Unlocked

Nineteen - Keefe

Sophie looked like she was about to choke. When her eyes flicked up to the man, Keefe felt her emotions skyrocket, leaving both him and her gasping for breath.

The man looked alarmed for a moment, then recognition flashed across his features. Confusion was painted across his face and he covered his mouth, eyes wide with fright.

Sophie ducked behind Keefe, who was still madly trying to figure out what was happening and who the man was.

The man finally spoke, his voice nasal and quite frankly annoying. "Miss—Miss Foster?"

Keefe was no polyglot, but after being Fitz's best friend for years, he'd picked up some English dialogue. It wasn't much different than the enlightened language, things were just pronounced differently and syllables rolled of the tongue in a strange manner.

Mr. Sweeney's eyes were dilated and confused, staring at Sophie with his nostrils flared.

That's when Sophie took off running. She pelted down the sidewalk and ran into the zoo, abandoning all plans of avoiding the public.

Keefe didn't wait to see the man's reaction.

He ran after her, dodging a couple pedestrians standing near the entrance, who were quietly chatting about some scary lady wearing a cape. He was still running after Sophie when the kids' words caught up with him, the English slowly but surely registering in his brain.

He whirled around. There was a little boy wearing a small leather hat and a girl that looked to be eleven or twelve. "What did you say?" He asked frantically, hoping he'd pronounced the words correctly.

The boy looked scared. The girl peeped, "Huh?"

"What were you just saying?" Keefe asked again, slower this time. "About that lady—the one in the cape?"

"Oh." The boys gaze dropped to his beat up tennis shoes, staring at them like they held the secrets of the universe. He went silent as the girl starting fidgeting with her shirt sleeves.

Keefe glanced from one kid to another, trying to communicate how much he needed the information through his eyes.

The boy looked up again. "She's over there," he mumbled, pointing left, toward a series of bird enclosures about half a mile away.

Keefe glanced back at Sophie, who was now rounding a corner thirty feet to his right. Her hair whipped in the wind as she continued her sprint farther into the zoo. Even with the distance between them, Keefe could still feel her terrified emotions. She was nearly out of his sight.

"Thanks," Keefe murmured quietly to the two kids, then turned to face the zoo.

People of all ages, sizes, and colors walked carefree between the enclosures of various animals. He saw little kids laughing and adults pushing strollers. Pedestrians skipped down the pavement while a group of schoolchildren stopped and stared at an enclosure of kangaroos. The noise was chaotic and blaring loud.

Keefe glanced back to his right. Sophie was gone, having disappeared around the corner. He looked back to his left, where the kids had told him the lady was. It had to be his mother—he just knew it. Less people were streaming from that direction, and the ones that were looked scared.

Keefe's gut clenched. If his mother had hurt anyone—

A hand tapped him on the shoulder as he was trying to decide when direction to go—after Sophie, or after his mother. Both were important.

He turned to see the same man, the one Sophie had run from. Keefe had almost forgotten about him.

"Excuse me," he said in his nasal voice, "who was that girl you were with? She looked like one of my old students."

Keefe froze. This was one of Sophie's old teachers. Oh no.

"Oh, um," he said, trying madly to come up with a lie, "that's my friend Biana."

The man looked at him with distain. "Biana? That's a strange name." He started to back away, heading back toward the sidewalk. As he left, Keefe barely heard him mutter, "I could've sworn her name was Sophie."

Keefe watched him go. After he was out of sight, he finally turned his attention back to the zoo. A stream of people were now running from the left. It might've not been that out of the ordinary if they weren't all screaming.

He moved out of the way as a group of children ran from the zoo, yelling for their parents. One was crying, his face red with tears.

Keefe's hands clenched at his sides. Whatever his mother had done couldn't be good.

With one last fleeting glance to the right, Keefe took off down the left sidewalk, dodging all the humans running in the opposite direction.

He was going to find his mother. And she was going down.