+Biana was nervous about visiting Sophie. Did she really want to see her? Was she just kidding herself? Or would she be mad that she didn't go see her at Foxfire? She sighed, she at least had to go to see her brother, apparently he was hurt as well, but not badly. She stepped onto the leapmaster and shouted "Havenfield," to be carried off into the light. Seconds later, she was was in the house of the Ruwen family.

"I feel like it's all my fault..." Grady whispered to Edaline. They were sitting on a couch in the living room together, looking grim.

Biana swallowed nervously, "is she really that bad?"

The pair jumped, and Edaline made her way over with a nervous smile, "no! She's doing fine, a verminion got out of the pen again and wrecked part of the main enclosure, that's all. She's upstairs with Fitz. Last I went up, she was asleep, but that was a few hours ago. She should be awake now. Would you like a snack?"

"No thanks," Biana gave Edaline her million dollar smile. "I'm too worried about Sophie."

"Understandable, but trust me, your brother has been taking excellent care of her. I don't know what we'd do without him."

Edaline only meant well, but the words felt like a stab to her heart. "Definitely. Thanks for letting me intrude."

"Of course, Biana! You're always welcome here," Edaline smiled warmly. "Call me if you need anything!"

As Biana climbed the stairs, she overheard Grady and Edaline's hushed voices again. "She's such a lovely girl, isn't she?" "We're so lucky that Sophie has good friends like her in her life."

The comments gave her the strength to battle her inner demons and climb the stairs. She only hesitated when she reaches Sophie's door. Biana waited a second before knocking quietly on the door, her heart racing with anticipation. Was Sophie okay? Would she be welcomed? As the seconds ticked by, Biana waited anxiously for the door to open. She waited, and waited, and waited until Fitz opened the door for her with a somewhat tired smile.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to wake her up before I could come to the door. Be careful, she's still waking up." He smiled and ushered her in quickly as Sophie launched a pillow at Fitz, which hit him in the head. "Hey!"

Biana giggled a little and looked over at Sophie, who was smiling at her. Her best friend was propped against pillows, wrinkled blankets pulled over her lap. She was still dressed in her school uniform, and her hair stuck up at odd angles. Biana could not see any obvious signs of injury, which made her sigh in relief.

"Biana! I'm so glad you're here. I missed you." Sophie reached out to her like a small child, "I was hoping you'd come see me!"

The worry and fear rushed of of her throat like a waterfall and her eyes welled with tears. Biana had been wrong, and she had never been so glad that she was. She ran over and carefully hugged Sophie, closing her eyes to keep her tears from falling. "I was so worried, I wasn't called up to see you and-"

"Biana, it's no problem." Sophie hugged her tighter, "Dex and Keefe were only there because they took me to the infirmary. Otherwise, it would have just been Fitz , but only because we're cognates."

Biana nodded, but was confused, "so you just... collapsed?"

"Yeah, scary right? Don't worry, Fitz suppressed the memory that caused it, and we already wrote a message to the Black Swan."

"Speaking of the message," he spoke up. "Now that you're here, Biana, can you watch Sophie while I go place this in the cave?" Her brother held up a folded paper tied shut with string with a small smile.

She shook her head no, "I don't mind, besides, I can catch Sophie up on what she missed and whatnot."

"Have so many things already happened?" Sophie groaned, "oh no. Teenage drama seriously blows."

The Vacker siblings laughed. "Yeah, I'm lucky I won't have to deal with it in the silver towers next year." Fitz remarked casually.

Biana stopped laughing, "what?"

His ears turned red, "yeah. I was actually suppose to go this year, but after the Neverseen business and training to be cognates with Sophie, I convinced Magnate Leto to let me stay back a year."

"What about our cognate training? Why didn't you tell me?" Sophie frowned and looked at Biana worriedly.
"Tiergan and I wanted to talk to you about accelerating our training on Thursday. We would be able to take the test before we go to the silver towers. He also wanted to talk to you about studying next school term's material over break so you could... come to the silver towers with me?"

Biana gasped, "what?" Fearfully, she looked over at Sophie, whose eyes were wide with awe.

"Are you serious? I could go to the Silver Towers next term?"

"Why would she need to go with you?" She asked, a bit defensive.

Her brother's ears reddened as he explained, "most people who aren't the same age don't decide to become cognates until after they graduate Foxfire, but since Sophie is so advanced, I'm the only person who can get past her blocking, and we trust one another, we are an exception."

"Why don't they usually become cognates during school?" Sophie asked.

"Once you train as cognates, you're essentially bound together, and you work better together than apart. In the silver towers, I would be isolated from you, and we would both suffer academically, mentally, and emotionally because of it. Since we've already started our training already, and I'm two years older, I conveniently slid back a year because of the crazy events that happened with the Neverseen and because it would be easier for you to work ahead so we could study together in the silver towers." Fitz ran a hand through his hair nervously, his face pink. "Anyways, you've still got time to think about it, and we'll go over the details in telepathy, so don't worry. It's completely your choice."

Sophie smiled as Biana watched the two of them, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She could barely hear her best friend as she replied, "okay, thank you. I can't wait to hear more later."

"Really?- That's great! Anyways, I'll give you girls some alone time while I put the bottle in the cave.

The two looked at Biana in unison, and she nodded numbly. "Yeah, okay! Um... I'll catch Sophie up on what she missed. Stay safe."

Her brother only smiled, and left the room with a wave.

"So... what'd I miss exactly?"

Biana fully pulled herself from her thoughts, "only some rumors flying around about what happened to you, some rumors about Keefe and Marella... oh, and the biggest prank pulled in Foxfire history! It was bigger than the great gullen incident!"

"Are you serious?! I missed this one too?"

"It. Was. Amazing! Keefe managed to open half the school's lockers and hid these weird potions inside that either spewed pink mallow melt, lushberry juice, or alicorn poo. It was awesome! The mixtures filled the halls, and it was so bad, we almost had to evacuate!"

Sophie gasped engrossed in the story, "seriously? What did you do then?"

"They individually shoved us into the nearest classrooms and it took the entire last period to finish cleaning it up! People are starting to call it the great incident of pink." Biana giggled, along with her friend.

"I wish I was there to see it! Keefe has got to get better on planning these things when I can be there. Have they caught him yet?"

"Lady Melian caught him putting a bottle of the mallow melt potion into her desk!"

"No way! He'll have detention until the end of the term, right?" Sophie covered her mouth as she laughed. Biana was almost jealous of that pretty laugh.

"Totally, and that's almost half of the school year since we finished midterms a week or two ago."

"That's pretty impressive. I just hope that I'm not stuck there with him between now and then."

"What's detention like?" She had never gotten detention before.

Sophie bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, the wheels of her mind clearly turning. "It's like... well... it depends. It's not the worst thing we've gone through... but they're not exactly a cup of tea. Different advisors give different detentions. Sir Astin does siren songs, Lady Cadence has students iron her capes, Lady Belva does ballroom dancing,-"

"Ballroom dancing?!" She snorted, "are you serious? That doesn't sound too bad."

"Unless she pairs you with Valin. I almost got drooled on the entire lunch period! It was pretty gross. Keefe was going to save me, but Lady Belva grabbed him as her partner instead."

Biana's face reddened, "oh... wow. She really does have a thing for him, doesn't she?"

Sophie laughed, "it appears so, but don't worry, he has said multiple times that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. She's way too old for him anyways."

She nodded in agreement, "yeah, I guess you're right, but you know-" Biana was interrupted by Fitz opening the door, drenched in seawater.

Sophie gasped as Biana started cracking up. Sophie got out of bed, and slightly stumbled to his side. Biana supposed that if she had been sitting for most of the day, standing would be a little challenging for her too. She bumped into Fitz, and he wrapped his arm around her to keep her from falling.

"Sorry I'm a little late, the tide came in while I was in there." Biana's brother laughed a little.

"You took a while to put the bottle in there, did something happen?" She asked through her giggles.

"I didn't have to put the bottle in, there was already a message waiting for us there." He replied, baffled.

Sophie's eyebrows knit together, "I don't understand. Only our closest friends knew about the note."

"Could someone be... could someone be a spy for the Black Swan behind our backs?" Biana suggested, her heart sinking.

Sophie and Fitz looked at eachother for a few moments, clearly having a telepathic conversation. Finally, Fitz answered. "It might be possible... we should keep an eye out, just in case."

"Maybe it's Keefe, he's so secretive like that." Biana suggested.

Sophie nodded, "that's definitely a possibility."

"It could also be Dex," Fitz reminded them.

"I don't think so, he's too honest to keep something like that from us." Biana assured him. Though he wasn't her best friend, she knew the guy pretty well.

Her best friend thought for a moment before nodding, "you're probably right, but it's better to be safe and watch out anyways. I know the Black Swan aren't our enemy, but we should still try and find out what else they're hiding since it directing effects us."

"Agreed," she nodded and turned to her brother, "Fitz, can you read the note, please?"

He nodded and pulled a small bottle out of his pocket with a black swan painted messily on the outside. Carefully, he uncorked it and unfurled the paper, reading the contents aloud.

"Don't bother writing us,
We have already heard of the incident you wanted to discuss.
We have people working around the clock,
To find the cause of this little shock.
Stay away from that memory,
And and safety is guaranteed.
We did not plant it in your mind,
So we don't really know what answer we will find.
For now, stay close to Fitz,
Who, for now, is the only one who can help you while this problem is on the fritz,
As well as Biana's critical wits."

They were all quiet for a few moments. That note was pretty heavy. "So... we just... wait?"

Sophie nodded, "yeah, but what should we do in the meantime?"

They both looked at Fitz, who laughed, "well, I'm going to change clothes, and you should too, Sophie. You're now covered in sea water too."

"I could get out a board game." Biana suggested, "while you guys get changed."

"That's a great idea, you pick the game." Fitz walked over to Sophie's dresser, and opened a drawer. He pulled out a set of dried clothes, and sloshed off to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Sophie showed Biana where the board games were before going to get changed herself. Biana smiled to herself as she leafed through the boxes. Aside from Fitz's news, this day turned out better than she thought it would. When she chose a game, she closed up the closet, and brought it to Sophie's room with a smile. Maybe things were okay after all.