Linked

LINKED
By: Book Beliefs

'''LINKED IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING TURNED FROM PRESENT TENSE TO PAST TENSE. FOR ALL OF YOU THAT MAY BE WONDERING, NO IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY, BUT I WILL BE ABLE TO WRITE FASTER IF IT IS IN PAST TENSE.'''

Announcement/Contest
Thank you to everyone that participated in this contest! It’s nice to see readers active with this story.

Calla’s middle name is AMY.

This was guessed by two people. Congratulations to SuldreenSong and Rararobin14

Do not fret! If you didn’t win this time, there is always next time. Every month for Linked‘s anniversary I am giving to host a competition with prizes similar to this one, or this prize.

Until next time!

Synopsis
It has been 24 years since the defeat of the Neverseen. Sophie and Keefe Foster, who are still battling their inner demons, started their life together and are facing the challenges of parenthood.

***

Calla Foster, daughter of the most powerful elf in the world and the most powerful empath is facing the challenges of not only a normal teenager but also something beyond what most have faced. When she finds out that her parents are keeping their dark history away from her, she does what any Foster would do, find out what it is. Now she and her brother are searching for answers to these secrets, but what they don’t realize is that the truth can change everything. It doesn’t help that she has started developing feelings for a certain boy, or a certain two, one of them having a very special, very rare connection to her. Calla faces challenges like never before, and in the end, will it be worth it?

Characters
'''Okay, before you all see this portrait, I would like to thank Luna Di Angelo for creating these. You have no idea how grateful I am and how much I appreciate that she created these masterpieces. Thank you soo sooo soooooooooooooooooooo much Luna. Now let's see these beautiful portraits!'''

I will be uploading these one at a time, whenever they are completed.

Chapter One
“CALLA FOSTER!

Go to my office right now!”

I turned around to find a red Magnate Leto who looked at me with anger. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his face which earned me a hard glare.

I told you to hold off on that plan until next week!

I scanned the prodigies who stood around me, and then I spotted Kenric, my brother, and I looked at him as I transmitted.

I couldn’t, the gulons were getting restless.

He looked at me and said,

You could have told me, we were supposed to put a purple hair elixir in Volta’s lushberry juice and you were supposed to be the distraction!

I internally rolled my eyes. I loved my brother but sometimes he was so pushy. But before I could reply Magnate Leto yelled,

“Miss Foster, I told you to go to my office, not stand there on the spot!”

I make my way to his office while trying to avoid eye contact with prodigies who gave me questioning glances. Even though I pulled pranks, I didn’t like attention, just like my mother.

I turned the handle on the door and I found the magnate sitting in his chair behind the desk. The back of the room was all glass which looked over the fields of purple grass and trees in every colour and shape you could imagine. On the sides, there were rows of bookshelves from the floor which is made of crystal, to the roof which is at least 10 feet tall. The ceiling was a crystal that seemed to be brighter where ever I stepped, mocking me for getting in trouble, too bad I’ve been here so many times it stopped bothering me. “Sit down please.” I listen and sit down, he sighs and says, "Calla, how many times have I told you the consequences of your pranks, you and Kenric are so much like your father. Keefe and Sophie were quite the trouble-making duo.”

I get that a lot, even with appearances were similar to them. I had my mom’s shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes with ice blue flecks, my nose was exactly like hers but my skin tone leaned more towards my father, and they said I smirked like dad but smiled like mom. Kenric had dad’s hair and spent just as much styling it as him. They said, “When you are born with such a gift you take full advantage of it.” But Kenric’s eyes were ice blue with brown in the centre. Magnate Leto smiled as he thoughtfully told me, “Keefe was always pulling pranks and Sophie was always almost dying. They somehow managed to have Elwin visits every other day.” My eyes widened before I asked, “Why was mom almost dying?”

He looked at me and his face went pale, “You mean they haven’t told you?”

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, “What did they not tell me?”

He gulped and said, “It’s not my place to tell and I’ve already said enough, you have detention for three days, now go to your next class.”

I frowned, there were a million questions running through my head, but I knew that now was not the time to ask. I would have to consult Kenric on this.

............................................................... ......................................................................................................

I get home to see mom waiting for me, she wrinkles her nose as she asks, “Why do you smell like a gulon?”

I smirk as I tell her, “I may have put a couple of gulons in Magnate Leto’s office.”

Dad, who walks in from behind with a twinkle in his eyes says and a proud grin says, “Really I’m so pr-“

But he gets cut off when he see’s mom glaring at him, he turns back to me trying to suppress the smile on his face as he says, “I’m so disappointed in you Calla, how could you?”

But then he winks and I could tell that mom saw when she huffed and rolled her eyes, “Calla, how many times have I told you to be careful, and I know you’re not going to stop with the pranks, but at least don’t let people catch you.”

She smiles the smile that made all of the boys fall for her when she was younger. I turn to see dad with a look of pure love and awe directed to mom, he wraps an arm around her waist and mom grabs his hand.

They love each other, anyone could see that, and you could see how mom’s smile always brightens when he was around, how dad always perks up when people talked about her, how even on the toughest days they always have each other by their side. How dad’s hand always seemed to find mom’s. How mom always is happier when dad was with her. It was as if they are one soul in two bodies, they are soulmates. I want the relationship that they have, I want to have someone that has so much love and care in there eyes directed towards me, someone that would instantly brighten up because of my voice, someone that I could protect and they would protect me until the sun stopped rising. I want a soulmate.

“I’m home!”

Hollers Kenric from the Leapmaster. He runs into the living room and starts telling dad about the purple hair elixir he put in Volta’s lushberry juice and dad enthusiastically replies. I tune out and get lost in my thoughts until I hear, “and we were supposed to put the gulon in Magnate Leto’s office next week but Calla did it today and got caught!” Mom interrupts and questions, “Where did Calla even get the gulons?”

He smirks and replies, “Grandma gave them to us from the batch at Havenfield.”

Mom mutters about how she would have to talk to Edaline about helping with pranks. I transmit to Kenric,

Can I talk to you later?

His eyebrows furrow,

Sure, I’ll come to your room after mom and dad fall asleep.

'''Hey guys! How was that chapter? Oh boy, I can’t wait for the next chapter, you're going to meet someone special! I try to update every 3 to 4 days but the schedule could change. Bye for now!'''

Chapter Two
It is 10:00 pm when Kenric knocks on my door,

Tap tap tap-tap-tap tap

That is our signal, it’s how we know that the other person is here. We have used it since Kenric was four and I was three when one of us had nightmares or was scared, we would go to the other person’s room and spend the night there. As we got older we would go if we had a problem at school. If we're in a fight, we always resolved it in each other's rooms.

I usher him in and softly close the door, I sit across him on my bed and ask, “Do you know anything about Mom and Dad’s past?”

The confusion is evident on his face, but he still says, “No, mom and dad told us that they met when mom exploded something in Alchemy and dad met her when she was walking to the healing centre.”

That doesn’t explain why mom was almost dying, but it shows that they are hiding something from us, and I am going to find out what it is. I am so lost in my thoughts, Kenric has to transmit to me to get my attention,

Calla!

I jerk backwards due to surprise, and he asks me, “What are you thinking about?”

I shake my head, ‘“Nothing important.”

He narrows his eyes at me, “You know that you and a Dad aren’t the only empaths in our family right? I can feel your guilt, so spill.”

Me and my brother both inherited empathy from our dad, not only that, our ability is super strong like his as well, we could feel emotions without touching people. We could also feel emotions from animals, but the alicorns and mom seem to have very strong emotions, they never told us why.

Another thing that they are hiding.

But then I turn to my brother and find that he deserves to find out as well, our parents are hiding things from both of us. I sigh, “When I was in the magnate’s office he said that mom had a lot of near deaths when she was younger, they never told us about that and paired with what you said, I know that they are hiding something.”

Kenric stares at me for a few seconds then whispers, “You're right,” He blinks, “They are hiding something from us and we have to figure out what that thing is.”

............................................................... ......................................................................................................

“Calla, wake up!”

I groan, “Just five more minutes.”

I turn to look at dad who says, “You’ve already five minutes late, I wouldn’t care but you know what your mother will say.”

Kenric and I had stayed up all night brainstorming ways to find out about our parents past. We concluded that we would ask Vertina, mom’s spectral mirror and find out what she knows. As much as I hated it, we would have to monitor mom and dad, seeing if they slip up and give us a clue. Kenric casually asks, “Hey mom, how long have you had Vertina for?” Mom looks at Kenric, surprise on her face, and replies, “I’ve had her since I was thirteen, why?” Kenric smoothly explains, “You’ve had yours for a while now I just wanted to know how long.”

He didn’t lie, he changed the meaning of his words. Kenric is the one good at lying, I am the one that can divert the topic. This is what made us such s good team when pulling pranks, the person we are pulling it on never knows and if they suspect we easily make them stop. I knew we succeeded when dad didn’t say anything about it, only complained that I took away time for him to style The Hair by waking up late. Mom and I roll our eyes but Kenric takes his side lecturing me about the importance of proper hair styling. The speech is more boring then Elvin History and I am eternally grateful when it ends, Mom bores the same expression and dad sits there nodding his head at everything Kenric says. We move to our Leapmaster and Kenric and I get whisked off to Foxfire. I enter the crowded halls, making my way to orientation, and behind me, I could sense giddy emotions and I immediately know who it is. “Ardelle, you can make yourself visible, I know it's you that’s trying to scare me.”

My best friend appears and a grin spreads across her face, Ardelle is pretty, no, she’s beautiful. With her mom’s brown hair that cascades down to her shoulder, and blades in thick luscious locks. To her plump pink heart-shaped lips, her father’s silvery blue eyes and a pale complexion she is what most girls want to look like. Not me though, appearances never mattered that much to me, as long as I was comfortable I was happy. My brother cares about how his hair looks but that’s all. Ardelle is a vanisher, taking after her mother Biana Song. Her brother Abben Song takes after their dad, Tam Song by being a shade and their uncle and grandfather Fitz Vacker and Alden Vacker by being a telepath.

She see’s something behind me and her grin disappears and she vanishes, I turn to see what she was looking at to come face to face with Lady Flayia. She asks me, “Have you seen Ardelle Song?” I shake my head as she walks away. I turn back to Ardelle and she reappears, she explains, “I forgot the hand in my vanishing homework yesterday she’s looking for me to give me detention.”

I raise my eyebrow, Ardelle never forgot her homework, she was always telling others to not forget. She saw my question look and said, “You’ll find out soon enough, it’s just if you agree.”

The rest of the day consists of me begging her to tell me, but her telling me no and going to our classes.

. .............................................................. ......................................................................................................

I get home and find mom sitting in the kitchen with jittery energy radiating off of her. She turns around to face me with a nervous smile. She asks me how my day was and I rant about the secret Ardelle is keeping from me. When I finish I see her smile wavering and her expression unsure. She takes a deep breath and says, “Calla, I need to talk to you about something.” I nod, signaling to keep talking, “There is this really powerful Telepath and he is a year older then you, he manifested when he was eight, only a year later then you, he can transmit from what is supposed to be impossible distances and only one other person that is not me can get past his blocking.”

I give her a worried look before saying, “Mom, why are you telling me this?”

She takes a shaky breath and slowly says, “His name is Abben Song, and I want you to consider being cognates with him.”

'''Soo... how was that? I ended it with a cliffhanger and I feel bad but it is a good spot to end it at. I’m working on the next chapter as fast as I can and I’ll try to have it up by Sunday but no promises. Who here likes Ardelle, I know I do! In the next chapter, you will hopefully learn more about Abben; it depends on how long I make the chapter. Bye!'''

Chapter Three
I blink,

Then I blink again, by now I’ve blinked so many times that mom reaches up to pull out an itchy eyelash. But that snaps me out of my daze and I reach up and swat mom’s hand away from her eye. Her eyelash picking habit has mostly stopped, but she still does it in stressful or nerve-racking situations.

I already know the answer to the question but it doesn’t stop me from asking, “Abben Song, as in Ardelle’s brother?”

Mom nods her head but then I said “Why can’t he be Kenric’s cognate, they’re both in level six.”

She counter argues, “You know how hard it is for Kenric to trust someone, the only person that he is comfortable with sharing all of his secrets is you.”

I hate that she has a valid reason but I still fire questions and she seems to have answers to all of them, “If Kenric only trust’s me then why don’t I become his cognate?”

Mom swiftly replies, “You and your brother have a special bond and if you are cognates the bond may be ruined.”

I finally go to my last resort, “I don’t even know Abben, my mind is not going to automatically trust him.”

Mom sighs, “His mind won’t trust you right away either, that’s what we need to do exercises and hopefully your minds will trust each other soon.”

She squezes my shoulder as tells me, “Just think about it.”

.....................................................................................................................................................................

Later that night, while we are eating dinner, Kenric transmits to me,

Meet me in my room.

Dad complains about how we never eat Mallowmelt anymore and how he is running out of his soft hair elixir. Mom rolled her eyes and promises to make some Mallowmelt over the weekend. They seem to notice how quiet we are and give each other questioning glances. Dad finally asks, “So, anything new going on with you two?”

You two hiding something about your past from me, mom is trying to convince me to become cognate’s with a guy I know nothing about except for his ability and name and my best friend is hiding something from me.

“Nope.”

My reply clearly didn’t convince them so they ask Kenric again, and he replies with the same vagueness. Everyone is quiet for a few minutes, the only sound being the chewing of our food. Mom attempts to fill the silence by saying, “Calla, have you made your decision on Abben yet?”

Kenric’s head snaps up and he swiftly questions, “Isn’t Abben Ardelle’s brother?” I nod my head and he states fiercely, “If this is about matchmaking don’t gun for Abben, I know you can fill out your forms and I’m sure he’s a nice guy but if you two get together and aren’t on each other’s list it will break your heart and I will break his bones.”

My cheeks heat up and I can feel myself turning red, dad snickers and I blurt out, “N-no this isn’t about matchmaking and I don’t want Abben on my list, I barely know him! Mom is talking about becoming cognates.”

His face forms into a grin but then it drops into a frown and a look of hurt flashes on his face, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Mom quickly explains, “She only found out when she came back to school.”

He nods but still frowns so I transmit,

I was going to tell you tonight.

That seems to cheer him up because he has a small smile and transmits,

Have you decide if Abben is lucky enough to have my sister?

I roll my eyes, it was natural for Kenric to be overprotective about something like this, even when we were younger he would glare other kids into being nice to me. I don’t know why he does that but it started when a boy named Aden Elton can to our house so I could tutor him for midterms, I was in level one and Aden was a level two. Classes are easy for me because of my photographic memory. Aden was a person Kenric would occasionally talk to but after Aden came to my house Kenric glared at him whenever he passed by for a month. I tried asking him why he does this, but he brushes me off saying that I wouldn’t understand.

''He will only be my cognate, and that’s if we are even cognates in the first place. You know that I know that the world knows that.''

He narrows his eyes and transmits,

Yes I know that, besides if he ever wants to be more he is going to meet my standards.

Dad seems to realize that we are transmitting so he rolls his eyes and says, “Not you guys as well, when your mom and Fitz transmitted, it was bad enough.”

Me and Kenric release small grins and I say, “You were only annoyed by them because they could have secret conversations.”

Kenric seems to be thinking what I just had said because,his grin widens and he says, “You were jealous.”

A light pink spreads on dad’s cheeks. Mom seems to find this funny and starts teasing him, “Oh, is that the great Keefe Foster blushing, I think I’m hallucinating. If that was all it took to get you blushing I would have done it a long time ago, it would be great pay back for all the times when we were kids and you would make me blush.”

Dad recovers from the teasing, he smirks and leans in towards mom, “I can still make you blush Foster.”

As if on queue red spread on mom’s cheeks. Kenric scrunch’s up his nose and says, “Eww, guys there are innocent minds in the room.”

Dad turns towards Kenric with a raised eyebrow and says, “Both of you are not innocent, I’ve seen the number of crushcuffs you get on midterms and finals.”

That causes me to blush but Kenric to say, “Yes, the ladies always want a piece this.” He points at himself and I can hear mom murmuring to herself about how dad would say the same thing when he was younger. Dad turns his focus to me, and says, “What about you? Anyone you find… interesting?” I give him a look that says,

Seriously?

Dad raises his arms in defense and claims, “You are a level 5 now, and a teenager, your opinion on this stuff could have changed.”

I scoff, “Dad, you asked me the same question not even a month ago, and I only started level 5 last week. You know what my option on the male population is.”

He fondly smiles, “Maybe Abben will change your mind.”

Mom gasps and stares at dad with big eyes, “Don’t tell me you're doing that.”

Dad’s forehead creases, “Doing what?”

She shakes her head, “You are pairing Abben and Calla up!”

Kenric’s face turns protective, “Calla is not getting with anyone until she is at least 150 years old.”

Dad starts nodding and says, “You play the protective older brother role well.”

Mom and him start bickering over what we were going to be called, mom declare, “They will be called Cabben.”

Dad argues, “No it will be Calben.”

Kenric sits in his chair with his arms crossed and a mad look on his face.

Finally, when my brain can’t take any more I stand up and announce, “Enough! I haven’t even agreed to be cognates! Much less have an interest in him! You guys are supposed to be giving me lectures and saying how you have to approve of him, not come up with names for us!” I point to Kenric, “And you, you're supposed to be teasing me and making fun of me, not sitting there with a ticked off look! And... ugh.” I collapse in my chair.

There is a silence for a couple of seconds and then dad starts softy chuckling soon mom and Kenric join in and they are full blown laughing. I sit there confused and ask what is so funny and dad manages to explain though laughs “Your... face... when you... said that... you looked... like a... mad chimpanzee.” Once they finish laughing, we finish eating without bringing up the topic again.

.....................................................................................................................................................................

I tap the back of my hand softly twice and the time appears on the wall across from me,

11:30 pm

Mom and dad should be asleep by now, so I sneak out of bed and slowly walk out the door. Me, mom and dad’s and Kenric’s bedroom make one floor of our house, of course, all the bedrooms have ensuite bathrooms and extended walk in closets but besides that, it was just bedrooms. I quietly walk to Kenric’s room and did the tap. He opened the door and ushers me in. We sit on his bed and face each other.

So have you found anything?

I reply,

No, but I think that mom and dad know we are planning something.

He nods and says,

''I agree, we will have to be more cautious around them and maybe more cautious around some other adults. I think grandma and grandpa know since they grew up with mom, and by listening to dad’s stories he was around them a lot as well.''

I think about that, Kenric is right, but a lot of dad’s stories included Fitz, Dex, Biana, Marella, Linh and Tam. We will have to be more cautious around all adults. I transmit my thought to Kenric and he agrees. He questions,

So what are we going to do now?

''We still have to ask Vertina about what she knows. In order to do that mom and dad have to be out of the house. How are we going to get them out?''

He thinks for a second before replying,

''I can hide some of dad’s hair elixirs, for some reason mom always goes with him when he gets new ones. Plus, there is this one elixir that I have been dying to buy and he has one but never gives it to me.''

I grin. Kenric seems to always have some excuse that has to do with his hair, sometimes it is helpful, but others not so much. I was about to say goodnight when he transmits,

So do you know what you are going to do about the whole cognate thing?

My grin falters and I transmit,

I don’t know, I barely even know the guy.

Kenric tilts my chin up so I look into his eyes and transmits,

No matter what you choose I will always support your decision, for anything.

I tackle him into a hug and softly whisper, “Thank you. I will always be there for you no matter what the situation is.”

He quietly says, “Thanks, I’ll need it in the future.”

I’m confused by his words but I know it is not the time to ask.

We trade our goodbyes and I walk back into my room. As I lay down in bed I realize that I may know what my decision about cognates will be.

'''I feel like this chapter isn’t as good as the other ones, there is a lot more dialogue then what I normally write, maybe that’s why. This chapter was definitely longer then the other ones, three whole pages of writing, do you prefer longer chapters or shorter ones? This one took 5 days where as the other ones take three to four. There will definitely be more Abben stuff in the next one. I hope you enjoyed it!'''

Chapter Four
Food,

The wonderful substance my stomach didn’t get this morning. By the time I fell asleep, it was probably 1:30 am. My body is tired, my brain is tired and my will to prank is tired too, Kenric also had bags under his eyes, proving that he didn’t sleep much either.

As I trudge through the hallways to my locker, I walk into a wall, that wall being Myra Shold. She is the meanest, most annoying girl at Foxfire. Her mother being Stina Shold and her father Landon Shold. Uncle Dex told us how Stina was the bully in his time at Foxfire, though mom never talked about her. Myra has her mother’s stringy brown hair and tall frame, with her father’s pale complexion and midnight blue, almost black eyes. I’m tall for my age, at five foot eight, but Myra was still a few inches above me. She sneers at me and says, “Watch where your going, mommy and daddy aren’t always going to be there to save you. Though you wouldn’t know, you’re too busy tripping over air and hitting your head that anything in that pathetic excuse of a brain has disappeared, if there was anything there in the first place.”

I narrow my eyes at her and am about to knock her off of the high horse she’s on when a voice from behind me says, “You know, that’s really rich coming from someone that barely passed finals, I bet this year will be a nightmare for you.”

I whip my head around to see Abben leaning on a wall. His white uniform complements his skin tone, which is exactly like Biana’s, and his bright teal eyes shine like diamonds. He has his father’s nose and black hair, which is styled to perfection.

Just like Tam, dad, and Kenric.

He wears this smirk and raised an eyebrow, has this calming mischievous aura coming off of him and is tall, at about five foot ten. Then it hits me, this is the guy that might be my cognate, the guy that I might share all of my secrets with, the guy that is my best friend’s brother.

Myra glares at him and says, “What do you care, you’re just like her,” She looks at me. “Always hiding behind your parents.”

Abben rolls his eyes, “Is that really the best you’ve got? You just said that to her, I mean, at least come up with a good insult.”

Myra huffs and storms away. I look at Abben and say, “I could have handled that myself, you know.”

A small smile plays on his lips when he says, “I know you could have, but Myra wouldn’t have listened if her victim was opposing her.”

I sigh, Myra is always mean, according to uncle Dex it runs in her family. But what is odd is that Abben is in level five atrium, he had no reason to be here so why is he? I ask him, “Why are you here anyway?”

He shrugs, “I felt like taking a different way to the cafeteria.” I give him a confused look, the level six atrium is closer to the cafeteria then this one, why take a longer route, but more importantly, why would he delay when he eats? Maybe that's the part of me that skipped breakfast that speaking but the food is very important and you shouldn’t delay it. I put my books in my locker and am in the middle of my lecture on the importance of eating when you can, but I turn around to find a blank red wall with no white uniform in sight. The students that are still here give me weird looks.

Great, they think I was talking to myself.

I grumpily make my way to the cafeteria. No food, people think I belong in the loony bin and very little sleep, definitely not a good combination. I enter it and quickly walk to the lunch line, they were serving mushy purple stuff and yellow leaves. Mom never uses names when she cooks and the habit grew on dad so I know only know a few names to things. I take my tray and walk off to detention.

I enter the room and everyone looks at me, Lady Gavin says, “Miss Foster, you’re late.” I mutter an apology and walk to a desk and sit down. Detention seems to never end and to make matters worse I have to sit in my seat with nothing to do because Lady Gavin doesn’t trust me with her capes, and goes off muttering ‘just like Sophie’.

When detention finally ends, I walk to my locker to gather my books for the Universe with Lady Renda. I cantankerously walk to the classroom and sit in my chair, I won’t have to focus in this class, thanks to my photographic memory I memorized all of the stars. In her squeaky voice, Lady Renda said, “What are the stars that make up the constellation Vexle?”

With a bored tone, I replied, “Malox, Tentin, Rodeus, Waver, Fedon, Givc and Arel.”

She narrows her eyes at me, she has never liked that I already know everything, so she hates when I answer every question with no struggle. She sighs and says, “I want you to learn the uses of all the stars in the Northern part of the sky in the next two weeks.”

Great, I have homework that I actually need to pay attention to, my day just keeps getting worse. The rest of the class goes by with me answering all of her questions and her shooting me glares.

I walk out of the classroom and make my way to study hall like a sloth, and I end up being five minutes late but I sneak in before anyone notices.

Write the fifteen steps to catching a whirlpool with in-depth explanations and illustrations.

Elementalism is fun, all of the classes are fun but this is just a drag, whirlpools are one of the hardest things to catch, you have to go in the water to get them and when you are in it you have to be careful of being sucked in. Even if you do get it when you come out you are soaking wet and if you are like me you somehow trip and end up breaking the bottle releasing the whirlpool anyways.

I am halfway through my homework when some taps my shoulder, I turn around to see Ardelle facing me she points to the door signalling for me to get out of the classroom. I ask to go to the bathroom and I meet her there. “What is it, I have Elementalism homework that I need to do.”

She rolls her eyes and says, “Your homework can wait, I overheard Abben talking to my parents and he agreed.”

I don’t what to say to that, when I talked to mom she made it seem like he already agreed. Again, for the second time in the last two days, my only reply was blinking. “Why are you telling me this?”

She stares at me and finally when she sees that I’m being serious she replies, “Because that only leaves you to decide.”

I shake my head, “I thought that he already agreed so this doesn’t affect me, but do you know what does? You keep secrets from me but you told that you are keeping a secret, you could at least not have told me that!”

She slightly frowns, “I want to tell you but I promised I wouldn’t until they said so.”

I press forward, “Who are they?”

She pales at her mistake, “They are some people, it’s not important.”

I sigh in frustration, “Fine don’t tell me but when you realize that whoever these people are don’t control your life then- then know that I’m here for you.”

I turn around to go back to study hall when she grabs my arm and I look at her. She pulls me into a hug and whispers, “Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me. I promise the second I can I will tell you, even if that means leaping to your house in the middle of the night.”

I squeeze her harder and softly say, “We are best friends and best friends look out for each other, no matter what happens you will always be my best friend.”

With that, we walk back into study hall and finish my dreadful day at school.

.....................................................................................................................................................................

I am in line for the leap master and suddenly realize that I have forgotten my star maps in my locker. Normally I leave them it there but I actually need to use the maps today. I quickly tell Kenric about my predicament and race to my locker. I get there in record time and quickly grab my maps and shut the door. As I make my way back I hear something fall, and a person yell “Ow!” I turn behind me to see a girl on the ground and all of her books around her. Before I can help her Abben walks by and sees her, he helps her get up and collect her books, he asks, “Are you okay?”

She nods her head, unable to speak, and scurries away.

Abben wasn’t someone that often shows that he cares about someone, he is always distancing himself from people unless he knows them well. He stays with his group of friends and never really socialized with others, the exact opposite of Ardelle. But here he was showing that he does care, that he does think about others, it was a different side of him, one that many people don’t get to see, but here I am watching it in action. Maybe, if he has a side to him that willingly helps, that cares I would be his cognate, just maybe. I walk back to the Leap Master with my decision made.

'''Well....... how was it? Yeah I know it’s late sorry about that. My motivation is running low. WELL FINALLY YOU ARE IN THE STORY ABBEN IT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH. In the comments please put in ways to improve the story, I really could use your feed back.'''

Chapter Five
I walked into the living room finding Kenric lazily doing his homework,

it was obvious that he was bored, anyone with a pair of eyes could notice it.

Did you hide the elixirs?

He glances at me before looking back at his homework,

I’m going to do it right before dinner, but I need you to distract them, can you do that?

I think, what would be a good distraction? Suddenly an idea dawns on me, I was going to tell them this anyways, but now a little bit earlier then expected.

I’ve got the perfect thing, speaking of which, I need to talk to you tonight.

He nods his head,

''We will do it in your room. I’m coming earlier then usual, I am dead tired.''

He is not the only one, today was a bad day for me and that was partly because of my sleepiness. If I didn’t get enough sleep tonight then I would end up falling asleep in the middle of a session.

I took my satchel off of me and sat besides Kenric. I pulled out my Elementalism homework and try to finish it, the drawings of the steps were not hard, I’m not bad at art but I’m not anywhere near as good as dad. Mom has tons of abilities so it’s obvious that she is talented. Kenric can design and build anything, and while the best I can do is a box, he could build Lumenaria. I, however, had a rubbish talent. I’ve been told that I have a beautiful voice, but in the elvin world music wasn’t a big thing, that’s why I would sometimes sing with the gnomes and help them with the gardening.

I was so enriched in my homework I didn’t realize that it’s dinner time and mom was calling for me. I look at Kenric and he nodded, showing that it’s time for our plan to take action. I walked into the kitchen with a nervous energy and said, “Hey mom, there is something I need to tell you and dad.”

In reality I didn’t actually have to tell dad, but he had to be distracted as well, “Okay, your dad will be down soon, he has to organize his hair care products.”

I panicked, because Kenric was in the room full of the products, if dad caught him he would have to lie and dad would be able to tell. I raced up to the room and warned Kenric on the way, when I got there dad was about to open the door, but due to my fast speed I ran right into him. His body was pressed against the door because he wasn’t prepared for the impact and my body was slammed against his back. He groans in pain and says, “Calla, that hurt why were you running at me?”

I got off of him and he faced me, “I have something really important to tell you and well, we all know that once you are with your hair products it will take a long time for you to get out of that room.”

He rolled his eyes and we both said in unison, “When you are born with such a gift you take full advantage of it.”

I stick my tongue out and he glared at me while trying to suppress a grin. “What about Kenric, don’t you want to tell him too?”

I said, “I want to tell him in private.”

It wasn’t a lie, I truly do want to tell him in private, but this way we can also distract our parents. He ruffled my hair and started walking down the stairs. I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

We sit down to eat and mom asked, “Where is Kenric?”

I freeze, thinking what I am supposed to say. I can’t tell he truth, but I can’t tell a lie either, “He is fixing his hair.”

In technical terms he is fixing his hair, when mom and dad go to Atlantis he will tell them to bring an a hair product that will help him ‘fix it’. Mom believed me but dad was suspicious, he didn’t say anything but I know by the look on his face that he is onto me. I transmitted to Kenric,

If anyone asks, tell them you were fixing your hair.

He replied,

Got it.

Mom, doesn’t seem to notice dad’s facial expression and says, “So what is it that you wanted to tell us Calla?”

I nervously smile, “I’ve decided.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Decided what?”

I was certain that she knew what I was talking about and I was pretty confident in this but nevertheless my voice came in a whisper when I said, “I’ve decided what I’m going to do about the cognate thing.”

'''This chapters has like a million errors since my editing app isn’t working, but once is figure out what’s wrong I will fix it. So the poll has spoken and there WILL BE TEASERS IN EVERY CHAPTER'''

Chapter Six
This was it,

This was where I was supposed to say yes, Abben and I became cognates and live happily ever after. But, this being the reality that was not going to happen. I take a deep breath, “I have decided that I will not be cognate’s with Abben.”

Mom’s playful smile deciphered and dad’s questioning look vanished with his attention fully on me. I was about to sit down when mom asked with a quiet voice, “Why?”

I sighed in frustration, “I barely know the guy when you and uncle Fitz started cognate training you had some trust, something to base off of. You are asking me to become cognates with a complete stranger, someone I know nothing about, someone I don’t talk to.”

Mom shook her head, “You don’t get it, Calla, do you think I would try to make you cognates with a complete stranger if it wasn’t the best decision? Do you think I want you, my daughter to share all of her secrets? Believe me, if I had a better choice I would have taken it in a heartbeat.”

I stared at her in shock, I knew she wasn’t lying, if she was I would have felt the guilt. What was she hiding, what was so important at the couldn’t even tell her children? This was a clue, maybe a major one or maybe not. But, there was obviously a connection between the Songs and my family. If cognate’s were an important thing to my mother, then there must be something related to her and uncle Fitz’s cognate relationship and this. I was going to find out what that thing was.

The rest of dinner was quiet: when Kenric came down he noticed it. Before he could mention it, I transmitted that I would explain later. Soon, later came and dinner ended. We went to his room and I told him the whole story, as well as what mom said. At first, he didn’t say anything, but soon enough the questions were asked, “Are you sure that’s the only reason?” I give him a confused look, “The only reason you denied the cognate thing.”

I thought, “No it’s not, I already have enough to deal with, Mom and Dad’s past, school, cognates would never fit into my schedule.”

He insisted, “But if you become cognate’s with him it may help with all of that other stuff.”

I gave him a frown before saying, “It’s not just that Kenric. If I become cognates with him I’m letting him in. He will know every single thing about me, my deepest fears, my darkest secrets. I-I’m not ready for someone else to be let in. It won’t be good, for you, me, him, everyone.”

His gaze softened and he said, “But how will you know if you don’t take the risk?”

He got me there, I wouldn’t know, but I may mess up and I wasn’t ready to take the risk, I may never be. As if he can read my mind, he gave me an understanding look, he probably did read my mind.

After that, he leaves me be, saying that we will talk more the next day. I was sitting on my bed thinking when I heard a light knocking on my door. I tell the elf to come in and dad enters. “If you ‘re here to try and convince me you can leave, mom and Kenric already tried and failed.”

He sat quietly beside me on the bed for a few minutes. “I was never good at the serious thing.” I gave him a confused look but he kept going, “But I’m going to say one thing, your mom is one of the strongest people you will find, she may be the strongest you will ever find. She knows what it feels like to be pushed into something, she would never ask you to do something so big if it weren’t necessary.”

I knew he was right, I know that she would never ask me if it wasn’t her last, the best choice she could make. Still, I couldn’t accept, if I did I would be giving my trust to a complete stranger, it would be me breaking down my borders. I turned to tell dad, but he already knew, he could tell by my emotions, he understood, “You can wait, you’re not ready to trust someone else, but will you ever be ready to trust someone besides Kenric?”

I fall back onto the bed, “I don’t know. I’ve never had to trust anyone besides him, I know one day I will but... I may not anyways.”

Dad asked again, “Do you trust mom and me?”

I stared at him, wondering if he was kidding, “Of course I trust you guys! But Kenric and I have a different type of trust.”

After that, we talked about the most random things. Before we knew it, it was time for me to go to sleep. Dad left the room and I was left to my thoughts.

Dad always understood, no matter what the problem was, he understood. He would know exactly what to say, knew exactly how I felt, he knew exactly how to get me to talk. When I was younger, dad would come into my room and we would have pillow fights for hours straight. But as I got older, the games came less and less, until one day, we stopped completely. I know that I’m a teenager, and I’m not sick, but I missed playing with dad. I had to do something special with him, something meaningful. As I thought, I dozed off into a state of sleep.

*****************************************

I woke up to someone shaking me, I opened my eyes to find Kenric perched over me while fixing his hair. He didn’t seem to realize that I was awake. Finally, when he finds me gazing at his so-called beauty, he gives me the dazzling smile that seems to make people fall to their knees.

Not me.

“Morning Callie!”

If looks could kill, we would find a lifeless boy in a closet. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

He grinned at the fact that he got a reaction out of me and said, “No can do Callie.”

I didn’t fail to notice that he acted as if last night didn’t happen, I wonder why. I groggily made my way to the bathroom. There, I find a girl with hair that looked like a bird’s nest, a drool line running down from her mouth almost to her chin, her clothes we wrinkled and her skin as paler then what should be healthy. That girl was me. I sighed and made my way to the shower, me, a person that is more clueless about appearances, thought that she needed to improve her appearance. It was bad. Really. Really. Bad.

After spending who knows how long in the shower and trying to get a comb through the mess that was, unfortunately, my hair, I went down to eat breakfast. There, I met mom and dad who in the middle of a thumb war. Okay, let’s get one thing straight, my parents were still children at the heart. Not in front of others, (Although dad does act like one in public) but at home or people they are comfortable with, they are kids in a grown-up body. I didn’t know if it was because of each other that they had childish hearts or something else entirely. Something told me that deserved to be free-willed, something that I couldn’t put my fingers on.

I sat at the table watching my parents compete in the battle of the thumbs while eating the food in front of me. A few seconds later dad’s thumb had mom’s pinned down and he was pumping his fist in the air, gloating about his win. Mom sent him the harshest glare known to Elvin kind and stated, “That wasn’t fair! You tickled me!”

Dad rolled his eyes and shot back, “Really, tickling? If I tickled you, why didn’t you start laughing?”

Mom, having nothing else to say claimed, “I would tell you, but right now we need Kenric to get here.”

He still didn’t come when mom continuously called for him. But I heard a voice in my head.

I’m in mom and dad’s room, I found a clue and need to see if there are any more here. Stall them.

I quickly said, “Uh... mom, I have something to tell you.”

She turned towards me and raised an eyebrow. I had her attention.

Oh no, I have her attention.

I had to think of something, anything. I blurted out, “Kenric is getting his Match Making forms.”

Mom seemed to buy it but dad, the empath may I remind you, said, “That’s not possible, he told me yesterday that he wasn’t going to do it until he is older.”

My palms started sweating and my heart started speeding up. Dad narrowed his eyes and asked, “Why are you lying?”

I unintentionally took a step back, “I-I’m not.”

Again, dad was an empath, he could feel me lying. He didn’t look mad, he looked hurt, sad, and disappointed. I would have taken mad over this any day. I turned towards mom, she bears the same look, the look that sends a sharp pain into my heart. That doesn’t stop mom from yelling, ”Kenric Tam Foster, get down here this instant!”

Mom’s voice was so loud that a ringing started in my ears. Kenric hurried down the stairs to find Mom giving him ‘The Look.’ This look made all children aware of their bad doings and admit right away, even if they didn’t do it. The look I have never got and hoped I never would. “What is this your sister is telling me about?”

More like not telling her about.

Kenric glanced at me. We were caught, and there was no getting out.

Chapter Seven
Kenric groaned,

“Fine, we will tell you.”

I shot him a glare before turning back to mom, she was looking at Kenric waiting for an explanation. He sighed and said, “I was in your room to talk to Vertina, she has had some thoughts on a project we are doing that involves you guys.”

Mom crossed her arms and said, “What was the project exactly?”

Oh no, he has to tell her now.

“We were going over some details in something we were going to do while you and dad are at Atlantis.”

Dad’s eyebrows raised, “How do you know that we were going to go to Atlantis?”

Loophole

“I was in the hair supply room, I saw you were running low on somethings.”

Dad nodded his head in understanding, but still asked, “What is this project you are working on?”

“Information on your past.” I blurted out, I met the slightly panicked looks of my parents and Kenric shaking his head. “For a project, me and Kenric are doing, we wanted to find out about your past on our own. We want to learn about our family history. Also about mom’s birthday parties, so we could throw you one. Why do you have them in the first place?”

The topic was diverted, but for how long? Mom smiled fondly, “It was important in part of the time I was growing up. Your dad decided that we should bring back that part of my childhood.”

Before they could get a chance to question us more, Kenric said, “So, uh, me and Calla have to get to school. Bye!”

We practically sprinted to he Leapmaster and leaped to Foxfire. When we got there Kenric turned towards me and asked, “How did you come up with birthday thing?”

I shrugged, “I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while.”

We started walking towards the atriums, Kenric pointed out, “You do realize that we will have to top all of her past parties right?”

I grinned, “Oh, we will.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The day went off without a hitch until PE. I wasn’t exactly bad at the subject, definitely not as bad as mom was. Though I can’t picture her being bad at anything. I wasn’t exactly good at it either. After the grades were gathered together, a mentor announced that we were practicing channeling energy into parts of our body,  something I was good at.

Ardelle and I broke off to a part of the field and started practicing. “So my mom told me that you denied being cognates with Abben.”

I jump into the air and landed, “Yup.”

She waited a few minutes before saying, “So why did you do that?”

I turned and gave her a blank look, “You know exactly why I did it.”

I turned back to a wall of metal placed for this activity, as Ardelle said, “I just think you may have made the wrong choice.”

I channeled energy into my arm and my hand and punch the wall creating a large indent, “Who are you to tell me what I did right and wrong?”

Punch. “This isn’t your place to interfere, and also, I’ve already had this conversation with Kenric and my mom.”

This time I punch it so hard a hole forms on the other side and the wall falls over. A loud crash causes everyone to look at me with shocked eyes, slowly, everyone starts clapping. It was hesitant at first, but gradually built up, people start whistling and a mentor walked over to me, “Amazing work Miss Foster, we are going to need to give you a harder task next time.”

I nodded and turned toward Ardelle, “I made my decision, I know its consequences.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Before I knew it, the weekend had come around. After that PE session, no one had tried to make me change my mind. Mom and dad had left for Atlantis and me and Kenric were about to go into their room to talk to Vertina. When I opened the door, I levitated Vertina so she was facing the wall. Kenric had used telekinesis to close the curtains. We walked into the room hearing Vertina’s calls for help. In order for her to not figure out our identities, we used voice changing elixirs from our pranking equipment. In a voice that was much deeper then mine I said, “Vertina, you have some answers we need.”

“What? There is more than one creature here? Yeah well, you aren’t getting anything out of me, you answer seeking freaks. Sophie is so going to hear ab-“

“Would you just let the other person finish?” Kenric’s fake voice interrupted.

“We need you to tell us about Keefe and Sophie Foster’s past.”

“As if I would tell you.”

“Yes, you will.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Would you to shut up!” Kenric exclaimed. He sighed, “What if we made you a deal?”

This definitely sparked Vertina’s interest, “If you answer our questions, we will transfer you to a room with someone that will have to take your fashion advice. Calla Foster’s room.”

Yeah no, not happening,

I glared at Kenric, he shrugged, I could not believe I was agreeing to this. Vertina said, “Hmm,  good deal. But I am staying loyal to Sophie.”

I sighed, “I guess we will have to go.”

As we were about to walk out of the door, Vertina said, “Wait, why do you want to know?”

I turned to Kenric again, he nodded, “Sophie and Keefe are hiding their past from us, something we deserve to know.”

Vertina thought for a second, “I may tell you one thing if I know your identities.”

Kenric and I came to a silent agreement that we would let her see us.

I turned her around and she takes a look at us. She sharply inhaled, “They still haven’t told you?”

When we shook our heads, she took a deep breath, “Sophie used to live with humans.”

