The Neverseen's Last Resort

33

"You didn't hear?" Fitz asked, and Keefe shook his head. Had the council not told him something? Was he not meant to hear this? 

"No," Keefe said. "What?" 

"I guess that makes sense," Fitz murmured to himself. "The symbol? They checked it out and found out it led to New York." 

Keefe froze in place, and at the sound of his footsteps halting, Fitz stopped, too. But they both kept their hands glued to the rail, not wanting to risk getting lost. 

New York? But that was where Sophie had been kidnapped. Maybe she hadn't been looking for Keefe, like he'd originally thought. Maybe, instead, she'd been leading her own investigation into the Neverseen. But why? Why not just go to the Black Swan? 

"New York?" His voice broke as he spoke, but Fitz didn't seem to care as he answered. 

"Yes. I thought she'd been... y'know, but now? I'm not so sure, anymore." 

"Why New York?" 

"You can ask Sophie when we save her," Fitz said. 

"But this isn't--"

"As far as the council knows, it isn't anything more than an investigation into that flower. But you really wanna sit around and wait another three days before we have a shot at saving her? If the council does save our friends, the Neverseen will know we're on to them. The best chance we've got is now. When they aren't expecting anything." 

Keefe nodding, knowing Fitz was making more sense than the council. But the council was all they had left. If they disobeyed and someone got hurt because of them... Who would they have left? 

"If the council made a mistake that we didn't right when we had the chance, it'd be our fault, too," Fitz added, making Keefe wonder if Fitz had broken the rules of Telepathy. 

"Yeah," Fitz said, confirming Keefe's question.

"Stay out of my head," he grumbled, walking once again. Fitz did the same, leading them further into the cave. 

Thirty more minutes of walking and Keefe was exhausted. Though, most of his strength had been drained from the temp regulation rather than the actual walking.

"You're tired already?" asked Fitz, and Keefe rolled his eyes. 

"You're shaking from fatigue," he noted, and Fitz rolled his eyes. 

"You can't even see me. It's pitch dark." 

"Then how do you know I'm tired?" 

"Your thoughts," Fitz answered, and Keefe growled at the grin in his voice. 

"Stay out of my head!"

"Okay! Sorry!" Both boys continued to walk, until Keefe tripped over a small rock that flew across the cave and nicked the cave wall. 

"You okay?" Fitz asked, and Keefe nodded-- again realizing Fitz couldn't see. But... he could. The rock that had fallen to the floor was now illuminating the cave, and Keefe could now see the cave's hall was a good 25ft wide and 12ft tall. 

And if he backtracked a couple meters, Keefe saw they'd missed another tunnel. 

"Fitz, check this out," he called, and, picking up the light rock, he followed Keefe's voice to his side. 

"Another tunnel?"

"Maybe they had the caves dark so we would miss it?" 

"How did the rock do that?" 

"We just found a secret tunnel and you're questioning a rock? It's probably some sort of fungi or whatever." 

"I'm not so su--"

"Are we entering the cool tunnel or do you want to sit here and nerd out over a rock?" 

"Good point," Fitz sighed, following Keefe into the cave.

"Slow down," he hissed. "We don't know who or what is waiting on the other side." 

"We will with Johnson's help," Keefe smirked, and Fitz stopped. 

"'Johnson'?" 

"The rock," Keefe clarified, and Fitz blinked.

"You named the rock?" 

"Do you prefer John?" Keefe smiled when Fitz scoffed, and both continued to inch closer towards the exit of the cave's hallway. 

"Is that..." Fitz gasped, while Keefe's mouth hung agape as they reached the end of the hall. Before them was an entire room carved into the cave and forming a dome-like structure. The floor remained the same cold rock they'd been treading on ever since they'd first entered, but soil and grass covered the center of the room. And from the soil and dirt, were flowers.