Chapter Text
Prologue
I looked around the room, panic bubbling in my chest. There were dozens of random trinkets, none of them what I needed.
I had followed all the notes, all the clues. It all led to this room. Was it all for nothing?
No.
My eyes set with determination. I looked again around the dark black room, with all kinds of gadgets and knick-knacks. I finally settled on a smooth, black, ball.
I smiled and whispered, "Found you," picking it up. This little sphere was what I needed to fix our past. And maybe, just maybe, even the future.
Kiki
Going to orientation that morning really was a headache waiting to happen. To help you imagine it, think of a school cafeteria with good gossip times twenty. It was so loud that when I found my friends, they were all blocking their ears and shouting to speak.
"Hey Kiki! You got a headache yet?" my friend, Marina Foster, yelled to me over all the talking.
I smiled sadly. "Not yet. But I'm sure it's coming. What do you think this announcement is about?"
Earlier this morning, a scroll had been sent to everyone's doorsteps saying that there would be important news announced at Foxfire today. Everyone was buzzing about what it could be, and I'd already heard lots of interesting rumors.
This time one of my other friends, Lupen Song, responded to me. "I don't know. I mean, if they're announcing it at school, it can't be that important, right?"
I opened my mouth to tell him it could've just been convenient timing, when Magnate Leto's voice boomed on the orientation screen.
"Hello prodigies, and welcome to another week at Foxfire! Now, I'm sure you're all anxious to hear what the mysterious ‘announcement’ is about, but we must get through the regular announcements first," he paused, and a chorus of groans echoed through the pyramid.
A twinkle of amusement in his eyes, he continued, "First off, a reminder that midterms is coming in a little over 2 months, so if you want to prepare early, it's your chance. Secondly, that prodigy that messed with the lockers last week has been found and is being punished accordingly..."
He kept on going, but I couldn't focus. Finally, Magnate Leto told us joyfully, "And now, what you've been waiting for, the announcement! I would like to formally welcome our new prodigy, Alvera Jenesis!"
All eyes turned to a wary prodigy standing near the back, her cheeks flushed as everyone stared at her.
Alvera's long hair was put into a simple braid down her back. She wore a pale blue tunic with the words "Shining like a Rainbow" embroidered on it. Her light purple pants had streaks of green, yellow, blue, and red flashing across it like lightning. Her entire outfit resembled a rainbow. It seemed very intentional.
A million whispers immediately started in the crowd. From near me, the ones I heard were stuff like:
"Who is she?"
"Where did she come from?"
"What's her ability?"
"Why is she wearing rainbow stuff?"
My friends were really interested in where she came from. I narrowed my eyes, staring at Alvera with suspicion, and for some creepy reason, I swear she was looking right at me. Right after we locked eyes, though, she quickly returned to looking at her boots, which were also rainbow-themed.
I shrugged it off. No way she was actually looking at me. Probably just someone behind me.
"Sooo, Marina, do you think your mom might know something about Alvera?"
Marina's mom was Sophie Foster, the most talented Telepath ever and known best for using her amazing abilities with her friends to stop the Neverseen. She was such an important Emissary, she was basically on the Council. It was very likely she knew something about the announcement.
As we walked to our lockers, Marina tilted her head like she's just thought of something. "You know what? She probably would. She definitely looked more nervous yesterday." Marina paused for a sec, frowning for a second before looking at me and smirking. "Wanna bet?"
I smirked back at her, but before I could respond, Gabriela popped her head out from a locker near us. "You guys really shouldn't bet about the great Sophie Foster. She keeps a lot of secrets, you know."
Marina rolled her eyes. I smiled and said, "Well, I say she won't know anything or won't say anything, and if I win, you have to wear a red cape with your Foxfire uniform tomorrow." Marina grimaced. It would look terrible. But she still nodded.
"Okay, but if I win, you have to dye part of your hair purple," Marina told me confidently.
I thought about it, and nodded. It would probably look cool anyway.
Lupen came over to watch us as I said to Marina with confidence, "It's on."
Gabriela sighed behind us. "You guys are obsessed with betting. One day, you're gonna show up to Foxfire wearing tall hats and rainbow capes."
I knew it was meant to be sarcastic, so I grinned and said, "Oh, actually, that's a good idea. I'll use those next time." Gabriela's eyes widened with horror. "Wait, no! Don't actually do it! That was sarcasm!"
Me and Marina giggled and Lupen walked closer to where we were all talking.
"What's all this about? Were you talking about Alvera?" Lupen asked, clearly not having heard our conversation.
We stopped laughing as we thought about it. "No, actually, we were... doing something else, but we probably should talk about Alvera. Do you think-" My voice was cut off my the first chimes. I told my friends we'd continue this at lunch and ran to my first session.
As lunch came around, I was excited to finally talk about something other crushes and gossip. I was surprised to see Alvera sitting with a lot more people than I thought she would have. How did she make so many friends so fast?
Again, I shrugged it off. Maybe she knew people before she came here or something.
Walking to my friends table, I slammed my try of food down dramatically. "Okay. Let's talk about... Alvera."
Everyone stopped talking for a second. And then everyone started talking at once. I held up my hands for silence and said, alarmed, "Okay, okay! Calm down! Everyone, raise your hand to talk and I'll call on you. Then we'll try to answer your question with theories until we get through everyone. Got it?" All the elves nodded, and we began the endless question and answer session.
It took all lunch, and we didn't get many answers. But we had determined that Alvera was probably a Flasher, and that she might've gone to Exillium before. But no one knew how Alvera got back here, or why no one had heard of her, or any of the other questions everyone had.
Something about Alvera bugged me (besides the usual mystery surrounding her), and I was determined to figure out what it was. As I walked out of the cafeteria towards study hall, I looked back at Alvera.
What are you hiding?