Harry Potter and the Lost Cities

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sophie stared at the glowing name on the imparter for a moment. What did Lady Gisela want with them this time? Her heart swelled with anger. She hated how Lady Gisela could do such cruel things to Keefe and so many others, then expect Keefe to just answer her hails and follow her instructions.

Like her little puppet.

"Answer it," Biana hissed, pulling Sophie out of her thoughts.

Keefe hesitated, then tapped his imparter.

"There you are, Keefe, I was starting to think you weren't going to answer," Lady Gisela's lofty voice said. Her picture didn't appear like it would've on a normal imparter call, replaced by a black backdrop.

"You're right, I shouldn't've, I'll hang up now," Keefe snarled, his finger moving to do just that.

"Now, now, let's not be too impatient, son," Lady Gisela said, her tone frustratingly calm. "Of course the Moonlark's there, I expected that... oh, and is that the Vacker girl, too? I suppose her brother's there too, in that case, in fact, probably the whole team, is that right?"

"What do you want?" Keefe replied.

"My goodness, didn't I teach you anything about manners?" Lady Gisela asked. "But fine, if you're gonna be that way... I need you to do something for me."

Keefe snorted. "Yeah? How about while I'm at it, I hand all of my friends over to you? And then maybe we can make up with a hug?"

"Keefe, this isn't a joke," Lady Gisela reprimanded. "And really, I'm not asking much. In fact, it might even be something you've already done. I simply need you to test your new ability. Tell me how much control you have."

"Oh, yeah, easy," Keefe said sarcastically. "There's just the minor detail you've forgotten... I don't have a new ability."

Lady Gisela paused for a moment. "Don't be silly. There's no need to lie. I already know."

"Nope, not lying. In fact, not only did your lovely experiment not give me a new ability, it even took away my old one."

This time Lady Gisela stopped for even longer. "You don't have your Empathy?"

"Nope!" Keefe declared, his voice dripping with venom. "Your experiment clearly went great."

Once again, it took Lady Gisela a moment to respond before she said, "Well, I suppose this changes things. I may have to tell you about the Potencians."

"The what?" Sophie asked immediately.

"The Potencians," Lady Gisela said easily. "It's the only way to get my son's abilities back if the stellarlune didn't work..."

"What are they?" Keefe demanded.

"Now, now, if I told you, I would lose your interest, wouldn't I? Then you'd run off and never answer my hails again. No, I think it's best that I keep your attention, don't you?"

Sophie's jaw clenched in frustration.

"I think a different plan would work better... yes... We'll have to meet."

Biana snorted. "Yeah, right. That's not happening."

"Dear me, Ms. Vacker, surely you don't want Keefe to suffer? The side effects of uncountered stellarlune can be... ah... painful."

Sophie had no idea what 'uncountered stellarlune' was, but she was about to say that Keefe wasn't in pain. Then she got a look at Keefe's face― grimacing, as though embarrassed to have his mother expose him.

He was in pain. And he hadn't told anyone.

But she didn't have time to deal with that right now. Especially when Keefe said, "When and where?"

Sophie gave him a look, but he just stared down guiltily at the imparter.

Sophie could almost hear the triumphant smile in Lady Gisela's voice as she said. "I'll arrange all of that, and let you know."

"How are you going to contact us? Through the imparter?"

"Oh, Keefe, that would take too much time. Then you'll demand answers and not take anything seriously... such a waste of my time. I'll contact you. Don't worry about the how. Just show up. Oh, and bring the Redek girl and the Hydrokinetic. We may need them."

Keefe gritted his teeth. "Fine."

Then he hung up.

There was stunned silence for a moment, then everyone burst into speech.

But Sophie was the loudest. "Keefe, what are you thinking? We can't do this!"

"Why not?" He asked. "This is our best plan! Plus, supposedly I'm going to get a new ability! It could be super important!"

"But we're playing right into her hands!" Biana replied. "We can't trust her! She might heal your abilities, but then she's going to do some other crazy thing!"

"You think I don't know that? But I think it's worth the risk. It's our only lead."

"And it's insane!" Fitz jumped in. "Biana's right, whenever we listen to her it doesn't end well."

"Guys, it's my abilities, I think it's my decision," Keefe said.

"Hardly," Biana countered. "You realize that you just agreed to bring Marella and Linh along, too, right? And putting any of us in danger is putting us all in danger, since Gethen will probe all our memories if they capture you. So no, it's definitely not your decision."

"Not to mention your bodyguard isn't gonna let this happen either," Ro jumped in. "As often as I want to punch you in the face for your frequent idiocy, unfortunately, part of the job description as 'bodyguard' is not letting your charge get into trouble with his evil mom. And you're still in trouble for your last little escape-artist trick, so you really don't want to cross me again."

Keefe flinched at the word 'evil,' but he still said, "I'm sorry. I'm going. No one else has to come. But I need my ability back― maybe even abilities, plural, if it all works. This is our best chance."

Biana sighed. "C'mon, Sophie, help us out here. We all know he listens to you best."

But Sophie was busy looking intently at Keefe. As much as she hated to admit it, Keefe may have been on to something.

Especially when she remembered something that gave them the upperhand.

"Actually, Keefe might be right," Sophie muttered, to general astonishment. "And, I think I have an idea."