I Know Now━ 𝐊𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐂

Chapter Eleven

  Biana woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked around, noticing everyone was still asleep. Upon further inspection, she noticed that two sleeping bags were empty. Scanning the room, she saw the only people missing from the room were Keefe and Sophie. Where were they? They must already be awake.

Biana got up and walked into the kitchen. No one there. She walked into the dining room. Still not a soul. She went upstairs and checked every room. Still no Sophie or Keefe. After looking everywhere in the house, she determined that they must be outside. Unless they already left, which just wasn't like them. It was all quite peculiar.

She raced outside to continue searching. After looking all around the house, she deduced that's they must be by the lake. She ran to the lake and surrounding trees, and began to look around, calling their names. After a few minutes of searching, she saw something white and black on the ground next to a large tree. As she got closer, she started to see a much too recognizable symbol. She stooped to pick up the small, round patch. A Neverseen patch.

Biana began to panic. Keefe and Sophie were missing. There was a Neverseen patch on the ground. Did they take Sophie and Keefe? But how did they get here? How did they make it through Everglen's walls? It made no sense. Unless... No. that was impossible. Was it? Could Alvar still be alive and still work with the Neverseen? But why? What motives did he have, anyway?

Biana tightly clutched the Neverseen patch in her hand, and ran back to the house. She had to tell everyone else. Her parents. And definitely the Black Swan.

On her way back to the house, she ran into a panicked Ro and Sandor.

"Biana! Have you seen Miss Foster or Mister Sencen anywhere?" Sandor asked, his squeaky voice high with worry.

Biana shook her head. "But I did find this," she said, holding up the Neverseen patch for them to see.

"Oh, the Neverseen so did not just do that," Ro retorted, anger convulsing her face. "I'm going to go there and kick their evil butts for even thinking abou-"

Sandor interrupted, "We'll find them." To Biana, he stated sternly, "First, call the Black Swan while we search the perimeter again, okay?"

Biana nodded in agreement, then ran to the house.

She burst through the back door, waking everyone who was still sleeping.

"What's going on?" Tam asked groggily. He was not a morning person.

"Sophie and Keefe are gone! I looked everywhere for them, and they're gone! Even Sandor and Ro couldn't find them! But the worst part is..." She showed them the Neverseen patch. They all gasped when they saw it. At this point, Biana was almost in tears. "I found it by a tree outside. There's only one way it could get there. And only one reason it would be there."

Dex's eyes widened with realization. "Last night, I saw them slip out the door around midnight. It must've happened around then."

"And it's morning now, so they've already been gone for about seven hours," Biana concluded. "This is bad. This is really, really, really bad," she said, running her hands through her hair. She finally gave in to her tears. As they ran down her face, she said, distraught, "Last time the Neverseen kidnapped Sophie like this, she and Dex barely made it out. What if they don't make it out at all this time?"

"She's gonna make it out, Biana. Keefe too. They're strong. They'll be okay," Tam said, wrapping his arm around Biana's shoulder and letting her cry on his shoulder. She soon sniffed, stopped crying, and lifted her head up.

"Okay. Let's get to business," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes, suddenly stone-faced and serious. "Linh, find Fitz. Tell him to try and contact Sophie through telepathy. Dex, find the bodyguards and make sure Sandor and Ro don't do anything drastic. While you're doing that, Tam and I will contact the Black Swan. We need to rescue Keefe and Sophie as soon as possible."

As everyone rushed out to do their tasks, Biana and Tam sat down on the couch, still in their Pjs, as Biana pulled out her Imparter. "Show me Master Leto."