Savi woke up in the morning with her hair twisted at odd angles. Hair curlers were all over her messy golden hair, and she groaned as she stood up. Had Seri been messing with her hair again? "SERENA!" Savi yelled, but the only reply she got was her sister's happy giggles as the six-year-old ran around the house.

Savi lived the life of a perfectly normal eleven-year-old elf. She had a silly, good-for-nothing sister who messed around all day, and two adoring parents, Sophie and Keefe. Savi was starting her first year at Foxfire that day, and she couldn't believe that Seri had ruined her hair on her big day. She resisted the temptation to yell at Seri all over again as she let out a muffled moan and proceeded to uncurl her hair. She snuck into her mother's room to get some fashion advice from her mother's mirror, Vertina, who seemed to be the only person who knew how to reverse Seri's torture.

"Someone didn't put in the hair curlers properly," Vertina commented. "I told you to stop messing around with human things, Savi. I know you've got an obsession with humans, but"

"I don't have an obsession with humans and this wasn't my doing," Savi retorted. "It was Seri's, and I honestly don't know how she manages to make my hair look so awful every morning. I was one hundred percent sure I locked my door."

"Maybe you didn't lock your window," Vertina answered. "Anyway, grab that pink elixir there and apply it to your hair, it'll be back to normal. And you'd better go fast, I can hear Sophie on the steps."

"WHAT?" Savi yelled. She snatched the pink elixir off Sophie's dressing table and scrambled back to her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her. Trust Seri to ruin her first day at school. Thankfully, the pink elixir made her hair normal again, and softer and sleeker. She'd have to buy more of that the next time she went to Slurps and Burps. Maybe Uncle Dex might give it to her for free. He'd always had a soft spot for her.

Savi changed into her Level One uniform and sprinted downstairs. Seri was already there, leisurely eating her cereal, and she blew a raspberry at Savi when she sat down.

"Seriously, that's not funny, Seri," Savi grumbled. "And how did you get into my room?"

"Aw, don't be so mad, Savi," Keefe smirked. "This kind of behavior is to be encouraged."

Savi gave him a flat look. "No, it isn't! She ruined my first day of school."

"Oh, the horror," Keefe said with a yawn.

Savi gave up on reasoning with her father and grudgingly ate up her cereal before heading to the Leapmaster at Willowtree. She fingered her sparkly nexus, wishing Sophie could've chosen something that didn't stand out as much. Sure, most kids her age still wore nexuses, but it meant that everyone would see that she still had one even when all theirs had fallen out. Savi expected to be the last kid to master light leaping.

"Careful, Savi!" Sophie called after her.

"I've light leapt before," Savi responded, rolling her eyes.

"Savannah! Don't roll your eyes at me!"

"Yes, Mom," Savi answered, trying her hardest not to roll her eyes again as she activated the Leapmaster and disappeared in a flash of light.

Foxfire was bustling with students and everyone was chattering away. Savi was pretty sure she'd be the center of attention since she was the daughter of the famous Sophie and Keefe, but she also hoped that they'd leave her alone. Seri was the extroverted one, not her.

She did get some whispers as she passed, but less than she'd expected. If anything, everybody was ignoring her. She didn't mind at all.

"Hey! Savi! SAVI!" someone yelled from across the classroom. Savi smiled at the familiar voice and looked around for her friend.

"Hey, Via," she responded and chose the seat beside her best friend, Olivia Dizznee.

"It's really noisy," Via complained. "Seriously – Mom told me it was going to be quiet!"

"Really? I can't believe you let Aunt Biana fool you," Savi responded with a smirk.

Via rolled her eyes. "It's not funny. This place is super noisy!"

"Yeah, well, when you live with Seri, this is nothing."

"I suppose that's true. But it's not as bad as Aunt Marella and Uncle Dex's place – I mean, they live with Uncle Dex's siblings."

"Oh, yeah, that's the worst." Savi had had an incredibly hard time calling the triplets Uncle and Aunty, especially since Rex, Bex and Lex were the craziest people she'd ever met, even for their age. "What's the first subject?"

"You think I know?" Via responded. "Why don't we go make some friends?"

"Ha, no."

"You can't be so antisocial all the time, Savi," Via whined.

"Well, I am," Savi responded, mainly because she didn't know what else she was supposed to say.

Via had always been the social butterfly, which made Savi wonder why she'd befriended her at all. But she did spend a lot of time over at Slurps and Burps since their parents were such good friends. Besides, Aunt Marella could do some really cool things with her fire. Nothing less than what Sophie could do, but Sophie didn't like using her fire.

"Soooooo... are we making friends or not?" Via asked.

"You can. I'm staying right here."

"And reading a textbook?" Via demanded. "Wow, Savi, you've stooped low."

"I'm getting ahead on the syllabus. Besides, like this, I can zone out in class and get away with it," Savi retorted as she flipped the pages of her textbook.

Via looked at her jealously. "How about I trade you my good looks and you give me photographic memory?"

"Doesn't work like that. Besides, why would I want to look like you?"

Via laughed. It was an old joke between the two of them. Via had always been slightly envious of Savi's golden hair as well, which was the result of having two blonde parents. Uncle Dex was strawberry blonde and Aunt Marella was a blonde, but Via had somehow ended up with dark brown hair. Still, other than her hair, she could be Marella's twin sister.

Via did end up going to another table, leaving Savi alone with her textbook. Not that Savi minded. It was nice having some peace and quiet. At home, Seri's constant chattering was a headache, and in school or virtually anywhere else, Via's gossip was a pain to listen to. They were great friends for some reason, though, even though they didn't really get along a lot of the time.

Next thing Savi knew, Via had dragged someone else over to their table. Oh. Harmony Vacker. Harmony wasn't as awful as most Vackers, considering she was the daughter of Biana, but she was still a handful sometimes. Another reason why she was definitely Via's best friend.

"Oh, hi, Savi," Harmony said. "You wouldn't by any chance want to go to another table, would you, Via?"

"Nah, why? We've got perfectly clean tables here – and we've got Savi!" Via replied enthusiastically, totally not taking the hint from Harmony.

"It's fine, I'll go," Savi said with a sigh, gathering up her belongings.

"Thank you," Harmony said at the same time that Via spluttered, "Wha-what? Why?"

"Seriously, Via. Harm doesn't want me here."

Harmony glowered at her. "I told you to stop calling me Harm! That's like, I'm harming somebody!"

"You probably are," Savi muttered as she changed table.

She found herself sitting in the same row as a guy, which made her want to move again but there were no empty seats available.

"Oof, good luck," Harmony winked.

"Whatever," Savi muttered.

"Hey, what's your name? My name's Cerulean Asher Tsynis – yes, I know it spells CAT."

Actually, Savi hadn't even been thinking of his initials. "Oh, yeah, I suppose it does. My name's Savannah."

"Savannah what?" Cerulean pressed.

She didn't answer and asked instead, "Why would your parents call you Dark Blue?"

"They didn't – they called me Ceru- oh, I get what you mean. Um, I'm honestly not sure. Because I'm cool?"

"Yeah, right," Savi snorted, and he feigned hurt.

"Well, you can tease me as much as you like, but what is your full name?"

"Does it really matter to you that much?"

"Yes, it does!"

"Okay, fine, then. My full name is Savannah Calla Sencen. Good?" Savi looked away. Every time she said Sencen, someone thought of Cassius even though Keefe and Sophie didn't want to be associated with him at all. They'd even considered taking Sophie's name as Foster but Keefe said it would be weird since he literally called her Foster. And they'd also considered Ruewen. But Grady still hadn't stopped calling Keefe That Boy, so...

"Calla? That's not an Elvin name." Cerulean pondered it for a moment.

"Yeah, it's not. I was named after a gnome," Savi replied.

"Seriously? Why?"

"Well... Calla was very important to my mother. So... yeah, she kind of named me after her. Yup."

"OHHHHHHHH. You're Sophie Foster's daughter!" Cerulean said, as if it had just dawned on him.

"Duh. Didn't the Sencen give it away?"

"No, I thought your surname would be Foster. Or Ruewen. Seriously, were your parents in their right mind when they picked Sencen?"

"Honestly don't know. I hope they were," Savi answered a little fervently.

"So... I suppose you'll be running off with your girlfriends the moment the bell strikes lunchtime?"

"I don't think so." Savi's eyes drifted over to where Via and Harmony were chatting animatedly. She'd been a fool to think she'd mattered more to Via than Harmony, but it didn't matter now. She'd deal with friendship problems later.

"Have you manifested yet?" Cerulean asked.

"Yeah. I'm an Inflictor. But my parents aren't sure if that'll be my only ability. I mean, my parents have a crazy number of abilities, and they're both Polyglots and stuff like that."

"Oh, I see," Cerulean replied. "Well, my mom's a Hydrokinetic and my dad's a Technopath. I wonder what that makes me."

"A Hydropath, I suppose?"

Cerulean looked at her. "That's not a good joke. You have to mean it. Like, say 'YOU'RE FAT' but like, not in a joking way. Then, when they look horrified, you say, "PRANK!" and start laughing."

"Um... no," Savi said.

"Yes," Cerulean insisted.

"As in, 'no', I'm not pranking people."

"Ohhhhh. Then you and I, my friend, will not get along." Cerulean winked.

"Sure, whatever."

He blinked. "Wow, you're really antisocial, aren't you?"

"I hear that every day, and yes, I am."

"Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Savi looked up from her textbook. It was interesting that she was antisocial? No, he couldn't have meant that. Wasn't that kind of offensive? Well, she'd just befriended a prankster, what did she expect? Then again, he couldn't be worse than Keefe, could he?

"You," he answered.

"Great. I'm interesting."

"Yes!" Cerulean said, sounding frustrated. "And then, you're supposed to say, 'You're interesting too! Wow! Let's be friends!'"

"But you're not interesting. You're boring," Savi said in the flattest tone she could manage.

He cracked up. "And that's how you joke."

"But I'm not joking."

He feigned a look of horror. "Oh no, a girl just called me boring! Face it, Calla – I don't care if I'm boring."

"My name isn't Calla – it's Savannah."

"Didn't you just tell me your middle name was Calla?"

"Yeah, my middle name. Not my first name! What, we call each other by our middle names now? So what do I call you, then? Asher?"

Cerulean winced visibly. "Oh no, do NOT call me Asher."

"Right. Asher it is."

"Okay, fine! You win. Savannah, was it?"

"Yeah," Savi agreed. "Savannah."

A/N Hello everyone! Originally I was going to start posting in December, but it felt bad that I'm writing the fifteenth chapter and haven't given you all anything to read at all! I know it starts a little bit slow, but I need to introduce the characters, their families and connections a little better, the action really starts around the fourteenth or fifteenth chapter, but those are suspenseful chapters. I hope you find it alright, this is going to be quite an emotional book for Savannah especially.