Unlocked

Thirty Four - Keefe

Keefe wobbled on his feet, clutching the bedframe so he wouldn't fall over.

Sophie grabbed his arm and steadied him, her face placid and her brow creased.

Oralie stared at them with wide eyes, trembling slightly on her cot. Her hands were clenched into fists around her sheets, which were now tinted red from her blood.

Keefe suddenly ripped his arm from Sophie's grip and stumbled across the room, right to his mother's bedside. Electricity arched between his fingers and sizzled. He felt like he was having an out of body experience as he shocked his mother with tears streaming down his face, body shaking in tremors.

"Keefe!" Someone shouted, he couldn't tell who. Maybe Sophie, maybe Oralie.

But as someone grabbed his arm, he knew it was Sophie. She tugged at him, begging him to stop. "Please, Keefe. She's already gone."

Keefe collapsed to the floor, the world spinning around him.

The only thing he could bring himself to think was, my mother is a murderer.

Sophie hugged him tightly as his whole world fell apart. He dug his head into her shoulder and let everything else fade away . . .

♡ ~𝓤𝓷𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓭~ ♡

Keefe awoke tangled in crisp white bedsheets.

His head pounded so harshly, for a second he thought he might pass out. But a voice brought his disoriented vision into focus.

"Does your head hurt?" A deep voice asked, as Keefe looked up.

Lord Casssius was hovering over him, dressed in an ornate suit and cloak.

Keefe glanced to his sides, surprised to see himself in his own room, which was full of ornate furniture and shimmering sea glass lining the walls.

He tried to speak, but his voice felt like it had been ripped from his lungs. He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the pain rapidly building in his mind.

"I'll take that as a yes," he father said, digging two small vials from his cloak. One was a bottle of youth, and the other was a slushy brown liquid. "From Elwin," Lord Cassius explained, popping the top of the bottle of youth.

He pressed it against Keefe's lips, but Keefe snatched the vial from his father. "I'm capable of doing that myself," he snapped, his voice returning. In all honestly he could've used the help, but he wasn't about to let his dad assist him with anything.

Lord Cassius frowned slightly as Keefe downed the two vials.

"Where's Sophie?" Keefe asked after he'd drunken the two liquids.

"Oh, your little girlfriend?" Lord Cassius said with a humorless laugh. "She's outside."

Keefe quirked an eyebrow.

"On the porch swing," his dad said with a sigh.

Keefe nodded. "You can leave now."

His father just shook his head and murmured something Keefe couldn't decipher. But he left the room, the door clicking behind him.

"Done sleeping?" Ro asked, and Keefe yelped. She smirked, "Didn't notice me?"

Keefe definitely hadn't, but he wasn't about to tell her that. She was sitting in a chaise in the corner, filing her nails with a particularly sharp looking knife.

He sighed. "How long was I asleep?"

"Only a day or two," she said nonchalantly.

Keefe's eyes widened. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"'Cause you needed the rest, sleepyhead."

Keefe couldn't argue with that.

He left the room, stopping in the doorway when Ro spoke again.

"I'm . . . Sorry about your mom," she said, sounding unusually sincere.

Keefe kicked the doorframe lightly. "Thanks."

He left without another word.