Tess The Project (a KotLC fanfic)

Chapter 9

A/N: Hi frens! Sorry I haven't updated in a really long time, I've had so many school projects and dealing with things at home. I know I'm really bad at updating my stories, but it's really hard to keep progressing a story when you're trying to fix your own life. I think I've got it all under control now, and school is ending this week for me. I'll try so hard to update all of my stories, but I may not get the chance because my laptop broke. I'm trying desperately to fix it, and hopefully it'll work. But enough of me rambling, here's chapter 9!

"Hi Sweetie! Who's this guest you're talking about?" Edaline said as they walked through the door.

"This is Tess" Sophie said, turning around and gesturing towards Tess. Tess gave a small and awkward smile, while also giving a single wave. Edaline's face lit up when she saw her. That gave her a bit more confidence.

"Hi Tess! It's so great to finally meet you after hearing about you for so long!" Edaline said. She walked over to Tess and gestured her inside. Tess immediately felt out of place with her pink and black hair, compared to the sky blue walls, and shelves filled with books. The books looked good, but they all seemed to be about animals and how to care for them. No fantasy or fiction. Which made sense, because the elves were a fantasy, compared to the humans. Maybe the elves had fiction stories about the humans that Tess could read. 

Edaline sat down on the couch, and Sophie sat next to her. Tess sat down as well, next to Sophie, and started wringing her fingers.

"So, how has your first day in the Lost Cities been so far?" Edaline asked. 

"It's been kinda stressful. Not to mention that Keefe and I got lost in a cave" Tess said. 

"Oh yeah, that was fun" Keefe said. He smirked at her, and Sophie lightly smacked him in the arm. 

"How did that happen?" Edaline asked. 

"Well, uhh..." Tess started, but then she realized that she may have to reveal the secret of Keefe's hiding place, so she let Keefe jump in.

"I found a leaping crystal in Atlantis, and asked Tess to come with me to test it out. As it turns out, It brought us to a dark cave" Keefe said. 

"Where's the crystal? I want to give it to Alden for investigation" Edaline said. Keefe rummaged through one of his wrist pockets and pulled out the crystal that took them to the cave. Tess wanted to grab the crystal out of his hand and leap back to that cave to get away from this extremely awkward moment. 

"Thanks, Keefe" Edaline said. "Now, let's give Tess the tour" 

They stood up, and Tess followed. They showed her the kitchen, which was right next to the living room they were in, and it took up the whole first floor. The kitchen was full of different pastries and sweets, and Tess seemed to know which ones were which, with a good number of ones she didn't recognize. She could only identify mallowmelt, because she had made those in the human world for her fourteenth birthday, custard bursts, and indegoobers. Those were the only treats mentioned in the books. She could also see a lot of Lushberry juice, and wondered what it actually tasted like. 

Next they went up the stairs, where Grady and Edaline's room, both of their offices, and Jolie's old room are. Sophie and Keefe had gone up to Sophie's room, and now it was just Tess and Edaline. Edaline walked down the hall, and stopped in front of Jolie's room. She opened the door, and gestured her inside. Tess walked in, and the room was bare. Nothing was in there except a master bed with a canopy, a few bookshelves, and a desk. The room had been stripped of everything Jolie, except for one picture. Tess walked over to the desk and wiped her finger on the glass of the photo. It left a line on the glass, surrounded by dust, and leaving dust on Tess's finger. 

"That's our daughter, Jolie. She really did grow into her name" Edaline said. Tess turned around to face Edaline, forgetting she was there. Edaline had a painful face on that Tess was all too familiar with. She had also fallen into the kind of depression Grady and Edaline fell into. The death of her grandfather had hit her extremely hard. 

"This is going to be your new bedroom, if you want. I hope it's good enough for you" Edaline said. She had replaced her painful face with a full smile that was so motherly, she wanted to run over to her and give her a huge hug. And that's exactly what she did. Tess looked her in the eyes, with her own glassy ones, ran over, and embraced Edaline in a huge bear hug. 

"Thank you so much" Tess whispered. Edaline hugged her back, and said, "You're so welcome. I hope you can make yourself feel at home here" 

"I know I will" Tess said. She pulled away from Edaline, and wiped her tearstained face. It's been a while since she's had a mother she could feel close to. 

"I'm going to go down to the kitchen to bake, you can come down if you want" Edaline said. 

"Thanks, but I'd rather be alone right now" Tess said. She snapped her fingers, and her backpack appeared out of nowhere. Edaline smiled, and left the room. 

Tess opened her packpack and found everything she had brought with her. She pulled out the books, and put them onto the book shelf. It looked weird to have these books in the world they were set in, but she was looking forward to reading them from a new perspective. 

She found the picture of her grandmother and grandfather, and set it on the desk, next to the picture of Jolie. She studied the two pictures side by side, and wondered why death had to exist. Tess was in a process of spiraling depression a few months back. People had started turning on each other, things from her past had kept popping up, and her boyfriend had broken up with her, with no explanation as to why. But maybe it was all for the best. She could start a new life here. Everything from her old life didn't matter anymore. No one could make her go back there, and she was sure that nobody from the human world would miss her. 

Someone knocked on the door, and Sophie walked in. She sat on the bed, and Tess went to sit next to her. 

"So, what do you think you're going to do with the room?" Sophie asked. 

"I don't know, I could probably print out a bunch of posters and hang them up" Tess said. She had forgotten that she may need things to decorate with.

"You could probably use projection paper, and just project the image of the poster on there and hang it up" Sophie said. It was a good idea, but she'd have to learn how to project first. Tess wasn't sure how easy it would be adjusting to the elvin world, but maybe it would be easier than she would have originally thought. She'd just have to find out. 

"Guys, come down for dinner!" Edaline yelled. This meant she was probably about to meet Grady for the first time.