AHHH! This chapter has a trigger warning for death and drunk-ness, in case you're sensitive like that. The drunkness is just minor giggliness, but if you're not okay with that, you can skim over the mention of fizzleberry wine. I wrote this chapter and I hope you enjoy!!

—caly

A loud clang outside of her bedroom woke Kaylessa up from her sleep. Kaylessa sat up quickly and ran outside into the hallway to find her dad digging through her closet. His back was hunched over as he frantically dug through her clothes.

"Dad?" Kaylessa asked. Her dad jolted upright and banged his head on the ebony doorframe. He rubbed his head as he faced his daughter. Kaylessa eyed his clothes covered in lushberry juice and mallowmelt stains. Why is there lushbe—nevermind.

"Yes?" he groaned, stretching out his back.

"What are you doing? It's the middle of the night!" Kaylessa asked, glancing at the clothes her dad tossed on the floor. "Why are you going through my clothes?" Her dad shook his head and rubbed his bleary eyes.

"I was just—nothing," Elion Salvaxe sighed. He slouched his posture and made his way to the living room. Kaylessa followed him and watched as he slumped on the couch.

"Sorry, I was just . . . looking for something," her dad corrected, closing his eyes as he settled deeper into the sofa.

"For what?" Kaylessa said gently as she took a seat across from her dad. "What were you looking for?" Elion gave her a pained look as he rubbed his temples.

"Something I lost," he explained. Groaning, he got up and smoothed his shirt over. "I have to check the guest house now." Her dad dragged his feet over to the door and left Kaylessa's house. She frowned. What did he lose? Kaylessa reached down into her tunic pocket and closed her hand around the pendant hidden there subconsciously.

Kaylessa took the necklace out of her pocket and examined the engravings. A diamond bird had its wings outstretched towards the sun, basking in the light. The words, 'Wild', were engraved in the open space before the bird's wings. Kaylessa brushed her thumb over the letters and tucked the pendant back into her pocket.

A sudden beeping from her Neverseen bracelet made Kaylessa jump. She rolled her eyes at the invitation. Who was summoning her this late at night? Gisela is asleep for a fact.

Kaylessa ran back to her room and slipped on her Neverseen cloak hidden in her sheets. She ran back into the kitchen after securing the hood over her head.

She sighed and took out her Neverseen leaping crystal and turned it to the Everglen facet as indicated by the number of bleeps from her wrist accessory. She held it up to the ceiling light and stepped into the weak beam of light.

When she got to the Vacker home, she quickly ran behind a group of trees as she scanned the premises for anybody watching. She was glad that the Vacker's took down the gates so that it made it easier leaping onto their property. Alvar used to have to lie about his girlfriends and friends to get access for some Neverseen members. But now that he's gone, at least the gates were gone.

Kaylessa found the grounds to be clear and she ran towards the right side of the property under the cover of the dark. She slipped behind more trees as she looked for the tree carved with a curved line symboling a swan's neck. Sometimes, the best way to hide something is using your enemy's symbol.

She licked the hidden DNA panel painted to look like bark as the ground slid open to reveal steep stairs. She ran down the stairs as a deep, haunting voice rang out in the dark.

"Flare has finally made it. We shall begin the death ritual," the voice eerily boomed. Kaylessa rolled her eyes.

"Cut it out, Ruy," she laughed. The lights flickered on and Kaylessa saw Raven and Ruy lounging on the beanbag chairs. The small room was just a hole dug in the ground with a metal ceiling covered up with grass to mask the underground hideout. The bean bag chairs were the only thing in the room along with an ottoman and a small coffee table.

"Raven told me to do it," Ruy chuckled. Raven giggled as she twisted in the beanbag chair to give Ruy the stink-eye.

Kaylessa rolled her eyes, "Why did you summon me?" Raven shrugged and kicked her feet on the small ottoman. Kaylessa turned to Ruy.

"You want to hangout?" Ruy asked with a grin.

"Really? You called me in the middle of the night for that?" Kaylessa huffed. Raven giggled again and Kaylessa rolled her eyes.

"What? Are we not worthy of your company?" Ruy asked with a delirious grin.

"What happened to you guys?" she asked as she sat on a third beanbag. Kaylessa also kicked her feet up on the ottoman, slightly shoving Raven's feet to make room.

"Fizzleberry wine," Raven giggled. Kaylessa's eyebrows shot up. She studied them closer, but with the addlers, she could barely make out the details on their faces.

"You do know you're underage, right?" Kaylessa questioned. Spotting the glass of fizzling liquid, she stood up and dumped the contents into the dirt ground. The ground soaked up the wine immediately.

"I'm not," Ruy huffed. Kaylessa cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever, I'm not your mom, I don't care," she said slumping back into the beanbag chair. She hummed a nursery rhyme as Ruy and Raven groaned at their headache.

"You know, you're right. I regret drinking the fizzleberry," Raven cringed.

"I know I'm right," Kaylessa grinned. She hummed some more as Raven and Ruy quickly nodded off from the wine. Kaylessa rolled her eyes.

"That's what happens when you drink kids," Kaylessa muttered. She settled back into the chair sleep suddenly hitting her. She had only slept for three hours before her dad woke her up. It's just one night here, Kaylessa thought as her eyes fluttered. One night. Dad won't notice anyway. Her eyelids seemed heavier as she fully closed her eyes.

There was a loud thud and a scream that jolted Kaylessa awake. Not again, Kaylessa groaned as she got up to see what the commotion was about. She ran up the stairs and slowly eased the sliding door open, trying not to trigger the loud scrape of it sliding across the metal ceiling.

She climbed out of the small hideout that Alvar built to have secret meetings and slid the door back in place, making sure the line of the hatch wasn't seen. Kaylessa stepped into the moonlight and found Essa. What was she doing here? She was standing over a dark lump on the ground.

Kaylessa gaped at the limp body on the ground, clearly not breathing or functioning.

"W-who's that?" Kaylessa stuttered as she stumbled toward Essa. Essa slowly turned around and faced her.

Essa's body was still and was deathly pale white.

"F-flare?" she asked. Kaylessa nodded, making sure her hood was on out of habit. "I-I just s-stumbled across him as I was c-coming back from the house." Essa visibly shuddered.

Kaylessa turned towards the body on the ground and she felt the world tilt.

Alden Vacker was lying on the ground, his body devoid of any running blood. His clothes were crusted with his dried-up blood and a knife hilt was sticking out of his abdomen. His eyes were open in terror and his mouth was gaping as if he was trying to scream for help.

Kaylessa felt like she was going to throw up. She took deep breaths as she quickly looked away from Alden.

"D-do the Vacker's know?" Kaylessa asked. Essa slowly shook her head as if still trying to process the information. Kaylessa slowly trudged toward a tree and leaned against its cool trunk as she closed her eyes and tried to relax. She felt sweat building up on her forehead and she wiped it with her sleeve.

Kaylessa took a deep breath as she opened her eyes again. Her gaze dipped towards the ground near Alden's body and saw a small object lying there. She made sure Essa was turned away as she walked toward the glinting object.

A silver charm bracelet was sitting on the blood-soaked grass. Kaylessa reached a shaky hand to pick it up. The red-coated charms jingled merrily, too happy for this death scene.

Kaylessa gulped as she turned the largest charm over—a bird soaring— and she felt the world spin again. If her pounding headache wasn't bad enough before, it certainly escalated as she stared at the word, 'Wild', engraved on the back of the bird.

She quickly slipped the bracelet into her pocket and heard the clink of metal against metal as the bracelet met the pendant already hidden there.

Kaylessa turned back to Essa, still gaping at the dead body. She slowly reached out a hand to pull Essa away from the blood. She was shaking when Kaylessa let go of her shoulder.

Kaylessa held up a crystal leading to Ambercrest up towards the moonlight filtering through the thin layer of branches. She wanted to try to forget everything that just happened.

Before she stepped into the dim light, Essa turned towards her and mouthed, Don't tell anyone yet. Kaylessa nodded but didn't respond as she let the light lead her back home.