Unlocked

Twenty Eight - Sophie

Sophie's mind was absolute chaos.

Pure pandemonium.

She could've been crying for hours, or maybe it was only seconds. Keefe was the only thing holding her together, and even he was shaking with his own tears.

Her mother was dead.

Dead.

"Keefe," she whispered, her voice shaky and thick with emotion. "I'm really scared."

She knew she didn't have to say the words; he'd no doubt felt her fear. But she just wanted to shove them out of her mind before they tore her apart. The scary truth was that she was terrified. So scared that tremors were racking her body from head to toe.

"I know," he said gently, stroking her hair soothingly, "I am too."

Sophie tried to hold back her tears, but she was breaking. Her world was crumbling around her. With Oralie gone, there was no hope in opening her cache. No hope in defeating the Neverseen.

No hope at all.

All she could do was cling to Keefe and close her eyes, trying to stop the tears. But they came anyway. The sobs lodged in her throat escaped and she was an utter mess.

But she couldn't help it.

She would've stayed in Keefe's embrace for much longer, but a scraping sound startled her.

She pulled back to see Lady Gisela's hand trailing the dark, rocky ground. Her eyes were still closed, but she looked like she would rouse at any second.

Keefe sent a small shockwave through his mother's body, knocking her out again.

But it brought Sophie back to reality.

"We need to go," she murmured, her damp eyes glued to the two limp bodies on the floor. It made her hands clench. Oralie shouldn't have been the one of the two dead.

"We don't have a leaping crystal," Keefe reminded her, his eyes red rimmed. Sophie doubted she looked any better than he did.

"I think I can teleport," Sophie said, hoping the words were true. She really didn't feel strong enough to do anything at the moment, but for all they knew, this could be a Neverseen hideout, and that didn't bode well in Sophie's mind.

Keefe nodded, wiping his eyes.

Sophie felt like she was about to collapse, but she managed to lift her biological mother's body with telekinesis. Keefe did the same for his mother.

The only calming thought Sophie had was that they could lock Lady Gisela in Exile.

Sophie gripped Keefe's arm as she focused on transporting them to safety. She'd tried to remember how to use her new type of teleporting—the kind that Wynn and Luna could do.

Her mind thrummed as she split a hole in the air, sending them tumbling into the void.

♡ ~𝓤𝓷𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓭~ ♡

When they arrived, landing in a heap on the floor of the healing center, Sophie's headache spiked. From dying, being brought back to life, seeing her mother's dead body, and teleporting, she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

She leaned against the nearest cot and rubbed her temples as Elwin ran into the room. He was shouting, but she couldn't understand the words. His panicked face blurred in her vision as she slumped onto the bed. All she could feel was pain . . .

But then a gentle breeze floated through her mind and calmed her throbbing head. Her mind cleared as she looked up to see Keefe's hand intertwined with hers.

"Thank you," she whispered.

His ice blue eyes were clouded with exhaustion, but he smiled. It was the last thing she saw before her eyes closed and she feel into a deep, dreamless sleep.