Keelia and Alvis were interrupted by a swarm of students. Alvis was still crying, which no doubt embarrassed him, but the tears wouldn’t stop coming. He turned away. Delisa ran to him and hugged him tightly. What Keelia would give to have Samuel be here right then and there.  During Magical Arts, with Hadassah’s mother, Elowyn, Hadassah sat down beside Keelia.

                “Is everything Ok, Keelia? There was quite a lot of shouting going on in the hallway. If you don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to intrude on your emotions,” Keelia couldn’t help having a tear slip down her cheek at the words. At least he had one friend that would always be there. Hadassah wrapped her arms around Keelia and Elowyn walked over.

                “I heard about what happened, Keelia, and you’re welcome to come over after school today,” she said.

                “Thanks, that would be really nice. Are you sure that’s OK, Ms. Elowyn?” Keelia asked. Elowyn nodded and smiled.  Magical Arts was a very soothing class. So was Magic of Myths. In general, Ms. Elowyn was a calming teacher.

                Then came Musical Theory 2. The only word that Keelia could think to describe it was: laborious. Two and a half straight hours of endless talking again. Mr. Thisgy was a very good teacher. But by the fourth hour of Musical Theory. Keelia wanted to go home. Keelia had wanted to go home four hours previously, right after the whole Alvis fight thingy. Study Hall was by far the best session of the day. A break from sitting next to Delisa, who constantly nagged Keelia for information about what had happened. All that Keelia told Delisa was not to ask any more questions. So at study hall Keelia sat in the very back corner. A boy plopped down beside her. She looked over. It was Brinely. He pulled out his Weatherton book and began looking at his homework sheet. She pulled out her books as well. Her relationship with her ‘brother’ was quite horrible already, so Keelia did her best not to say a word, unless something agitated him. “I’m sorry,” he said. She looked up at him in surprise.

                “About what?” She asked.

                “About everything. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through. Ya, losing my sister was hard. Especially since we were twins,”

                “Wait, you were twins?” she asked. He nodded.

                “That’s why it was even harder for me than for Cligan. Oh, thank you. I don’t know what you did to Cligan, but it’s changed him. He always looked happier when I see him. He’s needed somebody like you for quite a long time now, I think. Thank you so much,” Brinely said in a hushed voice.

                “I’m so confused. Earlier you hated me and were yelling at me… Why are you acting differently?” Keelia asked.

                “Cligan talked with me last night. He told me what you told him. I never looked at it in the way that you have. So many other people lost family. Two-hundred people died. I was being greedy and selfish. I used Fern’s death as an excuse to be angry all the time. I won’t ever truly be able to get her out of my mind though, but I’ll try. I promise.”

                “No, Brinely. Never take her from your mind! You don’t have to, just store her in your heart, you can still love her. But just remember that she probably would have wanted you to move on with your life,” Keelia responded. 

                “I’ll try to be friendly to you. I’ll try to act like a brother. We should have been friends since the very beginning. I’m so sorry,” he said. Keelia thought for a moment.

                “I need a new friend. Especially one that’s my brother. I’m pretty sure that I would’ve been devastated for the rest of my life if we hadn’t resolved our conflicts. I need another brother,” Keelia said. She held up her hand and Brinely shook it. Brinely stood stock still once he looked around the room. Everybody was staring at them. Again with the staring?! Thought Keelia, when will I ever get a break from the staring?  Master Brinalds was grinning widely.

                “I was going to tell you two to shush, but I think that this was best. Next time you need to resolve something, you should do it out of school,” he said it cordially and winked at them in the end. The children continued to stare at Brinely like they had just seen a ghost. “Enough staring! Back to your homework everybody,” he paused and turned to Keelia and Brinely, “that includes you two!” he answered jollyly.  

                After the two-hour Study Hall Period, Brinely and Keelia split paths. Brinely had to go to the Weather Language, and Keelia to go to Color Language. The Color Language consisted of twenty-five letters, like the normal alphabet, but instead of letters, there were shapes. Triangles and squares were the main letters.  Some were half-filled, others were completely filled, and still others were quarter-filled.  It was overall pretty average for a first language class. First was the introduction and then a brief talk on what they would be doing throughout the year. And then there was a solid hour-and-a-half of review from last year (Keelia was lost the whole time because she hadn’t been there).

                Then they were going home! Keelia went back with Hadassah and Ms. Elowyn. School had started at 5:30 a.m., and their last class ended around 5:00 p.m. A solid eleven and a half hours total of classes, but that included Lunch and Study Hall. Hadassah and Keelia trudged slowly through the forest path. The path had more boulders than Keelia remembered, but after the long day, she needed thewilderness. Why is it that the first day of school is always busy and dramatic? I was really hoping that I would fit in and be like all the other kids. But man, Musical Theory 1 was intense. What happened? Keelia thought. And what did Alvis mean when he said that he wasn’t actually a Howell? It doesn’t make any sense… If he’s not a Howell, then where is he from? He obviously wasn’t a Mickinson, and it wouldn’t make sense that he was. I don’t know where he’s from.

                “Are you OK? You didn’t answer my question?” Hadassah’s voice cut through Keelia’s thoughts. Keelia shook her head.

                “What? Sorry, I was thinking about something that Alvis said. What was your question?” Keelia asked.

                “I asked what happened earlier during Musical Theory 1. If you don’t want to talk about it, I totally understand- well I clearly don’t understand what you’re going through… but I understand if you don’t want to talk about it- never mind, you know what I mean,” Hadassah looked serious.

                “Alvis started to record me telling what I had seen or thought. Then he would ask me questions and tell me I was ‘doing great’ or ‘good’, which is totally infuriating to me because he was acting like I was a five-year-old. Then when we got to the last memory, I was hot and felt like I wanted to throw up. Since I wanted water and was agitated thinking about the memories, I got angry. I shouted at him, and he shouted at me,” Keelia said, hoping that Hadassah wouldn’t ask anything else.  

                “The thing that I’m most confused about was that everything went quiet, and then you walked back toward him after… Are you fine telling me what he said? Did it offend you? Because if it did, I would whack him on the head, and-” Hadassah began.

                “No! He didn’t say anything offensive. He just told me something that I think he’s been trying to hide for a while now. I don’t think that I should tell anybody, at least not yet” responded Keelia, astonished about how much pump small Hadassah could have.

                Hadassah and Keelia talked for a bit. Then they played a few games with the other dryad girls, and then went back to sit by the stream. The sun was beginning to set in the sky and Keelia’s eyes opened wide. “Oh my word! I never told my parents that I was coming over here! They’re going to ground me for life! I was so overwhelmed with, you know, the things that happened at school that it never crossed my mind! I’m sorry Hadassah! Maybe we can get together tomorrow as well! If I’m not grounded, of course. Goodbye!” Keelia shouted as she sprinted up the path. While running desperately up the winding path. Keelia ran into somebody. It was Laurelin.

                “Why Keelia! Whatever are you doing here? I thought that you were at home! When did you decide to come down here? You didn’t travel down here alone, did you? You know you’re not allowed to,” Laurelin gasped.

                “Don’t worry, Mrs. Alie! I didn’t come here alone; I came with Hadassah and her mother after school. But I forgot to tell Helbry and Eliza, so I really need to get back,” Keelia said.

                “How did you forget to tell them?” Laurelin questioned. Great, I have to explain to another person, thought Keelia.  She sighed and began to tell Laurelin the grueling story of how she blacked out and started to see other people’s memories. And that it all started when a mysterious, gloomy song started on the radio. Then she told the other agonizing story of the conversation with Alvis. Laurelin looked troubled for a moment, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she wrapped Keelia in a light hug. Keelia sank into her arms.

                “Thanks, Mrs. Alie. That was nice,” said Keelia, wiping her hands across her tearing eyes. Something about Mrs. Alie\Laurelin’s hugs were more comforting than Eliza’s and Helbry’s. Even Cligan’s hugs weren’t as satisfying. Laurelin smiled and spoke.

                “Sometimes people just need a hug. And considering your day, which I’m still perplexed about, you deserve a good night’s sleep. It’s alright if Eliza grounds you,” Laurelin spoke kindly, but Keelia groaned. She had once been grounded while with her human family, and it was not fun at all.

                “But if she does. I’ll be right there to take the idea out of her mind. All you have to do is explain to her what happened, even though you’re probably tired of it,” Laurelin finished. Keelia sighed and nodded her head. It was really getting dark now and she would be in big trouble when she got home.  She quickly told Laurelin that she really should be at home at the moment, and thankfully, she let Keelia go.  Keelia sprinted the rest of the way home. It was a dark night, and the stars were just coming out of the clouds as Keelia bolted through the forest. She heard a strange sound behind her and whipped around.

                “Alvis! What are you doing here?” Keelia asked.

                “I came to try and find you. Your parents are worried sick, and when Brinely told them what happened, they freaked out,” Alvis replied. He looked unbelievably tired, and his eyes were red underneath. He looked awful. He walked up to Keelia and took her arm. “Come on, Delisa and I have been looking all over the wood. Where were you?”

                “I was at Silver Creek, with Hadassah,” Keelia said. He turned to confront her once again.

                “Keelia, you can’t just go to Silver Creek! There are really dangerous things in this wood! Didn’t you know that already?” He asked.

                “No, I didn’t, because somebody was simply telling me what to do every moment of my life since I got here. Nobody bothered to tell me, did it just slip your mind?” Keelia knew she shouldn’t be angry with Alvis and the Howells, but they really had been directing her life since she got there. It wasn’t fine with Keelia that she had been taken away from her home and her family. The worst part was that she wasn’t even allowed to visit her family.

                “Keelia, I don’t want to do this again. Wasn’t it bad enough this morning? Do we really have to?” he pleaded urgently. Keelia sighed.

                “Fine, but you don’t have to pull me. I know how to walk by myself, and besides. Does it look like I’ve been attacked by a vicious tiger? No,” Keelia answered the question herself. Alvis let go reluctantly.

                Alvis and Keelia walked back, not looking at each other.

                “You know, the kids at school aren’t going to let this go. What happened to Brinely’s old gang?” Keelia asked.

                “What about his gang? Last I saw him, he was terrorizing one of the second graders because the kid almost dropped a book on his foot. Why?” Alvis said.

                “He said that he changed and started to be really nice to me. What time did you see that?”

                “I’m not sure…” said Alvis, “Sometime after lunch, I think.” That. Was. It. Keelia was finished with Crecklington. All that had happened to her was either bad, weird, or both, and Keelia was sick of it. Her cheeks flamed with frustration, for the third time that day.

                “First, I’m taken away from my home into a strange world where everybody has magical\musical talents that somehow help sustain the world. Second, I was left behind in the void and Everie got me out, no thanks to your family. Third, Everie just left me on the streets to wander my way around. Fourth, when I went to Egenical one of the roses just up and turned to ash, then on my way home, one of the trolley decorations turned gray. Fifth, when I touched the gray decoration, I heard a creepy voice in my head that was giving me a weird message. Sixth, I have to deal with two people who hadn’t gotten over a sister dying five years previously. Great, Cligan’s doing the slightest bit better. Then, seventh. The first day I go to school, in the first class, I get sucked into somebody else’s memories, which have left me horror stricken and confused. Then the argument between you and me which pretty much only ended in confusion. Let’s see that was what, nine? Then my ‘brother’, who was the meanest person I have ever met, comes to tell me he’s sorry for all the hurtful things that he’s done and said to me. That felt great, all though he owed me for letting me forgive him. On top of all the things that I’ve just said, My ‘brother’ lied about the whole, heart-touching affair thing? Are you serious?” She shouted. Alvis looked at her, his eyes were wide.

                “You do know that you’re not the only one with a hard life, right?” Alvis said quietly.

                “Oh, no. I know that. But tell me Alvis, how often do you get sucked into other people’s memories. How often do you see a nine-year-old girl die a gruesome death right before your eyes?” Alvis’s eyes were beginning to cry, and he burst out.

                “I watched my own parents die!” Alvis fell back and sat down in the dark, “and then do you know what the King and Queen did to me? They wiped my family name out of my mind.” Keelia was stunned. He watched his parents die. Alvis was sniffling in the dark.

                “Alvis, I…” Keelia started. He looked up, his eyes wild and sad.

                “I don’t want your sympathy. I want you to go home and leave me alone!” He said it harshly. And Keelia slowly turned around and walked away. 

                Keelia ran slowly at first, but then she went faster and faster until she was sprinting once again. Her legs burned, complaining that they were tired and wanted to rest. But Keelia wouldn’t let them. Sure, her time in Crecklington hadn’t been the best, but Alvis? He watched his parents die. Keelia couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like. She wondered about how old he was. Plus, the King and Queen wiped his name pretty much off of the face of the earth. Keelia kept on running. “Keelia! There you are!” She heard Delisa. She pushed past Delisa and kept on running. “Keelia! Stop! Wait up!” Delisa cried, but she wouldn’t listen. She wanted to go home and go to bed. She didn’t want to go to school tomorrow. She didn’t want to go anywhere but home. Her home, she wanted to go back to Tennessee. Back to Samuel. That’s what she would do, she didn’t know how, and she didn’t know when, but she would.