KEEFER Of The Lost Cities(EDITING IN PROGRESS)

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

*Keefe has a nightmare in this chapter which is kind of really scary... so if you don't want that mental image, skip the italicized part*

When Keefe had made it to where Fitz was, he didn't say anything as he sat down next to him. Instead, Fitz spoke first. "I heard something. Right after it was announced that they... they... died." He whispered the last word. Keefe said nothing. "I heard her calling for help. It felt like... like she had transmitted to me. She called for help and I didn't know what to do because they were gone and she would never.. Never transmit to me again. I would never hear her again, or see her again, or talk to her."

Keefe ripped out a handful of grass. And then another handful. It was then that he realized, "Transmit?"

Fitz turned to look at him. "Yeah. She.. was a telepath. We weren't supposed to tell anyone." He gave a cold, harsh laugh, so devoid of joy that it sent shivers down Keefe's spine. "It doesn't matter now."

Keefe didn't know what to do or say or.. He didn't know anything. Everything was wrong. The world was wrong. The grass was wrong, he was wrong.

Sophie was a telepath? And no one knew? And how could she have transmitted to Fitz after she died?

She couldn't have been. He knew Fitz was imagining it, out of guilt, maybe. Keefe didn't dare to hope.

They were gone. There was nothing they could do.

It didn't matter that she was a telepath. It didn't matter that it hurt that he didn't know, even though the only person at school that really knew was Fitz and that was just because he was there.

It didn't matter that he had just started to get... feelings.

Fitz sighed. "Dex hated me."

It wasn't a secret. It was, in fact, pretty obvious. Keefe didn't fail to notice the way Fitz had used past tense, either.

"I got his name wrong when Sophie introduced me to him." He laughed exactly the same way he had before. "I called him Deck." He paused. "I would have hated me too."

Keefe leaned back. "It wasn't your fault."

Fitz grimaced.

"No, really. You can't blame yourself. You know what guilt does to you, right?"

Fitz nodded, and there was silence for a few seconds, but this silence was awkward.

Keefe broke it. "It's not your fault."

"We should go. Everyone else is leaving."

"You didn't.. Weren't you planning to say something?"

"I couldn't. Dad's speaking. He just finished."

Fitz got up from where he was sitting and held out a hand. Keefe reached up and grabbed it.

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

Candleshade was freezing when they got back. It was like being in a block of ice.

Sophie was gone.

Dex was gone.

Helia was gone.

He had Fitz, but would things ever be the same again?

Since it was Saturday, Keefe didn't have school today, and he'd finished his homework during his classes.

He remembered with a jolt that the last study hall he'd been to was on Wednesday.

Study hall on Thursday was when this whole mess had started.