Untamed Spirits - KOTLC - (DISCONTINUED)

Twelve

Grace had expected Noreh to deny her, maybe ignore her. But what happened next was totally uncalled for.

Noreh scoffed and turned to leave. Grace felt wounded. No one just scoffed and left! That was rude! She could handle being ignored, Forkle, Astraia, and Tam did it constantly, but scoffed at? That was a whole other level.

"Excuse me," she said. "Don't scoff at me!"

Noreh turned. "My sister is in the Lost Cities at Foxfire. I doubt she'd come to Exilium, whoever you are. And I don't have a sister named Grace."

"You're right. Sophie wouldn't come here. But I'm your other sister. Half-sister, technically. Grace Wiskoski, nice to meet you, Noreh Foster. What exactly did you do to have to come here?"

"I went to the Forbidden Cities," Noreh said cautiously. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm your sister," Grace said logically. "And Forkle wants to see you."

Noreh paused. "Forkle like my old neighbor Forkle? How—who are you?"

Grace sighed. "Grace Wiskowski, your half-sister. Also a member of the Black Swan. We want to recruit you."

Grace leaped Noreh to Alluveture, the Black Swan's hideout. Calla greeted them and led them to where Forkle and the rest of the Collective were.

Noreh was taking it pretty well. She was demanding to know where she was, who the Black Swan was, or why they wanted to recruit her. She just followed Grace and Calla silently, taking in everything. She was probably going to take everything out on Forkle.

When they arrived they found Squall, Granite, Forkle, Blur, and Wraith standing in a wide circle. Forkle was the first to speak—as usual.

"Noreh, it's good to see you again," he said. "I trust Grace told you why you're here and didn't kidnap you like she did the last recruit.

Grace grinned.

Noreh crossed her arms. "Good to see you too, neighbor. I think. So what type of organization is this? Good or bad? What's your motive?"

"We're good," Grace interrupted Forkle. "They genetically altered me, you, and Sophie. That's why you manifested so young. And why your cytokinesis is the color of your emotions. And also—"

"Grace," Forkle said, his voice impatient.

Grace smiled sweetly. "Yes?"

"Please stop interrupting," he said.

"I'll join," Noreh said.

Granite tilted his head at her. "You've barely heard anything about us—"

Noreh shrugged. "Grace explained all I needed to hear. Just one thing. I can go on missions, right? Are those missions dangerous?"

"Yes—" Blur started.

"Then I'm in."

The Collective exchanged looks and shuffled uncomfortably, clearly confused why Noreh would be so easy to recruit. Grace jumped up and down.

"Can we keep her? Can we keep her, can we keep her, can we keep her?"

"You have to swear an oath—"

"She'll do it!" She looked at Noreh. "You'll do it, right?"

Noreh shrugged. "Depends on what it is."

"It's really simple," Grace promised. "Trust me. It's super easy."

"Okay. But I need to get back. Alden's probably trying to track me down already since this thingy is, well, you know. A tracker. And a huge violation of privacy," Noreh said.

"I already took care of that. The council will think you're still at Exilium. I'm a great hacker. Even better than Tinker?" Grace said, flipping her brown hair.

"No," Forkle said. "By a large amount. Now, Ms. Foster—"

"That's just hurtful!" Grace protested, clutching her heart dramatically. "I am wounded, and I am offended!"

"I thought you were a pyrokinetic," Noreh commented. "How are you a better hacker than a technopath?"

Grace turned on her. "Not you too!"

Wraith cleared his throat. "We're getting off topic."

"Right, Noreh's joining, blah, blah blah, she has to get home, blah, blah, blah, I have to take her. You guys are really ungrateful! I never should have joined this organization," Grace said wistfully.

"I thought you didn't have a choice," Blur said, his voice confused.

"I'm gonna go take Noreh here home!" Grace slung an arm around her sister and walked away, ignoring the Collective's protests. "I'll be back before dinner!"

She leaped Noreh back to the forest Exilium had stationed in and met up with Tam and Linh—who definitely loved it when she invaded their down time. They wouldn't admit it, but they loved her! She was the life of the party!

And the first time she lit their house on fire was an accident. She'd just manifested, it was an easy mistake when Tam said "aim there" and she aimed the opposite direction. But hey, it was his fault for not being more specific.

Tam groaned when he saw her approaching. "Really? Wasn't torching the first hut enough?"

Grace managed a smile, not letting him know how much she hated and feared her pyrokinesis. "What, you think I'm going to torch this one too? I'm too good for that, Tammy. I'm going to torch your favorite blanket long before I torch your hut again."

Tam's eyes narrowed. "I don't have a favorite blanket."

"Uh–huh," she said. "And yet Linh said her name was—what was it again? Oh, right. I think it was Miss Fluffers?"

Tam scowled and the forest managed to become darker. Grace smirked and bounced past him into the twins' hut. Linh was sitting with Astraia, trying to get her to talk but not making any progress.

Grace sat on the floor next to them and flopped onto Astraia, making her quiet friend look at her curiously and like she didn't know if this was normal for Grace.

"So," Grace said. "What have you guys been up to?"

Linh tried to let Astraia answer, but she seemed to know what they were trying and shook her head. The two girls sighed, Grace more heavily and dramatically than Linh.

"Astraia," Grace said. "Say something. Anything. Come on! You can't stay quiet forever! If that's your plan, how do you expect yourself to not say a word for your entire life? You do realize how long we elves live, right? I don't think you can stay quiet for hundreds of thousands of years, missy."

Astraia shook her head and curled her knees into her chest.

Grace sighed. "One thing, okay? Just say one thing, and if that kills our eardrums, then we won't bother you about speaking again, okay? One word, one sentence, whatever. Words never killed anybody. They can cause wounds, but not death. So come on! What do you have to lose?"

Astraia cleared her throat, taking ten minutes before whispering the first word she'd ever said since day one of Exilium. "What would you want me to say?"

She covered her mouth with her hand, realizing she actually said something. Her face showed that she expected them to fall in pain, covering their ears, but they stayed in their exact position. Her voice was a bit rough but still soft and powerful.

Linh hugged her and Grace gave Tam a smug I told you I could get her to talk look, making him roll his eyes. She sat up and stood, remembering the earlier mission she had given herself.

It was time to find her brother.