Keefe's Whereabouts

15

"How much longer?" Keefe asks for the 20th time in the last hour. 

"Keefe, like I've said at least 100 times, we'll be there when we see the ocean. 

"Well, when are we going to see the ocean?" He groans. 

I ignore him as we continue walking. After last night, it seems like he's pretending that never happened. Which is good... I guess? I don't know, I'm a little disappointed. I thought we made progress. But it's also good to know that we won't be awkward with each other. We've been out of the house for a while now, I want to say maybe three hours. We can't take any form of public transportation because of the risk of being spotted. First, we blended in with the other civilians. Once we hit the woods, we had to go our separate ways and start walking through the covered land. Brandon gave us some type of contraption his technopath made that would direct us to the destination. Kinda like a GPS. The fatigue in my body starts to hit me. I want to take a break, but I feel unsafe in here. I look over at Keefe and watch him make his way forward. Sweat glistens his face and his hair is messily tussled. 

"Wait stop a second," I say hearing something. 

We both still and the sound of waves crashing against the shore hits my ears. My body lights up as we rush through the last of the clearing, reaching the beach. 

"We made it," I say, smiling at Keefe. 

"You did, and you really took your time," a very familiar voice rings through my ears. 

I turn around. Lady Cadence. 

"Never thought I'd say this, but it's really nice to see your face," I say. 

"Likewise," she gives me a small smile. "You, too, Sencen."

"Aw, you missed me and our lessons?" Keefe smirks. 

Her smile disappears. "Has not changed a bit, I see."

I can still see a glint of a smile on her face, which makes me warm up. It feels like the old days. 

"We need to go, I am sure you guys are familiar with how this goes," she motions to the house- boat. 

I notice Keefe's face go green. Last time we were on this, we were heading toward the Ogre Kingdom. Keefe got very sea sick. 

"Let's get this over with," he mutters. 

We quickly board and Keefe and I sit on the deck. As the boat starts to move, I watch as the last bits of San Diego disappear from my vision. I wish I got to stop by and see my sister. It's too dangerous though. Once we take care of this Neverseen nonsense, I will go see her. I look around and find a bench to sit on. I lean back and watch as the waves carry us towards the Lost Cities. 

"It's going to be a while till we get back home," Lady Cadence says from the top of the boat. "Feel free to rest in one of the rooms inside."

I nod thankfully and get up, walking inside the water boat home. I look around and surprisingly, it looks pretty cozy in here. 

"Where are you going?" Keefe pops in behind me. 

"Lady Cadence said we could rest in here because it's going to be a while until we make it back home. I guess we can't take our regular way back home due to our circumstances," I tell him. 

I see his eyes turn relieved. We have been traveling and under pressure for a while now. When we get home, we are going to have to fight, so this will probably be our last chance to rest. I walk towards a hallway and open a door, thankfully leading to a room. An Elvin bed. I walk towards it and drop on the bed, my muscles relaxing immediately. I almost want to cry from the comfort. I look up and see Keefe leaning against the doorframe, watching me. I roll over and pat the space next to me. 

"You probably haven't seen one of these in a while," I give him a sad smile. 

He closes the door behind him and walks towards me, laying himself down next to me. I watch as his muscles relax, his breathing becoming more steady. I reach up and draw circles on his back. He looks at me through his hair, his eyes lidded. 

"Come on, let's sleep while we can," I whisper and lay my head down. 

He reaches his hand forward and tucks my hair behind my ear. Then he pulls me closer to him. I can feel my face heat up but I tuck my head towards his chest so he can't see me. His strong arms wrap around me as I listen to his heartbeat and slowly feel myself drift to sleep in comfort.