Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

The New Girl (Keefe POV)

A/N: @77alisons requested this one...I don't even know how long ago. This chapter is set at the start of the series.

"There you are, Fitzy! I thought maybe you'd disappeared for good!" Keefe proclaimed to his best friend the moment Fitz's face appeared on his imparter.

Fitz grinned. "I know, I missed Foxfire two days in a row."

"Yep. All your fangirls are crying." Keefe smirked. "Luckily, I was there to distract them."

Fitz had looked like his mind was elsewhere, but at Keefe's words, he grinned. "When you say 'distract', do you mean by flirting, or by terrorizing one of your mentors with another prank?"

Keefe smirked. "Why can't it be both?"

Fitz laughed. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"Are you sure? Because I got some reekrod after study hall yesterday, and--"

"I'm probably happier not knowing," Fitz interrupted with another laugh. "And I have a feeling this is not why you hailed me."

"Nah, I wanted to see if you were up for some tackle bramble."

To Keefe's surprise, Fitz hesitated. "I don't know," he said uncertainly, biting his lip and turning his head as though scanning the room. "I need to stay around here today, but I'm not sure it's the best time to have company."

Keefe's heart sank. He didn't want to stay home. But he supposed he could start plotting out more epic pranks. "Ooh, mystery at Everglen," Keefe teased. "Not having a party without me, are you?"

Fitz rolled his eyes. "That would be a really boring party."

"Absolutely."

Fitz looked around again before fixing his gaze back on Keefe. "Okay, I'm going to tell you something, but it's still a secret. You know how I've been missing classes sometimes?"

"What?" Keefe gasped. "You, the Golden Boy, miss class? I've never noticed."

Fitz rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him. "Well, I've been sneaking to the Forbidden Cities trying to find this girl that's been hidden there." He nodded when Keefe's eyebrows shot up. "My dad found evidence years ago of her existence and he's been trying to find her ever since."

Keefe was almost stunned into silence. 

Almost.

"Are you saying you genuinely found an elf girl hidden among humans? Why didn't she leap home or--"

"She didn't even know she was an elf until I told her," Fitz told him. "And I almost didn't realize. I mean... she didn't really seem human, but her eyes are brown."

"Well, that won't help her fit in," Keefe replied.  He'd never seen a person with brown eyes before and couldn't even imagine it. 

He grilled Fitz for as much information as he could, but Fitz didn't give him much more.  He insisted that it was classified information and Alden wasn't even telling him everything. All Keefe learned was that her name was Sophie Foster and she'd be starting at Foxfire on Monday.

"So she's staying with your family?" Keefe asked, more than a little jealous.  He'd LOVE to move into Everglen.

But Fitz shook his head sadly. "I wish. We are the ones that brought her here, and she seems to like my parents. But the Council said no. When she wakes up my dad is going to leap her to Havenfield to stay with Grady and Edaline Ruewen."

Keefe frowned.  He didn't really know the Ruewens, though he'd been at Everglen enough that he'd seen them once or twice. His photographic memory perfectly recalled Edaline's sad, sleep deprived eyes and the way she and Grady looked as though visiting their friends had taken all the energy out of them. "You mean the couple that almost never leaves home? Didn't their daughter die in some sort of accident?"