Chapter Text
From left to right: Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody.
❝𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐?
𝙸𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐?
𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎?
'𝙲𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔.
𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔
(𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐)
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔.
𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔.
𝚁𝚞𝚗.
𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚍𝚊𝚢.❞
𝙸𝚌𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚜 – 𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝙳𝚊𝚢
❝𝙰 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐
𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍.
𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚎.❞
― 𝙰𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚜
“Jason and I finally finished that stupid project for government,” Melody Foster declared as she walked in the house. She stayed at the town library with her project partner, Jason, and she got a ride home from Mr. Forkle, her next door neighbor.
“That’s good dear,” said Melody’s mother, Emma, in a distracted manner. She even seemed a little tense.
“What happened?” asked Melody.
“Nothing,” Emma told her, as she ushered Melody into the kitchen, where her three quadruplets were at, along with Amy.
“Soybean ran away from the field trip because some guy scared her and Riri went after her,” said Melody’s nine-year-old sister, Amy.
Amy was referring to Melody’s quadruplets, Sophie and Rikki. Apparently when they were babies, Sophie was trying to say her name, but it came out as soybean and Rikki was trying to say his name, but Riri came out, so their dad took Soybean and ran with it. Sophie hated being called Soybean.
Her nickname was Marshmallow, which isn’t too bad, but it was annoying. Somehow she had trouble saying her name, Melody. Her quadruplet, Liberty, was lovingly referred to as Bertie, by Amy, since Libby wasn’t embarrassing enough for her liking. William and Emma called Liberty, Libby.
“Oh,” replied Melody and spun the ring on her left index finger.
She had six rings, one on both of her ring fingers, one on both of her middle fingers, and on both of her index fingers. The rings were regular silver with white glitter on them. It was supposed to stop her from pulling out strands of her blonde hair, to have something else to fidget with. She tried to substitute hair plucking with water drinking, carrying a water thermos with her, which turned into a problem when she had to go to the restroom a lot. So her parents got her fidget rings.
Melody looked at Sophie, who looked pale and Rikki seemed distant. Melody looked at Liberty, who shrugged. She didn’t know either.
She glanced at Sophie, What happened?
I got scared by some guy who had the newspaper with my picture on it. He asked if it was me, so I ran. Rikki followed after me, Sophie replied.
Most would think that they had ‘telepathy’ but it was just Sophie who could read minds. Liberty, Melody, and Rikki couldn’t read Sophie’s mind, but somehow they can talk to Sophie, but Melody, Liberty, and Rikki couldn’t talk to each other.
William walked in, holding his briefcase which he set on the table. “And how’s my Quad Squad doing?”
That was his nickname for them when saying all of their names would just take too long.
William ruffled Rikki’s shoulder length black and blond hair. His hair had blond streaks in it, which he had since birth. He kissed his girls’ on the cheek.
Emma took the lid off a pot and Melody smelt garlic and cream. It was fettuccine, Sophie’s favorite. She handed Sophie the silverware. “It’s your turn to sit the table.”
“Yeah, Soybean, get crackin’,” Amy stated.
Amy was nine-years-old and somehow managed to nail the annoying younger sibling role.
She was their opposite in every single way. She had brown hair and green eyes, although Liberty and Rikki had brown hair, although Rikki’s had blond streaks. Liberty and Sophie had brown eyes with gold flecks. Rikki had a brown eye and a blue eye that was so light, it looked purple. Rikki’s blue eye matched Melody’s blue eyes. A teacher had once described Rikki’s eye and Melody’s eyes as Elizabeth Taylor eyes, and showed them a picture of the actress.
While Melody and her quadruplets were in high school, Rikki and Sophie had photographic memories, while Liberty and Melody were just naturally smart, Amy had lower than average grades. However, Amy was popular while the quadruplets were losers and freaks, because they were twelve-year-old high school students who were just naturally smart. Sophie even got a full scholarship for Yale, but their parents didn’t want her to go there.
Sophie dropped the silverware on the table and Melody looked at her sister.
Emma asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Sophie replied, sitting in her chair. She put her head in her hands.
William asked, “You okay, Soybean?”
“I feel kind of dizzy.” Sophie said, “Must be from the smoke. Can I go lay down?”
“I think you should eat something first,” Emma told Sophie.
Melody and Liberty looked at Sophie, who did look a little ill, and then Melody felt worried. As far as she remembered she and her siblings never got sick before. If Sophie was sick, she’ll get her siblings sick because they shared a bedroom. Some would probably be confused over their brother sharing a room with his sisters, but William thought that since they were quadruplets they needed to share a room.
Melody was fine with sharing a room with them; after all they shared a birthday and her sisters shared clothes with each other, since they were about the same size, 5’4, however Rikki was 5'3. Sophie decided to wear gray clothes to try and blend in, while Rikki wore all black to draw attention to him instead of Sophie. Liberty and Melody tried to blend in themselves by wearing what the other girls wore.
She wondered what exactly happened to Sophie.
Rikki asked, “Where did my blue eye come from? Considering that you all have green eyes.”
Amy asked, “Yeah, why does he have mismatched eyes and I don’t?”
William looked at Rikki, “You got it from your great-grandfather. He had brown and blue heterochromia. I’ll show you some pictures of him after dinner.”
Melody looked at Liberty. Was it her imagination, or were Rikki and Sophie acting weird?
Liberty nodded. She noticed it too.
After eating and William setting his fork down, Sophie jumped to her feet, “Thanks, Mom, that was great. I’m going to do some homework.” She left the kitchen and Melody heard Sophie run up the stairs.
“Your turn to wash the dishes,” Emma told Rikki.
Amy handed her plate to Rikki, “Yeah, Riri, get to washing.” She took off to go to her room.
Liberty and Melody left Rikki in the kitchen so he can wash the dishes.
They went to their bedroom, which had beige walls, to be gender-neutral when their parents had found out that they were also having a boy. Their parents had let them paint their names to mark their bunks with their favorite color. Sophie had painted her name on a beam in black because didn't she didnt care to much for colors and didn't have a favorite color, while Liberty painted alonside the bottom of the frame in a sort of cyan blue, while Melody picked peach and put her name along the bottom and Rikki picked red and stuck to the bottom like Liberty and Melody.
Sophie was in the bottom bunk of the L-shaped bunk beds with a blue and yellow quilt, while Liberty had the top bunk with a multi colored striped quilt. On the other bunk bed, farthest away from the door, Melody had the top bunk with a peach and pink colored quilt and Rikki had the bottom bunk with a blue and gray quilt.
There was a stand connecting both bottom bunks and the two top bunks, which had a small lantern on them so if one wanted to stay up and read or something, they can with the lantern so as not to wake up their siblings.
Sophie was sitting on her bunk, petting Marty, who she had found in a bush and had begged their parents to keep him.
Liberty asked, “Where the voices worse for you?”
“No,” Sophie stated.
Liberty asked, “So, what happened?”
Sophie said, “I don’t think they’re my parents.”
Liberty and Melody gave her strange looks because that didn’t make sense.
“Soapy, the three of us are almost identical,” Liberty told her. “If you’re adopted, then all four of us are adopted too.”
Sophie gave Liberty a dark look at being called Soapy, but she kind of preferred it to Soybean.
“What made you think that you’re adopted?” Melody asked Sophie.
“Well, my ability to read minds for one,” Sophie started.
The thing was the four of them had abilities too.
Rikki had the weird ability to manipulate electricity. He had accidentally caused a small classroom fire back when they still attended middle school. It was just the one classroom that had been on fire and there was an old cord that it got blamed on. No one was injured. However, Rikki had an ability to talk people into doing things, like once he convinced a mean guy to do the chicken dance because that guy was mean to Rikki’s sisters. Rikki really hated that ability, but he kind of disliked the electricity manipulation.
Liberty had the weird ability to manipulate the wind that she can make it stronger or weaker. She once tried to control the wind and managed to lift about two inches off the ground, but she ended up falling and broke her ankle from landing on it wrong. She didn’t like her powers that much anymore, especially when she accidentally caused a chair to fly in Melody’s face.
Melody had the weird ability to sense energy. It was like she can tell, to use the quote lightly, ‘a great disturbance in the force’. It was annoying to feel. Sometimes, it felt like she can touch this energy, but it freaked her out. It was like she was messing with something she shouldn’t. When she was eight, she had that weird mime obsession, and built a ‘box’ around Sophie although her palms emitted some white light and seemed to encase her in a white box. Melody had to figure out how to ‘dismantle’ the box and Sophie didn’t talk to her for a week, making Liberty or Rikki talk to her for Sophie. After that, Melody was freaked out. She felt like she was messing with things that shouldn’t be messed with.
Melody and Liberty went to their bunks, “What made you think you were adopted?”
Sophie didn’t tell them, because she put the memories of what happened to her and Rikki in Melody’s and Liberty’s minds.
Sophie lifting a stoplight with her mind, the fact that Rikki and Sophie were elves, that boy, Fitz, taking Sophie and Rikki to Eternalia, ogres, Sophie reading Fitz’s mind but he couldn’t read hers or Rikki’s, Fitz with his “Don’t worry. I’ll find you” promise/threat and it was too much for Melody to take in. She had to lie down to catch her breath. They didn’t even mention her or Liberty. Maybe they didn’t have time to mention her and Liberty. Well, they did say ‘sisters’ but maybe Fitz thought that they were ‘humans.’
“If we’re elves, then that means that they’re not our parents,” Liberty stated. “Whose children are we from then?”
The door opened and closed. It was Rikki coming in. “We’re still their kids, just not biologically.” He got on his bottom bunk.
Sophie asked, “How can we not know that we’re adopted? I’ve been hearing their thoughts for seven years.”
“Lots of kids are adopted and they’re happy about it,” Rikki said.
“There’s also IVF,” Liberty said.
Melody nodded, “Hey, did Dad show you the picture of our great-grandfather?”
“Yeah, he had brown-blue heterochromia too,” Rikki told her.
It got silent in the room.
Liberty was probably reading her Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales book from her leatherbound classics collection. Rikki was probably drawing in his bullet journal and Sophie was probably petting Marty.
Melody took the aida cloth and the thread (called floss) off her stand to keep working on her pattern. She even had a picture of the Cinderella castle from Disneyworld with fireworks too. After Cinderella’s Castle was done, she was going to do Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Maybe after that, she’ll do Hogwarts too.
She was halfway done with Cinderella’s Castle.
The door opened and Emma poked her head in. “I brought you some E.L. Fudges.” She handed Sophie a plate full of Sophie’s favorite cookies and a glass of milk so Sophie can set it on the stand. “You look pale, Sophie. Are you getting sick?” There was a pause, “You don’t have a fever.” There was the sound of a page turning. “You don’t have a fever.”
“I’m fine. Just…tired,” Sophie said. “I need to go to bed.”
It was getting dark.
Emma left the room so they can get ready for bed.
Rikki went to take a shower while Sophie changed, then after Rikki took a shower, Liberty had gone to take one too, definitely using Old Spice because she had taken interest in the Old Spice body wash and deodorant that Rikki uses, because Liberty liked the smell, so she started getting her own deodorant and body wash.
After that, it was time for bed and they got in their respective bunks.
“Sweet dreams, Soybean, Libby, and Marshmallow.” William said to the girls, kissing each of them on the forehead. To Rikki, he said, “Night Riri.”
“Night, Dad,” the four said in unison.
Emma kissed Sophie’s cheek, “Do you have Ella?”
“Yep,” Sophie said.
Emma asked Liberty, “How about, Libby? Do you have Pen?” She was referring to the stuffed penguin that Liberty named Pen.
“Yes,” Liberty said.
Emma turned to Melody kissing her on the cheek, “How about you Mel? Do you have Bugs?”
Melody held up the stuffed rabbit that she named after Bugs Bunny; despite the fact the rabbit wasn’t a bunny. “I always do.”
Emma asked, “Rikki? Do you have Avalanche?”
“Yeah,” Rikki said, holding up the Wild Republic arctic fox that he had gotten when he was in the hospital, after being ran over by a car when he was five. Sophie had gotten up to get their parents, but tripped and hit her head on the concrete.
Emma always took the time to look at the four of them as they lay in bed. She was probably remembering how it felt like having all four of them in her uterus at once and how she was glad all four made it out alive. Maybe she was remembering how she could’ve lost two kids and then almost Sophie, who had that weird allergic reaction when they were eight-years-old.
She finally left the room.
Sophie wore a buttery yellow and brown striped shirt which she never wore before, considering how she preferred gray clothes so she won’t attraction attention.
Melody wore a white shirt with French fries all over it and blue jeans with a rip in one knee and white Converse high-tops. Liberty wore a plaid skirt and a black tee-shirt to go with her combat boots.
Melody applied eyeliner and lip gloss with her siblings got ready. She liked to use e.l.f. cosmetics but when she really looked at it, she noticed the initials spelt elf. She would’ve used concealer but she wasn’t ready for that.
They didn’t know about the kidnapping attempt until they got to school, and Sophie told them what happened.
When the bell rang, Melody grabbed her backpack and was about ready to head inside when Sophie told her, telepathically, that she was behind the school. So, she made a detour to head to the back of the school.
Melody asked, “What happened?”
Liberty finally arrived, “What’s going on?”
The boy, Fitz, looked between Liberty and Melody, then back at Sophie, then back at the two girls, then back at Sophie.
“Fitz, these are our quadruplets, Liberty and Melody,” Sophie told Fitz. She plucked out an eyelash.
For a moment, Melody wished she went with a shirt that didn’t have fries on it.
Fitz said, “Quadruplets?” He said it like he never heard the term before.
“Yeah, quadruplets, four kids born at the same time from the same mother,” Rikki told Fitz.
The way Rikki spoke, it seemed like he didn’t like Fitz too much. He used the same tone he usually used when he talked about Mr. Sweeney.
“We can’t leap with people around,” Fitz said.
Sophie squeaked, “Leap? We can’t ditch class, Fitz. They’ll call our parents – and after yesterday I think our mom might strangle all four of us.”
“This is important, Sophie,” Fitz stated. “You have to come with me.”
Liberty asked, “Why?”
Fitz looked at the two newcomers, “Just trust me.”
Rikki looked like he’d rather chew glass than go with Fitz.
“How am I supposed to trust you when you won’t even tell us anything?”
“You can trust me because I’m here to help you,” Fitz stated.
Sophie looked at Fitz and shrieked, “A test? What are we being tested for?”
“You read my mind?” Fitz dragged Sophie into the shadows of the building, shaking his head. “You can’t do that, Sophie. You can’t listen to someone’s thoughts any time you want to know something. You shouldn’t even read your own siblings’ minds. There are rules.”
“You’ve tried to read my mind without my permission,” Sophie pointed out. “And I don’t read my siblings’ minds, especially after last time.”
‘Last time’ meant that Sophie read Rikki’s mind to test her telepathy and found out that Rikki was sure that he was aromantic-asexual, thus outing himself before he was even ready to come out.
“That’s different. I’m on assignment,” Fitz stated.
Melody asked, “Assignment for what?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is you could get in big trouble for invading someone’s mind like that. It’s a serious offense.”
Sophie asked, “Really?”
“Yeah,” Fitz replied. “So don’t do it again.” He looked at Liberty and Melody, “And that goes for the both of you, too.”
“We can’t read minds,” Melody told Fitz. She can see why Rikki didn’t like Fitz all that much. Judging from the way Fitz laughed at all the questions Sophie and Rikki had, he seemed a little condescending.
“He’s here,” Sophie whispered, “The guy who tried to grab me.”
Melody whirled around, ready to start punching.
Fitz asked, “Where?”
Sophie motioned to the tree and Melody went to look, but Sophie grabbed her arm. “Don’t. I probably imagined it.”
Fitz was playing with some kind of wand looking thing, “I don’t see anyone – but let’s get out of here. We shouldn’t keep everyone waiting, anyway.”
Rikki asked, “What you mean by ‘everyone’?”
“My parents and a committee of our Councillors,” Fitz explained. “It’s part of the test you heard me thinking about when you broke into my head.”
“Sorry,” Sophie mumbled.
Fitz took Sophie’s hand, who grabbed Rikki’s hand. He glanced back at Liberty and Melody, “Don’t worry. I’ll come back for you two, okay?”
Rikki asked, “What is this test for?”
“It’s to determine your futures,” Fitz said.
Then they glittered away.
Liberty recoiled a little and Melody looked at the tree where Sophie saw that jogger.
Someone grabbed her arm and Melody whirled around, ready to slap a guy, but it was just Fitz. “Come on. Concentrate on holding my hand and focus only on that, nothing else.”
Melody took Fitz’s hand, “Okay?”
“You grab her hand,” Fitz told Liberty.
Liberty grabbed Melody’s hand.
Fitz hold the wand thing up to the sunlight…
Melody felt a warm tingling feeling go through her and she felt like she was going to turn into a puddle of goo.
Then Melody blinked and covered her eyes as she saw a bright light.
“Welcome to Everglen,” Fitz told Liberty and Melody. “What do you think?”
“I think I’m blind,” Melody said.
“Me too,” Liberty stated.
“It’s very bright,” Rikki said.
“A lot brighter than your future, that’s for damn sure,” Melody told him.
“I know,” Rikki replied.
“The gate absorbs all the light, so no can leap directly inside. My dad works for the Council, so he likes his privacy at home.”
There was a faint clicking sound and the gate opened. There was a tall, lean man standing in the clearing, surround the trees that Rikki and Sophie had seen surrounding the river the previous day.
The man wore a floor-length midnight blue cape that a pair of yellow, diamond-encrusted wings clasp. He had teal eyes and dark wavy hair. Fitz looked just like this man and the man didn’t seem happy.
All Melody could think was that the cape must have been a pain in the ass to clean because of the dust, dirt, and whatever else.
“Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody, this is my father, Alden,” Fitz introducted.
Sophie waved and Rikki nodded while Liberty and Melody stared.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody,” Alden said. He looked at Fitz, “I remember sending you out to get two and you bring back two more with you.”
“They’re, uh, quadruplets,” Fitz stated.
Alden looked at the three girls, his eyes going from one girl to the next, clearly taking in their similarities. His eyes widened, “You weren’t kidding about the eyes.” He looked at Sophie’s and Liberty’s eyes, “Most unusual.” He looked at Rikki’s eyes, “Extremely unusual.” He looked apologetically at Melody, because her eyes weren’t ‘most unusual’ or ‘extremely unusual.’
“Oh. Uh. Yeah,” Sophie said.
Alden said, “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I think the color is quite pretty. Don’t you, Fitz?”
“Yeah,” Fitz said. “Did you tell anyone else where Sophie and Rikki were?”
"Only the Council," replied Alden. "Why?"
"Sophie said someone tried to take her this morning," said Fitz.
Alden looked at Sophie once again, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," replied Sophie. "He never got close enough to grab me. He just looked like he wanted to."
"Humans," muttered Alden.
"Actually, Sophie thought he might be an elf," said Fitz.
Fitz and Alden looked at each other. Alden shook his head, "Kidnapping is a human crime. I've never heard of an elf even considering such a thing – much less trying it. What made you think it was one of us?"
"She couldn't hear his thoughts," Rikki said. Fitz and Alden jerked slightly, apparently forgetting that he was there. "She said that it only happened around Fitz."
"And now you," added Sophie, looking at Alden.
"Yes, Fitz told me about your telepathy and how Rikki isn't one, but he can talk to you," said Alden. He looked at Liberty and Melody, “How about you two?”
“We’re not telepaths,” Liberty said. “We can talk to Sophie though, but we can’t exactly read her mind, like she can read ours.”
Melody nodded.
Alden looked at Sophie, "Do you mind?"
"Um..." Sophie started taking a step back.
Alden said, "I mean you four no harm, I assure you. I'd love to see your memories of the kidnapper, if that's okay?"
Sophie looked at her siblings.
Why are you looking at us? You don’t need our permission for him to read your mind, Melody thought.
Sophie looked Liberty and Rikki, who looked back at her. They must’ve said the same thing that Melody did. Sophie looked at Alden and nodded. Alden placed two fingers against Sophie’s temples. Sophie grabbed a hold of Melody’s shoulder and Rikki’s shoulder.
The seconds ticked by and Alden finally pulled his hands away from Sophie’s temples. “Well, you are indeed a fascinating girl,” Alden said.
Fitz asked, “Couldn’t hear her either, could you?”
Alden replied, “No.”
“I showed my siblings my memories of what happened this morning,” Sophie said. “You could try reading their minds.”
Rikki shrugged, “You can.”
Alden put his fingers against Rikki’s temples, but after a few seconds, he pulled away, “Huh. You are rather remarkable.”
“You couldn’t read his mind, either?” Fitz said, “And he’s not even a Telepath.”
Rikki looked at Fitz, “Dude, why do you have to call me out like that?”
He looked at Liberty and Melody, “How about you two?”
Melody wasn’t sure if she wanted this complete stranger reading her mind, but nodded, “Sure.”
Alden put his fingers to her temples, but then pulled away. After trying Liberty, he pulled away too.
Liberty asked, “You couldn’t read our minds, either?”
“No,” Alden said, looking perplexed. “You said you’re not Telepaths.”
Alden took Sophie’s hand, “Well, I’ll look into what happened this morning, but I’m sure there’s not reason to worry. You’re here not and it’s perfectly safe in our world—” He turned to Fitz, “I specifically told you not to let them leap again without a nexus.”
“Sorry, I forgot,” Fitz defended himself. “Sophie thought she saw the guy who tried to grab her, so we had to get out of there quick. I didn’t even know about the other two. But we’re fine. I had us covered.”
"That's not the point," Alden said. He held out his hand and Fitz dug two small black cuffs out of his coat pocket and handed it to Alden. Alden clamped one bracelet around Sophie's right wrist, twisting until it seemed to fit snugly. "Is that comfortable?"
Sophie nodded and her siblings leaned over to look at the bracelet.
It was wide with a single teal jewel set in the front, and a smooth gray rectangle on the back. There were intricate symbols etched all around it.
Melody had to blink because she realized the symbols were letters that spelled out something that seemed like gibberish to her. She thought that it was the most bizarre way to decorate a bracelet.
Alden twisted the band and it clicked. "There. All set for you." He looked at Rikki, "Now it's your turn."
Rikki held out his wrist that didn't have his studded wristband.
Alden snapped the cuff on his wrist. Melody went to look at it. It was black with intricate symbols a gray rectangle on the back, and had a teal jewel on it. Rikki’s looked a little more worn and had the strange lettering on it.
"Is that comfortable for you?" Alden asked.
"Yeah," replied Rikki. Alden twisted it and it clicked into place. "What is this?"
"A safety precaution," said Alden. "Your body has to break into tiny particles to be carried by the light, and the nexus holds those particles together until your concentration is strong enough to do it for you. Fitz never should have let you both leap without one – even with the stressful circumstances. Unfortunately we don’t have two others for Liberty and Melody.”
Melody asked, “How come Fitz doesn’t wear one?”
“I got mine off early,” Fitz explained. “My concentration is strong enough for three people – which is a good thing for you, and is why we’re fine. They’re not even a little bit faded and you know it.”
“Only fools overestimate their skills, Son,” Alden said.
Liberty nodded, “That’s true. I was a good soccer play in middle school, but when I got to high school – oh, all bets were off and I wasn’t that good. And I nearly broke my nose because that girl’s cleat flew off and hit me in my face.”
Liberty was nervous. When she was nervous, she rambled a lot, which was strange because she was the 'quiet one' of the group, and sometimes she chewed on her hair.
Alden said to Fitz, “Yeah and you’ve never had to watch someone fade away. Perhaps if you had, you would be more cautious.”
Melody asked, “What do you mean when you say ‘fade away’?”
Sophie nodded.
Alden seemed to hesitate, looking like he was remembering something. “It’s when you lose too much of yourself in a leap. Your body isn’t able to full reform and eventually the light pulls you away and you’re lost forever.”
Melody shivered at the thought. That was an awful way to die.
If Fitz didn’t have concentration for three people, she, Liberty, or Rikki would’ve been lost – forever. She felt some respect for Fitz – only a little respect.
Liberty asked, “How often does that happen?”
“It only happens a few times and we’d like to keep it that way,” Alden said and looked at Fitz.
Fitz shrugged, “Fine. The next time you send me on a secret mission to collect a long-lost elf and come back with three more, I’ll be sure to put the nexus on before I leap them here.”
Alden looked like he wanted to smile, but he motioned for them to follow him down the path. “We shouldn’t keep our guests waiting.”
Sophie wiped her palms on her jeans, Rikki took a deep breath, Liberty looked at the trees, and Melody really wished she didn’t wear a shirt with fries on it.
The trees were blooming with blue, red, pink, purple, and every color of the rainbow. The air seemed like their perfume and she found it a nice change from the smoky air back home.
"How exactly does this test decide our future?" asked Sophie.
"They're testing you to see if you qualify for Foxfire," said Fitz.
"That's a glowing fungus," Rikki pointed out.
Alden laughed.
Fitz looked a little insulted, "It's our most prestigious academy."
Sophie asked, "You named your most prestigious academy after fungus?"
“More importantly, after a glowing fungus,” Melody added.
"It represents a bright glow in a darkened world," said Fitz.
Rikki asked, "Even though that glow comes from fungus?"
"Will you three stop saying 'fungus'?" Fitz stated, "Only those with the strongest talent qualify for Foxfire, and if you don't get in, you might as well kiss your future goodbye."
Alden placed his hand on Sophie’s shoulder. Melody had the slightly upsetting thought that Alden already had a favorite kid from the Foster Four.
Alden said, “You’ll have to excuse my son. He’s very proud to attend Foxfire – and it’s definitely an accomplishment. But don’t let him worry you. The earliest levels are more of a testing ground, to see who develops abilities that qualify them to continue with their studies.”
The idea of going off to elf school in elf land…She didn’t want to sneak away every day to attend elf school. She doubted that their parents would let her light leap to a secret elvin school, either. Sure, they had each other, but still…
Sophie asked, “Is it going to be hard to get into Foxfire?”
“Councillor Bronte will be difficult to impress,” Alden told them. “He feels your upbringing and lack of proper education should disqualify you. Plus, he doesn’t like surprises. The Council had no idea that you two existed, let alone two more, so he’s more than a little miffed about it. But you only need two out of three votes. Just do the best you can.”
The Council didn’t know about them? The memory that Sophie showed them said that Fitz said that they’d been looking for Sophie for twelve years.
They arrived in another. clearing
There were dozens of squat brown-skinned creatures with huge gray eyes tended a garden. There were lush plants growing up and down and sideways and slantways. One creature walked by, carrying a basket filled with twinkling purple fruit.
Sophie asked, “What?”
“Is?” Melody asked.
“That?” Liberty finished.
Alden asked, “I’m guessing this isn’t quite how you picture gnomes, is it?”
“No,” Rikki said.
These didn’t look like the lawn gnomes in Mr. Forkle’s front yard.
Sophie said, "So...you have gnomes for servants?"
Alden looked at them horrified. "We would never have servants. The gnomes choose to live with us because it's safer in our world. And they help in our gardens because they enjoy it. We're privileged to have them. You'll get your first taste of gnomish produce during lunch, and you're in for quite a treat."
Melody thought that it sounded a lot like that whole house-elf debacle from Harry Potter. Did the gnomes really enjoy working with elves? Did these gnomes actually want to here?
A gnome dug a slimy looking giant slug out of the ground and Melody decided that wouldn't eat that even if she was dying of starvation.
"Let's go," Sophie said, pushing Rikki and Melody forward as they were led out of the garden and into a meadow that had a house in the center. This house looked to be part manor and part castle, and made out of crystal. Among the numerous turrets and gables rose a tower that oddly looked an awful like a lighthouse.
They passed through two braided silver massive doors and entered a round foyer, which sparkled like a prism in sunlight.
"This way," Alden said, taking the four down the widest hallway that was lined with fountains that spouted different colored water.
Melody suddenly found herself wondering what exactly was the point of going all out like. Why have all of these rooms? Was this some kind of pissing contest?
The hall ended with two doors that were encrusted with a jeweled mosaic of two diamond unicorns racing across a field of amethyst flowers.
Jesus Christ. Just how freaking rich are these people? Melody thought.
Everything about this world just screams wealth, Sophie replied.
“You four have nothing to be afraid of,” Alden told them.
Fitz pulled the door open and led them into a formal dining room. There were sheer silk curtains covering the glass walls.
“Crystal chandelier, twelve o’clock,” Rikki muttered.
“Right over a round table that had domed platters and fancy goblets,” Sophie added.
Melody looked at the enormous chandelier – there were long, shimmering crystals cascading down from it – and it was right above a table with domed platters and fancy goblets.
“And there’s three people were jewel-encrusted circlets sitting at the table,” Liberty added under her breath. She took a spiral curl and bit it.
The three figures rose from the plush, throne-like chairs that surrounded the table.
Melody stared at the silver capes that the three wore. It looked like they had key shaped clasps and felt underdressed because everyone wore jewels and lush fabrics, except for Sophie, her siblings, and Fitz who was ‘in disguise’.
“Councillors, this is the Foster quadruplets, Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody Foster,” Alden introduced. “Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody, this Kenric, Oralie, and Bronte.”
Kenric looked like a football player and had wild red hair to go with a big, toothy grin. Oralie had rosy cheeks and long blonde ringlets. Bronte, however, was a different story.
Bronte was the smallest, with cropped brown hair and sharp features. He wasn’t bad looking, but he had—
Sophie gasped.
Bronte demanded, “What?”
“Sorry,” Sophie mumbled. “I was surprised by your ears.”
Bronte seemed confused, “My ears?”
Sophie squirmed as Fitz and the Councillors, except for Bronte, who didn’t look happy to be left out.
“I think she’s surprise that your ears are…pointy,” Alden finally answered. “Our ears change shape as we. Eventually it’ll happy to all of us.”
“We’re going to get pointy ears?” Sophie said, covering her ears with her hands, like she was checking to see if they were normal. Rikki was staring at Liberty’s ears, as if seeing that they were still the same.
“Not for a few thousand years,” Alden promised. “By then, I doubt you’ll mind.”
Sophie sat in a chair, “How long do elves live?”
“We don’t know,” Kenric said, moving his chair a little closer to Oralie’s than was necessary.
Oh. They were dating, apparently, Melody realized.
“No one’s died of old age yet,” Kenric continued.
Sophie rubbed her forehead and Melody rotated her index finger ring with her thumb.
Bronte and Oralie were looking at Liberty and Melody, then at Sophie, probably picking out similarities.
Sophie asked, “So, you’re saying elves are…immortal?”
“No,” Alden said, a little sadly. “We can die. But our bodies stop aging when reach adulthood. We don’t get wrinkles or gray hair. Only our ears age.” He smiled at Bronte, who just glowered in response. “Bronte belongs to a group we call the Ancients, which is why his ears are so distinct. Please, help yourselves.” He pointed to the domed platters in front of each of them.
Rikki uncovered the domed plate and looked at something that looked fluffy white with chocolate-y looking covering, along with purple mushy glop. Sophie looked like she had the same purple glop with black strips. Melody removed the domed plate. It looked like she had the same as Rikki’s and Liberty had the same as Sophie’s.
Melody looked at Sophie, who looked back at the three of them.
On three, Sophie thought. After a few seconds, Sophie thought, Three.
Melody, Liberty, Rikki, and Sophie went for the purple glop taking a bite at the same time. It was a surprise that it tasted like a cheeseburger.
Liberty asked, “What exactly is this stuff?”
“That’s mashed carnissa root. The black strips are umber leaves,” Alden told her.
Sophie and Melody took a bite out of their umber leaves.
“Tastes like chicken,” Sophie stated.
“You eat animals?” Fitz asked in a shocked tone, like Melody said that they eat humans.
Sophie nodded and squirmed when Fitz grimaced. “I take it that elves are vegetarians.”
Everyone, except for her siblings, nodded.
“Oh, sorry,” Rikki said.
Sure Melody and Rikki had considered going vegan at one point, but Amy had mocked them for it, because of the whole ‘annoying younger sister’ thing.
"So, Sophie," Bronte sneered her name, like it was annoying to say. "Alden tells me you're a Telepath."
Sophie didn't say anything for a few seconds.
"Yes," said Alden, speaking up. "She's been reading minds since she was five. Isn't that right, Sophie?"
Sophie nodded making Kenric’s and Oralie's mouth to drop at that.
"That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard," Bronte argued, not looking impressed at that.
"It's unusual," Alden corrected Bronte.
Bronte rolled his eyes as he looked at Sophie, "Let's see how good you are, then. Tell me what I'm thinking."
"He gave you permission," Fitz told Sophie.
Sophie took a deep breath and looked at Bronte. It took a few seconds, and Sophie said, "You're thinking that you're the only one at this table with any common sense. And you're tired of watching Kenric stare at Oralie.”
Bronte's mouth fell open and Kenric's face turned as red as his hair. Oralie looked at her plate, her cheeks turning pink.
Alden had his hand covering his mouth, "I take it that's right?"
Rikki could tell that Alden was smiling.
Bronte somehow managed to look both chagrined and incredulous. "How can that be? An Ancient mind is almost impenetrable."
"The key word in that sentence is 'almost'," Alden said. "Don't feel bad – she's also breached Fitz's blocking."
Bronte grinned and said, "Sounds like Alden's golden boy isn't as infallible as everyone thinks."
"It's more likely that Sophie is exceptionally special," Alden corrected.
And there it was. Melody looked at her food, feeling a little disgruntled. Of course Alden would think that.
It just felt weird because their parents normally loved all four of them equally and it was just weird that Alden focused more on Sophie.
That explained it, Melody realized. Alden focused to much on Sophie.
"So, what about her…quadruplets?" Bronte asked with a disdainful tone. He said quadruplets like how their parents spoke of the guy who accidentally ran over Rikki. It was never with that guy’s name, it was ‘That Guy’. Perhaps it was the way they said it like how they Scott Patterson, when Rikki asked about him.
"I never asked about their abilities." Fitz admitted, "If they even have one."
"If?" asked Sophie offended. "They have one."
"Show it then," Bronte challenged.
Melody panicked a lot. She still didn’t like her abilities.
Sophie took Rikki's hand, who really looked panicked, and took it back, "Ouch!"
"Sorry," Rikki said, clasping his hands together.
"Now my fingers are numb no thanks to you," Sophie said looking at her hand.
"I said sorry," Rikki said. He pulled his hands away, revealing strings of electricity between his palms.
Bronte didn't look too impressed, but Oralie and Kenric did, even if they weren't quite as impressed as they were with Sophie.
"You're a Charger!" said Fitz.
Rikki asked, "I'm a what?"
"He's a what?" Sophie asked at the same time as Rikki spoke.
"You're a Charger," Fitz repeated.
"He means that you can control electrical discharges, chargers, lightning bolts, and to control the flow of electrons inside machines and air," said Alden. "Sometimes Chargers encompass the control of magnetic fields."
"He does have some control of his ability. When did you develop it?" asked Oralie.
"Five," replied Rikki.
"The same age as Sophie," Fitz added.
"Well, we're quadruplets so..." started Rikki.
"Yes, we heard," said Bronte flatly. "Who's going next?"
Melody looked at her siblings.
The box, Mel, Sophie told Melody.
Melody nodded, “I need an assistant.”
Fitz seemed confused. “Okay.”
Melody got out of her chair and moved to the center of the room. She motioned for Fitz to follow her. Melody was aware of eyes on her that she didn’t want, so she tried to ignore them and moved her hands to put Fitz in a white box. She stepped back and looked at the Councillors, who seemed shocked.
“You’re a psionipath,” Alden told her. “When did you manifest this ability?”
Melody rolled her rings around, “I was eight, but I think I may have been younger. I had been feeling energy since I was seven, but I didn’t know I can do that until I was eight.”
“The youngest psionipath to manifest,” Alden said impressed. “Can you get rid of the—?”
Melody dismantled the box, although Fitz looked like he didn’t appreciate it. “A head’s up would’ve been nice.”
Melody faked a smile as she looked at Fitz, “And ruin the surprise?” She went to sit back down.
Liberty rolled her shoulders and held out a hand and a wind picked up, causing the dishes to fly straight into a wall. She looked at them, who didn’t look thrilled to cause their food to fly into a wall. She asked, “Too much?”
“And she’s a Guster,” Alden said. “How old were you when you manifested?”
“About seven, I think,” Liberty told him. “I started feeling the wind on days it weren’t windy. When I got mad, the wind would blow. I was eight when I tried to fly but I broke my ankle.”
“Excellent control,” Kenric stated.
Bronte snorted and Rikki glared at Bronte. Bronte got up and went to a corner of the row and proceeded to mime playing a violin.
Alden looked confused, “Bronte, what are you doing?”
Rikki looked sheepish, “I told him to go stand in the corner and play air violin.”
Fitz looked shocked, “You’re a Mesmer too?”
Rikki asked, “Is that what it is?”
“He always had a way of making people do things if he wanted, but I didn’t know there was a word for it,” Sophie admitted.
“It’s incredible, especially Mesmerizing an Ancient” Alden said. “Having two abilities is rare.”
Rikki looked at Bronte, who stopped what he was doing.
Bronte really didn’t happy when he came back to sit down. He glared at Rikki, “Never do that again. You and your sisters don’t have my vote.”
Kenric clapped, “I’ve never seen such natural talent from…quadruplets.” He said quadruplets like it was a bad thing. “You four are naturals at our language. Your accents are perfect. Almost as perfect as these guys’.”
Rikki asked, “What?”
Fitz laughed and Melody cringed. Yeah, he definitely seemed condescending, now. "You four have been speaking the Enlightened Language since we leaped here – just like how Sophie and Rikki did yesterday."
Melody looked at Liberty, seeing how confused Liberty felt.
They’ve been speaking a different language? With an accent? And they didn’t even notice?
Melody looked at Sophie and Rikki, who were speaking telepathically.
She knew that Sophie and Rikki were closer to each other than they were to Liberty and Melody. It was fine; they had been through a traumatic ordeal together, landing in the hospital when they were five. In turn, Liberty and Melody became closer to each other in response.
"Our language is instinctive," Alden explained, once seeing how confused the four of them looked. "We speak from birth – I'm sure people thought you four were interesting babies. Though to humans our language sounds like babbling."
Their parents used to tease them about how noisy and talkative they were to each other. Their parents used to tease them about their made up language that they had spoke when they were younger.
"Is it possible that we were speaking this language when we younger?" Rikki asked. "And our parents thought we just made up our own language?"
Fitz was confused, "Your parents thought you made up a language?"
"It's common in twins," Sophie explained. "Twins make up a language that only they can understand, but I never heard of quadruplets having their own lanaguage." Fitz nodded. "Is there a word that sounds like 'soybean' in English?"
Alden asked, "Soybean?"
Sophie explained, "I used to say it as a baby. Our parents thought I was trying to say my name and mispronouncing it. They even turned it into a nickname—" Fitz chuckled, "A really annoying one."
Kenric shrugged. "I can't think of what that would be."
Alden, however, looked pale, which didn't just unnoticed.
"What is it?" asked Bronte.
"Probably nothing," replied Alden, flippantly.
"I'll decide if it's nothing," Bronte insisted.
"It's...possible that she was saying suldreen – but it's a stretch," said Alden.
Bronte's mouth seemed to tighten in a line.
"What does suldreen mean?" Sophie asked.
Alden hesitated, "It's the proper name for a moonlark, a rare of species of bird."
"And that's bad because...?" Sophie asked.
Everyone was looking at the four like they were puzzles that they couldn't solve.
"It's not bad. It's just interesting," Alden said.
Bronte snorted, "Troubling is what it is."
"Why is it troubling?" asked Rikki.
"It would be an uncomfortable coincidence. But most likely you were trying to say your name. You were hearing it all the time so it's natural that you would try to repeat it," said Alden.
Melody all of a sudden doubted that. She couldn't imagine hearing Sophie saying 'soybean' in a baby voice. 'Suldreen' made so much sense since it sounded so much closer to 'soybean' than Sophie trying to say 'Sophie.'
"Well, I've heard quite enough to make my decision. I voted against them and it still stands. You will not convince me otherwise," said Bronte.
Rikki was panicking again.
Kenric shook his head, "You're being absurd, Bronte. I vote in favor of the quadruplets – and you won't convince me otherwise."
Sophie looked at Oralie.
"Two of you, give me your hands," Oralie said.
"Why?" asked Rikki.
"Oralie's an Empath," said Fitz. "She can feel your emotions."
Oralie grasped Sophie's hand, "I feel a lot of fear and confusion, but I've never felt such sincerity. And there's something else...I'm not sure I can describe it." She looked at Sophie. "You have my vote." She looked at Rikki, "Your turn." Rikki really didn't want to, but held out his hand to her. "I feel you're reluctant—"
"He doesn't like strangers touching him," Liberty stated.
"Okay, you're panicking, please calm down and stop accidentally shocking me," Oralie told Rikki.
Melody tried not to snicker at that.
"Sorry," Rikki replied.
"You're also feeling a lot of fear and a lot of worry. There's nothing to be worried about. You're also sincere and there's something else to, but I also can't describe it. You have my vote too." She looked at Melody and Liberty. "Your turn."
Melody took Oralie's hand and after a repeat of 'fear, worry, and sincerity', Oralie voted her in. Oralie took Liberty's hand, and voted her in as well because Liberty felt more worried and sincere than scared.
Alden clapped, "That settles it then."
"For now," Bronte added. "This will be revisited. I'll make sure of it."
Alden stopped smiling. "When?"
"We should wait 'til the end of the year. Give them some time to adjust," said Kenric.
"Excellent," agreed Alden.
"Fools," said Bronte. "I invoke my right as Senior Councillor to demand a probe."
Melody hoped that the probe wasn't a Close Encounters kind. It looked like Rikki was thinking the same thing.
"I'd planned as much. I've arranged to bring them to Quinlin as soon as we're done here," said Alden. He led the Councillors out of the room.
"What's a probe?" Sophie asked Fitz. "And I hope it's not the kind that Rikki and Melody are thinking about."
"Just a different way to read your mind," said Fitz. "It's no big deal. Happens all the time when you're in telepathy training – which it looks like you'll be. I'm not sure about the other's training though. Councillor Velia is also a Guster, so I'm sure she'll be Liberty's Councillor. I'm not entirely sure about Melody's mentor though, since there's isn't a Councillor who's a psionipath. A noble would have to be willing to mentor her. I think Councillor Zarina will have to be Rikki's mentor, because she's also a Charger. My best friend, Keefe, will probably think of all kinds of pranks he'll want him to do, especially with the Mesmer ability. I can't believe you both passed."
"I'm not using my Mesmer ability for pranks," Rikki stated.
Melody asked, "Why does Bronte want us to get probed?"
Fitz explained, "He's only doing it because he's a pain. Well, that, and I think he's worried because my dad couldn't read all of your minds. And I think he's sore because a twelve-year-old embarrassed him."
"Okay, but why does he care if no one can read our minds?" asked Sophie.
"Probably because of your upbringing," said Fitz.
"You mean the fact that our family is human and we're not," said Sophie.
Fitz seemed to hesitate but nodded.
"Why is that concerning?" asked Rikki.
"Because it's never happened before," said Fitz, "Especially with four."
Sophie asked, "Never?"
"No," replied Fitz.
Melody wondered why the four of them were living with humans then.
Before the question could be asked, Alden walked back in the room. "Sophie, Rikki, Liberty, and Melody, why don't you four come with me, and we'll get you something else to wear. You'd better change too, Fitz."
Melody figured that they should probably get home before they ended up grounded; as in, put into the ground. However, she knew that they needed more answers.
"Where are we going?" Sophie asked as they followed Alden out of the room.
Alden smiled, "How would you four like to see Atlantis?"