"I can tell you what happened." Mr. Forkle's angry voice sounded from the doorway, "You kids let a potential enemy, whom none of you know, talk to you, stand in the same room as you, for far too long. I thought I taught you better than this! He has access to one of our most secret hideouts and somehow knows everything we wanted to know about Lexi. Having that much information about or organization and not being part of it, that is not okay."

"How much did you hear?" Keefe asked.

"All of it." Mr. Forkle said unhappily, moving into the room to let the rest of the Collective pile in, "Although Rowan's information could be useful, we should take it with a grain of salt. I refuse to believe that Lexi would reveal such crucial information, even if Rowan was close to her."

Sophie nodded, ignoring Mr. Forkle's insults, "That was what I thought as well. Rowan seemed really suspicious."

"We can talk to Lexi when she comes back, right? She can tell us more about Rowan." Linh said, trying to be optimistic. 

The adults looked around at each other doubtfully, and Mr. Forkle sighed when Sophie asked what was wrong. 

"It's just..." Blur started, looking at Mr. Forkle's tired face uneasily, "We think... Lexi might not be coming back."

"WHAT?!" Keefe yelled, causing everyone to wince and cover their ears in pain. "What do you mean?!"

"Look, Keefe." Mr. Forkle said gently, "As much as it pains me to say this, we're not really helping Lexi. Whatever she's battling, whatever demons are hunting her mind, we're helpless against them. No matter what we've tried, Lexi's refused to cooperate. It's been years since I last saw her, and trust me when I tell you this, but she has changed. I don't know how to understand her anymore, her behavior, her mind, it's all new to me now. It's like... it's like Lexi is a stranger to me... like I never knew her."

Sophie could see the misery in his eyes, and the pain in Mr. Forkle's voice as he said these words. He truly loved Lexi. And despite Keefe only knowing her for a few days, Sophie could tell he loved her like he would love a sister he had known since birth. 

"Why don't we get a good night's sleep, and talk about this in the morning?" Granite suggested, taking Mr. Forkle's shoulder and guiding him out the door. 

Fitz nodded, taking charge of Keefe and steering him out of the room. 

Sophie and Biana led Linh to an empty room and left Tam to sleep in the room they were all once gathered in. 

---

Sophie awoke to the pleasant smell of food. It smelled absolutely scrumptious! This was just what she needed to clear her mind of all the problems going on. Quickly, she showered and got dressed, rushing downstairs to enter the kitchen. 

Unsurprisingly, her friends were already waiting in the living room, dressed and ready to go. Except... they weren't moving. They stood silent, staring at the floor. 

"Guys?" Sophie asked, wondering what they were looking at, "What's -"

Her blood ran cold as she froze. There on the ground was an enormous pool of blood leaking out from the bottom of the closed door of the kitchen. Her mind automatically went to the worst possible scenarios ever. What had happened in there?

"Should we go in?" Dex whispered, glancing at the rest of his friends.

Fitz gave a sharp nod.

Biana covered her mouth with her hand and latched on to Dex tightly. 

"Let's go," Tam said, his gaze hard as he took the lead towards the door.

Slowly, trying their best to ignore the squelching of blood under their shoes, the elves entered the kitchen.

A gasp erupted from Linh's mouth as they saw what was in the room - 

A dead and mangled up animal lying on the floor and an oblivious Lexi munching on some breakfast while hastily writing something down. 

"What." Fitz said.

"The." Dex added.

"Heck." Keefe finished. 

Lexi turned around at the noise to face Sophie and her friends. She wiggled her eyebrows up and down in acknowledgment before turning back around and continuing to write. 

Sophie and her friends stared at each other in shock, while Tam clenched his fists and fumed. 

"Breakfast anyone?" Lexi asked without looking up from her work, "Grab a seat and get settled, and I'll grab you guys something to eat."

"Um... do you not see the dead... thing there Lexi?" Dex asked in astonishment. 

Lexi stopped chewing and raised her head up at Dex. Silently, she blinked at him once, then glanced at the animal and shrugged. "If it really bothers you that much then I'll have it cleaned up in a minute. Just let me finish some things up."

Dex nodded slowly, looking a little green, and despite being sick to the stomach herself, Sophie had to stop herself from laughing. 

"Take a seat already!" Lexi exclaimed, making everyone jump, "I've been waiting hours for your guys to wake up."

"And when did you get here exactly?" Mr. Forkle said with his eyes narrowed, taking in the bloody scene without sparing a second glance. 

Lexi rolled her eyes, "Good morning to you too Errol! Early break of dawn or so."

"How can you both just completely ignore the fact that there's a dead animal lying there and blood all over the floor?!" Keefe yelled, not being able to hold it in anymore. 

Lexi and Mr. Forkle ignored him, staring at each other hard, neither one of them willing to back down. 

"I'll bring down the rest of the Collective," he said, turning away in a fury, "It's time we have a 'team meeting' with all of you. Have breakfast ready in five, Lexi. Oh, and make sure you clean up that blood, please? We wouldn't want it to stain any clothes."

Lexi ignored him, not responding as she got up to get breakfast ready.

---

The blood was cleaned and the animal was disposed of, so Sophie and her friends happily seated themselves down on the table to eat. Well, except for Tam. He sat down heavily, with a frown on his face and his narrowed eyes on Lexi the whole time. 

"Go ahead and dig in," Mr. Forkle said as Lexi served the food, "but please pay attention while doing so. 

Everyone obliged, grabbing pastries and drinks for their breakfasts.

"Starting today," Mr. Forkle continued, "all of you will begin training with Lexi. Some group training, and some one-on-one. She'll help. you harness your skills and abilities and teach you what you need to know for the upcoming missions and battles. Any questions? No, good.

"Now that that's out of the way, Lexi, would you care to tell us of your little adventure yesterday?"

Lexi looked up from the dishes she was washing and slowly shook her head at Mr. Forkle.

His jaw twitched, "Let me rephrase, Alexis. Tell us what happened yesterday."

Lexi shrugged, "Sure. Y'all woke me up after I fainted. I left cause you guys were being annoying and I went to my cave. There, Mr. Emo had to interrupt me, and I told him the truth. Stupidly, obviously, because that compromised everything I've been working on for the past few years. But, eh, who cares anymore? I'm gonna die in a few months anyway. Then I stayed in my cave for the rest of the day, before coming back here today morning."

Mr. Forkle raised an eyebrow, "What about Rowan?", ignoring the other sarcastic comments she'd made in her answer. 

"Ro-who?"

"Rowan," Biana tried, "Your best friend who's like a brother to you? Who came and visited you yesterday before coming and telling us the truth about everything? You know, that Rowan?"

The dish dropped from Lexi's hands and shattered on the floor. "You've got to be kidding me," she whispered, before running out of the room. 

This time, no one waited. Following Keefe's lead, they all ran after Lexi. She grabbed a crystal from a coat pocket, raising it up to the light. Keefe grabbed her hand before she could even protest, and they all latched on in succession, fading away into the light.

i kept my promise!!! here's your second update (well... more of a makeup cause i ditched y'all last week :) sry. )

second update of this book for this week. next update will be next 2 next week. cause this week is technically for ABBTW (tho im writing 3 weeks worth of chapters in one week). Rogue will be out later this week, i promise!

keep reading and please vote!!!!

xoxo - bookie2340