"Tinker can't translate the runes." Dex plopped down at the table at Idylwood, ignoring their surprised expressions.
"How did you get here?" Sophie asked.
"Borrowed the crystal from Biana," Dex shrugged. He grabbed a slice of Mallowmelt, which didn't seem healthy for breakfast, but then again, who was Keefe to talk? He was literally eating Mallowmelt himself.
And it wasn't like that would be the way his life would end.
Depressing as it was, he had a much higher chance of dying from more gruesome means then overconsumption of a sugary treat.
"At this point, I'm surprised the Neverseen hasn't figured us out and stolen that crystal, Sophie muttered. "So, why can't she?"
Dex shrugged. "Who knows, honestly? It's Tinker we're talking about. All she said was, and I quote, 'An artist drew this?' And I said, 'I don't know, I thought you would know?' Then I realized she was saying a statement, even though it wasn't a statement, and she went, 'Is it true that sometimes only the artist can read what is truly said?' And then I left." Dex finished his ramble, taking a deep breath.
Sophie squinted at him. "Huh?"
"I dunno. I thought you'd know." He plopped the book onto the table. "You guys can try to figure this out. Solve Tinker's riddles. I need sleep."
"We have school in like an hour."
"Then I'll sleep for an hour." He waved on his way out, "See you guys at school."
"Yep." Sophie stabbed her fork into her food. "Oh!" She stood up, following Dex and speaking quickly to him, probably about Cadence.
Keefe slid the book over, struck again by how familiar it seemed.
He flipped the pages over, chewing on his lip as he stared at the first page. He shook his head and scoffed, nearly putting it down.
But then he saw it.
A tiny scrap of paper.
Peeking out from the corner of one of the pages.
Keefe thumbed his way to that page, ignoring the runes for a moment as he focused on the paper.
Initials.
K. C. S.
Then, smaller, a name.
Sencen.
And suddenly, he knew.
He had written in that book.
His fingers trembled as he slid the paper aside.
Eyes narrowing on the runes.
Translating them.
His mind slid into that mode, seeming familiar, yet so foreign.
Arcadia.
"He won't feel a thing,"
All previous tests unsuccessful.
"—numbing applied."
Experiment subject 49.
"No accidents."
Formulated and tested.
"—don't let him manif—"
Patient experienced intense pain.
The screaming.
Lashed out.
"Knock him out!"
Numbed workers in area.
"It's not working!"
Panicked.
"He's coming!"
Empathy affected.
"—kill him, kill him, kill him!"
Curse.
"—a kid, he's attacking us!"
Killed seven.
"Someone help!"
Curse of Arcadia.
"I need him alive!"
Mind tested.
"—monster!"
Cracks sustained.
"We got him!"
Curse of Arcadia.
"Hide it. I don't want it happening again."
Cursed.
"When he wakes up, he will remember nothing."
He is cursed.
Keefe's breathing sped
"Foster—" he couldn't keep a whimper from escaping his mouth.
Cursed.
Arcadia.
Curse of Arcadia.
Then, somehow, Sophie's arms were around him as he hyperventilated, rocking him back and forth.
He tried to focus on her, but—
Killed seven.
"—monster!"
Curse of Arcadia.
"Hey, please, I'm right here. I'm right here." Sophie soothed. Keefe panted, desperately sucking in drafts of air to his suffocating lungs.
"Cursed—" he managed, "I'm cursed."
"Keefe, there's no such—"
"Curse of Arcadia. My mom lied. Again." He grimaced. "She—they—experimented on me. When I was younger."
"Keefe." Her voice sharpened. "What were those first words?"
"Curse of Arcadia, I don't know what... what it means."
"Arcadia," Sophie whispered. "It was the one rune I could read."
He felt her arms tighten around him. "How did you translate it?"
His breath hitched. "Sophie... I wrote it."
Sophie looked at him, as he scooted away, trying to grasp the images floating around his brain.
"You couldn't have... right?"
Keefe shook his head. "Not this part, but..." he slid the scrap of paper to her.
Sophie pressed her lips into a thin line. Her hands went to her stomach, pressing a fist against it.
"I wrote this. And..." Keefe searched for the book, which had fallen from his hands when he had fallen. He found it, under the table, some pages falling out as he picked it up. Keefe flipped to another page, the page with the toddler strokes.
That was him.
"I can read this," he shook his head angrily, "I don't know how, but I can now. I can!"
"Okay, hold on," Sophie held up her hand. "I need to process for a second. You're saying that these runes were implanted in you like the Black Swan did mine?"
"Except the Neverseen messed up." His breath sped up again. "Because they triggered my ability at the same time."
Sophie frowned. "But your mom said they didn't experiment on you."
"So she lied!"
He regretted yelling when he saw her expression.
"I'm sorry," Keefe said, more quietly. "I shouldn't have yelled."
"It's fine."
It wasn't, but they couldn't focus on that now.
"So, what do we do?"
"We need to figure out the Curse of Arcadia."
"Arcadia has to be a place." Sophie decided. "There's no other option."
Keefe closed the book with a slam. "So we need to go there."
"How are we gonna do that?"
Keefe scanned their surroundings, his gaze finally landing on the crystals hanging from the wall.
He bit his lip, an idea forming in his brain. "We go back to where the book belongs."
***
They walked through the halls at a steady pace, the bodyguards grouped around them. School hadn't started yet, but somehow, Keefe knew they wouldn't be going to class.
Something bigger was happening.
"What are we looking for?" Sophie broke the silence.
It was weird.
They were all being silent, even Bo and Ro, from the volume of their words to the steps of their feet.
"A crystal."
She was silent for a second. Then, "You don't think the crystal would be there?"
"I do. I don't know how, but I just have feeling about it. When they took me to Arcadia, my mom took me through Foxfire."
"The memory is starting to come back?"
Keefe nodded. "Pieces."
Just pieces.
Being woken at two in the morning, shoved into a cloak, cheek pressed against the rough cloth of his mom's cloak, as he leaned on her shoulder, her hands supporting him.
Being whipped through a bright light, landing in the near dawn of the day.
Then it stopped.
But it was coming back.
They stopped at the door of Magnate Leto's office, Sophie not even reprimanding him for keeping the DNA strip of their principal.
The door opened immediately, the lights all off.
He hadn't been in yet.
"Okay, first," Sandor stepped in front of them, "if we find anything, you aren't using it yet." His words were very obviously directed at Keefe. "This could be extremely dangerous, and you'll need us for that specific reason."
Keefe nodded, though he noticed Sophie hesitated before her nod.
He wiggled past Sandor into the doorway, and froze.
"Foster? When you guys were here last, did you seal up the door?" They'd been there earlier in the week, but he needed to know he wasn't going insane.
Sophie nodded, "Yeah, why—"
They stared at the door.
It was open.
"Someone's been in here." Keefe whispered.
Immediately, the bodyguards had their weapons out.
"They aren't here anymore," Sophie said, after a long moment of tense silence.
Keefe let out a breath.
Sophie stepped forward, taking Keefe's hand and pulling him with her. She didn't let go, though Keefe didn't feel like she was nervous.
"If we find something," she told him in low tones, "make sure you calm me down quickly."
Keefe looked down. She wasn't wearing her gloves.
"I've been having trouble holding in my Inflicting," Sophie explained.
That explained why her emotions felt so much stronger today.
They stepped to the room. It was still dark in the office, barely enough light to see the other's face.
"Flori," Sophie called, "could you work on the lights?"
The little gnome murmured an affirmative answer as Bo guarded the door and Ro and Sandor sniffed out the corners of the room.
Keefe followed Sophie into the room.
"What are you looking for?" She asked.
"I don't know, really, but when..." he trailed off when he saw it. "Foster, is that a crystal?"
Sophie cursed under her breath. "That's where the book was."
Keefe pushed the breezes at her, as many as possible, as quickly as possible.
She glanced around, but since they were technically in a closet, there wasn't much to see. "It wasn't here before."
"Someone slipped it in," Keefe muttered "That's why it was opened."
"Yeah, but who?"
"I don't know," he said grimly, "but we need to find out."
"Don't even try using it," Sandor yelled in at them.
Sophie rolled her eyes with a half grin. "We won't," she hollered back.
"Come on," Keefe tugged at her, "let's get out of here. It's too small a space already, and we've been in here for like three minutes."
"Hold up," Sophie let go of his hand and grabbed the crystal, clenching it in her palm. Not even a peek of it showed through. "Okay, now let's go."
Keefe stepped out. Sophie followed closely behind, laughing lightly at Sandor's suspicious glances at her hand.
"Relax," she told him. "I'm not going to use it." She hesitated.
"Yet," Sandor finished. "The word you're looking for is yet."
Keefe nudged Sophie with a grin. "I must really be rubbing off on you."
"What did you find?" Sandor asked.
Sophie held out the crystal, opening her palm and...
The window's shutters opened.
The light streamed directly to the crystal, which was glowing red.
"Foster!" Keefe dove for her, barely managing to grasp her hand before the crystal swept them away.
A/N: Welp. That happened. Hehe this is gonna be funnnnnn
But we're getting to the juicy parts, though I have a bunch of plot lines I still need to resolve so....... we'll see.
Anyways, (way?) hope y'all enjoyed, and Happy Mother's Day everyone!
Updated: 5-9-2021