what happened after unlocked

chapter four ~ the council's warning

The next day, Sophie was battling a headache.

It was as if her own body was telling her, NO! DON'T TRANSMIT TO KEEFE! SOMETHING IS GOING TO GO WRONG! HERE, IF THIS HEADACHE DOESN'T CONVINCE YOU, WE'LL MAKE THE PAIN EVEN WORSE!

But she had to. If she didn't even try, she might never hear Keefe's voice again, or see his face, or talk to him, or laugh with him...

Keefe! She transmitted. Please talk to me!

She waited. And she waited. Soon, after sending transmission after transmission, she forced herself to continue, knowing that Keefe couldn't pretend his mind was dead for this long.

Keefe! She shouted even louder than before. This is important!

Sophie continued yelling transmissions to him, until she finally heard his reply.

I can't talk to you, Sophie. Or make any contact with you, or anyone else, at all, Keefe's metal voice said, sounding heartbroken. I'd be putting everyone at risk – you know that! I've got to go.

Wait, Keefe! Please don't go! I can help you! Sophie pleaded.

I'm sorry Sophie, Keefe said, his voice sounding even more distant than before. I have to go.

Sophie was in tears by the time their connection split. Even after she knew that Keefe was gone, she kept trying, trying to convince him to just talk to her for a little bit longer...

But he really was gone now, she knew. And maybe she really shouldn't be trying to contact him again. Maybe she should just stop trying to find any leads to his location...and that reminded her, she could have tracked his location while their thoughts were connected.

She didn't have to talk to him again, though. Sophie could just dive into his consciousness and find him without even having to ask.

Wouldn't that be easier than what she'd had to go through before? All of that pain, all of that suffering –

"Sophie!" Edaline's voice said, startling Sophie out of her thoughts. "Dex is here!"

"Dex?" Sophie said, "how – "

"Sophie, I need to talk to you about my brother," Dex said, opening her door wide enough to slip through, and making sure to close it tightly behind him, and they both heard Sandor's protests through the door.

Sophie sat up and tried to hide any trace of what she had just tried to do. "What about your brother?"

"Well...this isn't just about my brother – it relates to Keefe a bit too. It's kind of a long story," Dex said, plonking himself down on the edge of Sophie's bed.

Sophie fought through her blankets to join him. "So...?" she prompted.

Dex took a deep breath. "Long story short, Keefe felt the triplets' potential and my dad's, and apparently my dad felt empty, so did Rex, Bex's hand, and I quote, felt squishy, and Lex's felt cold.

"Hours after Keefe touched them, Lex manifested as a Froster, Bex manifested as a Phaser, and Rex didn't manifest. Keefe and I talked a little – before he ran away – and we figured that because my dad is Talentless, and he and Rex felt the same when Keefe made contact with them...Rex is going to be Talentless."

Sophie sat, slowly sinking into her mattress, as she tried to process this troubling information.

Dex sighed and dragged a shaky hand through his hair, which Sophie noticed was much messier than usual, and he'd lost his usual aura of light. "The awful thing is though, and you're probably going to thing this is really selfish of me, but me and Rex talked to each other about what he could manifest as, and he was always so excited. And now he's not going to get an ability, and I can't tell him that I knew, and he'll probably hold a grudge against me and Keefe forever, and his life won't be the same!"