Keeper Of The Lost Cities: Reborn

Chapter Two

  The next couple hours were a blur.

  Almost immediately after Sophie had hailed everyone, they all gathered downstairs, in Havenfield's enormous living room.

  Fitz, Biana, Alden, Della, Mr. Forkle, Elwin, and a very angry looking Ro arrived first, and were followed by the rest of her friends, the other members of Team Valiant and the Collective, and to everyone's protest, Glimmer.

  Tam had insisted on bringing her along, claiming that she would be useful for finding Keefe and Lady Gisela. Which of course, no one believed, but Bo kept a tight grip on her arm leaving her unable to go anywhere or do anything, so they left it alone.

  Word must have gotten around about what happened because all twelve Councilors showed up, with Marella, Maruca, and Lord Cassius arriving a couple minutes later.

  The letter was passed around, and everyone got a chance to read it. Everyone reacted differently, which wasn't surprising.

  Fitz was angry, Biana and Linh were upset, Dex was frustrated, Ro had already been furious before she read the letter, and when she did finally read it, she was practically fuming.

  Sophie felt a little bad for Keefe, because when he comes back, he'll be in serious trouble.

  If he came back. . .

  Sophie stopped that thought right away, she was going to get him back.

  Wylie, Maruca, Stina, and Marella all stayed silent, and Alden, Della, Elwin, and the rest of the adults gathered on the opposite side of the room and quietly discussed things.

  Normally Sophie would've been annoyed at them for leaving her out of things, but she was too upset to bother this time.

  She was too busy worrying about Keefe, all alone in the Forbidden Cities, with his mom and the rest of the Neverseen hunting him.

  The adults headed back over to where Sophie and her friends were, and Mr. Forkle directed his eyes towards Sophie as he said, "I know what you kids are thinking, and the answer is no."

  She stumbled back a step, "Why!? Don't you want him to be home safe??"

  "Sophie, I want him home just as much as you do. But we must think reasonably, and not let our worry blind us," he paused, looking right at her. "Leaving and hiding in the Forbidden Cities is the best option for him. He won't be safe staying here, we all knew that his mother would come after him soon."

  "And the Forbidden cities will provide the most protection, given that there are millions of cities he could hide in. His mother won't be able to find him," Tiergan added.

  "But that also means we won't be able to find him! What if he was attacked? We wouldn't be able to help him! We wouldn't even know he was in trouble!"

  Sophie looked around at her friends, why weren't they backing her up?

  "I'm sure Mr. Sencen has a plan for that, in case he does find himself in danger," Tiergan assured her.

  "I can guarantee he doesn't. My son is not the type to plan things before doing them. He'd rather rush into whatever reckless decision he comes up with, without thinking ahead about the concequences."

  Sophie whirled around and glared at Keefe's father.

  "That's why you came? To talk about how worthless you think he is, instead of trying to help find him? I'm suprised you even chose to come, given that you only care about yourself."

  Lord Cassius narrowed his eyes at Sophie.

  "I care a lot about my son, I want him to be the best version of himself he can be. I'm only trying to do what's best for him."

  The response was so smooth that it sounded rehearsed.

  "That doesn't answer my question," Sophie replied, her patience rapidly draining.

  Mr. Forkle walked over and stood between their verbal showdown, silencing each.

  "That's enough, from both of you. Lord Cassius, if you have something helpful you would like to share, please do. Otherwise, please stay silent." He turned his eyes towards Sophie, making sure she was paying attention, and added, "And you, Sophie, will not be going after him. A no means a no."

  "I don't understand! How are all of you okay with this?" Sophie exclaimed, frustrated.

  "I'm with the girl on this one. Keefe's my charge, and if he gets in trouble, that's on me. I don't want to deal with that."

  Sophie looked across the room at Ro, thankful that someone else understood.

  Mr. Forkle cleared his throat, waiting until all eyes were on him. "There will be no interaction with Keefe at all, no reaching out to him, trying to contact him, and especially no running off to try and find him."

  Sophie's eyes blurred over with tears, and stormed upstairs to her room, not even bothering to hear his answer, and not caring how immature she must have looked. Flopping on her bed after locking her door, she sobbed.

  Why don't they see how important it is that we find him? How could they not understand that he could be in trouble and we wouldn't even know??

  The questions kept floating around in her head, with new ones flooding into her mind with each passing second.

  She didn't care what Mr. Forkle had said, or whatever lie he convinced himself of being true, he was wrong. She was going to reach out to him, and she was going to make sure he was okay.

  Just as she was about to mentally call for him, she remembered something that would work even better.

  Sophie jumped up and carefully removed her spyball from it's hiding place, making as little noise as possible, hoping Sandor wouldn't hear her.

  "Show me Keefe Sencen," she whispered, peering into the swirling glass.

Released: August 24, 2021
Word count: 966