"This is exciting guys, big sleepover!" Keefe says as everyone gathers in the room.

And by everyone, I mean everyone. There's the five I picked. Then there's the whole Collective. Then Oralie— don't even get me started. And of course, Ro. None of the other bodyguards were allowed because of their scent they carry, or whatever Forkle was trying to explain to Sandor. Grady and Edaline are here as well, which I thought it's because they forced themselves to be there, but apparently they were one of Forkle's first picks. They also brought along Bianca's mom, Della.

"Does everyone understand what we are going to do?" Forkle asks us all.

"We stay here until tomorrow night, where we will basically sneak into their hideout and then destroy them and win and live happily ever after," Biana sums it up.

"Does everyone understand the room assignments? Alden was kind enough to set this up from back home," Forkle says and everyone nods their heads. "Some of you may be familiar with this town, but most won't. It's been almost forgotten by our civilization because of the lack of any resources or workers from this area. Almost everyone is— pardon my language- Talentless. So when you go out, you must not use your talents, understood?"

Again, everyone hums in agreement.

"After we leave the room, you guys may open up the papers and find out who you are rooming with. Again— everyone was chosen for a reason, please understand that. We cannot have everyone together for security reasons," Tiergan tells us all.

All the adults leave the room, leaving us 6.

"Let's open on three," Marella says. "One , two..."

"Three," I say through my breath.

I open my paper and almost drop it from the name. Keefe. I look up and see him already looking at me. His face is unreadable, but I notice him swallow the lump in his throat. He doesn't look thrilled about the idea.

Dex is with Tam. Biana is with Marella. And I guess Keefe is with me.

"Does everyone understand what they need to do," I say holding out my huckleberry juice.

Everyone pulls theirs out.

"Please don't be ugly," Biana says before taking a swig of hers.

I down the sour juice and wait for the transformation. I close my eyes as I feel the weird vibration through my body. I open my eyes once it's done and I can't recognize anyone. I look over at Keefe. It made him shorter and changed his hair and gave him a mustache.

"I'm kind of digging the look," he says twirling his Stache and winking at me.

"Got to say, mine is the best though," Dex says pointing out his odd colored hair. His eyes are a dark blue that contrast his green hair.

"Let's do this quickly, I can't stand this outfit," Biana says motioning to her rather normal looking clothing. We walk out two at a time, heading towards the hotel they have here.  Keefe keeps his hand on my lower back, trying to make us look normal. I know he's doing what he should be, but I can't help but get the flutters.

"Can I help you?" The front lady asks Keefe and I.

"Can we get one room? Voleri should be the name," Keefe says repeating the fake name we had.

"Ah, of course, please make your way up to your room," she hands him some weird device and he takes it.

He guides us both towards what kind of looks like a smaller version of a leap master.

"Hold on tight," he whispers in my ear, tickling me with his hair, but I oblige.

He holds up the weird glass thing he received and suddenly we whoosh up. It kind of reminds me of the old elevator thing in Keefe's old house. This is less intense though. Once the ride finishes, I slowly blink my eyes to adjust to the room. It's way more luxurious than the Human hotels. There is a huge bed in the middle along with crystals hanging from the ceiling. The walls are fully glass. There is a kitchen, and basically anything you'd ever need.

"Wow," I say looking around.

I can feel my body vibrating again, which means the juice is wearing off.

"Thank god," I hear Keefe say.

I turn around and see him arrays transformed back. He's rubbing his neck. "Kind of miss the mustache though."

I look over at the mirror by the bed and see I'm back to normal too. From the reflection, I can Keefe in the back, starting to undress for bed. My cheeks flame up and I dart my eyes away.

"I think the bed is big enough for us both where we could have space, but I can also sleep on the floor, I'll just ask the lady-"

"It's fine," I cut him off. "This wouldn't be our first time having a sleepover."

We both smile softly as we recall the bittersweet memories from the time we had to go to the hideout and our window sleepovers.

"I'm going to go change," I say motioning to the bathroom.

I walk in quickly and change into my pajamas. It doesn't help that Edaline packed some of my embarrassing ones. The shirt and shorts have alicorns on them. He's never going to let me live this down. After making sure I look somewhat presentable, I walk out. I don't see Keefe on the bed. I walk over and see him standing by the glass, looking out into the small village.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask approaching the glass as well.

He looks over at me, looking up and down at my appearances

"How cute your pajamas are," he smirks, "and how much I would kill for a matching pair."

I roll my eyes, ignoring how he called them cute. "Ask Edaline, she'll get you some."

"Now what are you actually thinking about," I say, not ignoring his subject change.

"You could just check you know," he says.

"Or I could just hope you would tell me the truth," I say placing my hand on the cold glass. "I think we've been through enough that what we say won't surprise each other."

A few moments of silence pass before I hear him exhale. "I'm thinking about how tomorrow is going to go down. It's not going to be as easy as Biana said it would be."

"I know that," I say, "But I also think this is our only shot to get them for real this time. I can't risk this chance. What if they do something to mess you up?"

The last sentence seems to leave something on him. "You've always been so thoughtful Foster," a small smile appears on his face.

"You're wrong," I say, "I'm not a good enough person to where you can call me nice things like that."

"Foster-"

"No it's okay. You don't even know half of the things I've done. And even to Fitz. The last five years I've treated him like shit," I say not able to look at him. "I've treated my friends like shit. My family like shit. I've treated everyone and everything in my life like shit."

"Foster, they love you," he says grabbing my hand and giving it a tight squeeze.

"And you know what the worst part is," I say not waiting for him to answer. "It's that I don't even regret it that much. Because we found you. You're back."

I gain the courage to look over at him. I notice him looking at me with something I've never seen. But it makes my stomach flip a hundred times and my heartbeat increase way too fast. He brings his other hand to lace it through my hair.

"Do you know how much I've dreamt of this hair," he says, admiring it. "And how much I've thought about these eyes," he traces around my eyes down to my lips, where he has laces his thumb over my bottom lip.

I watch as his tongue swipes over his own lips. He's so close I can smell him. He smells really good. I can see every individual lash on his lids. I notice how much he towers me now. And the muscles indented on his chest and broad shoulders doesn't escape my eyes. I bravely raise my hand and place it on his chest.

"You've changed a lot, Keefe," I whisper through my lips.

His eyes flicker from my eyes to my lips. I take it as a sign to step closer. His thumb still hasn't left my lip. I can feel something stir in me as his hand wraps around my waist. Something dangerous. Something forbidden. Something that might be fun. Enjoyable even.

"I'm an empathetic Foster," he says a bit breathless, "You can't hide your feelings from me," he says as he slides his hands lower.

"We aren't kids anymore, Keefe," I say, the air getting thick.

He huffs. "Say my name again."

At this point, my whole body is probably burning red. But I push the embarrassment away. "Keefe."

And that breaks it for him. The next thing I know, his lips are on mine, his hands are under each thigh, and his body over mine as he lays me gently on the bed. His kiss is electric. Not like how my first kiss was at all. This sent the shivers all the way down to my core. I need more. He's close, but not close enough. I want more. I grip his hair pulling him closer. We pull away for a few moments for air before I latch my lips back on his. I've dreamt of this. Daydreamed even. And it's so much better than I thought it would be. The ring of an imparted cuts us both off. Keefe pulls away and stares straight down at me. His cheeks are slightly tinged with red, his hair messy. And he's breathing heavy.

"Keefe," I say breathlessly. "You should probably get that."

He stares at me for a few more seconds before he gets up and walks over to his imparter. He answers it and I see Grady's face on there.

"Hey, I heard you are sharing the room with my daughter, you guys better be on different sides of the room, do you understand?" He says.

"Don't worry sir, no monkey business, and we will be sleeping on opposite sides," Keefe says, completely changing his demeanor from before.

"Where is she?" He asks Grady.

Keefe looks over at me and motions to pretend to be asleep.

"She's already in bed asleep," Keefe says. "Goodnight Papa."

He hangs up before he can say anything else. He looks over at me and I pray he'll come back and continue whatever we were doing. But he does the opposite.

"I'm going to sleep over there," he motions to the futon on the opposite side. "I'm sorry for what I did. We will talk about it, but let's get through tomorrow first."

He smiles at me softly before walking away. I don't even get a word out because of shock. I stare at the ceiling trying to figure out what just happen. But all I can feel is the emptiness in my heart. Did I just get rejected?