Chapter Text
By Thursday, they had PE again. Sophie had to drag Rikki out of bed and made him get ready to go to school. He had fallen asleep very early in the morning, because he couldn't sleep.
Edaline and Grady had given them home crystals, which only took them back to Havenfield. "Sorry, we should've given you these sooner."
Sophie's home crystal was on a long silver chain that she had to tie around her waist. Rikki's was on a black leather cord, that had a magnetic clasp, which he was thankful for. Melody's home crystal was on a short chain that she had to wear as a bracelet. Liberty's home crystal was on a chain that she wore as a necklace.
"Thank you," said Sophie.
Rikki nodded. "Yeah, thank you."
"Dex is waiting at the Leapmaster," Edaline said.
When they got up to the Leapmaster, the first thing Dex said to Rikki was, "Dude, you look tired."
"I know," Rikki said. He was sure that he looked hung over.
"You look like someone dragged you out of the gutter at a metal concert," Sophie added.
"I know that too," said Rikki.
"You look like the other band member of Korn," Sophie continued.
"Yeah, my dreads got loose," Rikki replied.
Dex looked like he had no clue what they were talking about. He probably didn't. "Hey, are those new crystals? Where does it take you?"
"These are home crystals," said Sophie. "They only take us back to Havenfield."
All Rikki could do was focus on was the bright colored balls. He remembered playing dodge ball in the human world. He had got a black-eye and a bloody nose because some people threw the foam balls really hard because they thought they were trying out for the Olympics. He also got hit in the crotch with a foam ball. At least he wasn't the only one who got hit there, but it still hurt, especially when the PE teacher told them to lie down.
So, he wasn't a fan of dodge ball, mostly because he sucked at it.
"Who's ready for the Ultimate Splotching Championship?" Sir Caton asked.
"What's Splotching?" Rikki asked his two friends.
"We push the splotcher at each other with telekinesis and whoever gets splattered loses. The winners play each other until there's only one left and that person wins," explained Esmeralda.
Great, it was dodge ball for telekinetics.
They had to partner up, Liberty became partners with that boy Jareth, Melody was partners with a girl, Esmeralda and Kimiko became each other's partners, before he became a girl, Morwenna's, partner. It was very obvious that Morwenna didn't even want to play when he managed to push the splotcher back at her. She didn't even try to stop it, before she got blue slimed. She turned and went to sit down.
"So, what's the prize for winning?" Rikki asked Esmeralda.
"A pardon from one punishment, but no guess on who wins it," said Kimiko.
"No surprise," Rikki said, immediately thinking of Fitz.
"For once, just for once, I want someone to take that smug little—" Esmeralda started ranting, but started making strangling motions with her hands.
Kimiko took the opportunity to hit Esmeralda with a splotcher, leaving pink slime on her head.
"This isn't over, Takahashi," Esmeralda jokingly warned.
This time it was Esmeralda and Rikki's turn, but it just seemed like they were passing it back and forth for fun.
Lady Alexine asked, "Need I remind you, this is a competition and not just a way to pass time?"
"Sorry, Lady Alexine," Rikki said. He pushed the ball and hit Esmeralda in the gut with it. She grunted. "Sorry, Esme."
"It's fine," Esmeralda said.
"It you're hurt, Miss Alveraz I suggest you go to the Healing Center," Lady Alexine said.
"I'm good," said Esmeralda. She hobbled off to sit with Kimiko, Melody, Liberty, who had been taken out earlier. It seemed like some of the other students really wanted to hurt them in a way.
Eventually after running through some other kids and getting to the winners, Stina and Sophie were facing off.
He had faith that Sophie can beat Stina, considering that Sophie took out most of the class.
"Even a muskog could beat Dex. Let's see how you do against a real opponent," sneered Stina. "I'll aim for your eyes – finally turn them blue."
"Get set! Splotch!" called Sir caton.
Marella hit Rikki with a splotcher, but he was more interested in seeing Sophie fight Stina.
The splotcher hit Stina in the face.
"Ow!" yelled Stina.
"Sorry," said Sophie.
"No reason to apologize," said Lady Alexina. "Well done, Sophie. I haven't seen such raw telekinetic power in a long time."
"But she hurt me!" Stina argued. "That disqualifies her, doesn't it?"
"Oh, please, she's just mad your sister beat her," Marella said to Rikki.
"I know," said Rikki. He felt annoyed that Sophie was somehow powerful, without even trying or even having practice, or somehow everyone thinking that she's special. He was sure that Melody and Liberty had felt annoyed about it too.
They brought in the Level Threes so Sophie can duel them one-on-one, soon it was just Sophie and nine other prodigies left.
A blond boy stood behind Sophie and Rikki glared at the boy.
"Who the hell does that boy think he is?" Rikki muttered darkly.
"That's Keefe Sencen," said Esmeralda. "I heard that he skipped a grade."
He must be the new friend that Sophie somehow made.
Soon, Sophie made it to the Final Four.
"How is she doing that?" asked Kimiko.
"I don't know," admitted Rikki. "I hope she can take down Fitz."
"Me too," said Esmeralda.
Liberty and Melody nodded in agreement.
Even Fitz looked happy so Rikki scowled at him.
Then it was just down to Sophie and Fitz, which wasn't a surprise really.
"Go Fitz!" called Biana.
"Go Foster, go Foster, go Foster!" yelled Kimiko.
"Yeah, kick his butt Sophie!" Keefe called. "It's about time someone took Fitz down."
"Some best friend you are," yelled Fitz, but he was smiling.
Sir Caton asked, "Any preference on splotcher color?"
"Pink! Pink!" yelled Keefe. "Make Fitz look pretty in pink!"
Okay, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody joined in on the chant.
"Ladies' choice," said Fitz.
"Pink," said Sophie.
"Pink it is," said Sir Caton. He tossed the splotcher, and the two let it float between them.
The splotchers exploded and then Sophie and Fitz flew backwards across the room, hitting the walls.
It was silent in the gym and then Rikki and Melody both spewed a whole of bunch of profanities before they (including Liberty) ran over to check on their sister.
Kimiko and Esmeralda were running alongside them
Sophie was lying in a heap, his heart was pounding, but he noticed that she was still breathing, he felt better, but no less panicked.
"Move, move," said Lady Alexine.
Rikki started, "But—"
"No buts, Mr. Foster," said Lady Alexine.
Melody started, "She's—"
"I am very aware that she's your sister, Miss Foster and if you three don't move out of my way, I will be forced to give you and your siblings detention for the next two months," Lady Alexine stated firmly.
Rikki moved out of the way because he didn't want two months of detention. His hands were shaking as they took Sophie and Fitz, Biana had to be held back by Keefe because of how worried she was over Fitz, to the Healing Center.
He and his sisters wanted to go with them but he was sure that it wouldn't be welcomed. Liberty was chewing her ponytail and Melody was messing with her rings. They were hoping that Sophie was going to be okay.
"What happened?" Rikki asked his sisters and friends, who looked worried and bewildered at the same time.
"I don't know," said Kimiko.
"I don't either," said Esmeralda.
It was a nerve wracking fifteen minutes. Somewhere along the way, the Mentors had declared Sophie the winner. Kimiko and Esmeralda had to hold Rikki's hands because he scratched the insides of his wrists 'til they bleed because Melody was busy spinning her rings and Liberty was busy chewing on her hair, before Sophie and Fitz finally walked back in.
Everyone started cheering and clapping.
"Yes, yes, welcome back, Fitz and Sophie. Glad to see you're feeling better," said Sir Caton.
Biana was the first one to hug Fitz.
Rikki, Liberty, and Melody had hugged Sophie, but she did manage to hug them back in a sort of group hug.
"Where you really that nervous?" asked Sophie, grimacing at the sight of his wrists.
"Yeah, I didn't know when you were going to wake up," Rikki said, looking at the scratches.
"Beat by a Level Two," Keefe stated.
"It was a tie," said Sophie.
Keefe snorted, "Please. You totally kicked his butt."
"Totally," said Dex. "He hit the wall way harder than you did." He whispered, "That was the greatest present you could have ever given me, by the way."
"Even the Mentors declared you the winner," Keefe said, wrapping his arm around Sophie's shoulders.
"Dude," Rikki said, glaring at the arm. He glared even more when he noticed Sophie blushing. Melody glowered and Liberty just ignored them, looking over Sophie.
Keefe removed his arm. "If you don't think you'll need your pardon, I'll be happy to take it off your hands—"
"Rikki! Liberty! Melody! Keefe! Dex! Marella! Biana! Need I remind you that you are not excused from this lesson?" yelled Sir Caton.
"Think about it," said Keefe, running to rejoin his class.
It sucked, having to practice telekinesis with the remaining splotchers, while Fitz talked to Sophie.
He probably should head to the Healing Center at lunch to take care of his wrists. It reminded him that he needed to talk to Elwin about his 'messed up' DNA, since he kind of forgot about it. Maybe by now Elwin had figured out what was wrong with it. Although if Elwin did, why wouldn't Elwin hail him to talk about it?
Rikki's sister had caught him after he left the locker room.
"I want you to come with us," said Sophie.
"I was going to the Healing Center," said Rikki.
"Fine, I'll go with you," said Sophie. Once they were out of earshot, Sophie said, "Sir Tiergan wanted to speak with all three of you. He told me that it was normal for telepaths to speak to non-telepaths telepathically, but he was intrigued by a non-telepath speaking to another telepath telepathically."
"That was a lot of telepaths," Rikki said. "You told him about that?"
"Yeah, because I just had to know if it was possible, okay?" said Sophie.
"To make sure that we're not even more of a freak-show?" said Rikki.
Sophie shrugged.
"Something like that," Melody told him.
Elwin almost sighed when he spotted Sophie, but she reassured him that it was Rikki's turn. Elwin handed some cream to Rikki to use.
"When you first checked on us when we got here, you said that my DNA was messed up, and that you had to speak to Alden about it. What was wrong with my DNA?" Rikki asked as he rubbed the cream on his scratches.
Elwin seemed to hesitant, "We're still looking into it."
Rikki was sure that was a lie and Melody had narrowed her eyes slightly. He wondered why adults had no problem lying to children. Maybe they were going to save the truth for a later time. He shrugged, "All right."
When they got to Sir Tiergan's classroom, Sir Tiergan looked at Rikki, "Ah, Sophie. Glad you brought your siblings around. Sophie told me that you three can speak to her telepathically, even though you're not telepaths. Care to demonstrate?"
"Rikki, you first," Sophie said.
Elwin lied to me about looking into my DNA some more, Rikki thought.
How can you tell? Sophie asked.
He hesitated and looked away, Rikki pointed out.
Maybe he's still looking into it, said Sophie.
Maybe, but I think he lied to me, replied Rikki. Unless he wants to tell me when I'm 'older' or some crap like that.
"Interesting," replied Sir Tiergan. "I never saw anything like it before." He looked at Rikki, "How do you do it?"
Rikki shrugged, "I don't know how. All I know is that I can somehow think something at her and she responds."
Liberty and Melody nodded.
"Yeah, something like that," Liberty told him.
"Can I try something? Maybe you can transmit to each other and I can try to see how it's possible," said Sir Tiergan. "It doesn't have to be anything important. I just want to see, if that's okay."
"So, you want to read my mind while I talk to Sophie telepathically?" asked Rikki. That sounded weird to him.
"Yeah," said Sir Tiergan. "I might get some answers or I might not. It's worth a shot."
"Okay," said Rikki.
Sir Tiergan pressed his fingers to Rikki's temples.
Twenty-four, Rikki thought.
Sophie started giggling, Hey, Patrick.
Yeah, replied Rikki knowing where it was going.
I've thought of something funnier than twenty-four, Sophie said.
Let me hear it, replied Rikki.
Twenty-five, replied Sophie.
Okay, Rikki started laughing and Sophie joined.
Sir Tiergan must've been so confused, but he did wait patiently for them to calm down.
When they did, Sir Tiergan tried Melody and Liberty, who did the same thing with Sophie.
After that was down Sir Tiergan said, "Okay, I figured it out. I couldn't get through their blocks, which is a whole other thing I have to study, but I figured out how they talk to you without being telepaths."
Sophie said, "Okay, what is it?"
"It was very faint, but I noticed a mind link," said Sir Tiergan. "They led to Sophie's mind."
Melody asked, "Which means?"
"That's how you can communicate with her," said Sir Tiergan. "I know that there's Cognates—"
"What's that?" asked Sophie.
"An incredibly rare telepathic relationship," said Sir Tiergan. "It's when two telepaths can combine their power through a deep personal connection. The combined strength of a Cognate takes things to another level entirely. I doubt you are Cgonates though, because your silbings aren't telepaths."
"How is that formed?" asked Sophie. "A Cognate, I mean."
"You have to reveal all your secrets to one another to reach a level of trust that is used to have a Cognate. Not everyone has one, I assume," explained Sir Tiergan. "Anyway, it's interesting that they have mind links with you though. When did you realize that you can speak to her telepathically?"
"After she spoke to me in her mind when we were around six, I think," replied Rikki. "I thought something and she laughed—"
"Which meant that he accidentally spoke to me," said Sophie.
"It was around six with us too," Liberty said, gesturing to her and Melody. "Same thing happened with us."
Sir Tiergan asked Sophie, "When did you develop Telepathy?"
"When I was five," said Sophie and didn't elaborate.
"You must've created the link for your siblings by accident. I know multiples, how rare they are, do share a special bond," said Sir Tiergan. He looked at Sophie, "You said you can read their minds?"
"Yeah," said Sophie. "I don't do it anymore, especially after an incident back in the Forbidden Cities, so I don't do it anymore."
Sir Tiergan nodded, like he could guess what she read. "You are an unusually talented telepath. I'm not surprised that you can get past their mental blocks and I'm not surprised that you created the mind link with your siblings, somehow allowing him to transmit to you."
Sophie asked, "Can I break the mind links?"
Rikki felt like he got punched in the gut. Melody inhaled sharply and Liberty jerked, like she was surprised by that.
"Most likely, but I wouldn't advise trying it." Sir Tiergan explained, "I don't know how you created these mind links, so I wouldn't advise you trying to break them. You could do some irreparable damage to your siblings' brains, since you were really young when you may have created the links. There may be a safe way to break it, but I don't know how because I have never seen it before. There could be a case of a telepath twin creating a mind link with their non-telepathic twin, but I don't know, especially with three mind links to you. I can look into it."
Rikki asked, "So we're in a unique position?"
"Yeah," said Sir Tiergan.
"Can you help me wash Verdi?" Grady asked.
"Sure," replied Rikki.
I was just wondering if it was possible to break the mind link. I wasn't asking so I can break it. Don't take it to hard, Sophie said to him. She probably transmitted the same thing to Melody and Liberty.
"How are your lessons?" asked Grady.
"Councillor Zarina has me doing electrical force fields," said Rikki.
"That's cool," said Grady.
"What's a brain push?" asked Sophie as she helped Rikki lather Verdi's feathers.
"Why?" asked Grady.
She told him what happened in PE and they worked in silence and Sophie tugged out three eyelashes.
"That does sound like a brain push," said Grady in a whisper. "When you were around humans, did someone train you how to use your abilities?"
"No one besides my siblings knew about my abilities, not even our parents," said Sophie. "Why?"
Verdi stirred and Rikki lathered more feathers. It took a moment before Verdi settled down. "The way you use your mind, Sophie – someone had to teach you. It's not possible that you just instinctively know these skills," said Grady.
"But...no one taught us anything. We'd remember that," said Sophie.
"Would you?" asked Grady.
"There's no way humans can teach us how to use our abilities," Liberty said.
"It's highly different reading about it on the internet or even watching TV," Rikki pointed out.
Melody nodded.
"Yeah," said Sophie. "Humans can't do what we can do."
Grady just stared in the distance. "No, you're right. Only an elf could teach you."
"And the first elf I met was Fitz," said Sophie, "Besides my siblings of course."
"Check it out," said Esmeralda. "I'm finally at fifty-five."
"Lucky," grumbled Kimiko. "I'm at fifty-two."
"You're both lucky," said Rikki. "I'm at thirty." Sophie and Melody both had managed to get to thirty-three, Liberty somehow got to thirty-four.
"Not much further 'til I can have my own Pathfinder," said Esmeralda. "My parents probably won't let me have one 'til I hit sixty. I would love to get mine off earlier than Fitz but I doubt it. I'm hoping that his sister will get hers off earlier than him. I'd rather have Heks get hers off early."
"We are now four weeks away from midterms. For those of you worried that you won't be able to score the required seventy-five perfect to pass, I recommend seeing Lady Nissa in the Tutoring Center," Dame Alina said.
Rikki tried to figure out what class he was bombing in so he can go get some tutoring.
"I can probably see Lady Nissa because I suck at The Universe," said Esmeralda. "Yeah, that will be good."
"That's it for today. Everyone work hard," Dame Alina said, tossed her hair, and the projection disappeared.
"I think I should do better for Elementalism," Rikki said, more to himself.
Kimiko made a sound and covered her nose. "Man, why does Elwin pick the nastiest things?" She licked the silver strip and took out some lushberry juice, before taking a drink. "Better." She wiped her eyes. "It's not the worst thing he picked, admittedly."
Rikki took a lick and grimaced. Kimiko passed some lushberry juice to him to take a drink from. He really didn't want to drink from a stranger, but he did have to drink away the reekrod taste, so he took a drink of juice.
"I'll take my books with me," said Kimiko.
"Good idea," said Rikki.
Kimiko opened something in paper. "Ooh, my mom made me lemon buttercream Custard Bursts." She ate one and nodded. "Here, take one."
Rikki took one and took a bite. It was actually very good. "Do you want to come over to Havenfield with me? Come and pet Verdi the dinosaur or something?"
"Sure, sounds fun," said Kimiko.
"What sounds like fun?" asked Esmeralda.
"Going to Havenfield and petting Verdi the dinosaur," said Kimiko.
"You can come too," said Rikki.
Esmeralda smiled and opened a silver box. "I can't believe Elwin choose reekrod for the lockers."
"I know," said Kimiko.
"Here, take a Prattle," said Esmeralda offering the box.
"My mom made lemon buttercream Custard Bursts," said Kimiko.
Rikki took a Prattle.
"What does Vacker want with your sister?" asked Esmeralda, looking down the hallway.
"Which one?" asked Rikki, looking to see.
It was Biana was talking to Sophie, before they went down the hall together.
"Maybe she wants to date Sophie," said Kimiko.
Rikki had no clue to respond to that. He had no problem with the LGBT community; he was even part of it considering he was aro-ace, which meant he was part of it. He, Sophie, and Liberty were pretty sure that Melody was into girls, coming from her comments, and they agreed to let her tell them when she was comfortable.
"I think you made him uncomfortable," Esmeralda said with a laugh.
"Nah, just thinking," said Rikki. "I mean, if Sophie swings that way, that's cool. I would prefer her to date someone besides Biana though, but I'll suck it up if that makes her happy."
"Good," said Esmeralda.
"Now I have to get to alchemy before Lady Galvin decides to get pissed off at me for something and turn me into glass," Rikki said.
"She seems to like you though," said Esmeralda.
"Oh, believe me. She hates me, she just hates me less than everyone else," Rikki said.
"Sounds like my kind of woman," said Kimiko with a grin.
Rikki thought that was a strange thing to say.
"She's so adorable!" Kimiko squealed when she spotted Verdi. The two girls ran towards Verdi.
"Try not to pull her feathers!" Rikki called after them. He followed after them.
"Can I ride her?" asked Esmeralda.
"I can ask Grady if it's okay," said Rikki. "I think Verdi doesn't do well to strangers very well, though."
"Ask him," ordered Esmeralda. She looked giddy.
Before he could hail Grady, when Kimiko took out her Imparter and answered it.
"Where are you?" Kimiko's mother asked sounding angry. She didn't raise her voice, but she still was angry. "You were supposed to be home three minutes ago."
"I'm sorry, but my friend, Rikki, asked me to come over to Havenfield to pat a dinosaur," said Kimiko.
"Oh," replied Kimiko's mother. "Be careful and don't pull any feathers."
"Bye, Mama," Kimiko said.
"Bye, Kimi," said Kimiko's mother.
The hail ended.
Esmeralda asked, "What did your mother want?"
"To see where she's at," Rikki replied. "It was obvious when she asked Kimi where she was at."
The two girls looked confused.
"How do you know that?" Kimiko asked. "We were speaking in Japanese."
"Oh," replied Rikki feeling kind of stupid.
It came to mind how Rikki binge-watched One Piece for an entire summer. It took him until the end of summer for Amy to point out that he wasn't even watching the English dub version. Except, he didn't know Japanese and somehow he understand what they were saying.
Then Fitz and the other Councillor, what's-his-face?, Kenric said that he and Sophie spoke in the Enlightened Language perfectly, along with how Fitz said they spoke it the day when Fitz showed them Lumenaria for the first time.
Then Rikki had a very good grasp of Spanish, knowing what Esmeralda's parents said when Esmeralda introduced him and Kimiko to them.
"You're a Polyglot," said Esmeralda. "That's how you know what my parents were saying and what Kimiko's mom said."
"Really?" asked Rikki.
It made a lot of sense how he knew Japanese, Spanish, and the Enlightened Language.
"Usually Polyglots have another ability," said Kimiko. "So you're a Polyglot and Charger. You're lucky."
Rikki shrugged. He was also a Mesmer and a quadruplet, so that made him more of a freak than he already was.
Grady appeared, "What's going on here?"
"Rikki's a Polyglot!" Kimiko said.
Grady nodded, looking thoughtful, "Is that so?"
"Yes," said Rikki. "Even I just figured it out."
Grady stared at Rikki, like he was some kind of puzzle that needed to be figured out.
Esmeralda and Kimiko stayed for dinner. It was the first time that he had brought them around, he realized.
Edaline and Grady seemed to like them.
Sophie had returned from being with the Vackers and Keefe.
"What did you do when you were there?" asked Edaline. It was nice that Edaline seemed to be warming up to them.
"We played base quest," said Sophie.
"Base quest?" asked Rikki.
Sophie explained the rules to him. One team guarded its base with the other team launched a raid. If the questers made it to the base without getting tagged, they won. Apparently abilities were allowed, but light leaping wasn't.
"Sounds like Capture the Flag, just without the flag," Rikki said.
"What's Capture the Flag?" asked Esmeralda.
"It's an outdoor sport, where two teams or more have to capture a flag," said Sophie. "You have to get the other team's flag and run it back to your base."
"When a person gets tagged, they're frozen in place or 'in jail' and have to be tagged by a member of your team to get free," Rikki explained. "Some other rules is that the tagged person goes to the opposing sides' team or sent back to their base." He shrugged.
Kimiko and Esmeralda stayed silent.
"That sounds a lot more fun than base quest," said Kimiko.
"You need a large group though," said Sophie, "Six or more people."
Rikki nodded.
"You can invite Marella and Dex to play," said Esmeralda.
"Three against three, though?" asked Rikki.
"I can invite Keefe, Fitz, and Biana, too," said Sophie.
"Maybe next week," said Kimiko. "I have to get home."
Esmeralda nodded. Sophie looked a little confused, but nodded.
Kimiko and Esmeralda thanked Edaline and Grady for dinner, before leaving.
While getting ready for bed, Sophie spoke to Rikki, Liberty, and Melody, "I asked Alden if there was any updates about what's wrong with your DNA but there hasn't been any. He hesitated and told me that they're still looking into it."
"That figures," Liberty replied with disgust.
"There's another thing," Sophie said. "When I hugged Alden, he smelt like smoke. I asked if there was another fire and he said that it was something that he's looking into."
"Let me guess, 'we'll tell you on a rainy day?'" asked Rikki annoyed.
"No, he said 'no reason to worry'," said Sophie.
"Figures," muttered Rikki.
"That's annoying," Melody said.
"It's getting really annoying," Sophie agreed.
"Join the club. Want to be co-president?" asked Rikki.
"No, I'm president," replied Sophie.
"My DNA results are being put-off and it's a part of me. I think I deserve to be president," said Rikki. Sophie narrowed her eyes at him. "All right, fine. You're president."
Sophie smirked in victory.