𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #41 - Keefe

Chapter #41 - Keefe

As soon as he started speaking to Sophie, Keefe could tell that she had changed.

Not completely, of course. She was still sweet, determined Foster who should've been completely angry at him— and was, to some degree— but instead was being annoyingly understanding.

But...

Her emotions. Something felt different.

"So what— what exactly did you do with Councillor Oralie?" Keefe asked. He started to pace, but doing that in the midst of this just felt wrong, so he stopped.

For a split-second, he swore Sophie flinched, her feelings spiking, at the question. Then she said, "Well... the basic idea was that by coming up with honest and unbiased ways to describe my abilities, I was able to gain clarity and control over them. Especially my enhancing." She glanced down at her hands, which only had a single layer of gloves for added protection, as opposed to her previous marshmallow-fingers. Keefe decided to keep his gaze focused on those too, since it was far easier than meeting her eyes. Or looking at his friends or his mom or the—

But mostly meeting her eyes.

"Actually," he said, "I think I might've heard of something similar to that. My empathy mentor mentioned it once. And... my dad did too."

Another spike. Keefe suddenly wondered if, while he was gone, Sophie had ever talked to Lord Cassius. If so... what had been their conversation?

"Yeah, Oralie mentioned it was based on some exercises Empaths use." Her hand shifted, "Maybe... I have an idea. What do you consider, like, the different aspects of your new abilities?" The fact that she said 'abilities'— as in plural— threw him slightly off. Though he supposed it was multiple powers— multiple ones working together to create the Ability Of Doom.

So that was onto something.

"Well, there's the numbing. Which I guess it connected to empathy and being a Polyglot. And there's triggering and sensing abilities— but I'm not sure what ability that could originate from."

"...I do."

Keefe raised his eyebrows. His knees buckled, though he could barely tell if the emotion was his.

Sophie explained, "It's what I was trying to tell you on the imparter, when you were in Cambridge. The scrolls implied that your mom... your mom's a Descryer."

Keefe froze.

A Descryer.

As in measuring potential.

You have so much potential, Keefe.

"I-I shouldn't have told you that now." Regret radiated off Sophie. "You're already dealing with so much."

Keefe shook his head faintly. He'd already fixed his gaze on Lady Gisela— all smug, especially when she saw a human begin to tire— a billion questions suddenly answered.

Foster seemed to know what he was thinking, and he doubted it had to do with being a Telepath. "Keefe, don't—"

The stunning flecks of gold in her eyes glinted, begging him.

He sighed, "You're right. I can't confront her right now. I just can't believe... ugh, it... it makes so much sense."

"I know. But... we can't tell our past selves the things we should've known. All we can do is keep it in mind for the future." He got a strange idea that she wasn't just thinking about the Descryer revelation as she said that.

"Wise Fos-Boss Advice, duly noted."

Sophie smiled— smiled. An adorable motion that involved the corners of her mouth tipping upwards, before clearing her throat. "So, just to be clear, you think there are three different aspects that make your power so awful?"

"Yeah. So if I can reverse how they all work together..."

"Well, you'll have to describe them first," she said nervously. She tentatively put her hands out— for a moment Keefe was worried Foster still had her enhancing on (he would not forget how intense that one human's inflicting had been)— but eventually he took them.

He tried to ignore the emotional overload.

"I'm really glad you don't hate me, Sophie," he muttered, "Now... let's do this."

***

It took several reminders from Sophie, and longer than he expected, but Keefe came up with three words to describe his extra-strong empathy. Overwhelming, tiring, and eye-opening. At first, the last one felt weirder than the time he'd tried styling his hair like Lord Cassius. But when he got somewhat of a hang of it in the Forbidden Cities, being such a powerful Empath had made him realize things about the humans he wouldn't have otherwise.

Keefe then did two words describing being a Polyglot, and overall having so much power in his voice. Helpful— this was mostly for the Polyglot part— and overpowering.

Finally— one adjective for sensing and triggering abilities. The one that was now obviously similar to being a Descryer.

Except scarier, since he could actually make people fulfill their potential, in a way, by manifesting.

"Overpowering," he decided, then paused. "Wait. Can I use the same word for different abilities?"

"I don't see why not." Sophie bit her lip. Keefe had given up on the looking-at-her-hand thing— his heart ached too much over how much he missed her.

"I mean, I am Lord Hunkyhair, master rule breaker, so—"

He suddenly felt the burn of someone watching him, and turned around.

As it turned out, three pairs of eyes were staring.

The first was Ro, who— somewhat surprisingly— just gave a meaningful nod at spotting him with Sophie. The sight of her made Keefe realize: he missed the snarky ogre bodyguard who was fond of putting amoebas in his food. It was a quick realization, but it was there.

A few meters away from Ro was someone who shouldn't have made Keefe feel so conflicted. Fitz. His aquamarine gaze was concerned, but also... anxious— nervous.

Before he could decide if Fitzy's glance had at least something to do with Sophie's odd emotions, there was the third pair.

His mom peered at them suspiciously, and Keefe knew he had to think of the right word quickly. Or it'd be back to Gisela exploiting his abilities.

"That's it," he gasped, "I hate how she can just get me to touch a random human, and if they have the stellarlune whatever, it triggers an ability. It makes me feel so... exploitable."

Sophie's eyes lit up, clearly thinking the same thing.

Had it worked?

Keefe paused, letting all the descriptions set into place. Not a single one felt wrong. And then...

"I think it worked."

He felt a small tug in his chest. He remembered Sophie saying that, for her, turning her enhancing on and off involved a tingle in her hands. But he was trying to regulate a different ability— so it would feel different, right?

Foster nudged him— somehow both encouraging and purposeful.

He'd made a plan. Now it's time to finish it off.

Keefe looked at everyone. His friends. The innocent people.

Then he shouted the word. With every fleeting emotion he could muster.

"NUMB!"

Again, he immediately thought: Had it worked?

Though deep inside, Keefe knew it had. But before he could register anything... before he could really see it... his legs started to wobble. His whole body felt exhausted from... everything.

That's when the world blacked out.