after unlocked: a sokeefe fanfic

Chapter 81-Keefe

A hand clamped down on Keefe's shoulder, iron tight grip. He swung around, met by the angry expression of one Grady Ruewen, who looked ready to punch just about anyone.

Keefe was hoping not to be that someone, please and thank you.

"Come with me."

He didn't really have a choice in the matter, as Grady dragged him straight past the lines of parents, the cots of families, and the toys of children.

As he dragged him to the entrance of the tunnels, past the guards with a slight nod.

He was going to die today, wasn't he?

Grady released him soon after they passed the guards, and Keefe dutifully followed him as he marched through and through and through the tunnels back into the day.

Clouds cast a gray haze over the sky, and the air was chilly as they stepped out into it. Despite the gray gloominess, it was still bright to Keefe's unadjusted eyes. He blinked rapidly, focusing on the line of tall, dark green trees a few meters from them.

"Better?"

Keefe finally nodded, glancing at Sophie's father. Grady didn't look angry anymore, just stern and... worried? It was harder to determine the emotions someone was feeling when he couldn't feel the emotions.

"Good."

He dug out wrinkled black squares of fabric out of his satchel that Keefe just now saw and rolled them up in balls. Then stuffed them in his ears. His voice was obnoxiously loud when he said, "Take off your choker."

Keefe cocked his head. Why, he mouthed.

Grady rolled his eyes. "I can't hear. You can't hurt me. I made sure the guards posted at the entrance stayed at the last outpost. They can't hear you either. Unless there's a Neverseen agent lurking somewhere in the trees, no one but the birds and the bees can hear you."

Keefe glanced at the treeline, then at the direction of where the hidden cave entrance was, then back at Grady. Slowly, he reached up to the ability restrictor, twisting the clasp in a complex set of turns, like Dex had shown him. After that, he rubbed his thumb against the bottom of his right canine tooth, then brushed it against the clasp.

The gold band fell from his neck to the ground with a hiss.

The first breath of air rushing down his tight throat was so cold that it almost hurt. He could feel his lungs expand with the normal amount of oxygen they needed and for the first time in so long, felt the fog in his brain clear.

Tentatively, Keefe reached up to his throat, feeling the indentation and the ridge that marked where the restrictor had been sitting.

Grady rummaged back through the satchel and tossed something from it to Keefe. It was a Youth, cold and dotted with condensation. Keefe twisted the lid and took a long draft, the sensation of something cold and sweet soothing his throat. He wanted to drink a hundred of them.

"Better?" Grady asked, voice normal now. Keefe nodded, smiling despite himself.

"You can talk," Grady prompted. "Test your voice."

"Hi," he said. He tried again. "What's up?"

Grady stared at him, eyes squinted. He paused. "Gonna be honest, I didn't get a word of that."

Keefe laughed; it was a croaking, dying crow laugh, but it was a laugh. Something he hadn't done in a while.

"I forgot how much I missed talking," he said, voice raw from disuse. He repeated the words more slowly when Grady looked at him confused.