cloruy, tavilyn, avilyra? or another one you're hoping to see happen?? do you have a new favorite character yet? (the consensus was definitely faelyn for a while.) characters you'd like to see get more pagetime? characters you want dead? (you'll be excited about a few we're killing off, lol.)

anywayyyy, chat away in the comments section and we'll see you... uh... whenever the heck we manage to cough up chapter 21. love you lots!