Because I Love You

Chapter 2

"Sophie! Come down, quick!" Grady called. 

"No, Grady, I'm NOT going to brush Verdi's teeth again!" 

"It's not that! That Boy has come back!"

Sophie thought she heard  wrong.

"Keefe is back?!"

"YES! Go to the Shores of Solace!"

Sophie went downstairs and hugged Grady. "How did you know?"

"Keefe hailed me. He wants to see you! Now go!" Grady pushed her towards the Leapmaster. 

Sophie nodded. "The Shores of Solace!" She yelled, and the light whisked her away.

When she landed at the house, Lord Cassius was sitting on the patio. 

"He's called you. Go see him." He said.

She opened the door. "KEEFE!" She yelled.

"Up here!" A beautiful, familiar voice called her. The voice that used to tease her all the time. The voice that called her 'Foster'.  The voice she had missed so much.

Sophie ran up the stairs. Keefe was waiting at the landing, and when she got up, Sophie hugged him. "Keefe!"

"Missed me, Foster?"

"A lot. Please don't go again, Keefe." She begged.

"Let's go to my room and talk." He avoided the question. Sophie was too happy to care. Keefe was back!

They sat on Keefe's bed. "Why did you go, Keefe?" Sophie asked directly. She needed to know. 

"Because the Neverseen want me. My mom did this to me. She made me stay away from you. I figured that if I left..."

"The Neverseen would go after you." Sophie finished. 

"Are you reading my thoughts?"

"No. I just know you."

"Well, yeah. It was for you guys. I wanted to protect you the way you protect us, Foster. You're really brave, and I guess since you're an important element in our lives, I wanted to protect you."

"You don't always have to protect me Keefe. I have five bodyguards to do that."

"But you're my friend. I'll always want to protect you. And will try. Are you just upset that I'll break you're almost dying record in the process?" He teased.

"This isn't funny anymore, Keefe. You don't need to risk you're life for me."

"I do!"

"Why?!"

"Because I love you!" He blurted out. Keefe turned red. Sophie's mouth formed an o.

"You what?" She asked after an awkward silence.

"It's nothing. You don't like me back, so-"

"What makes you say that, Keefe?" She interrupted. 

Sophie had been thinking. She had missed Keefe so much, and before she had been so fixated on Fitz that she hadn't paid attention to her fluttering heart around Keefe. When Keefe had gone, her heart had felt broken, shattered into a million pieces that only he could put together.

"Y-you like me back?" He asked, nervous of her reply.

"No, Keefe." She said.

He looked down.

"I love you."