UNLOCKED, kotlc

Chapter 44

"Me?!" Keefe asked, looking so startled that Sophie was impressed he didn't fall of the swing.

"Yes you," Bronte said gruffly, adjusting his crown.  "Tribunal this afternoon- bring anyone you'd like.  And please- make sure you're wearing something nicer than that." He pointed to his plain tunic.

"But-"

"Save it for the Tribunal," Bronte said, holding up a hand like a stop sign as he pulled out his crystal and disappeared in a shower of green sparkles.

Keefe blinked and looked at Sophie.  "What was that all about?"

"I don't know.... pranked anyone lately?"  Sophie asked, since that was his usual source of trouble.

"Not that I know of... besides, it wouldn't cause a Tribunal, they'd just give me detention for next year in Foxfire.  I don't remember doing anything, do you?" Keefe turned to glance at Ro, who was cleaning beneath her claws with a particularly sharp dagger.

"Was that the grumpypants dude with the pointy ears?" Ro said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.  "I mean, I don't remember you doing something that bad... except for the fact that I still haven't gotten revenge on you for those amoebas or for breaking our bet...."

Keefe looked like he'd just been impaled with her dagger.  "Okay, subject change! Fast! Don't give her time to brainstorm-"

Sophie laughed.  "I guess we'll just have to find out when we get there?" The statement turned out into more of a question.

"Yeah," Keefe mumbled, tearing a hand through his hair. "So you're coming then?"

"Of course!" Sophie said, swatting his hand away from his hair. "See you there."

And right before she glittered away, she saw Ro raise and eyebrow at Keefe, and Keefe roll his eyes right back at her.

____________

"So... that boy's facing Tribunal?" Grady asked Sophie when she spilled everything that had happened- except her friendly little encounter with Fitz.  "And you have no idea why?"

"Nope," Sophie admitted.  "I have to go soon- tell you all about it later?"

"Sure," Edaline cut in for her, earning a surly glance from Grady.

Sophie changed into the plainest yet probably-qualifies-as-fancy dress that she could find- and ice blue gown that swept down to her ankles and was tied with a silky white sash above her waist.  She even allowed Vertina to brush some silver powder above her eyelids, more to encourage her not to pull out her eyelashes than to look as fancy as the Council wanted her to.

By the time she got to Eternelia, Keefe was already there, dressed like a prince from the Disney movies she used to watch in the Forbidden Cities, although probably better looking.  He looked so nervous, pacing back and forth along the rows of chairs- it occurred to Sophie that she probably wasn't that nervous since she'd faced so many more Tribunals than she'd like to admit, but this was one of Keefe's first.

"You doing okay?" she asked him, wishing that the Black Swan had given her Empathy as an ability so she could sense what he was feeling and calm him down.

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered, but the panic in his eyes said it all.  Sophie noticed him looking at the color of her gown and smiling just a tiny bit before going back to his panicked-pacing.

Ro looked at her for help.  "I swear! You're boy's been walking back and forth across his bedroom for hours.  It wasn't until five minutes before that I actually got him to shower and change- you're welcome by the way.  And now it's another half an hour of sulky boy angst before a bunch of snooty intellectuals show up and sentence him."

Sophie cracked a smile.  But instead of another half an hour, they came in right then- along with Alden, a grumpy looking Lord Cassius, and all her other friends.

Everyone instantly took seats, and Keefe shot her one last look, sending a cool green breeze through her as if he was trying to calm himself down in the process, and stepped up to face the Council.

Bronte took a deep breath as he spat out, "Mr. Sencen- under charges of helping the enemy, and attacking Ms. Foster and Mr. Vacker, in the name of the Council and the Lost Cities- you. Are. Exiled."