KEEFER Of The Lost Cities(EDITING IN PROGRESS)

CHAPTER ONE

"Get up now, Keefe! I'm tired of you not waking up from your alarm." Keefe woke up to his father yelling, but what else was new? Laying in bed for a few more moments, Keefe wondered about his dream. It was probably the weirdest dream he had ever had. That was pretty weird because all of his thoughts and ideas were crazy.

There was someone, but he didn't know who it was. Whoever it was, they made him happy. He lay there, thinking before he pushed the dream away- he didn't need someone to come and change his life forever- and it was just a stupid dream.

Closing his eyes to block out the light from his VERY glittery ceiling, he almost fell asleep but caught himself- He was going to Foxfire to put Reekrod in Dame Alina's desk because that's what she deserves. It's Sunday. School tomorrow.

He closed his eyes and opened them, staring at the sparkly ceiling, glittering with gems, with possibly the world's slowest blink ever.

Why was Fitz missing school so much? Exactly once every 39 days, his photographic memory and super smart brain reminded him.

Whenever he asks about it, all Fitz says is that he had to do something. Why wasn't he telling Keefe, his very bestest friend?

Was he embarrassed? Ooh, that's a fascinating idea. He'll put some mallowmelt in it- oh, not mallowmelt, glitter. What's glitter again? Oh, he was thinking about the word thought. Thinking, thought, thought. Keefe felt his thoughts fading into sleep, his brain wondering about the dream he had dreamt last night.

Snapping back to reality, he got up and got ready, changing his clothes, brushing his teeth, and last but not least, styling his hair.

No, it wasn't just his hair. It was THE hair. His pride and joy of life. The one thing in his life that no one could take away from him unless they gave him a balding serum. The chance of that happening, though, was little to none.

NO ONE could manage to prank the ultimate prankster of all time, the mastermind of the Great Gulon Incident. Keefe headed to the vortinator, which was probably the only thing in his dumb house, Candleshade, that he liked.

"76!" He said, and the vortinator flew down to the first floor of his kitchen. Seeing Helia, his favorite gnome, he smiled.

She was one of the few things that could make him smile for real. That list included Alden Vacker, Della Vacker, Fitz Vacker, sometimes Biana Vacker when she's teasing Fitz, and the dream of Candleshade burning to the ground and having to go live with Vackers.

He thought of the Vackers as family more than he did of his real family. The dream from this morning was on that list, even if Keefe couldn't explain it.

He supposed maybe his dream was a part of his subconsciousness hoping for someone who loved him because the parental love part of his heart was a dark, endless void that Cassius and Gisela could never fill, but that seemed too deep to think about.

"Oh, Keefey, is that you? I made you some Squirmigs, but I dropped them, and Lord Sencen wanted me to clean it up before Lady Sencen came down, and I only had time to make mallowmelt, but I know you love it, Keefey."

Helia was the only person he allowed to call him Keefey.

"Mallowmelt? Did you think I'd say no? THANK YOU for saving me from squirmigs." He took a piece and stuffed it in his mouth. "Mmm, twish ish sho good," he said, with a bite in his mouth.

Helia didn't care at all. She beamed, because she loved it when people complimented her cooking.

"Thank you! Do you want to take some to wherever you're going?"

"Yes, please! Thank you!"

"Here you go," She said, handing him the box. Keefe's hand brushed her fingers, and he knew that Helia was happy. That was good. "Have a good day!" She added, waving as Keefe headed to the vortinator to get to floor 200.

"Thanks, you too! Prank Daddio for me! 200!" He could faintly hear her reply but couldn't make out what she said.

The vortinator spun up to the 200th floor. Keefe stepped out and stepped on the leapmaster.

"Keefe." The last voice he wanted to hear. Apart from Lord Cassius, his mother was the creepiest person you'd ever see.

"Lady Gisela." He said, just as formally, but he knew his mother could tell he was mocking her. He never called her Lady Gisela, of course, except in his head, sometimes.

Most of the time. What else was he going to call her? Mom?

That was overstepping his boundaries.

"Where are you going?"

"Atlantis. I promised Fitz I would come with him because Biana forced him to go shopping. We'll meet near Foxfire first because Fitz needs to return a book to the library." He lied so smoothly no one would suspect a thing.

No one did not include his mother.

She raised her eyebrows but said nothing. After a few moments of awkward silence, she said, "I wasn't aware you could return books on Sunday."

"Yeah, well, it's a new thing, you know, because the weekend is the best time to return books for students. They read over the weekend, you know."

Keefe never read. It wasn't his thing. So coming up with Fitz needing to return his book instead was a good idea.

He mentally patted himself on the back. Good job, Keefe. You're getting even better at lying to your parents. Good thing I'm not anyone who feels guilt over something like that. My mind would have broken when I was 10.

"Dame Alina has told your father and me about your frequent habit of ditching class." She said, raising her eyebrows- again. Seriously, what was with her today? "Care to expl-."

"Great, make sure to tell her I'm very grateful.'' he snapped and stepped on the leapmaster. "Foxfire!" He announced, and the last thing he saw was his mother's cold, calculating face staring at him.

Ugh, why is she so insanely creepy? Pretty sure no one else's mom raises their eyebrows suspiciously at least fifty times in just 30 seconds.

***************

He leaped into Foxfire and immediately headed inside. It was the weekend, and no one was there, luckily. He casually stepped inside as if it wasn't an empty school that was very dark. Not to mention he was there without permission.

Keefe, being Keefe, knew his way to the principal's office more than he knew his own house, which made sense, considering it was 200 stories.

Now for the easy part. Keefe picked the lock without any trouble, walked in, opened her drawer, slid in the reekrod, and left.

His mother probably wasn't expecting him to be back so soon, though, so he had time to do anything he wanted.

That can mean only one thing.

Secret mentors cafeteria, here I come.

Get ready to FALL at the hands of Keefe Nope Sencen.

Nope was his new middle name, considering his real one is terrible and shouldn't be a real name.

Okay, that was the most boring thing I've ever written- in fact, this whole story is.  But this chapter is so bad..................... I'm now wondering if doing this was a good idea- Keefe's life seems so boring until the part where Lady Gisela does stuff. Yeah... Our school won the soccer championships! A month ago, but I got the sweatshirt today. And I'm still so happy, because we're the first team in 15 years to win for our school. 

Thank you!

~Zara