User:IvesLubes

Quin rushed through the halls, keeping her head down. She could make it through another year of Foxfire. She could do it. She closed her eyes and gripped her book tighter. She flashed in and out of sight as she dodged the other students. Purposely staying invisible to longer than necessary.

She didn’t want anyone to notice. Please God don’t let them notice her. Elves were fragile creatures, but when it came to something new and different, they could be monsters.

Quin had noticed that firsthand. She was different. So, she was hated. Elves were supposed to be perfect, harmless, kind, people, sitting in their sparkly castles, eating fancy foods and dressing in capes and gowns.

Did she get to live in a fancy castle acting like a princess? No. She was stuck in her dump of a home with Glimmer who had risked everything to get away from the Neverseen and was still treated like the enemy.

When were people going to forget about Glimmer? Quin just wanted a normal life. Ever since the Neverseen were taken down she had been living with her, she loved Glimmer, but she knew the rest of the world didn’t.

The Neverseen members had been locked away for a year now, and what a year it had been. Lady Gisela had done some weird experiment on her son, which Glimmer got dragged into and then the son had run away and hid with the humans.

Of course, he hadn’t hidden very well because after about two months he returned to the Lost Cities along with his friends and a tied-up Lady Gisela. That had made Quin smile just a tiny bit.

But even as everything was resolved and everyone was happy, she still got hated.

More people glared at her as she made her way to her class. It was strange everyone was suddenly looking like they wanted to kill her, normally they just looked like they feared her.

What changed? She didn’t have time to ask them as someone grabbed her from behind and she felt the light pass through her as they leaped away. When they arrived, Quin glanced around and was surprised to find herself in her house.

The stranger pulled down a black hood revealing their face. “Glimmer!” Quin cried, “What are you doing?”

“We have to leave, now.” She pulled Quin up the stairs to her bedroom. “Pack your things.”

“Why? What’s going on.”

Glimmer reached her eye and a tear slipped down her face, “I’m sorry Quin.”

“Glimmer, what did you do?”

“Something I shouldn’t have.”

“Glimmer!”

“We have to go. Hurry Quin, no time to explain.” Glimmer yanked her out the door.

Quin caught a glimpse of the daily paper. Neverseen members broke out of Exile yesterday, read the heading. Quin’s breath caught. She looked into her Glimmer's eyes.

“You didn’t” she said.

“I did.”

Quins' whole world fell apart at that very moment. “Glimmer, why? They’re going to come after us!”

“Don’t you see how they treat us? It’s not getting any better! I had to do something.”

“Well breaking a bunch of dangerous criminals out of prison isn’t the way to go.”

Glimmer shook her head, “I’m sorry Quin, but this is just how it has to be.”

She grabbed her crystal and was about to leap them away when Quin whispered, “He’s never going to forgive you.”

“I know.” she whispered, and then they were gone.

Quin wrapped her concentration around herself and shut her eyes tight as the familiar tingly warmness spread through her body. When she opened her eyes,	 she realized she was in a small cabin in the woods.

Tall pine trees surrounded them, leaves fluttering to the ground. Glimmer gave her hand a tight squeeze as they turned to look at the other people in the room.

Quin heard them muttering under their breath about leaving the cabin and going to one of their hideouts, but she did not plan on going with them.

Fintin’s smile was far too gleeful given the circumstances. He cocked his head at Quin, “Not happy to see me?” and cackled hysterically.

“No.” she whispered.

“Hello daughter.”

Quin shook her head violently and ran out of the door. She sprinted through the trees, desperately trying to get away. She ran for ten minutes and looked around; she was lost.

She sat down on a plank of wood. She wouldn’t face the truth, not the horror of being with him. She clutched her head and groaned. She wouldn’t go back there, not to the nightmare, not ever.

The trees seemed to lean closer to her, their shadows wrapping her up. She was about to scream when someone walked out from behind the pines.

His silver bangs hung jaggedly down his face, and his frown deepened each step he took towards her. His silver-blue eyes filled with hurt and betrayal.

“Where are they?” Tam asked her.

Quin pointed in the direction of the lodge, trying to get her bearings right. She nodded at him, and he called out to the trees, “You can come out now guys. We know where they are.”

Quin gave him a hurt look as people stepped out from behind the trees, and he gave her a sorry expression. A blonde girl with strange brown eyes stepped out first, followed by a boy with dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes.

They looked about fourteen- or fifteen years old. Behind them stepped out a girl with dark brown hair and a boy who must have been her brother because the family resemblance was amazing.

The blonde girl showed a hint of remorse as she followed Tam through the woods, then went the blonde boy, then the dark-haired boy. But the brunette girl stayed. She walked over to Quin, blinking in and out of sight. Letting Quin know she was a Vanisher as well.

“Hello.” She gave Quin a half smile.

Quin didn’t return it, “What do you want?”

“Nothing.” she said innocently, “Tam tells me that you’ve been living with Glimmer.”

Quin nodded.

“But she’s not your mum.”

Quin wasn’t sure if it was a question or not, so she nodded.

“Do you know who your real parents are?”

Quin nodded again.

“Will you tell me?”

“No. Now leave me alone.”

“Well, you’ve got nothing better to do.”

Quin scoffed.

“Please, I need your help. We’re trying to take down the Neverseen.” Said the girl.

“Well, it looks like your friends are handling it just fine.” Quin smiled a tiny smile; they would not be able to handle it.

The Neverseen would win.

“Please Quin.”

“How do you know my name?”

The girl gave her a tiny smile, “I know lots of things. I’m Biana.”

‘I don’t care.”

Please.”

“No.”

“C’mon, we could help a lot of good people if you just told us what the Neverseen’s up to.”

“I don’t know what they’re up to. “

“I don’t have to be an Empath to know that was a lie.” Biana said.

“Leave me alone.”

“Look, I understand what it’s like to feel hopeless. I get it.”

“Oh, do you, because if your name is Biana, that must make you Biana Vacker and last I checked your life is just pretty, pink and perfect.”

Biana let out a small laugh. “Not all the time.”

“But like 99 percent of the time?”

Biana was about to respond when she was cut off by thudding footsteps. They turned around to face Tam, the blondie, the blonde boy and the boy Quin assumed was Fitz Vacker, the brother of Biana.

Their faces looked down-trodden, and Quin guessed it. The Neverseen had probably gotten away. Biana didn’t seem to jump to this conclusion, and she asked, “What happened?”

“They got away.”

Everyone turned to look at Quin. She rolled her eyes as Tam introduced her, “Everyone this is Quin, she lives or lived with Glimmer. But neither Glimmer nor her will tell me why.”

“I told you I couldn’t live with my parents. And Glimmer is like a sister to me, okay?”

“Is she your sister?”

“No, now stop guessing about my past. I’m not telling you anything.”

The blonde girl gasped, hiccuped and took a step back. She had been staring so intently at Quin before and Quin nearly smacked herself for not realizing sooner. “Get out of my head.”

She couldn’t let anyone know her secrets, and she couldn’t show her panic, so she did the best she could by disappearing and whispering in the blondie’s ear. “Don’t tell a thing.”

The blondie looked in her direction and gave a tiny nod, muttering “Fine.”

Tam came and sat down next to Quin, “Please just tell us where the Neverseen went.”

Quin shook her head,

“Why not?”

“He’ll hurt me. He’ll know it was me.”

The confession caught everyone’s attention and Quin hated it. Hated showing her weakness. Glimmer had taught her better than to be weak and useless. But Glimmer was gone. Quin didn’t even know if Glimmer was coming back for her.

The blondie sat next to her. “I know you’re scared and we’re just a bunch of strangers. But we need your help.”

“Finland.” the word was barely a whisper.

“Pardon?”

“I heard them say they were going to a hideout in Finland.”

“Thank you, Quin. Oh, and if it helps, I’m Sophie.” said the blondie.

---

Quin seriously protested about going to their secret hideout with Tam and Sophie. She didn’t want to hang out with a bunch of random people in some weird cult-like order.

At least she’d be safe, or at least that’s what Sophie had assured her, which Quin did NOT believe. Whoever these Blackswan people were, they were nothing compared to the Neverseen.

The Neverseen, who spent hours a day training and planning to take over the world. Compared to them, the Blackswan looked like a bunch of five-year-old's had gathered and decided to make a club.

It was almost funny. Almost.

What was funny was when the blonde boy stuck out his hand for her to shake it and said, “I’m Keefe.”

All she said was, “I don’t care.” and wandered off through the treehouses at the strange place called Aluvettre.

The so-called Collective were a group of stupid weirdos with ridiculous costumes who had seriously enjoyed telling her how great they were. All she could think about was how they were basically the council, only weirder.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, munching on a strange extremely chewy gnomish vegetable that tasted a bit like a cheeseburger. Quin had only had a cheeseburger once before when she was hiding out with the humans.

Of course, she wasn’t alone with them. Fintin, (the not-so-alive-now) Alvar, Glimmer, Trix and the strange shade called Umber, who was also dead now.

Cheeseburgers definitely didn’t beat Mallowmelt but they were still delicious. And they were all she could think about till she noticed the person standing in her doorway.

It was that blonde boy again, Keefe. “What do you want?”

Keefe gave her a half-smirk. “I was just wondering if you knew whether the Neverseen plan to break Lady Gisela out too?”

Quin cocked her head, “She’s your mum, isn’t she?” she waited till Keefe nodded to continue, “Glimmer didn’t mention it. But she hates Gisela and so does Fintin. So, I don’t think so.”

Keefe gave a sigh of relief.

Quin understood his fear. She knew what it was like to wonder if you were going to become your parents and to fear them. It wasn’t fair everyone else lived in a perfect little sparkling world.

But maybe there were other people like her. But who else was an eleven-year-old girl whose father was a mass-murderer. Not many people.

“I think, I get it. You hate your mum, but you’re also scared of her, right?”  she whispered, so quietly he probably didn’t even hear her.

“I guess. What’re your parents like?”

“My mum is. . . unknown. I’ve never met her. My dad is horrible. The only real family I’ve ever had is Glimmer.”

Keefe gave her an understanding look and wrapped a hesitant arm around her. Quin almost stopped him, she could’ve grabbed him and snapped his bone like her dad had taught her. But she didn’t want to, she wanted someone to understand.

Maybe he would.

She pulled away and stood up, “How did you find me that day in the forest?”

Keefe gave her a smirk, “We have our ways.”

“Just tell me!”

“The Collective may have put a tracker in yours and Glimmer’s clothes.”

“What?!”

“Sorry.”

“If there’s a tracker in Glimmer’s clothes then why can’t we just track her using that instead of those stupid cameras your techy put up everywhere?”

“Because she must’ve broken it or something.”

“So it can be broken?”

“Don’t get any ideas!”

“Hey, you guys are tracking me! I think that’s a little un-nessecary.”

“Is it? You won’t tell us anything about your family and you lived with the Neverseen for ten years!”

Tears stung Quin’s eyes, “You’re right, maybe you can’t trust me. Maybe I’ll runaway and join the Murderers!”

Keefe stopped and looked at her, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean-”

“-Yes you did mean it, and don’t worry, I don’t know why I ever thought someone would understand.”

She slammed the door in his face and stumbled away, collapsing into her bed.

Quin lay in bed, tears streaming down her face. She missed her home, she missed Glimmer. Most importantly she missed being away from people who could find out her secrets.

That Sophie girl was one of them. She wanted to know more, but Quin wouldn’t tell her, she knew her life would be literal hell if she did. Her dad would kill her.

She eventually got up, her light brown hair hung in messy waves around her, and it took Quin half an hour to get them out. She pulled on a light blue tunic and a pair of navy-blue pants.

Quin quietly tip-toed out of her room, trying not to draw attention to herself. She did not want to suffer through another awkward conversation with the gang. Which consisted of even more people than Quin thought, including a strawberry blonde-haired boy who was sort of like their techy, a sassy blonde girl, a brunette with sort of an afro and Tam’s twin, Linh.

Linh was manageable. But all her talk about kittens and puppies made Quin want to puke. The sassy blonde was Quin’s favorite, she basically bullied everyone else, and her name was something like Maybelle. The techy was funny, he was obviously left out a lot.

The afro girl was annoying. Her name was Stina or as Quin liked to say, Stinka because she was seriously a pest.

She had a quiet breakfast alone and tip-toed back to her room. Trying to avoid everyone, especially the weird talking statue and floating cape, they kept on insisting that she train with them.

Maybelle stormed into Quin’s room. Quin raised an eyebrow at her as she paced the marble floor. “I need you to help me.” She spoke.

Quin thought about being difficult, but she shoved the thought away and asked, “What with? You realize I’m like three years younger than you, right?”

“Yeah, I know, but this is something only a Vanisher can help with.”

“Don’t you have a Vanisher? What about that Vacker girl?”

“She can’t help with this.”

“Going rogue, are you?”

“Maybe. This is something personal.”

“Spill it May.”

“It’s Marella.”

“Sure, it is.”

Marella rolled her eyes.

“Okay, just tell me what it is.”

“I need to penetrate the Neverseen.”

“Why?”

“Because I think they have something to do with my Mum.”

“Why can’t you just ask your Mum?” Quin pressed.

“You really don’t know who I am?”

“Nope.”

“I’m Marella Redek.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“My mum is Caprise Redek.”

“Ohhhhhhhh.” Quin had heard of Caprise Redek. She had a traumatic head injury a while back and couldn’t keep her emotions in control.

Marella seemed to shrink. “Yeah. Anyway, I have reason to believe that her ‘accident’ wasn’t actually an accident.”

“Woah, okay. What do you want me to do?”

“You know where the Neverseen are right?”

“Asides from what I told Blondie, no. But she said they were still searching the cameras in Finland for face ID.”

“Well, I need to speed things up, so I thought you could like vanish and search for them and like spy or whatever.”

“You do realize Finland is a country, and it’s not that small.”

“I know, but I just thought. . .”

“You trailed off there.”

“Please you’re most likely to find something, you lived with them.”

Quin cringed at the reminder, “I guess I could give it a go.”

“Thank you!” Marella praised.

Lucky for Quin she was not a hugger and left Quin alone.

“When do you want to sneak away?” Quin asked.

“Who said anything about sneaking?”

“Well, you’re going rogue and we’re going to a Forbidden city together with a crystal that you don’t own so we’ll probably have to steal.”

“Hm, good point, now let’s find a blue crystal!”

“Okay, but I assume you mean I should find a blue crystal because those little flames of yours aren’t going to help you steal Forkles pathfinder.”

“How did you know I was a pyrokinetic?”

“I can sense it.”

Marella raised her eyebrow.

“Fine, you’re wearing a necklace with flames on it and” Quin pointed to the scorch marks on the ground.

Marella blushed, “That tends to happen when I’m angry.”

“So, May, let’s go steal a crystal!”

Marella grumbled but didn’t protest as Quin disappeared out the door. Literally disappeared and rushed down the hallway. She almost ran into Blondie and Keefe as they chatted in the hallway.

She couldn’t hold her vanishing any longer, so she appeared right in from them, scaring them out of their wits and giving Quin a good laugh.

Quin vanished again and continued out of the treehouse to the massive grounds. Trees about five million times her height towered over her, they seemed to be taunting her. But she wouldn’t take it.

Under a Pavillon were the strange-looking Collective. The ice-lady, floating cape, talking statue, Smudges, And the pudgy looking Mr. Forkle. She stifled a laugh as she got closer, they looked ridiculous.

She listened intently to their conversation. The ice lady was talking, “We had to search in person!”

“It was very risky.” said the talking statue.

“What if a human saw you?” Said Smudges.

“I think Squall is right. It was worth it.” Said grandpa.

So they were talking about going to the Forbidden Cities, saying it like the ice lady had already done it, maybe she had a blue pathfinder.

The group dispersed and Quin followed the ice lady as she folded through the trees, probably to her own secret treehouse. But she stopped in a cabin and Quin stared in wonder as she melted off the layers of ice on her.

“No way.” Quin whispered, nearly tripping over herself, making a loud clank.

Not-so-icy-now-lady narrowed her eyes to the sofa Quin was standing behind. “Who’s there?”

Quin cursed silently as everything went suddenly cold. Within a couple of seconds, the place was covered in snow, and that’s when she understood. Snow covered her skin, revealing where she was standing.

Quin dropped her Vanishing and gave the ice lady a half smile, “You got me?”

Before the ice lady could yell out or get anyone else’s attention Quin moved towards her, snatched the blue crystal that stuck out of her pocket and leaped away.

The last thing Quin saw as she leaped away was the confused look on the ice-lady's face.

--