KEEFER Of The Lost Cities(EDITING IN PROGRESS)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Over the break, Keefe spent every single day at the Vackers.

He'd also explored Mysterium, Atlantis, and even Eternalia with Fitz, getting hopelessly lost and stealing as much food as they could.

They couldn't steal anything, it turns out. They were terrible thieves.

But the store owners were always kind enough to let them keep the food, and they wandered around the cities munching on all sorts of snacks and desserts.

Whenever Keefe went to the Vackers, he always stayed for lunch or dinner. He even slept over a lot.

Sophie came a lot too, but she couldn't come every day. Her only excuse was, "Dex."

That made sense, because Dex hated the Vackers and wouldn't come over if his life depended on it.

When Sophie wasn't here, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz had decided not to play Base Quest, because it wasn't nearly as fun without her.

Maybe this break was one of the best ones he'd had.

But all good things must come to an end.

Or, as a famous Elvin poet once said, "Nothing gold can stay"

Don't ask Keefe how he knew that.

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

"Congratulations to everyone who passed their midterms," Dame Alina said during their first orientation. "I hope you enjoyed your six- week vacation, because it's time to get serious. Anyone who got lower than eighty-five percent on their midterms needs to step it up or you will not pass your finals."

Keefe grinned, since his lowest grade had been a 99. Fitz didn't need to worry either.

"Your Mentors also tell me there are one hundred nine Level Threes who haven't manifested abilities, and more than double that of Level Twos— which is unacceptable. Be prepared to be pushed much harder in ability detecting from now on."

Groans chorused through the room, and Keefe felt bad for them. Ability training was the worst.

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

After school that day, Keefe couldn't go to the Vackers, since his bag was filled to the brim with books he had to read, papers he had to complete, and notebooks he had filled up with notes.

In other words, he almost drowned in the amount of homework he had.

He slipped into the office inside the first floor of his room and shut the door softly. He then locked it- twice- once with the regular lock and another time with his own lock that he had made himself, since he was that smart.

He did everything to keep Lord Cassius out of his room, because if there was one face he couldn't bear to see ever, it was his.

Keefe opened his agriculture notebook and textbook and flipped through the pages, bored.

Unable to stop himself, since he started without realizing, Keefe started drawing a face on his notebook.

It was Sophie's, since that was the first face his photographic memory could remember.

Only because he had spent so long piecing together the puzzle of how she looked that he now knew every detail of her face, from the way she smiled right down to the bright golden flecks in her eyes.

That was the only reason.

Once he started, he couldn't seem to stop, and in about twenty minutes, he had a perfect sketch of her face in black and white.

Since he already started drawing people, and because he had time and a photographic memory, he flipped to the next page and started drawing Fitz.

He knew Fitz for 3 years. He could draw his face perfectly, and in another twenty minutes, Fitz's grinning face was staring up at him.

Time flew by and so did the pages of his notebook.

Biana, Dex, Marella, Jensi. He drew everyone he knew and liked.

Alden, Della, Alvar.

His notebook was filled to the brim with people he cared about, and who he hoped cared about him. At least a little.

He smiled at the first picture he drew, but then he heard the vortinator(No clue how to spell it)reach the first floor of his room and he realized where he was.

In his room. In Candleshade.

The most depressing place ever.

"Keefe!" It was Lady Gisela, calling from the door, which was strange since she was barely here. She was always going on business trips for her job. She must have come back. "You have to go to bed now. What are you doing?" He snapped the notebook shut and stuffed it inside a pair of pants that he hated. Hopefully Cassius doesn't look through his clothes.

"I'm putting my stuff in my bag." Keefe lied. He made a show of opening and closing the bag so loud that she could hear from outside.

He heard her footsteps tap on the floor, thankfully moving towards the vortinator again.

Keefe sat back at his desk and sighed. He glanced at the clock and nearly fell out of his seat when he realized that it was eleven and he hadn't finished any of his work.

In fact, he'd barely even started. Keefe rushed over to his bed and made the shape of himself out of pillows in the bed. If you walked in and didn't come close, you would think someone was sleeping in it. He started the recording of snoring, and then he slipped inside the closet inside his closet. That way he could open the light without anyone seeing.

Keefe laid his homework on the floor, spreading it out, and then sat down in front of it.

It took him 7 minutes for each homework assignment. In 28 minutes, he had successfully completed all his homework, and he leaned back against the wall, sighing.

He got up and walked to his bag, which he filled with all of his books and binders and then closed it. Then, he left the closet inside the closet, got his pajamas from his actual closet, brushed his teeth, did all sorts of stuff that he did before bed, then actually went to bed.

But not before making sure that the notebook with all his drawings was safe from his father.

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

The next day, Keefe stuffed the notebook with his drawings inside his bag. When he got to school, he put it in the place that Cassius would never, ever, not in a million lifetimes find it.

His locker.

Which was the same place Cassius had called a "Disgrace" because of how messy it was.

And it's not like Cassius would come to Foxfire for any reason other than to talk to Dame Alina.

So it was safe.

~Zara

Okay, very short chapter alert! Yeah. But I couldn't make it super long because the last one was 3600 words and I am NOT doing that again. So yeah.

Who knew Keefe listens to poetry? He even knew Nothing Gold Can Stay  by Robert Frost.

But is it really by Robert Frost? Or by a famous Elvin Poet?

Hey, I also didn't know that Keefe actually cares about doing homework!