Always & Forever

Chapter 16

          "I don't understand how you survived a second Neverseen kidnapping. Especially since this one was worse than the first. I mean, look at all these scars. They did the worst they could do to you. You and Miss Vacker are now matching when it comes to scars," Elwin said rubbing another balm onto the still-fresh wounds.

          "I don't think we're matching. I mean, look at her, she has scars all over her body. I only have scars on my arms and neck," Biana said from her corner of the room.

          "Am I going to be able to go home tonight?" I ask, changing the subject.

          "I'm not letting you go home until Grady and Edaline get back from their assignment." Elwin puts away the balm, "You're going to be staying at Everglen until then."

          "So that means that we're having a sleepover until your parents get home. I've invited Tam, Lihn, Marella, Dex, and Keefe." Biana counts the names off on her fingers.

          "Oh, and we can play that game that humans play. What was it call? Dare or truth! That's what it was!" Keefe said.

          I roll my eyes, "Truth or Dare Keefe. Why did I ever decide to bring you and Biana to the Forbidden Cities for a day?" I sigh, "Are you sure I can't just stay here? I would rather be stuck with nothing to do rather than being stuck with playing Truth or Dare with Keefe and Biana."

          "Don't forget me!" Ro called from the hallway, "I can come up with some pretty wicked dares if given the chance."

          "Okay, now I'm staying here." I look around for an escape so that I can run and hide but Keefe must have noticed.

          "Oh no, you don't Foster. I can tell that you're looking for an escape route but I'm not going to let you leave." he hugs me tighter when I try to wriggle free.

          "Okay, fine, I'll just have to figure out another way to escape." I pause like I'm thinking, but I already know my plan. "Sand-" 

          Keefe clamps a hand over my mouth, "Foster, you wouldn't dare call your overprotective bodyguard on me."

          I give him a smirk, "Oh yes I would, and might I tell you that he won't be very happy to know that you are taking me to Everglen against my will!" 

          "So you're saying that you don't want to have a week-long slumber party?" Biana asks.

          "No, I don't want to have to play truth or dare with you, Keefe and Ro. I'll end up doing something that will land me straight back here," I argue.

          "Don't worry Foster, I'll make sure that Ro won't do such a thing."

          After about thirty minutes of trying to convince me, I finally agree. When Elwin gives me the okay Biana practically pulls me outside. When we appear at Everglen I see all my friends and they all greet me with smiles. They all also look like they want to hug me but are thinking against it.

          "I'm not some doll. that's about to break every time you touch me," I say giving each of them a hug.

          "Then how come you end up in the Healing Center ever time you trip on something?" I hear a voice say from behind me.

          Keefe tightens his grip around me and all my friends line up next to us, creating a wall between Fitz and the house. Tam has shadows inching closer to Fitz, Lihn has created a giant ball of water, Dex now has multiple gadgets in his hands, Marella had a ball of fire in her hand and Biana and Keefe now have Goblin throwing stars.

          "Mind explaining why Fitz isn't locked up in a cell?" I ask Biana.

          "I couldn't tell you," she replies.

          "Fitz takes a step forward saying, "I can tell you." he lifts his pant leg to reveal a cuff attached to his ankle. "The Council copied Dex's invention that he used on Alvar to restrain me and then the placed me in Alvar's old apartment here."

          Biana gasped and Tam moved closer to her, protecting her. I hear him whisper something but can't make out what he says. But whatever he said calmed down Biana. 

          "Come on guys, I'm not letting him mess with us." I start to turn but feel a strong wave of pain come at me.

          I'm knocked to the ground by the force but then realize that Keefe isn't affected. It seems that the emotions are directed at me. Keefe kneels next to me and rips off my glove, he tries to calm me down with the blue breezes but it doesn't help.

          "One little flaw with this device," Fitz says. "I can still hurt Empaths."

          Dex reacts immediately, pressing a button on the gadget on his wrist. Whatever he did sent Fitz flying to his apartment. I gasp as the emotion dissipates.   

          "Sophie, what happened? One minute you were perfectly fine and I could feel your emotions, then the next you were on the ground and I felt nothing." I could hear and feel that Keefe was worried.

          "Yeah, and what did he mean by, I can still hurt Empaths?" Lihn asked.

          "I think he meant, that even though he can't use his ability, he can feel something and throw it at an Empath. The Neverseen must be practicing how to do that and now they can aim the emotion at one person. Which in this case was me," I explain as best as I can.

          "Okay, we'll just have to make sure to keep Fitz away from you two," Marella said. "But now lets hed inside and play this game humans call, Truth or Dare."

          We all agree and head inside. Keefe holds onto me like anything could hurt me and he wanted to protect me. When we get into Biana's room, Keefe places himself right next to me and puts my head in his lap. Eventually, They started playing Truth or Dare while I fell asleep.

--MUST-READ--

          Okay, I know I don't normally do this, but I wanted to tell you that I just posted a human Sokeefe story. It's called, From Nothing to Something, go read it!! Thanks for supporting this book!!!