Hey! Now, get excited: THIS is a special chapter. This is a two-part chapter from Keefe's PoV , so I hope you're ready! These might be my favorite two chapters in the book so far, so I hope you like them. :D
Keefe woke up suddenly, thanks to a high pitched ringing sound that seemed to echo around his brain. He groaned, but rolled over to the wrong side and toppled off of his bed in a tangle of sheets. Ro snickered loudly from out of sight.
"Wow, Lord Funkyhair, real smooth!"
Keefe groaned again, and tried to sit up, but he was too tied up in his blankets to move. Ro giggled maliciously and watched him struggle, twisting and turning and writhing out of the mess of sheets and covers. He had to wriggle out of his T-Rex covered pajama shirt to get all the way out. He stood grumbling, then tripped and fell, feet still tangled in the knot of twisted bedsheets.
"Seriously, Funkyhair, how is Blondie ever going to admit her feelings in that oblivious little brain if you can't even stand?" Keefe smirked, untangling his feet and testing them before standing again. "Nah, I'll just tell her she knocked me off my feet." Ro rolled her eyes. "Ugh, whatever. And can you STOP that INFERNAL RINGING?!"
Keefe's eyebrows shot up, but he realized that the high pitched ding from when he had woken up was real and still ringing out. He kept his arms out for balance, stepping out of the discarded blankets and hobbling over to the messy nightstand. A couple bottles of Youth, an abandoned plate covered in crumbs, a small clock, all of his notebooks, and several colored pencils were all piled haphazardly on top of it. He rifled through it all, finding the vibrating silver square he was looking for under the brown notebook.
'Accept Dex Dizznee?' it said in loopy letters across the screen. Keefe tapped it, and with a white flash, his technopath buddy's strawberry blonde head popped into view.
"Hey Keefe- woah, put a shirt on, dude!" said Dex. Keefe was about to shrug when an accented voice sent him scrambling for his T-shirt.
"What?!" Biana said, and Dex's tousled head was replaced with Biana's perfect face, perfectly framed with perfect, dark, shoulder-length loopy curls. Keefe tried to change the subject, adjusting his shirt.
"So, uhm, why's Biana with you, Dex?" He grasped at the distraction. Biana, blushing slightly, exclaimed, "Well, it is almost 12 pm, but… We're together!" Keefe blinked, surprised at both revelations. He sent a dirty look at Ro for not waking him up (she shrugged), and then said, "Huh, I thought you liked Mr Salt." Biana cringed a bit, and Dex's disembodied voice asked, "Mr Salt?" Keefe rolled his eyes. "Tammy boy. Bangs boy. Shady. Mr Salt."
Dex just grumbled something about insufferable frenemies and pulled the imparter out of Biana's hand. "Well, Tam and my love life is NOT the reason we hailed you. Apparently, Mr Forkle called Sophie to come to Alluvettere and so Grady to hail everyone to see what this is about. We're all meeting at Havenfield. Can you come?" Ro pitched in, putting the vial of yellow nail polish she was about to open on the mother-of-pearl windowsill. "Yes, he's coming! We'll be at Blondie's sparkly house in 5 minutes! Bye, Techy Boy!" She used a clawed finger to end the call. "Hey, whaddya do that for?!" Keefe exclaimed, trying to call Dex again. "Nope, sulky boy!" Ro yoinked the imparter out of his grasp and flung it into the mess of blankets still on the floor. "We need to get you ready for your big confession to Miss Oblivious!" Keefe groaned.
Loudly.
"Ro! No, I'm not going to make any of this about me. Sophie's obviously going through something right now and-" "She'll need someone to lean on! You! I'll even stay behind, even though I'll get a scolding from Gigantor later. I am DYING for this to happen! It's been delayed for TOO. LONG. Deal?" Keefe knew he couldn't get out of this one.
"If she needs me- IF- I'll be there. I'm not going to talk about… anything," he reluctantly said as he shook her outstretched hand. She grinned snarkily.
"We'll see about that."
4 minutes and 59 seconds later (yes, Keefe counted), Keefe glittered into the shimmering emerald pastures of Havenfields without Ro, among alicorns, Panakes blossoms, and LOTS of people: Grady, Fitz, Biana and Dex, Linh, who looked strangely small without Tam next to her. She had dyed the two strands framing her face a metallic silver to match her highlights, probably in tribute to her lost brother. It made Keefe's heart give a strange pang as he watched her shrink into herself. There was also Marella, standing next to her, and Stina, Wraith, Blur, Tiergan, Juline as Squall, all twelve councilors, Flori, and a very, very angry Sandor, who gave him the side-eye when he noticed that Ro was not with him.
All of them were frantically arguing, from what he could tell, about whether they should find Sophie or not (well, besides Wraith and Blur; they stood quietly on the sides) and panickedly speculating on what in the name of gulons was happening. When Keefe got nearer, everyone stopped, and Grady grumbled one of his signature "What's That Boy doing here" s, with more punch than usual. Keefe could feel he was very frustrated and anxious, and Keefe empathized with him.
"I invited him. He's one of our friends, and I thought he should know what's going on. Well… whatever's going on," Dex admitted. Grady rolled his eyes and was about to say something when a flash appeared in the middle of the huddle, and Edaline and Mr Forkle shimmered into view, leaving cold, silver glitter in their wake. And… a smell of smoke.
Sweet, sickly smoke.
Everblaze smoke.
"What happened? Where's Sophie?!" Grady said, a dump of cold panic dousing the words. Instead of responding, Edaline shoved Mr Forkle off of her wrist, kicked him, and slapped him across the face so hard that a loud, almost wet-sounding thud rang out over the panicked voices.
Everyone silenced when Mr Forkle recoiled from Edaline, whose fingers were pressed so tightly in a snap that she couldn't move her fingers. Grady rushed over, the tears in his eyes reflecting Edaline's as he hugged his wife, whispering comforts into her red ears.
Keefe was really, really, really scared. He was terrified for Sophie. Where was she? What would make Edaline slap Mr Forkle like that? It didn't look like they'd be getting any answers at the moment. Edaline sobbed onto Grady's shoulder, Mr Forkle stared blankly at her in shock, and everyone else started a loud, lively debate. Keefe had stayed quiet, focusing more on the unsteady ground. Why am I shaking so hard? He wondered, watching as his legs shook and hands trembled.
It wasn't until the ground rumbled loudly that he realized that it wasn't him at all.
They all stared at the grumbling ground watching as the earth cracked open, dirt and dust falling into the newly made pit, which overfilled with slick green vines. And wrapped up in the emerald tendrils…
A beautiful, perfect, unscathed blonde girl with striking, angry brown eyes untangled from the mess. Keefe watched in amazement as she swished her hand, sending the vines back to the wet soil and the chasm closing. With another slight tug, all the dust, dirt, and… ash…flew off her in a fist-sized grey ball. She flicked her wrist, making the dirt ball smack into the ground.
"Wow," Keefe breathed, and he knew he wasn't the only one who'd said it.
So, Foster could…control nature. Her sixth power. Keefe felt a little smug about it. Just a little. Because of course Foster would manifest something completely new! And an elemental power! Well, if there weren't going to be textbooks about her before, now there definitely would.
"Soooo… that's new," he said, flashing a smirk that clearly stated the appropriate amount of 'I told you so'. He tried to ignore the waves of… what even was it? Nervousness? Apprehension? Embarrassment? He didn't look into it. Whatever it was, it was emanating off her like a giant radiator.
"Yeah, apparently I'm a… Geokinetic," she said, a little nervously, a little defiantly, and a little proud. He felt her emotions shift as her mind wandered. He tried not to squeeze his eyes shut at the sudden blast of anger, doubt, and worry, but his fists clenched anyways.
"What does that mean?" Councillor Emery asked, a perfect eyebrow arching. Oralie looked curiously at Sophie, and Keefe could almost hear the blonde girl's overwhelmed brain clicking something together, but before he could puzzle out what it was, Sophie responded.
"It means I can do this!" With those words, Sophie began bending and twisting her arms, making thousands- no, millions- of glittering flowers pop up in the suddenly bright peridot fields. All the trees tripled in size, looming over everyone as Sophie flicked her wrist and five gigantic balls rose out of the muddy soil, collecting grass, branches, and flowers and clumping into a perfectly round sphere of earth. They looked like they could do some serious damage. And all with a simple wave of her arm and a few tugs and flicks of her skinny wrists.
"Wow," everyone seemed to breathe out that same word. Keefe stood stunned and… actually, he wasn't stunned. He always knew Foster was special. He was just happy she looked so confident in herself. Marella stepped forward, drawing his attention for the first time to her auburn hair. She must've dyed it recently.
"Can I…try something?" she whispered, awestruck. Keefe could feel astonishment from here. Sophie nodded briskly, elegantly- a word Keefe had seldom used for Sophie- shifting her weight as Marella squinted, fists clenched, and sent a vibrant tongue of purple flame lunging at the vines. Almost instantly, though, the vines and earth-clump-things smothered the sparking fire into a whiff of smoke. When Linh tried to make the clustery-things collapse, they just absorbed the water and grew greener, and the water ignored Linh completely when to call it back. Dex's gadgets had little effect, and with every try, Keefe became smugger and smugger.
However, Mr Forkle had struggled out of the ivy bonds Keefe hadn't even noticed Sophie had placed on him, and wobbled over to them with a joyous clap. "Why, this is incredible! An invaluable resource! I trust you extinguished the Everblaze at Alluvettere?"
The waves of fury and hatred radiating off of Sophie knocked Keefe back a step as Foster twisted to face the bloated figure, eyebrows scrunched and beautiful- why, he REALLY needed to stop thinking that with so many Telepaths around- brown eyes glittering with a fierce fire. Keefe smiled at her obvious, unconscious control as her vines raged in a storming frenzy and lively grass at Mr Forkle's feet withered. She clearly didn't realize how much power and control she was exhibiting. Keefe loved her- seriously, no wonder Biana and everyone else could tell so easily about his crush when he thought that with all the fancy Telepaths around- for how she never seemed to notice or care about her power. She was just so… perfect (he sighed at himself, although everyone seemed to be overwhelmed by her otherworldly display).
"You don't get to say anything," she spat, more fury loaded into each syllable than Keefe thought possible to be held in the small figure before him. Frankly, he was impressed.
Biana appeared next to him, and from the fading cuddle vibes and the pouty alicorn whines in the distance, he knew she had missed most of the conversation. And Keefe couldn't even blame her, since none of them knew much anyways. Her emotions were spiraling out of control, though, and Keefe moved away from her, even though he owed her all those crush lessons (no comment from me, he added, in case any nosey Telepath was listening in. Also, he thought a very colorful version of 'GET OUT OF MY HEAD'!). Biana was confused, worried, befuddled, angry at Mr Forkle because everyone seemed to be, and happy (what else came from snuggling alicorns?). "Why?" She questioned, and Keefe watched as Sophie twirled elegantly- there was that word AGAIN! What happened to clumsy Sophie?- back to face them, hair fluttering gracefully in the wind (he gave up on the Telepath censored thoughts. It just wasn't working). He admired her passion and, well, her, as she left Mr Forkle struggling a foot off the ground in her leafy vines. Sophie panted, obviously trying not to get too angry. But her next words were startled Keefe, more venomous than he had ever heard her, even when faced with the Neverseen. But he could also feel her inner turmoil. She was angry, sad, betrayed, furious, betrayed, venomous, and… slightly relieved? But that one was buried deep, and Keefe doubted she could even feel it with all the hate bubbling forward.
"Mr Forkle," she said, the wrath in her tone laced with betrayal and a tinge of sadness, "called me in a panic, convincing me to go to Alluvettere." Sophie's shoulders were shaking as her vines grew furiously, turning so thick and green they looked like trees. Keefe had never heard of anything like this power.
He had never heard of a lot of things until Sophie came along.
She didn't even seem to notice, fists clenched and teeth bared, tears gathering in her eyes as she stalked forward. "When I got there with Edaline, there was a huge storm of Everblaze consuming it." Rage refined her, Keefe realized, as she gracefully and lethally continued pacing, hands betraying her fury as she waved them around to her words. He wished he could go and give her a hug, but the way her eyes were glazed, he knew it probably wasn't a good idea, but he still stepped a little closer so she knew he was there. She had her fists clenched painfully tight, the skin turning white as she continued. "Mr Forkle then LEFT ME THERE, to figure it out BY MYSELF with NO WAY OUT, literally DRAGGING Edaline away, and all because 'I'm the dang Moonlark'!"
Keefe had never felt that much fury in his life.
He (and everyone else) turned to Mr Forkle, and Keefe wished he could inflict on his stupid bloated face for hurting Sophie. He wondered how Sophie WASN'T inflicting on him, but he guessed she was too overwhelmed to remember it. He understood why Edaline had kicked him, and Keefe venomously thought he might do worse.
Where was Ro when he needed her?!
Sophie's vines twisted tighter and tighter around Mr Forkle, and he squirmed, trying to avoid the hot sparks of soil and mud shooting at him. Keefe hoped he got burned.
Tiergan broke the tension-filled silence, apologizing profusely for the Black Swan, and giving Mr Forkle some serious death glares Everyone's wrath and shock and betrayal clouded around them, and it should have been overwhelming for Keefe, but he just added his own fury to the mix and hoped Mr Forkle could feel all of it.
But Wraith amplified everything tenfold when he next spoke.
"Well, I do not," he said, and Keefe could almost feel his smirk. Well, he could, but- "We created Sophie, so she has to do what we tell her," he reasoned, shrugging like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. Keefe felt the disbelief and hysterical fury wafting off everyone… except Blur. Oh gulons, if he was in on this too…
Keefe's own fury increased, and he thought he was more angry than he had ever been in his entire life. Knowing his (terrible) mom had truly been as terrible as Keefe had thought had been bad, but this… there were no words.
But Sophie's emotions ebbed into tiredness. He glanced at her, and her slumped shoulders and drooping eyes glazed in fatigue portrayed her state-of-mind pretty well, along with the greyish color her vines were turning, and the tears she didn't seem to notice drizzling down her cheeks, it felt like she was giving up. She was in shock, and Keefe was about to rush over when Grady's voice lowered dangerously. "Sophie," he growled, "is not your puppet." Juline stepped next to him, head held high as she glared furiously down at Blur and Wraith. Her frozen face could have melted from how much fiery fury was in her eyes. "We made Sophie to help be an influence in the world, through her choices. We simply gave her the tools," she said, tilting her head as if to dare him to argue with her. And… he accepted. "Well, you are misinformed, then, Squall," he sneered.
Suddenly, Sandor was there, hot coals blazing in his eyes and sword glinting maliciously in the sun. "If you think," Sandor said, voice deepening into a growl that was, quite honestly, the scariest sound Keefe had ever heard. He hoped Wraith peed his pants. "That I'm going to let you get away with trying to harm MY charge, you will be fatally wrong," with that, Sandor picked up the invisible hooded figure, his meaty hand clenched fiercely as he glared directly into where Wraith's eyes would be. But before Keefe could cheer for the bodyguard, Blur's hand solidified and punched him hard, directly into one of his wrist nerves, a sensitive pressure point. With a squeaky growl, Sandor was forced to drop Wraith, who immediately vanished, making Sandor growl in rage. It nearly distracted Keefe from the sudden spike of emotion from Sophie. He glanced over at her, and the sunshiney color drafting off her showed off her surprise and slight joy. When Fitz's emotions changed just a second later, Keefe looked between them and very closely suppressed an eyeroll. But when Sophie blushed and Fitz's emotions turned a pale purpley relief, Keefe's heart dropped. Fitz must have come clean. Sophie giggled and Fitz smiled, and Keefe stopped really paying attention to anything, focusing instead on his own conflicted emotions until Linh's soft, trickling voice said, "Wait… how did the Neverseen even know about Alluvettere?" Sophie cringed, and Keefe sensed a flare of panic as she glanced around nervously. She shuffled her feet, saying, "Well… Gethen must've searched Tam's memories. The Neverseen…" "Oh," Linh said dazedly, sinking to the grass, who's colors were fading slightly from Sophie's original rush. Linh stared at her hands, and Wylie rushed over as Marella stepped forward, but retreated as Wylie crouched by the silver-tipped girl.
Keefe noticed Dex and Biana leaning against each other, and he remembered their earlier confession to him. They were made for each other, and Keefe's confused mind was overjoyed for them, but a jealous pang in his heart reminded him of the other couple who were perfect together. If it ever happened. He shook that idea away, and focused back on his fury, which now somehow felt hollow, fake, and sort of shallow as he thought about it. But he didn't. So he tried not to glance at Sophie and Fitz, because he knew he then probably WOULD think about it, and then he would probably lose it completely. Especially with the way Keefe noticed Fitz smiling to himself.
Keefe pinched himself, forcing the little creature of envy parading around his mind into a box in the very corner of the very back of his brain. It protested, but Keefe knew that he would never, could never, be as perfect as Fitz. And, plus, Sophie wasn't a toy. She also liked Fitz, so… if things aren't meant to be, they won't be. So he shoved all thoughts of pathetic crushes that would never work out in the little box too. And just in time, as well, because Mr Forkle opened his infuriating mouth again. "Yes, we need to secure everything immediately!" Everyone glared at him again, and it was astonishing that he didn't flinch at all the hatred wafting towards him. Then again, he wasn't an Empath.
Sophie heaved a sigh that sounded more like a frustrated growl. "We will, later. Now, I need to rest and test my powers." Keefe studied Sophie closely. Since when did she need to 'rest'? Not that she shouldn't, but with the way she was feeling so…everything? What was goin-
But he didn't get to ponder for long, because Sophie shuffled over, as awkwardly as ever, and kissed him.
Really.
She walked over and her soft lips brushed his. She tasted like vanilla, and couldn't do anything because
It.
Was.
Finally.
Happening.
Hehehe… I'm the worst, I know, but don't worry- you'll get to read the next part, too. Also, this chapter is extremely long, thanks for reading all the way through! Anyways, thank you!
-LLF out ✨✨