𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #29 - Keefe

Chapter #29 - Keefe

Keefe had never imagined that a small device carved out of crystal would feel so heavy in his pocket. But here he was.

The imparter might as well have been made out of lead.

But it became a million times heavier as he leaped back to where he'd left Amy, Alice, Elijah, and dead Alvar. Because standing next to them, he found a sickenly familiar woman with a cold smile that made Keefe want to tear the grin off her face, and then have Alice burn that. Ooh— and maybe have a gulon fart on it for good measure.

"Hello, Keefe," said Lady Gisela.

***

"No," he said, frantically walking in circles, muttering to himself. The still-emotionless humans continued staring blankly into the distance, and Mommy Dearest smirked— which definitely didn't make Keefe feel better. "You can't be here. You just can't. YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHERE I AM!"

Keefe's tone was furious enough to numb her, though strangely enough, it didn't.

He had a feeling he knew what that meant— not that he was surprised.

His mom gave him the powers. Of course she had figured out a way to block them on herself.

"How did you find me?"

"I know you, Keefe," she said, examining the humans like they were some sort of fascinating experiment, which was totally not creepy. And it made it oh-so better that she was literally standing next to Alvar's limp body— someone she had worked with, an evil colleague of sorts, who was now dead— yet showing zero remorse or empathy. "I knew you'd go to Cambridge to get close to where Ethan Wright lived, to see if you could find out anything new about him. So I went there, posing as a human, and attached a tracker to you to use when the time came."

Keefe frantically felt around himself, trying to figure out where she could've put the tracker. He wasn't wearing any accessories— he'd learned his lesson after the Sencen Crest Calamity— so what could it be attached to? His clothes?

"You'll never be able to find the tracker. Not unless I want you to."

He gulped.

Was Mommy Dearest starting to create her army now?

He had hoped he'd at least have a bit of time to try to stop her...

"Guess what?" Keefe asked, trying to hide his obvious fear, "I already know your little plan, with triggering abilities in humans and controlling them."

Gisela just laughed. "I assumed you'd figure it out at some point— though I have to say this timing is especially perfect. Besides, what's knowledge of your fate worth when it's already sealed?"

"Clearly something, considering how you just flinched." Actually, Lady Gisela hadn't flinched. Keefe was just trying to distract her for a few moments. Keep her talking like the villains in the humans movies always did.

Luckily, it seemed to work.

"Trust me, you don't even know the half of your legacy. Tell me this— what am I actually going to do with the humans once I have control of them?" That... was a very good question.

"FEEL!" Keefe shouted, deciding to shove it in the back of his mind for the moment. The three humans fell onto the ground, dazed and confused and achy from the numb. They all looked at Keefe, the Swedish couple expressing the most confusion.

"What just happened?" Alice asked frantically, then noticed Lady Gisela, "Who's she?"

"Bad," Keefe replied, deciding to save the Surprise! She's My Mom! bombshell for later.

But Mommy Dearest seemed particularly interested in Amy. She took a few steps toward her, and used her other hand to put a hand on Keefe's shoulder like she was trying to keep him in place.

"Ah, I remember you," she said, causing Amy to shudder for reasons that had nothing to do with now being a Froster. "The sister of the moonlark. When Vespera"— they all flinched at the name— "took your parents, we wondered if the Black Swan chose your parents because your family had dormant abilities. Fintan especially. And although it's now clear you do..." She signaled towards Amy's icy hands. "I am now convinced it was a coincidence."

Gisela's eyebrows arched around her annoyingly tight face, focusing really hard. At first Keefe thought she was just focusing on her thoughts, but then it hit him. The reason she had put her hand on his shoulder.

He tried to jerk his arm away, but it couldn't move.

Except for his eyes and mouth, he couldn't move.

"What did you just do?!"

"Like I said— I know you, Keefe. You weren't the only one talking for the sake of distraction. This is just a thing our Technopath and I recently whipped up that plays with potential."

She pointed to a little black gadget stuck tightly on his shoulder that had sharp cuts, making it look kind of like a bug. But when light reflected off of it, it looked more like a shadow.

"What is with you— Mommy Dearest— and potential? Aside from 'legacy,' it's your most obnoxiously overused word." He continued trying to move, but the gadget was still somehow making him stuck. Meanwhile, Alice, Elijah, and Amy were still frozen in fear. But at least they weren't numbed anymore.

Keefe wondered which was worse: a negative feeling, or no feelings at all?

"Huh. I thought you'd have figured that out too," Lady Gisela raised her eyebrows, amused. Then she pointed to the humans, "Now, I need you to numb them again."

"Don't do it," muttered Amy.

"What if I say no?" Keefe asked, extremely grateful his mom wasn't a Beguiler.

"Then I'll have to do this."

She pulled out a strange glowing knickknack from her pocket— the glow looked familiar, somehow— and pressed it against the bug gadget still on Keefe's shoulder. It felt like...

Pain.

Just pure pain.

Almost as bad as the day his new ability was triggered.

In fact...

"The thing you put on my shoulder is made of magsidian, isn't it?" he realized, but his voice came out as more of a croak. "And the glowing thing is made of ethertine?" The pain felt like it was turning Keefe's mind to mush.

"Correct."

The ethertine orb pushed harder.

The pain became worse.

Searing.

But he wouldn't give in.

"You think you're so brave," said his mom, "But what if I told you that if you don't cooperate, I could do this same thing to your friends? Sophie, perhaps?"

Unspoken horrors flashed his mind.

"Okay! I'll do it! Just, STOP!"

The humans froze once again, and Lady Gisela released the orb, causing the pain to subside. She smiled another one of her evil smiles— it really was just begging to be farted on by a gulon.

"And that's your weakness, Keefe." She turned towards the humans, "It's time for Project Stellarlune to be put into action."

Project Stellarlune.

Because that didn't scream "super creepy" at all.

Suddenly, Keefe remembered something. Something his mom didn't know he had. Yet. But to get it, he had to move— and the bug gadget was still keeping him, well, still.

So he tried to put as much energy as he could into his fingers, trying to get them to move. Eventually, the tingly warmth won out and Keefe was able to twitch them just enough to take out the imparter.

He took a breath as deep as his motionless chest would permit.

"Show me Grady."