Unlocked: Rewritten

Chapter 20

A/N

Y'ALLLLLLL WE  OFFICIALLY HAVE 1K READS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo excited, can you tell????

Thank you all so much for reading our story!!! It means so much, and I never imagined it getting this many reads!

Special shout out to all of the following people:

Louandlemon (The first commentor! ;) )

Dawn-of-Midnight (for all the awesome support!)

Biscuitbeef2 (The first person to add this fic to their list!)

OceanKaiaAnderson (For voting and commenting on every. single. chapter. :) )

StalinaBookseller (for being super encouraging!)

Camden284 (for all the comments! :) )

And, of course my amazing co-author, 1234567890lalalala, is the one to blame for this fic existing at all! XD

Me: Julia, anything you want to say to our readers during this momentous occasion? *hands mic to Julia*

Julia: *pulls out the poem she wrote* I bet we kept you on the edge of your seat! Wait 'til we find another beat! To knock you right off your feet!

Sophie

Sophie really didn't want to be here. There were much more productive things to be doing. Like trying to figure out the Neverseen's plans, or waking up Ro and Lord Cassius, or opening Oralie's cache.

Sophie realized that she and her biological mother needed to do that as soon as possible. Things had been so overwhelmingly busy lately that there hadn't been time to.

It was important to find out any information they could in order for them to win against the Neverseen. Especially with Esme, a new villain they knew almost nothing about, now a part of the war.

Sophie made a mental note to tell her teammates on Team Valiant to research Esme Allaband, and see if there was any useful information about her in history records.

But she couldn't do that right now. Right now, Sophie apparently wasn't allowed to do anything except sit, and wait for Sir Tiergan to arrive at her Telepathy session.

It was a waste of time, really. Sophie was already skilled in Telepathy. Until now, these sessions had been cognate training with Sophie and Fitz.

Now... he wasn't there.

Sophie suddenly felt bad for ever dreading their Cognate training. She should've enjoyed the time she had to spend with Fitz while he had been there, instead of worrying over some silly trust exercises. Because now she'd probably never get to do another trust exercise with Fitz ever again.

Get it together, Sophie! She mentally chastised herself before the tears welling in her eyes spilled over. This was not the time to be grieving.

Sophie had to get out of this place. Before she had time to second guess herself, Sophie pulled out her home crystal and leaped to Havenfield.

Then, sitting in the soft grass, she hailed Oralie and said two words.

"I'm ready."

Keefe

"Hello, Keefe. How are you doing?"

Keefe froze mid step. "Woah. Don't you, like, hate me or something? Why are you suddenly being nice to me?" He quickly looked around. "Is this a trick?"

Grady laughed, which only made Keefe more bewildered. "No, Keefe, I don't hate you. If I'm being honest, I never really did."

Keefe snorted. "Really?"

"It's true. I'm a dad. It's my job to be... 'overprotective,' if that's what you want to call it. I'd be wary of any boy who seems interested in my daughter."

He said it so plainly, Keefe's eyebrows shot up. He tried to maintain his casual posture, but he could feel his face warming up.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how you look at her. But that's beside the point. Sophie told me what you did at Eternalia— or rather, what you didn't do."

Keefe's mind was still scrambling, so it took him a second to realize what Grady was referring to. "Oh, you mean with Esme?"

"Yes. Sophie told me how you showed great self-control by resisting the urge to hurt Esme. That's something few Mesmers can say. Even me. When I manifested, I was not as strong as you were. I used my ability for my own benefit— to lie, cheat, and steal. It's not something I'm proud of. But you, Keefe, overcame the temptation that comes with this great power. I believe you've proven you can be trusted... with many things. So I'm eager to be your Mentor."

"Wow, um... thank you?" Keefe said, like an idiot who couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You're welcome." The way he said it made Keefe wonder if Grady was teasing him.

The change in the way Grady treated him was uncanny. This would definitely take some getting used to.

"Anyway, we've already used up a lot of time talking, so let's start training. Come with me." Grady pulled out a leaping crystal.

"Where are we going?" Keefe asked.

"Havenfield."

When Havenfield's grassy pastures glittered into view, Keefe asked, "Why are we here again?"

"You're not yet ready to practice your ability on elves, so until you have more control, you'll be practicing on animals."

"Huh, I didn't know animals could be Mesmered."

"It is a little known fact because a Mesmer is such a rare ability. It is similar to how Empaths can sense animal emotions, and powerful Telepaths can hear animal thoughts— although that fact was not known until Sophie came along. But Mesmering animals will be good practice since you're still learning to use your ability. There will also be less of a risk of—"

Grady stopped short. Keefe followed his gaze, and was just as surprised as Grady by what he saw.

But Grady's disapproving frown quickly overcame his shock. "Sophie? What are you doing out of school?!"

Hope you liked the chapter! What did you think about Keefe and Grady? 

I'm curious... is anyone sad about Fitz joining the Neverseen? I kinda was, just because of how it affected all the other characters. 

This chapter was written by SleepyKeefeMuffin.