-"What do you mean Bex has been kidnapped?" Sophie asked, pulling at her eyelashes nervously, secretly wondering if this had something to do with the Neverseen, with her.

"She was running back to Slurps n' Burps from the square, and she didn't make it there." Dex's eyes were red and filled with tears. "She had sat with Biana and I at the fountain, then we sent her back to the shop. It was rush hour and I shouldn't have let her go. Biana is helping us look, but I can't help but feel that this is all my fault."

"You couldn't have known, the Neverseen haven't been active for months." Sophie reasoned, rubbing her temples, feeling like such a hypocrite. Even though she had told Dex that he shouldn't feel guilty because no one had any way of knowing, she felt guilty. Could the Neverseen be doing this to get her on their side? Could they be doing this as revenge? What if this was her fault?

"So you think it's the Neverseen that did this?"

"It has to be, no one else would ever do such a thing, or if they aren't with the Neverseen yet, they will be soon."

He took a shaky breath and nodded, "yeah, you're right."

"I'll be there to help as soon as I can-" She started, but he cut her off.

"-No. We have everything covered here right now. You need to write to the Black Swan immediately, they might know something." There was a certain dictation in his voice that prevented Sophie from arguing, which was odd.

She had never heard him sound like this, like he was in control. Dex had always been more of a follower than a leader, giving excellent ideas along the way, but now he sounded like he was in charge, and that he had been for a while. How had she missed this change? Had she paid that little attention to him recently? More guilt washed over her, but she managed to pull herself together.

"Alright, I'll tell Grady and Edaline first, they'll want to help. Have someone meet them at Slurps n' Burps please."

Dex nodded, "alright, and before you come here, grab Della, Alden, and Fitz, would you?" Her friend's image flicked off the screen after she promised she would.

Immediately, she snatched a sheet of paper out of her desk drawer, and scribbled down a quick note to the Black Swan. 'Bex Diznee has been taken, we suspect the Neverseen. HELP.' Hastily, she stuffed it into a tiny bottle that she would have used for elementalism. Even though Sophie felt sick to her stomach and haggard, she ran down the stairs to see Edaline wrestling the last verminion into their pen.

"Mom! Bex has been kidnapped, we think by the Neverseen. The Diznees and Biana are searching Mysterium for clues, but they need our help."

Quickly, Edaline brutishly slammed a pesky verminion into the pen with one smack dealt by her elbow, and locked the gate shut. "Grady and I will be there after we grab some supplies. You go on ahead."

"I have to put this bottle in the cave for the Black Swan, I promised Dex I'd send them a message, then grab the rest of the Vackers." She explained as calmly as she could.

"There's no time for going to the cave, how long ago did this happen?" Edaline took the bottle and conjured the bottle away to the cave.

"About twenty minutes ago. They still haven't found a trace." Sophie answered, melancholy.

"There's still time to catch her scent. I need to call the sanctuary, they have a giant short faced- bear that we've had to rehabilitate multiple times over the years. Go get Alden, Della and Fitz!" Edaline dashed off.

"We meet at Slurps n' Burps!" Sophie called after her mom, then headed to the leapmaster.

When she arrived at Everglen, Alden was pacing in the foyer, mumbling. "Where is she? She said she'd be back by dinner-" He turned his attention to Sophie, then frowned. "Sophie, is everything okay? Where's Biana?"

Once she explained what had happened, Alden gasped. "That's terrible! I'll go find Della, would you mind grabbing Fitz? He's in his room studying."

"We'll see you at Slurps n' Burps." Sophie nodded before running to Fitz's room.

She hadn't thought that she looked bad until she saw Fitz's face after he saw her open the door. "Sophie, what's wrong?" Quickly, he stood, his face flushed as he closed the book in front of him, and put down his quill.

"Bex Diznee was kidnapped, most likely by the Neverseen." She hugged herself, "we have to go help look, maybe we can find something the others can't-"

Sophie stopped when Fitz crushed his body against hers in a hug. She didn't say anything, but slowly wrapped her shaking arms around her cognate, tears welling up in her eyes again.
"It's not your fault," he whispered, somehow knowing she felt guilty.

She couldn't speak for a while, just like she couldn't stop shaking. Fitz only held her closer, his head resting on top of hers. Thoughts spiralled through her mind like a tornado of despair, but eventually, it died down, but it still took a few minutes to do so. She took a shaky breath, "but what if it is? The Neverseen have a record of trying to take me, what if they're trying to get back-"

"Sophie," he tilted her chin up gently, his tender fingers slowly sliding up to her cheek, giving him her total attention. "Maybe they did do this to try and get you to cooperate, but that doesn't mean you caused it. You didn't force the kidnappers to take Bex, and there's nothing you could have done to prevent them from taking her without someone else getting hurt. No one blames you, we know that there is a risk in being around you, but we all love you so much, that we can't get enough of you. That we're willing to go against everything we've ever known to keep you safe, and to help you change the world for the better. When we go see the Diznees, they'll welcome you with open arms, because they know it's not your fault, and that you'll do everything you can to get her back. That's just who you are, anyone can see it just by looking into your eyes. That's how I knew something was wrong when you walked in. Your eyes betray you every time, remember that."

Blushing, she nodded slightly, and gently placed her hand on his hand, which was still cupping her cheek. "Thank you Fitz, I needed that." She smiled softly, and gazed into his eyes. "I think I'm ready to go find Bex now."

He nodded with a smile, and moved away, opening the door for her. "Shall we?"

When they reached Slurps n' Burps, they found Biana and Dex sitting on the cashier counter, drinking glasses of lushberry juice. As soon as they walked in, Biana stopped her conversation with Dex, and sat up straighter. "Mom, Dad, the other Diznees, Grady and Edaline just went out looking again. Dad said you'd be here soon, so he had us wait for you so we could split up."

"Split up? What do you mean?" Fitz frowned, "we're not all four going as a group? Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"We said the same thing," Dex replied, his cheeks a little red. What had they been talking about? "But they insisted that the more groups we had, the better." Suddenly, Dex looked uncomfortable," and... um-they also suggested that you two split up."

Sophie locked eyes with Fitz fearfully. "What?" Sophie asked, reaching for her cognate's hand behind her back. He grabbed it.

"Yeah, um, they said that if you two went in different directions, we'd have a wider spread of your telepathy-ness, plus, you'd be able to update one another freely." Dex continued, still as awkward as ever.
The two cognates looked at one another for a moment, not speaking out loud, or with their minds. Together, they came to terms with the news, and turned back to their friends. "Alright, it's no problem, just let us mindphase really quickly." Fitz smiled, but gripped her hand tighter.

"What's that?" Biana asked curiously.

"It's like..." Sophie started, then studied Fitz's face. "So if everyone has a conscious where they think about things in real time, mind phasing is like building a speedway between the two, but in real time, so as one person thinks it, the person's mind they're phased with hears it as well, in real time."

Biana looked at them with awe, but also like she wanted to ask a question. Dex, on the other hand, just looked plain old confused. "Isn't that what telepathy is?" He asked bluntly.

"No, with regular telepathy you have to keep hold a connection, right? So how does mind phasing work?"

"You're right, I can't believe you remember some of the information I spouted when studying." Fitz laughed a little. "With mind phasing, the connection is held in the subconscious, so it's effortless, and you hear everything instead of the stuff you tell the other person. Regular telepathy is like a full on conversation, but in a closed room with soundproof walls. Mind phasing is like sharing the same conscious, just hearing two voices instead of one, if that makes sense. So you see, it's way more intimate."

Sophie reddened when Fitz used the word 'intimate' to describe mind phasing. There was something about how he said that word about the two of them that made her blush. Maybe it was how he said it, or the fact that it was just in his accented voice, Sophie wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Dex looked at them, dumbfounded, and all he could manage to say in response was, "oh."

"that's so cool, but why don't people always do that?" Biana asked innocently.

"Since it invades one's most private thoughts in current time, it's not preferred, and everything gets a little muddy thought wise after a while. So for example, if we started talking about rabbits, while at the same time, Sophie and Dex started talking about bramble, I might start saying what Sophie is thinking about bramble, while she might start saying what I'm thinking about rabbits."

"Whoa, that's a little freaky. Do you need to be alone to do it?"

"No," Sophie replied with a shy smile. She didn't know why she was suddenly so meek, because now was not the time. Even so, she was still a little nervous. She could accidentally spill her secret crush on him... No. Now was not the time. She had to stay focused on finding Bex. "Here will be just fine."

She then mustered up her courage and turned towards her cognate, taking his hands, lacing her fingers with his. She took a step closer, so the backs of their hands touched their chests, just like they had practiced. Carefully, they rested their foreheads against one another, her eyes closed, and Sophie could feel her blush deepen.

She stretched her mind out to Fitz's, and he met her halfway. Together, in sync, they tied their consciousness together in a knot, and suddenly, Fitz's stream of thoughts ran along side hers. They had done it, only, it wasn't over yet. There was still two parts left. Gingerly, Fitz placed a kiss on her forehead. One part left. He then bent down, and in return, she delicate kissed his forehead.

When they pulled away from one another, Dex and Biana were staring at them, open mouthed.

"Gosh, my face must be really red," Sophie thought to herself, and Fitz laughed.

"Almost as red as mine. I'm sure I have you beat."

"That was..." Biana started, and Sophie finished.

"Intimate? Yeah, sorry about that, I guess we forgot to tell you about that part. It's pretty intense."

"Intense is an understatement," Dex looked a little dazed. "Come on Wonderboy, let's go. Can't have you bickering with Biana the entire search. See you girls later."

It was so sudden, that Sophie couldn't even process her thoughts and Fitz's, so they left without exchanging goodbyes.

"Well that was weird," Biana hopped off the counter and put her hands on her hips.

She only nodded in response.

"Are you okay?" Biana asked worriedly, placing her hand on Sophie's shoulder.

She nodded again, "yeah, sorry. It's just a little tough to adjust to hearing Fitz's thoughts as well as my own, especially after what just happened and what we're here to do. I'll be better in a few minutes."

Biana nodded with a smile, "alright! Then shall we head out? Dex is taking Fitz north, my parents are searching the surrounding area, yours are going west, and the Diznees are in one group going south, so we go east."

"Sounds good. Let's hurry up and find her before it's too late."

"It won't be too late, we'll find her." Biana reassured her with a smile.

Sophie couldn't help but smile back, "thanks, Biana."

"Anytime, now let's go find Bex!"