Team Foster-Keefe (A Sokeefe Story) #KOTLC #AfterUnlocked

Chapter 16

A/N: GUYS, GUYS, GUYS! OMG, CHECK SHANNON'S INSTAGRAM, SHE HAD A BABY! I'm so shocked, since she hadn't told anyone at all until she actually had the baby. It explains why she was so inactive for the past 9 months! EEK! The baby is a boy, and she won't be sharing any pictures of his face or his name for privacy. She needs to take time to rest and get used to the change, but then she'll be back writing! Anyways, so today's chapter's song is Dusk Till Dawn by ZAYN, featuring Sia! I think the chorus is so Sokeefe! Enjoy the chapter!

Keefe looked miserable.

He felt miserable, too. But he knew that this was the only way... To stay away from his friends. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to them because of him. 

The new powers were even worse than he'd thought. Every time he came into contact with humans, he'd have to bite back the command and it killed him every time.

At least it was better than having to know Foster would be safe now. Well, safer than usual. Based on what Grady had told him, he knew the Neverseen would be after Sophie.

After living with them for months, he knew just how ruthless they could really be.

And honestly? They were geniuses at scheming. 

Keefe started to shiver with worry for his friends. Especially Sophie. 

And he still couldn't get those beautiful brown eyes out of his head. They came back to haunt him every time he thought of her... Which was often.

His hand trailed down his tunic, and he felt a bulge in his pocket. Keefe looked down and pulled out the square, crystal Imparter. 

He squeezed it hard, fighting the urge to hail Grady just to see Sophie's face. To know she was okay.

But Grady hadn't hailed him since he left. Which should have comforted him, since he knew there wasn't an emergency.

But he really missed Sophie. 

Keefe let out a strangled sigh, which sounded kind of like a frustrated squirrel, and shoved the Imparter back into his pocket. He stood up and wandered down the empty streets of the strange human world.

                  ━━━━━━━━━༻♡༺━━━━━━━━━

Back to Sophie...

Sophie's palms trailed down the railings of the staircase at Havenfield. She trudged down the steps, one foot at a time.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

But she knew she couldn't keep staying away from everything now. Just because she had learned something about herself that she had been fighting to understand for a while didn't mean she could ignore the rest of the burdens she still had to bear.

She had to be strong. For everyone else, and for herself, too.

Sophie had to act like a leader. Now more than ever. With the Neverseen likely plotting a wicked, and dangerous act against her, she had to be vigilant and alert. 

She turned to Sandor, stalking down the steps behind her, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword, as if he could read her mind.

"Think it's smart to start battle training again?" she asked him.

"Actually, I do think that would be wise, Miss Foster," Sandor admitted. "We'll have to up our game dramatically now that the Neverseen are planning who knows what."

"Right," Sophie nodded, swallowing the bile that rose to her throat. She had to be strong. "I think we should also look into some of the things we never solved. Theres so much that doesn't make sense, but if we find the missing pieces then maybe we'll know what to do next."

Sandor gave her a tight smile, probably showing his agreement, but it looked pretty forced.

Yeah, they hadn't really had the best luck when it came to this stuff. Okay, they weren't usually lucky trying to figure out the many loose ends to the meagre intel they had. And most of it was already hazy. But they could never give up trying. 

They needed that information now more than ever.

Part of Sophie wondered if they should still focus on all of the things that involved Keefe. After all, he had a lot of memories that he had recovered after his mom had them shattered. But now that he was gone... Was it really that important?

But Lady Gisela was still a seriously dangerous enemy, with or without Keefe. And Sophie knew that just because he left, it didn't mean he was out of the picture. Lady Gisela would probably hunt high and low for him now that he had his new abilities she'd triggered. 

Sophie internally groaned, because honestly, they should have been looking into Keefe's memories so much more now. She kept trying to remind herself that she just had to go with the flow, and that whats done has been done.

It helped a little, because Sophie continued down the steps, thinking about what else she had to do.

"Okay, so theres battle training, clue hunting, and... um..." Sophie was at a loss for what else they had to do. There was so much, yet none of it came to mind.

"How about hailing your friends? Perhaps they have some ideas," Sandor suggested.

"That's a good idea. I haven't checked with them in a few days, actually," she confessed. 

"Don't blame yourself. You've been dealing with a lot lately," Sandor reminded her.

"Yeah..." she mumbled.

Suddenly, something else dawned on her mind.

"What about Ro?" Sophie asked.

The big, burly goblin turned and looked at her. "What about her?"

"I mean, what's she going to do now? Her charge kind of disappeared on us, sooo..." she drew out the word. "Will she return the Ravagog?" she asked, her heart sinking.

"King Dimitar is yet to decide. I'm assuming he'll ask the ogre princess what she thinks before he makes a decision. She has been in the Lost Cities for a while, so I'm sure she'll get a say."

"Do you think she'll choose to stay?" Sophie asked, biting her lip at what her bodyguard might say.

"I can't say, Miss Foster," Sandor replied, rather gruffly, unaccustomed to not having an answer.

They reached the end of the staircase then, and Sophie sighed, walking to the main room of her home.

She paced the glistening floor, her mind flooding with everything that had happened since she found out Keefe left.

"I'm going to hail Team Valiant. I'm sure they've actually been getting stuff done while I... wasn't," Sophie informed Sandor.

Sandor let out a squeaky sigh. "You're too hard on yourself, Miss Foster. All I'll say is that now, just look at the present."

"He's right," a voice said.

Edaline walked in, a hand running through her wavy auburn hair. "Hindsight is a dangerous game. Remember?"

Sophie recalled the time Edaline had told her the same thing when she was looking into Jolie's murder. When she had finally figured everything out and told her mother, she had said that hindsight was a dangerous game- which it was. Knowing what you should have seen before but didn't could be absolutely infuriating. 

But that's what she had to look out for. She couldn't let anything get to her now.

Sophie nodded. "Okay, I hear you guys. I'll just... stay loose as we go."

Sandor raised an eyebrow.

"Not that loose. I'll still be aware of everything going on," Sophie hastily added.

"Very aware," Sandor growled.

Edaline let out a soft chuckle. "That's good! Just remember to be yourself while we take care of this mess. You're only a 15 year old girl,"

Sophie reluctantly nodded, because honestly, sometimes it felt like she had more problems than most Ancients ever did.

She walked over to the couch as Edaline left the room, and pulled out her Imparter as she leaned close and whispered, "Team Valiant."