i luv you all to the people who actually reads this (I'm talking to that one person XD) and I hope you enjoy this chapter <333 happy reading, oh yeah, and I drew the banner :D

—caly

Being in a group with Keryn was torture. Every little thing he does provoked her anger, and she had no control when she lashed out at him. It wasn't Keryn's fault. It was the fact that he was infuriating.

He acted like her dad. Exactly like her dad before he fell into grief. She couldn't help but get mad at the fact that her dad is gone and was replaced with a fake version. She couldn't exactly yell at her dad though. He would break.

It had been one day since Viessa assigned their groups, and Kaylessa's anger was just starting to settle. The group had decided to meet at her house to debate the murders of Alina and Alden after Viessa had dismissed them. She plopped down on her couch, propping her feet up on the arm of the chair, and took out her sketchbook. She let her anger take control of her and she drew as therapy.

She furiously scribbled across the page creating a drawing that looked a lot like her father smiling. Her mouth tightened, but she kept adding more details, including his old laugh lines that had seemed to disappear during the years.

She left her door open for Esarae but didn't realize that Keryn might get there earlier. He suddenly peeked over her shoulder breathing down her neck and she stiffened.

"What are you drawing?" he asked. Kaylessa slammed her notebook shut and whirled around to face him grinning at her. She remembered when her dad used to ask about her drawings all the time. She would always show him, but the fact that Keryn asked made her grit her teeth. Insufferable prick.

It's not the fact that he asked, that would've been fine, but his facial expression when he asked sparked her anger.

"None of your business," Kaylessa hissed as she threw the sketchbook into her open bedroom down the hall. She sat up and crossed her arms. She moved her legs to sit criss-cross style and glared at Keryn as he took a seat in front of her. She grinned mentally as she realized where he sat. Exactly in the place where she throws her bag every time she comes home.

"Why do you hate me so much? I only met you a couple of days ago," Keryn asked as he picked at his shirt. Because you remind me of my dad. Because you remind me of what I lost.

Kaylessa glared at him, aware of Esarae walking into the room.

"Hey, guys!" Esarae exclaimed, trying to break the tension in the room. She dropped down next to Kaylessa and placed her bag on the arm of the chair. She cleared her throat and tried to start a conversation. She was acting like a buffer between her and her brother.

"So! Kaylessa, have you ever been to the death scenes?" Esarae asked. Kaylessa turned to her, finally aware that none of them realized she had been in the Neverseen.

"Uh, yeah, I have," Kaylessa said carefully. Keryn's eyebrows rose up in question, but she ignored the pang that went through her at the familiar expression. She carefully put on a mask of ignorance trying not to react to anything Keryn ever did.

Esarae's eyes widened, "What did you see?" Kaylessa grimaced as she described the blood and gore. By the end of her retelling of the scenes, both twins were cringing. And she hadn't even brought up the bodies.

"Alina and Alden were both stabbed in the gut with a dagger. It was shoved to the hilt and—" Kaylessa mimed jabbing something in her stomach but was cut off by Keryn holding up a hand.

"How are you not feeling anything?" Keryn asked as he noted her eyes were not brimming with tears. Kaylessa dropped her gaze, not deeming to answer. It also seemed that they didn't know about her mom.

"Their deaths seem so connected," Esarae butt-in. "The killer has to be the same person." Kaylessa nodded along as Esarae explained the similar details as she reached a hand into her pocket fingering the pendant and bracelet.

It was her mother's jewelry at the scenes of the crimes. Her mother's jewelry was left behind as if the killer wanted them to know about them. Is her mom alive? Kaylessa stifled a scream.

That would never happen, she mentally scolded herself. Kaylessa kicked herself to shoo the idea away. She shouldn't think about those things. Esarae raised an eyebrow at her as she witnessed Kaylessa kicking herself, but she continued talking.

Her mother would not have kept her survival a secret. She knew it would kill her husband both mentally and physically. That was the extent of their love. If she survived, she would have told someone. Kaylessa remembered a conversation between her and her mom when she was ten, one of the last conversations they would ever have.

"Kaykay," her mother started and she gently pulled on another strand of hair. She twisted her hair up into an intricate braid bun as she chatted with Kaylessa. "I should probably tell you a secret." Kaylessa leaned in towards her mother.

"Yes?" she said.

"I can't keep a secret," Islaria laughed. "That's the secret."

"That's it?" Kaylessa asked. Her mother giggled again as she gently tied up her hair. Kaylessa laughed a little too.

"Neither can I," she whispered. Her mother leaned down to kiss Kaylessa's hair.

"Then, that's something we have in common, isn't it, my little girl?" Islaria Salvaxe laughed. Kaylessa beamed as her mother finished off her hair.

"My turn to do your hair!" Kaylessa exclaimed. She reached behind her head to touch the little swirls in her hair and grinned as she unpinned her own mother's hair.

That night, she had left her mother's hair in tangles, but Islaria just laughed it off and kept her hair in the style, though the next morning, she had regretted it. The unshed tears burned in Kaylessa's eyes, but she forced herself to listen to Esarae to prevent any more flashbacks.

"Kaylessa? Do you have anything to add?" Esarae asked her when she finished. Kaylessa once again reached into her pocket to clench the jewelry as she debated showing them to her friend. I can't keep a secret.

Kaylessa held out her clasped hand toward Esarae. She splayed her fingers to reveal the glinting jewelry.

"Your answer is jewelry?" Keryn asked. His sass . . . Kaylessa ignored him and held up the pendant by the chain.

"These were my mom's," she told them as she held up both pieces of silver. Esarae let her continue on without cutting in.

"I found them at the death scenes," she whispered. Esarae and Keryn's eyes widened at the same time, reminding Kaylessa that despite the personality difference, they were twins.

"Do you think your mom murdered Alina and Alden?" Keryn asked. Kaylessa stiffened and shot a glare simmering with fiery rage. She had to reign in her fire to keep from burning him. Keryn immediately backed down, which released some anger as her dad would never have let it go so easily.

"My mom died when I was ten," she hissed at him. His obliviousness was so—

"Oh, sorry," Keryn whispered. ". . .But why was your mom's jewelry at the murder scenes? Is there a chance that she's alive?" Always like her dad, constantly with optimism.

"She was killed by ogres. What do you think?" Kaylessa asked.

Keryn remained quiet, which Kaylessa was grateful for.

"Why was your mom's jewelry there though?" Esarae asked, breaking the silence. Without her, Kaylessa and Keryn might actually start a fistfight. She would win, she had trained for combat unlike him.

"I don't know," Kaylessa said quietly. There was a thoughtful silence afterward, everyone having their own train of thought.

"What's your ability?" she suddenly asked Keryn despite her vow to ignore him, wanting to know about how he can help her investigation.

"I'm a telepath," Keryn answered immediately with unnerving kindness as if to apologize for what he said earlier. She ignored the undeserved kindness.

"You know I'm a mesmer right?" Esarae asked. Kaylessa nodded. Esarae glanced at her, then at Keryn, debating whether to say something, but in the end, it seemed she wanted to talk because she opened her mouth.

"Does Keryn know you're talentless?" Esarae asked. Keryn once again sat there in a stunned silence, but Kaylessa started laughing loudly.

"That's what's on paper," she replied when her laughs allowed her to speak. "I actually have an ability." Esarae perked up as if to tell Kaylessa she's listening.

"I'm a pyrokinetic," Kaylessa said simply. Both siblings' eyes widened reminding her that they're twins despite their differences in personalities.

Kaylessa snorted, "Okay, this isn't a secret convention, let's actually start brainstorming now." Kaylessa tapped her nails against her knee as she examined the pendant. She let Esarae hold the charm bracelet as she turned the bracelet over.

"Who would have your mom's jewelry?" Esarae asked as she examined the carvings on the bracelet. Kaylessa shrugged. I would figure it out, she thought, pure determination filling her eyes.

Her mind drifted along through her memories but snagged on a particularly recent one. I lost something.

The words filled her brain and her mind snapped. Dad lost something, she thought. But, he's not a killer. He would never. She knew him, and that wasn't her dad. Kaylessa refused to believe her father singlehanded murdered a councillor and her emissary. It was just . . . wrong.

Even if her dad did kill Alina and Alden, why?

The trio sat there in silence and Kaylessa took a moment to study their little group. She had taken up a new position on the couch with her feet propped on the backboard as her head dangled off the edge of the sofa. Esarae was in the same position next to her as she held up the charm bracelet to the light.

Her cerulean eyes were squinting at the piece of jewelry. Kaylessa found Keryn sprawled upside down on her chair. He looked so similar to her dad it hurt. She knew it was unfair to constantly compare him, but she couldn't help it. He looked exactly like Esarae with ash brown hair and cerulean eyes, but it was like looking at a younger version of her dad, especially because her dad had light brown hair and light turquoise eyes.

His eyes slid to her, but she immediately looked away. Kaylessa sniffed loudly and lifted her head from her position and propped herself up on her elbows. The blood rushed from her head and her eyes crossed for a second before the head rush was over.

"Do you have any ideas?" Keryn groaned as he sat up. Esarae shook her head as she dropped her position to sit upright. Kaylessa stared at her hands while she shook her head.

Keryn grunted as he got up, "Hey, Es, we have to go, mom will be mad if we don't get home." Kaylessa glanced at the clock and realized it was already three in the afternoon. They had been brainstorming for around six hours and still had nothing. She hoped Viessa and the other groups had more luck.

When Keryn and Esarae filed out, Kaylessa bolted upright. But, what if her dad did kill Alina and Alden?

Kaylessa hesitantly walked the short distance over to her dad's villa. She softly knocked on the door and when it creaked open on squeaky hinges, her dad peeked out behind it.

"Hey dad, can we talk?"