Bridging the Divide

Reunion

Nico

Keefe had been in a worried funk the whole day, and even now he was staring up at the sky from the slightly isolated stretch of beach they had chosen to set up camp on, just far enough that the people playing with a discus wouldn't bean them in the head. 

Nico was worried, but he tried not to let it ruin the night. If Keefe wanted help, he would ask. Suddenly, Keefe popped out of the chair and began pacing nervously.

The erratic movements were grating on Nico's nerves, so he walked up and asked semi-casually, "What's going on?"

Keefe's eyes swung to him, and Nico almost jumped at the panic in them. 'Sophie's coming, and she was just in a battle, so she might be hurt and what if a chimera finds her before we do and she can't fight it off?' 

Nico blinked, and in that second there was a loud, thundering crack, and a person ran into the cove from out of nowhere and collapsed dizzily onto the sand. Keefe ran to her, the rest of the group on his heels.

"Hey, Keefe," the hooded figure said, tilting her head back to look up at them. The action uncovered the girl's face, and the person underneath it turned out to be the Sophie they had heard so much about, bruised and battered, covered in cuts and debris, but still unmistakable.

 "Can you help me up? I'd stand, except... probably wouldn't be the smartest thing for me to do in this situation."

Keefe pulled the girl up to him and hugged her tightly. "Foster, what are you doing here?" The voice startled Nico yet again, and he was sick of the feeling now. 

It was Keefe, who could talk after all. Nico waited until Sophie had wriggled out of the hug, complaining that Keefe had been squeezing her too hard and teasing him about it, saying that she had missed him too and causing both of them to blush before clearing his throat.

"So, you can speak," he said, knowing his tone was accusatory but not caring. "Why did you lie to us about that?"

Sophie cut a glare at Keefe and said sternly, "Are you kidding me? I taught you that one trick to turn off the voice control thingy, so why would you CONTINUE to pretend you couldn't speak?"

"Yeah, I'm not too proud of that, but I promise I'll explain. First, however, you are going to sit down, and you are going to eat something. No, don't argue with me, you're almost asleep on your feet, Foster!" 

Shepherding Sophie to where they were sitting, Keefe nodded for the group to sit down. He tucked a blanket around Sophie's shoulders and handed her a candy bar before turning to face them.

"I guess I owe you an explanation, then."

Will

He had known bits and pieces of the tale, but Will was shocked at how it came together. Sophie had filled in bits and pieces from her perspective, and delivered the news of the deaths of Keefe's mom and another woman who Keefe seemed to have no care for. 

When Will heard about how the girl had ran around as a cat scratching people and passing on the paralysis bacteria, he couldn't comprehend how this yawning, sweet girl with dark circles under her eyes was so ferocious, but deep down he knew she was.

Eventually, between the apologies and the explanations, and quite a bit of laughing, they had fallen silent and drifted apart a bit, watching the fireworks from above and just watching the stars. 

The noises from the other end of the beach also died down as the younger, tired campers went back to their cabins and the older ones settled onto the beach towels to watch the last of the fireworks show as the booms got bigger and brighter.

Eventually, even the fireworks fell silent, and their group began to break up, Will looking over his shoulder one last time and seeing Sophie and Keefe still talking before heading back down towards camp.

Ok there will be one last (sweet) chapter, then this book is *sadly* over.