New World

Chapter Thirty-one

"Sav," Cerulean whispered, his heart breaking. "No. Please, no." 

But the faded figure in his arms was gone, never to be found again. Because she was gone just like that, breaking his heart in the blink of an eye.

She was gone.

Forever.

Because of him.

It swarmed his mind, but he was a Beguiler, and possibly the strongest, since everyone thought Alina was better than she actually was. He Beguiled his guilty thoughts to leave, and they fled him.

He had to go back. To Sophie, to Keefe, to Theodora. Because without her, being an outcast wasn't worth it.

He had to finish her dream.

To an outsider, she might not have been clear. She flitted in between suicidal, killing mode, and the best one, the caring mode.

It was an almost invisible part of her, but he knew it was there. Because she had cared for him in Exillium, kept her suicidal and killing thoughts away just for him.

So her dream, foggy and unclear to others, was as clear to him as glass.

She wanted the Lost Cities united. Where the Talentless could study with the ones with abilities. Because no one was superior, and they were all elves. Was it right that the Talentless could never be Councilors, never lead? Shouldn't there be a voice for the Talentless, someone to fight for their rights? It wasn't right. The elves with abilities were not superior. They were just stupid puffed-up idiots who thought they were better than everyone else.

Go back.

Her words whispered to him now. When she'd said them, it had been that she would never go back. Now? It was like she was telling him to return.

He didn't know what he had left of her. But before he went back to her parents, he was planting her Wanderling alone, because he was the only one she had where the love had been two ways.

Her comb. It had her DNA - didn't all combs? Only thing was, a comb was probably the sort of thing Svai would leave with the Neverseen. And he wasn't going back to them.

Only other option: Savi's bedroom in the Sencen house. Did he want to go there? No. And without Fox to cover him that time?

He really wasn't sure. But... Maybe. Maybe he could find a way in.

Savi had used Telepathy and Empathy to hide her thoughts and emotions beyond her parents' reach. He had no such thing - only Beguiling.

Of course.

Beguile her sister to get Savi's comb, give it to him, and then forget about it.

Perfect.

First, he had to find her. But that shouldn't be hard. There were playgrounds everywhere.

Eventually, he found her. Blonde, with brown eyes.

"𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞," Cerulean whispered.

She nodded once and walked over.

"𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐢'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬," Cerulean commanded.

She nodded again and set off immediately.

Two minutes later, the hairbrush was in his hand.

"𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮," Cerulean added. In the two minutes, he realized he couldn't really Beguile someone to forget something.

Another nod, and she light leaped away.

Cerulean sighed, holding on tightly to the hairbrush as he light leaped to Wanderling Woods.

He could've planted her anywhere, but he knew where she wanted to be.

So he spent one hour searching for the Wanderling of William Fitz Sencen. One. Whole. Hour.

It wasn't that Wanderling Woods was big, he was just... Slow. And tripped over a lot of stuff.

Finally, he found it. He bent down beside Savi's brother's Wanderling, withdrew slightly, then plucked a single strand of beautiful blonde hair from Savi's hairbrush and planted it in the soil, before sprinkling a little water on it.

Instantly, it sprouted, with a beautiful curved leaf forming a C.

NO- it couldn't be like that. It would give away his presence.

"Savi, don't, please. Just be beautiful the way you are. Don't try to... To become me. You are perfect. I promise. There's no reason to want to be someone else."

Almost like she was responding, the leaf fully extended. It was a wonderful bright green. In his heart, he had always known Savi loved bright colors. But the way she talked like her heart was made of stone, even though he knew it wasn't true, had made him doubt his gut instinct and believe that her Wanderling would truly be dark.

"Call me when you have flowers," he whispered, and, in a crazed moment, he kissed the single leaf of her Wanderling.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO WILL'S WANDERLING?!"

Cerulean jumped up immediately, whipping a Melder out from his pocket. "Freeze!"

It was Keefe.

And behind him, Sophie.

"Leave it," Sophie snarled. "Leave the Wanderling."

Cerulean knew they were talking about Will's Wanderling, but he refused anyway.

"What connection could you possibly have to Will? What, did Savi demand you to destroy it?" Sophie snapped.

But Keefe had frozen, seeing the tiny sapling barely visible from behind Cerulean's body.

"Cerulean," Keefe whispered, "Did you just plant a new Wanderling?"

Cerulean met Keefe's eyes briefly and in that split second, he nodded.

Sophie caught the action, and her voice was a little hoarse when she asked, "Whose?" although she clearly already knew the answer.

Cerulean moved aside, revealing his earlier sketch in the ground.

𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴 𝙻𝙸𝙴𝚂 𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙰𝙷 𝙲𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙰 𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝙽,

𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙾𝙵 𝙺𝙴𝙴𝙵𝙴 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝚂𝙾𝙿𝙷𝙸𝙴 𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝙽.

𝙼𝙰𝚈 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴 𝙻𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙾𝙽 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁, 𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙸.

"Love?" Sophie couldn't help but spit out.

"It was different for me," Cerulean whispered, and, not wanting to tell them how she died, he light leaped away.