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    “So…Keefe? What is your biggest secret?” Fitz asked. Everyone leaned in, eager to learn what his darkest secret was. Their eyes shined with anticipation. Keefe on the other hand froze. His entire body tensed the moment Fitz's question rolled out of his lips.    
 “Dare! I choose to dare!”    
 They leaned back.    
 “Is the secret so big that you can’t even tell us? I thought we didn’t keep anything from each other…Keefe?” Sophie said. Her blond hair was behind her ear and came down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a beautiful hazel brown color with golden flecks in them.    
 “You know you can tell us,” Biana said, gently. 
    Keefe took a deep breath and closed his eyes, a lone tear streaked down his face. It immediately made all of them worried. They all came closer to him and hugged him. Keefe started sobbing hard. They were shocked. Keefe was the silly and mischievous one. They had never seen him like this.      “I-I m-mi-ss h-her. I-I mi-ss h-her s-so so m-much!” Keefe said between his hiccups and sobs.    
 They let him rant out his sadness. They didn’t say anything, but comforting words. They didn’t question any of the things that came out of his mouth though questions plagued their thoughts and consumed every corner of their mind.      Keefe pulled out, harshly wiping his tears.   
   “Are you going to tell us now?” Dex asked.   
   Keefe swallowed. “Y-you deserve to know.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them once more and looking at each of them, one by one. Catching each of their eyes for a second, making sure to not miss a single person. “I-I had a younger s-sister.”    
 “WHAT?” Fitz screamed. Everyone looked at him. “Sorry,” he whispered softly. His attention turned to Keefe. “Why did you not tell me? I thought we were bestfriends.”    
 “Yeah. We are friends. Why didn’t we know?” Linh asked.    
 “And what did you mean by had,” Tam asked. His hair fell over his forehead, a beautiful gray color with a soft snow white color at the ends. His eyes are a distant and yet elegant blue gray color.    
 Keefe took another deep breath.   
   “She died.” 

    Linh and Sophie were walking up the snowy mountains. The snowflakes came down from the angry gray clouds and covered their hair in little white flecks.      
    A group called Neverseen had declared war on the council of elves. There was another group named the Black Swan that had been fighting Neverseen underground for years, but when Neverseen came out of hiding so did the Black Swan. They were now teamed up with the council.    
 The answer to Sophie Foster's abnormally unique and beautiful eyes was the Black Swan. They had created her and left her with the humans where Fitz and his father, Alden had found her. They had gifted her with multiple abilities. She was a telepath, polyglot, inflictor, enhancer, and teleporter.      They had learned that Keefe’s mother was a high ranking member of Neverseen and had experimented on him. When Sophie and Keefe had first met they thought that Keefe was just an empath, but now it had been revealed that he had more abilities than that. Keefe was also a polyglot and he controlled people, like a Mesmer along with being able to detect abilities. These had limitations though. Keefe wasn’t able to control Sophie or other highly talented elves, namely the ancients.   
     Now Linh and Sophie were in the snowy mountains as they had heard that there was something that Neverseen was after in these mountains. Their mission: retrieve what Neverseen was looking for and bring it back safely to Eternalia and the council.    
      Suddenly, Linh screamed, making Sophie come alert. Linh’s body had been flung towards a jagged rock. Her abdomen was about to puncture into the sharp point of the rock. Sophie immediately tried to catch her with her mind, but whoever had thrown her was powerful with telekinesis. Sophie’s resistance had turned the mysterious person's throw of course and caused the rock to instead strip Linh’s arm of most of its flesh. As Linh fell to the ground she groaned and Sophie immediately ran towards her. Slashing part of her own clothes off, she tightly tied a sloppy bandage around her profusely bleeding arm.    
 “Whoever you are, show yourself!” Sophie screamed, rage filling her. “You coward! Show yourself!” Her rage began to consume her and she suddenly heard a sharp scream which quickly disappeared. Sophie could feel that she was still inflicting which confused her. She snapped out of it when she heard Linh groaning in pain. Sophie immediately turned around with concern and guilt on her face as she realized that she had unintentionally inflicted on Linh.
      “Don’t say anything. Let’s get that bastard!” Linh said. Though she was in pain and the blood that flowed out of her arm quickly soaked up the cloth; she stood up like a lion. Her arms raised in the air, holding up the water that she had brought with her. Sophie nodded and unsheathed her knife.
      “Show yourself!” Linh screamed. 
     “All you Neverseen fools.”  The voice was whispery and laced with venom and power. It sent chills up their spines and sent them on alert. There was something else that those words did. It made them confused. They had assumed that whoever had flung them was a Neverseen agent, throwing them away to get to the artifact first, yet this person; from her words at least, hated Neverseen.    
       “Have they not learned?”   
 They turned around, trying their best to find where the voice was coming from. Yet they only concluded that the voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere.    
         “I have killed hundreds of you. Have you not learned that you can not have me?”    
          They were not confused any longer.    
         Have you not learned that you can not have me?  
       They weren’t looking for an artifact. They were looking for a person. They were looking for this person. This person, the one who had attacked them and thrown Linh at rocks because he thought that they were Neverseen, was the one they were here to retrieve.    
        “We aren’t Neverseen!” Sophie hollered out. There was no response from the voice. “W-we are with the council. We’re fighting against Neverseen!”
    “We aren’t here to hurt! Let’s just talk!” Linh said. Her face had become paler, due to the loss of blood. It worried Sophie to the core. She needed to get Linh to Elwin, the doctor, fast or she might die because of the blood loss. Sophie knew that Linh would never tell her, being as hard headed and stubborn as she is, but that didn’t stop the reality from changing. 
    A second later they felt someone step out from behind them.    
    Sophie and Linh quickly turned around to see a girl with long silvery white hair which had been braided yet still made it to her hips. She wore a black mask over her nose and mouth. Her jeans were clad black and she wore a sleeveless black top, showcasing a tattoo of branches of dead sakura trees. The branches circled around her arm beautifully and she wore two black gloves that stopped at her knuckles.   
   Before they could even say anything, they were lifted into the air, their arms were clamped next to their sides and her concentration was too strong for them to break it. The water that Linh had been holding up had dropped to the snowy ground.   
   “You work for the council? How does that make you any different from them?”   
   Her voice was icy and cold.   
   “W-we h-have the r-right reasons,” Linh said. Sophie watched as Linh got held tighter.   
 “Your reasons…they mean nothing. Everyone…everyone thinks they do it for the right reasons. How do you think that terrorists justify genocide? How do you think that killers justify murder? They all think they are doing it for the right reasons.”   
   “We don’t want to hurt anybody!” Sophie cried out. 
    The mysterious girl turned her attention to Sophie.    
 “I-I agree. Everyone t-thinks the-y are doing it for the right reasons. Neverseen wants things to change…and some things do need to change…but they are going about it wrong,” Sophie said.   
   “You…you are an interesting one.”  
   That was all she said before she dropped them.    
 “Let’s go back. She needs to get treated.” 
    “C-come with us,” Linh said, making the girl raise one of her brows. “W-we came here to stop Neverseen f-from retrieving something. You. Come with us.” The girl looked at Linh for a second.    
 “I will help you. I will not serve. The moment that this war is over…I want to return…return to a somewhat peaceful life.”   
 “W-we can not promise you anything. But if the council doesn’t give that to you…we-we’ll find a way,” Sophie said and the girl looked at Sophie then smiled lightly; it was her sort of thank you. The girl turned her attention to Linh and slowly, very slowly, the blood that was coming out of the bandage stopped.   
   “How did you do that?” Linh asked.    
 “I did nothing. I just hold the blood in place…so none more of it leaves. You’ll still die if you don’t get to a doctor.”   
   “We need to get to a high place,” Sophie said. The girl didn’t respond and followed Sophie and Linh up to one of the mountains. Sophie then grabbed Linh and the other girl's hand that jumped down. The girl didn’t say anything, but closed her eyes as if she enjoyed the sensation of falling. Sophie opened a portal and they fell through it. The coldness ended, the small warmth ended, the sound of birds slowly chirping and their wings beating ended. There was nothing in the portal. There would be nothing again until Sophie opened the portal inside the gates of Everglen, which is Fitz’s mansion.   
   “Oh my god! Sophie! Linh! What happened?” Della, Fitz’s mother asked as she came running over with Biana.   
   “Who is she?” Biana asked, suspicion filled her words.    
 “Why didn’t you take us to the doctor?”   
   “I am still learning how to use it,” Sophie said and the three of them stood up. Biana hurriedly called Elwin who came rushing over. None of them asked any questions until Elwin had successfully stopped the bleeding and given her Bottle of Youth to help.   
   “Now explain! What in the world happened? And who in the world is she?” Elwin asked.    
 Sophie looked at the girl, not quite sure what to say.    
 “I’ll explain when everyone is here.”   
   “WHERE IS MY SISTER?” Tam screamed, running inside Everglen with everyone else also running inside next to him. He immediately turned towards Elwin. “WHERE IS SHE?” 
    “She shouldn’t have visitors right now,” Elwin calmly replied. 
    “SHE IS MY SISTER!” Tam yelled, freaking out.
      “And we have better things to be doing. Your sister is doing perfectly fine. She will have a full recovery and can wait for you for a few more hours,” Elwin said, then glanced towards the girl. “Everyone is here. I suppose you can now explain.”   
  They all turned towards her. 
    Some were shocked to see the new girl with snow white hair and dressed clad in black. Her eyes, which was a beautiful gray color, were devoid of any emotion. They looked at her, each of them waiting for an explanation to the disaster that had struck their friend. The mission wasn’t supposed to be difficult. They weren’t even supposed to engage if Neverseen agents were there and yet this had happened.  
    Tam didn’t seem to care. 
    “HOW IN THE WORLD DID THIS HAPPEN? YOU WEREN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING IF THERE WAS DANGER!” Tam yelled. His voice echoed off the gates of Everglen. Sophie flinched for a second and before Tam could continue yelling, his knees hit the snow and he gasped for breath. 
    Sophie immediately turned towards the girl.   
   “Stop it!”    
 Tam started coughing as his lungs got released from her grasp. 
    “This one yells too much. Leash your anger or let it leash you,” the girl said. 
    “Y-you’re telling m-me to n-not g-get angry th-at m-my sister is h-hurt,” Tam said, still slightly coughing. She glanced at him, her eyes drilling holes into his skull. 
    “No…I am telling you to use that anger when you truly need it. Don’t waste your pain on the people on your side. Direct it towards those that it should be directed towards.” They stared at her for a second. “Though…in this case I suppose that would be me.” 
    Biana immediately grabbed a knife and disappeared when she had reappeared there was a knife against her throat. “What did you do to her?” Biana said, her eyes sparked a flame.   
   “You should take that knife away from there,” she said calmly as Biana’s hand started twisting and she cried in anguish. Fitz, Alden and Della quickly came closer, but they soon found that they could not move further. “I don’t like those that point knives at me. Don’t do it again…and you really can’t blame me.” She let go of her hold on all of them and they looked at her shocked. The only one who didn’t seem too confused was Sophie.    
 “HOW CAN WE NOT BLAME YOU?” Tam yelled.   
   “I thought I told you to not yell.”  
   “I doubt that he will care…afterall you did bring her to this state,” Dex said.    
 “I think all of you should relax…she isn’t here to harm us,” Sophie said.      “How can you be so sure?” Keefe replied.    
 “She may have been the one to hurt Linh, but without her she would have died long before I could get here,” Sophie replied. Everyone glanced at the girl. “And if you would stop questioning so much and let her explain you would have the answers to your questions.”
    “I like this one.” The girl said, nodding her head towards Sophie. 
    “She has a name,” Keefe said.    
 The girl did not reply.    
 “Anyhow…I was walking towards my place when I saw them, walking, talking in elvish. I thought they were Neverseen agents. Only Neverseen agents have come there. So when I saw them…I tried to kill them. I would have killed them…if they didn’t say that they weren’t Neverseen. So afterwards, I stopped Linh’s blood from flowing out until she got here.”     There was silence. 
    Sophie sighed.    
 “You missed some parts. The thing that Neverseen was looking for wasn’t an object. It was a person. Her,” Sophie said.   
   They didn’t ask the question, realizing that she really just wanted Neverseen to be gone. They didn’t ask why Neverseen wanted her, knowing that it was a personal question. Instead they asked a different question.      “What’s your name?” Alden asked. 
    “I don’t have a name.”    
 “What?” Fitz said, a silence lingering after the word.
      “I’m sure I once did…not anymore. When I was young my entire family died then Neverseen took me. I don’t remember much from back then.”  
         “Do you remember who your parents are?” Della said.   
   The girl didn’t say anything and looked up at the sky. 
    “No.”   
   “You’re lying!” Keefe exclaimed. The girl looked at Keefe with a raised eyebrow. “I’m an empath…I can tell that you are lying!” The girl only coldly stared at Keefe and tilted her head.    
 She nodded and looked back up at the sky.   
   “Even if I did lie…who my parents are shouldn’t concern you.”   
   “You have to tell us a little about yourself,” Elwin said. 
    The younger ones mostly said nothing. Everytime they did she ended up hurting them and insulting them and demanding. There was no way they would be able to handle her and they knew this…everyone except Keefe who seemed to be interested in her for an unknown reason.   
   The girl’s cold eyes settled on Elwin. 
    “You are an illusionist…healer…yes?” Elwin merely nodded. The girl looked at him for a good few seconds. She tilted her head to the side then glanced at Sophie for a second. “Does she know?”    
 “What?”   
   “The girl you call Sophie…does she know?” Elwin didn’t say anything. “I spent the majority of my life at Neverseen. People talk. You listen. You learn many things that perhaps weren’t meant for your ears. It would be a disgrace if I didn’t know about you…and her.” Elwin glanced down at his feet, surprisingly ashamed. “I will not say if you are not ready…I will only recommend that you tell her sooner rather than later…and about me. There is not much to know.”    
 “What do you mean by that?” Alden said. 
    “I am a girl who has forgotten much of my past life. There is little I remember.”   
 “What do you remember?” Della asked. 
    “My parents were part of the nobility. Mother was a polyglot, father was an empath. I had an older brother. He hadn’t manifested yet. As far as I remember he was brilliant. I remember he used to play ball with me. He had lots of nicknames for me. Princess. Cupcake. Bear. Bunny. They died.” 
    “They died?” Elwin questioned.   
   Keefe was frozen as if a million thoughts were running through his head.      “There was a fire. They died and the only reason I survived was because a Neverseen agent took me.” She tilted her head to the side. “Enough information for you.” They didn’t say anything. 
    “W-we still have to c-call you-something,” Keefe said.    
 “Achlys. Call me Achlys.”
    The group was all sitting on the lush grasses of the Everglen mansions' forest. It had been two days since that girl…no…Achlys…had come here. The first day she met with the council and they approved of her staying there. They weren’t at the discussion but they heard that heated arguments had arisen. At the end though Achlys had won. The council had asked the Vackers, Fitz’s family, to let her stay at Everglen. They were pretty confident it was just so they could make sure she wasn’t doing anything suspicious. Though they were pretty sure that if that girl wanted something she would be able to get it…no matter what. 
    The group was panting heavily.   
   Sophie’s ogre bodyguard, Bo, and Keefe’s bodyguard, Ro, were trying to train the group to fight without their abilities. In hand to hand combat…in knives… and spray mists. They really did appreciate it, but it tired them out. It was harder for them than telekinesis and heck, oh how hard that was. 
    “Come on get up! Your enemies won’t stop so you can rest!” Bo scolded me.       
   “Come on, Bo. A little break,” Dex said, groaning as he held his abdomen which pained.   
   “I agree with the ogre.”    
 They immediately snapped their heads toward the direction of the voice to find Achlys staring at them. She didn’t have her signature mask on and some of them hated to say it, but she looked ethereal. Boys and perhaps even girls would drop at her feet for her. Her beautiful snow white hair was tied up in a sloppy bun and she wore a black sweater and jeans. She actually looked normal. She was leaning on one of the trees and her arms were crossed over her chest.   
   “How long have you been there?” Ro asked.    
 “A while.”   
   “How long?” Bo asked. 
    She lightly smirked. Bo and Ro had exceptional senses. Almost no one could go under their detection. They looked at her expectedly, patiently waiting for her to tell them how long. 
    “Since you started the knife training.” 
    Her smirk deepened. 
    “Don’t feel too bad. Not the first person that hasn’t noticed me.”   
   “Why are you here?” Tam snapped. You could say that he didn’t like Achlys too well. He had reasons to hate her…after all she had stabbed his sister causing her to have a brief encounter with death.   
   “It’s ok, Tammy. She also saved me,” Linh said. Elwin had prohibited her from training, but she stayed with them. She called it moral support.   
   Tam scoffed. “Doesn’t matter if she helped you, Linh. She still stabbed you!” 
    Achlys tilted her head to the side, her arms falling to her side and walking towards Tam. Everyone just stared at her, watching for what she would do. In these two days she had become quite famous for her savage comebacks and non-existent tolerance towards rude behavior. Not just directed at her, directed at anyone.   
   Her brows knitted together in concentration and confusion.   
   It surprised them.   
   Achlys was never confused.   
   “Interesting…I wonder if you know what you can do. Wonder if you are strong enough to control them. Wonder….wonder…wonder…how would you be able to control them…after all they are strong…you…you are submissive.”    
 Tam eyebrows crashed together.   
   “What do you mean?”    
 “So you don’t know…figures. They never know until the darkness consumes them.”    
 “What are you talking about?” Sophie questioned.   
   “Oh well…it is too late to save you. You are plagued…like the rest of them. No one could save them. No one will save you. Perhaps if I had seen it earlier…but no. No, it's too late for you to learn.” “Answer her!” Keefe yelled.  Her head snapped towards Keefe, her eyes shooting daggers at him.   “Look! I don’t know what it is! Anyway this is about my friend SO YOU WILL ANSWER!” Keefe screamed. Achlys stared at Keefe for a second then turned towards Tam.   
   “I have a couple things to say to you. First…do you know what shadow flux is?” Tam shook his head. “Well…there are six elements. Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Quintessence and Shadow Flux. It is an advanced type of shadow…one that chooses you…if you can not control it then it will consume you until there is nothing left. No flesh. No bones. Not even ash. Nothing.”   
   “Is there a cure?” Biana asked.   
   “A cure? Perhaps…perhaps…perhaps it is too late, but if you learn quickly enough…if you learn to control shadow flux then perhaps you might live,” Achlys said then she started laughing. They looked at her, shocked, surprised and confused as to why she was laughing. “And if you keep thinking that I actually meant a single word that I am saying then you will kill yourself trying to actualy master shadow flux.”   
   “What?” Sophie said.   
   Achlys turned towards Sophie.   
   “If you haven’t got it…darling…I was messing with you. He isn't about to die. At least….” She turned towards Tam. “at least if he doesn’t learn some damn respect.”   
   “So do you, missy?” Ro said. 
    Achlys turned towards her.   
   “What? You go around like you own the place and expect respect! Let me tell you something darling, to get respect you must first show respect,” Ro said. The group was shocked and proud of her.  
   “To get respect you must show respect…true…true…except it's not true. No one respects anyone if they aren’t more powerful…why do you think this society has worked? Why are the counselors the most powerful elves with the rarest abilities? Why are they not wise elves? Half the time their ego stands in the way of their judgement…and to me…that’s all I see. I have lived my entire life showing respect and did I get any respect in return…NO!...You don’t get respect by giving respect. By doing that you only submit. You allow them to chew you up then spit you out.” 
    There was silence.   
   “And Ro dear…you are the last person who should be telling me that…considering your prior experiences,” Achlys said. She didn’t expand on it more, but it was clear that Ro knew what she was talking about. Her face had paled and she had frozen.   
   “One other thing. We aren’t allies. We aren’t friends. I’m only here for my revenge.”   
   Achlys turned around, calmly walking away with her hands in her pockets.    
 “Esmeray!”   
   Achlys turned around so sharply that the wind from her spin slapped their face.    
 “What did you just call me?”   
   They looked back at Keefe.   
   Her gaze was soft and full of confusion.    
 That was a new sight.    
 “That is your name…your real name…is it not?” Keefe asked. She was silent for a second. “I’ve been thinking for a while and I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself. I’m Keefe. Keefe Sencen and I think that grants me a proper talk.”   
   Everyone was silent. Each of them were confused as to how in the world Keefe had figured out her real name. How in the world that she knew his last name was going to choose anything between them.  
   But it did. 
    She motioned for him to follow her and they walked off. 
    The moment they entered deep enough into the forest, she pushed Keefe into a tree and put a knife to his throat. Keefe didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. He hadn’t expected her to put a knife to his throat.   
   “I don’t know what makes you think you are so special,” she said through gritted teeth, pushing the knife deeper into his neck. “My brother died…don’t you dare act like you are him.” The knife punctured his neck, blood dripped down from the wound.   
   Keefe grabbed the hilt of the knife consequently putting his hand on top of hers.   
   “Esmeray…h-how would I k-know your n-name i-if I wasn’t?” he asked. 
    “You’re smart enough…you could have figured it out.”   
 “A-ask a-anyone o-of the o-o-thers a-and t-they’ll say th-the same t-thing. M-mother w-was the o-one w-who took you, right? She’s a-a N-neverseeen a-agent,” Keefe said. She slowly pulled the knife away from Keefe and took a step back. Keefe gasped and started coughing.  
   She just looked at him.    
 “Do you believe me now?”   
   “So…you’re Keefe Sencan…my brother.”    
 He didn’t say anything, but the look in his eyes said everything. The love and relief that those eyes held was all the confirmation that she needed. 
    “Can…can I hug you?” Keefe asked. 
    She looked at him for a second then nodded.   
   Keefe sobbed as he held onto his little sister for dear life. His chest heaved up and down as he sobbed and a small smile had made its place on Esmeray’s lips. She pulled Keefe away from her and he wiped his tears. Keefe honestly didn’t remember the last time he had sobbed so heavily. His father had changed after his sister's death and had impossible expectations for him consequently he hadn’t cried. He wasn’t allowed. His father said that it showed weakness.    
 “I’m okay…” she said softly.    
 “You sure?” Keefe asked and she didn’t say anything. “I don’t mean for…anything. But really…Esmeray…princess…are you okay?” She didn’t reply and Keefe looked at her with worry.   
   “I don’t know.”  
   “What did they do to you?” Keefe asked, pushing away a strand of her white hair away from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. Esmeray took in a sharp breath and looked away. Keefe nodded his head understanding that she wasn’t ready to talk about whatever had happened. “Come on…let's go back.” He grabbed her hand, but she stopped him.   
 “You tell no one.”   
   “Why? I understand if you don’t want to tell the others, but the council should know and father…he hasn’t been the same without you.”    
 “There are some things that are better kept secret until the right moment. You can tell them eventually, but for now…don’t tell them.” And with that she pulled her hand away from Keefe. “I’ll be back before nightfall…don’t wait for me.” She then winked and Keefe turned around against his will and when her hold on him was gone and he had turned around again; she was gone. There was no trace of her. No footsteps or broken twigs. No crushed leaves.
Nothing.   
   “What the hell?” 
    To be continued...
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