Unlocked

Thirty - Keefe

The news hit Keefe like a bucket of ice water to the face.

His hands dropped from Sophie's, his mind whirling, breaking, rupturing—

"Keefe?" The word was as soft as a feather leaving Sophie's mouth, her gentle features twisted in concern. "I-I can . . . heal her if you want me to," She said, scooting closer to him.

"No," Keefe said firmly, a dark edge clinging to his tone. "At least . . .not yet."

Sophie nodded, her lip trembling slightly.

Ro stood from her cot and strode over to them. "Wait. Broken, broken? Like the Fitzster's dad?"

"Yes," Sophie said.

One simple word that tore Keefe apart.

He didn't know why it hurt so bad. His mother had been awful to him his whole life; if anything, he should have been celebrating.

Sophie wrapped her arms around him, slowly rubbing his back.

Ro cooed in the corner, once again lounging on a bed. "I gotta admit, you guys are pretty dang cute."

At any other moment, Keefe might've conversed in the snark and teasing. But in this figment of time, there was too much pain tormenting him.

Sophie didn't say anything; she just stayed there with him, her arms around him. But she didn't need to speak—her presence was all he needed.

Elwin walked into the room with a confused expression plastered on his face. But the physician was probably used to being confused. It's all he'd been for the past little while.

Neither Keefe or Sophie voiced their dilemma, so Ro did it for them.

After he'd heard the news, Elwin tore a hand through his dark, messy hair and grimaced, like he'd thought things couldn't get any worse.

But they had.

"What should we do?" Sophie asked Elwin, tension vibrating in her voice.

Elwin clenched and unclenched his fists at his side, "I don't know. Yet. But you two need to go home—your parents are probably worried about you."

"Not my dad," Keefe muttered. "I doubt he even knows I'm awake." He looked to Ro for confirmation, not at all surprised when she nodded in agreement.

"I'll go with you," Sophie said, her arms wrapping tighter around him.

Keefe looked up. "Really?"

She smiled. "Of course. Plus, you don't have a home crystal, so I'll have to teleport you."

"Ugh, do we have to teleport?" Ro grumbled.

"Only if you want to come," Keefe shot back, some of his humor returning at last.

"Well," Ro said with a dramatic sigh, "You are my charge. I better make sure daddio doesn't murder you."

Keefe stood, helping Sophie to her feet. He laced his fingers through hers as Ro begrudgingly did the same.

Elwin waved goodbye as once again, they disappeared into the void.

♡  ~𝓤𝓷𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓭~  ♡

The white-tipped waves were crashing at the beach as the three of them arrived at The Shores of Solace.

Sophie's landings were getting better, so they didn't end up in a heap on the ground and instead, arrived on their feet.

They trudged toward the front door with Ro leading the way, a dagger clenched in each of her hands. She opened the door without knocking and motioned for them to follow her inside.

They got exactly one yard before Lord Cassius strode onto the room, wearing an dark cloak and his typical narcissistic attitude.

"Keefe . . . ?" He trailed off.

Keefe didn't acknowledge his father and instead, slipped past him down the hall, Sophie and Ro in toe.

Lord Cassius didn't follow. Not that Keefe had expected him to—he just thought it might be nice to have a parent that cared for his well-being.

Sophie and Ro waited outside while he changed into a clean tunic and redid his hair. The ornate mirror in the bathroom showed a boy Keefe barely recognized. His eyes were red rimmed and circles lay under them as well. The only thing that looked remotely like himself was his hair, which was now gelled to perfection.

As he trudged back into the hall, Ro rolled her eyes, her figure slumped against the wall. "What took so long, Hunkyhair?"

"That's Lord Hunkhair to you," Keefe corrected with a smirk. "My hair doesn't fix itself."

Sophie laughed. "It doesn't," she agreed. "You look more like . . . You."

He took her hand and tilted her chin up, kissing her cheek. "Good."

Ro was just staring at them like they'd turned into Goblins. "You miss one week and the whole universe tips upside down," she muttered under her breath.

Which unfortunately, was true.