𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐈 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 + sokeefe and horror

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖: the new girl

Keefe hadn't slept all night, feeling nervous and guilty and scared and frantic. When Lord Cassius came in the morning to wake him up, Keefe realized he must've fallen asleep at some point. 

His stomach was filled with wiggling worms as he showered, did his hair, changed into his uniform, and ate a rushed breakfast. When he leaped to Foxfire, nobody was in sight.

Heavy, thick gusts of rain tore the outside sky. It was cold and dark. 

The doors next to the Leapmaster suddenly flew open with a bang. A girl - soaking wet and shivering - bolted into Foxfire, hidden beneath a slick silver cloak.

Keefe had never seen her before. All elves were gorgeous, but there was something particularly alluring about this girl. She had long white hair - like silvery moonlight - and huge blue-green eyes. She was small, but something about the way she held herself made her seem taller. When she flung off the soaking wet silvery cloak, she was revealed to be wearing a green Level 4 uniform. Bracelets of all colors hung off her wrists.

"It is so cold!" The girl exclaimed, doing a nervous-cold dance in the hallway. "WHY ON EARTH IS IT SO COLD?"

"Are you okay?" Keefe asked.

The girl grabbed Keefe's hands, staring earnestly into his eyes. "It is so cold and so wet!"

Keefe felt his face go neon red, and carefully extracted his hands from her freezing grip.

The doors flew open with another gust of wind, spraying another shower of rain on the girl.

"OH MY GOSH, WHY IS IT SO FREAKING COLD?!" She shouted, diving out of the way and landing on the marble floor only feet from the Leapmaster.

The doors flew closed again. Keefe surveyed the hall again - no one in sight.

"So, hello." The girl said politely, as though this was a perfectly normal way to meet each other. She was still lying on the floor. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Keefe." He stuttered, his face still bright red.

"Cool!" The girl replied, brightening. "I'm Moexii. Moe-eek-see." The girl pronounced the words very flatly, as though she'd said it a lot.

"Moexii." Keefe said, testing the word out on his tongue. "Nice to meet you. Need a hand?"

Keefe helped Moexii up. She smiled gratefully at him, which made him go red again. 

"So... you're in Level 4?" He asked to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah." Moexii said. "I just moved here. My mom is, like, super hippie-dippy. She wanted to home school me. But when we got this new house super close to the school, my dad convinced her to let me go. She still wanted me to get excercise, so she's making me walk. To school. Every day."

As she talked, her face became very animated and she gestured with her hands a lot. 

"Anyway, it's my first day. Could you show me around?"

Keefe nodded.

"Also, I'm a Telepath. And an Empath. Isn't that awesome? According to my parents, having more than one special ability is, like, super rare. I didn't know that." Moexii smiled at him, and his brain short-circuited.

The way she talked about it, it wasn't braggy. It was more like she was just stating facts. She seemed pretty chill and funny.

"Uh, I'm an Empath." Keefe said softly. "And a Polyglot."

"Whoa, you have two abilities too?" Moexii said brightly. "That's awesome! We can Ability Twins!"

Keefe hid a laugh behind his hand.

"I know I'm ridiculous." Moexii said primly. "Laugh at me all you want - I'm used to it. You can't be like me and not get used to people laughing at you."

"You're..." Keefe didn't quite know how to finish that sentence yet.

"Fabulous?" She prompted. "Amazing? Gorgeous? Fantastic? Too dazzling too exist?"

This time, Keefe laughed out loud.