-Sophie wasn't so excited to get back to school. Who would, knowing that one of their friends was a spy for an evil organization plotting to destroy all humankind. The Black Swan had told her that the only person she could trust was Fitz. Sophie was incredibly glad that she at least had him to help her. She didn't know what she would do if she had to go through it alone. She sighed as she opened her locker, knowing that today, for her, would be miserable no matter what.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the locker next to hers. She looked to see Jensi, smiling excitedly. "Hey Sophie! You won't believe what just happened! There's a rumor going around that Keefe and Marella are a thing! I'm so happy for them! Aren't you? This is so exciting! I hope they're on one another's match maker's lists! That would be exciting!"

"Keefe and Marella? Are you serious?" Sophie raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. "That's the most ridiculous rumor I've heard yet."

"That's what I've been trying to tell everyone." Keefe groaned and leaned against the lockers on the other side of Sophie. Looking at her from under his bangs, a small smirk on his face "Hey Foster, how was your little tea party with the girls?"

"It was good, how was you guys' weekend?" Sophie asked, unfazed by his charm, and addressed both of her friends at the same time.

While Jensi ranted on and on about how amazing the restaurant he went to with her parents was, Keefe replied, "same old, same old. When are you going to apply for your scroll?"

"That sounds like an awesome dinner, Jensi!" Sophie smiled before answering, "Biana is insisting that we request ours as soon as possible. You applied for yours a few years ago, right?"

"Nah," Keefe shook his head, "I didn't really have time with the whole 'evil mom' reveal and the fact that Fitz flat out refused to request one right away."

"Really? Are you sure, because I thought that he just wanted to wait." She had thought that she knew everything about her cognate.

"Definate, we argued about when wer were going to request our first scroll. I wanted to request one right away, just to see, but he wanted to wait until things settled down some. I tried to tell him that you can request up to five times, but he wouldn't give in. Eventually, I agreed with him, and now it's been two years since we sent in those awful applications." Keefe sighed, "maybe he'll want to request one before Biana to save his pride."

"Maybe, Biana is merciless when it comes to teasing Fitz about doing things before him or breaking another one of his records," Sophie laughed at the memories of when Biana manefiested her ability a few weeks before Fitz did when he was her age, breaking his record of being the youngest in elvin history.

"Boy, that was almost as enjoyable as the time you beat him in a splotching match and he was doused in pink paint!"

"Which time?" Dex smiled smugly as he walked up, putting his hand on Keefe's shoulder casually like they were best friends. Recently, they've been pranking the teachers and bullies of the school so hard, that an entire hallway was closed off for maitnece a week a go. "She's gotten him so many times, I don't think I have enough fingers and toes combined to count them all!"

"He's totally asking for it," she laughed, feeling relaxed for the first time since yesterday.

"Dex! Just the man I wanted to see! I've been thinking up a new scheme to get Lady Belva to dance with someone more handsome than I in detention today."

"We are not going to switch places, her grip hurts." Dex crossed his arms while keep put his arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner.

"I was thinking more like I switch places with Valin."

Sophie frowned, Valin was gross, but he wasn't a bad guy. "What did he ever do to you?"

"Oooooo! Foster here is finally ready to confess her undying love for Valin!" Keefe smirked, "and here I was thinking you had it for me."

Sophie made a face, "no way! You and I are just friends Keefe. I don't like Valin either. He's just a nice guy, why would you want to put him through that?"

"See, he's in detention too, I'm pretty sure that he was caught stalking a certain someone we know." Keefe pointed to her lazily.

Sophie sucked in a breath, could he be the spy? "No way, that can't... oh my gosh."

"Yup, and he's watching you right now." Dex nodded to the hallway behind her. She turned to see Valin peaking his head out from behind the lockers, but quickly pulling it back.

"Creepy, I know. Don't worry, your trusty secret love, Keefe, has your back." Keefe smiled,  "don't worry, we'll protect you. Remember, he'll be in detention today, so you'll be safe then. I reccommend staying close to your friends, especially ones with a gun show like mine." He flexed, and Sophie burst out laughing.

"I regret showing him that human movie." Dex rolled his eyes, "it has done nothing but give me misery ever since."

"What? You know that you find it hilariously true!"

"In your dreams, the toughest guy I know is Grady." Sophie smiled triumphantly, and Dex nodded in agreement.

Keefe flinched at her father's name, and Sophie wondered why. "Anyways, about that prank..."

She searched her memory as the boys talked prank buisness, looking for any moments that had Grady and Keefe arguing or something of the sort. She stopped when she went back to the memories of living with humans, then searched back the opposite way. Suddenly, she came across something weird. She remembered something so fuzzy, that all she could see were blobs of color. She could hear something muffled in the distance, and catch the faint smell of Meogan Crisps in the distance.

Why couldn't she see the memory clearly? Was she under water? Sophie searched the memory for light reflections, or any signs that she was under water, but found none. Maybe it was a dream? No, it couldn't be, she had a photographic memory, so she dreamed in crytal clear images. She saw things perfectly, and remembered them just as she saw them, so how was this possible? She thought about this for a awhile, suddenly scared. Sophie felt her shoulders being shaken and snapped back into the real world. She blinked, and intelligently said, "wha?"

"Sophie, are you okay? You totally zoned out, like, more than normal." asked Keefe, while Dex continued to shake her shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just thinking," she reassured her friends casually.

"We called your name multiple times. We were about to go get Fitz." Dex informed her while Keefe grumbled something under his breath.

"Seriously guys, I'm okay, there's no need to get Fitz. There's nothing to worry about. I was just trying to remember something-" Sophie felt a sharp pain in her head as she thought about that memory again, and closed her eyes. She heard a loud shout come from that memory, and one from a different voice, one she couldn't tell if it was part of the memory or not. She didn't even feel herself fall before she passed out.