Unlocked

Ten - Keefe

Keefe was only half awake when he heard voices.

They circulated through his head, barely registering. He heard the soft voice of a girl, then a boy's voice, this time much lower pitched. They sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place them.

"When will he wake up?" The girl asked, coming from his left.

"Is he going to be alright?" This time from the boy, a few feet off to his right. Keefe could swear the voice sounded guilty, but he couldn't be sure. He was still half asleep.

Keefe could barely hear Elwin, clearly trying to console the two voices.

Keefe wanted nothing more than to lift his eyelids and see who they were, but he couldn't open his eyes. The sedative was strong. He fought against it with every fiber of his being, but he just couldn't wake up.

Now he saw why Sophie hated sedatives so badly. Sophie.

He clung tightly to the memory of holding her in his arms as his mind faded away once again.

♡ ~𝓤𝓷𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓭~ ♡

The nightmares were awful.

Keefe's mind was a torture chamber, flashbacks weaving through his subconscious.

He felt himself enduring the shadowflux process, the terrible moments repeating over and over until he broke into a thousand tiny fragments.

Dark colors faded in and out as his mother cackled. His friends faces blurred in his vision as he felt shadows seep deep into his veins. His heart pounded as his mind sunk deeper and deeper. It was icy cold.

He was shivering. He didn't know if it was real or just an illusion of his nightmares.

He couldn't stand it anymore.

He jerked upright in bed, triggering an instant headache. It was so painful he couldn't breathe, couldn't feel, couldn't function. His head pounded; lights flickered in his vision.

He couldn't process the words being thrown at him. Faces hovered over him, indecipherable.

Keefe was drowning in his thoughts. A wildfire burned in his mind, swallowing the atmosphere and scorching the shattered emotions.

And then . . . It stopped.

The fire stopped raging, the aching ceased, his heart rate steadied. Keefe took in a shaky breath. He tried not to shake, but he couldn't help but tremble slightly.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The first direction his eyes flicked was to his left, where Sophie lie asleep on her cot. Her blond locks fell across her eyes. Her soft features looked so relaxed, it relieved Keefe. She was all right, and that was all that really mattered.

Keefe's eyes flipped back to his right, where two very familiar faces stood side by side. Twins.

Tam and Linh usually looked very alike, but the way they were both staring at Keefe with the same expression made them look nearly identical. And it wasn't a happy expression.

It was horror.

In fact, Keefe had never seen the twins look quite so scared, and that was saying a lot, considering all they'd been through.

His heart started to pound. "What's wrong?"

Tam didn't answer. Keefe looked to Linh. She too looked tongue tied. She shakily raised her hand and pointed at Keefe's abdomen.

Keefe snapped his head down, immediately focusing in on the phenomenon. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it until now.

Blue and white electricity was running up and down his forearms. It spiked in erratic patterns, sparking and sizzling. It was nearly blinding.

Tam and Linh just kept on staring.

The weird thing? Keefe couldn't feel a thing. It was like he was immune to it.

Keefe's heart surged. He recognized this electricity. He'd seen it one other time: Being used by Councilor Zarina.

His eyes widened and he felt his headache return. The throbbing pain was tormenting his mind. He just wanted it to stop.

But it wouldn't.

He was barely aware of someone pouring yet another sedative down his throat. It was probably Elwin, but he couldn't tell in his disoriented vision.

The world was fading from his mind. But one thought kept resurfacing as he was dragged underneath the surface.

He had manifested. And even scarier . . .

He was a charger.