Untamed Spirits - KOTLC - (DISCONTINUED)

Two

"Cahto!" Grace screamed.

He was carried away by two men and disappeared in a flash of light. Grace screamed again and backed away as another guy advanced on her, but Tiergan showed up and shoved him back. The two started fighting while Livvy made her way over to Grace.

"Grace," Livvy said, her voice urgent and on the edge of calm. She was looking at Grace with terrified eyes. "You need to calm down, okay? Please, Grace. Calm down."

Grace barely heard through her sobs, but she every so slowly stopped her crying to hiccups and realized she had been on fire. Again. The terrible memories of the farm came flooding back as they often did and she could barely get a sob out before something cold pressed against her lips.

The last thing she saw was a man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes disappearing in a flash of light, then everything went dark.

"Ah, Ms. Smoke," Mr. Forkle said, his voice somewhat gentle as Grace looked around at the Collective.

There were five of them, the wrinkly Mr. Forkle, a moving stone statue named Granite, a woman with a sparkly mask and jewels woven through her tiny dark braids, a floating cape, and a blurred movement that she thought wasn't real at first.

"Where's Cahto?" She hadn't said anything in days, but that was the only thing anyone could get out of her.

Mr. Forkle sighed. "He's not here, Grace. I'm terribly sorry. But we need to talk about the arrangements we've made. A group of rebels have taken your brother and it's no longer safe for you to live in the Forbidden Cities. We've prepared a place for you to stay with us here at Alluveture."

Grace looked at Physic, knowing she was Livvy. "I want to stay with you."

Livvy, clearly taken back, glanced at the Collective before kneeling down next to her and removing her mask. "It would be too complicated for you to live with me in Atlantis, but I spend most of my time here. You can always visit and pose as my study and my assistant when you're older. But you'll still have to live here in Alluveture."

Grace nodded. "But what about Bailey? And Admiral?"

"Who?" Wraith asked.

"Bailey's a Bernese mountain dog and Admiral's my horse. Please, if Cahto's not here please let me have them."

Livvy looked up at Granite, who looked at Forkle. A long silence passed before they agreed. Later that evening Granite and Livvy took her back to the farm, and Bailey came trotting up to her happily. Admiral whinnied from the stable.

They cautiously leaped the two animals back with Forkle and Blur's help and Grace washed up before putting on a pair of silk pajamas. Bailey curled up in a circle at her feet on the bed as she slid under the covers. Granite had assured her he'd take care of Admiral and ask the gnomes to build a pen for him.

Livvy was stroking her hair soothingly and, right before Grace drifted to sleep, she placed something on the bed next to her. Grace propped herself up with her elbows to look at it.

"What is it?"

"If you want to swear fealty to the Black Swan," Livvy told her. "You just have to say the words that show up on that box."

Grace cocked her head and picked up the small box, squinting as a sentence filled the blank screen. After taking a glance at Livvy she said the words. Nothing happened.

"It will only open when the words are sincere," Livvy told her.

Grace took a deep breath, whispering, "I will do everything in my power to help the world."

And the box opened.

Grace bolted up from her bed, sweat trickling down her brow. Bailey's head snapped up and after seeing there was no danger, rested it on Grace's hip. She stroked the dog's fur and looked around, needing to be sure that it was a dream—a memory—and not the present.

After a few deep breaths she got out of bed and pulled on her new Foxfire uniform, bracing herself for whatever the school had them do. She let her long coffee brown hair stay down and took a serum to make it flat, then one to make her obsidian eyes a blue-green.

The ruby level five uniform complimented against her limestone skin, but she didn't care. Fashion wasn't something she was usually bothered by.

The clear crystal Forkle had given her glistened in her hand, taunting her. She didn't want to meet the perfect Moonlark, or her perfect friends. But Sophie was her sister. They couldn't avoid each other for ever, no matter how much Grace really wanted to.

It took all her willpower not to drop the crystal and let it shatter to the floor, but instead she somehow managed to raise it to the light and cast a beam. Taking one last glance at Bailey sleeping on her bed, she stepped into the light.

Orientation was the worst part of Foxfire—though Elvin History was a close second. As was everything else. Dame Alina took it upon herself to shine a spotlight on Grace and introduce her to the entire school.

"She came here from Exilium!" She said, and everyone just stared until she had to force them to applaud.

Elvin History was a long, boring lecture about stuff Grace already knew, but she was able to catch a quick nap before it ended. After that she decided all her other classes would be equally boring and skipped them all till lunch.

She wandered through the halls, trying to find a good ditching spot when she turned the corner and found a chase in one of the halls. It was nice but not incredibly comfy, but it didn't matter. A voice interrupted her five minutes in.

"That's my spot."

Grace turned to meet a pair of ice blue eyes and a boy with a smirk, though she knew he was hiding behind it. His perfectly styled blonde hair made the resemblance to Astraia hard to miss.

Keefe Sencen.