two idiots and a turtle (a kotlc fanfic)

chapter five: in which the sky falls (in which the thunder strikes)

a/n: here's chapter five! this one is intense--

***

tam

"Ugh, Keefe," I groan, pressing a hand to my forehead, "How much more of this do we need to do?"

Seriously, this is getting kind of boring. Scratch that, it was boring from the start. I mean, tutoring? Seriously?

"You don't have to do much, actually," he assures me, "I only wanted you along for moral support."

Ah, so I'm useless. It's not like I didn't already know that, though.

I roll my eyes, tugging on my bangs. "Oh, how wonderful."

I shoot a furtive glance towards the bag that Keefe is holding, which held his supplies for the prank he was planning to pull on his father. He'd told me hardly any details about the prank, only promising that his father's hair and dignity would be ruined.

But was pranking his father really what Keefe needed? Or would it hurt him even more? Ugh, I need to stop worrying about Keefe.

"Keefe," I frown, poking him, "You need to get your grades up."

"Who needs school when you can have drugs?" Keefe instantly answers, his mouth twisting up into a smirk.

"What?"

Keefe, are you mentally stable or do I need to be worried-

"Sorry, it's a human thing. Anyways!" He puts the stuff securely in a little alcove, sitting by his desk and casually tipping his chair back with a practiced ease. "Studying, you said?"

I sigh, picking up the rolled-up star chart and whacking him on the head with it. "Get to work."

He groans at me and rolls his eyes, slowly unfurling the paper until it lays almost flat on his desk, the edges curling up.

"Now," I slip my hand over his eyes, "What-"

He instantly pushes away from me, looking slightly scared, and I notice that his hands are trembling, almost like he's shivering. He avoids my gaze, annoyingly enough. "Don't touch me."

So something is definitely wrong with Keefe. Hopefully it's just that something's up with his new powers. There's no need to make a big fuss about it, though.

"Alright," I step back, keeping my hands up in a gesture of peace, "Fine. Just look at me, then."

He sighs, turning in his chair to face me, rubbing his hands over his face tiredly, then nods, as if telling me to continue what I was saying.

"Alright." I sigh, searching through my memory for facts to test him on. "What color light is the star Rubini?"

"Red."

"Cobretola?"

"Dark orange."

"What about Gwynaura?"

"Trick question," Keefe grins triumphantly as he answers, "it's pure light."

"Good." I nod, and Keefe smiles, "Now, what are the connections between Argento, Auriferra, Pennisi, Merkairron, Styggis, and Achromian?"

"Um, they're all metal based."

He's doing pretty well so far, though that might just be because he has a good memory. Let's see how he does on this next question.