Keeper of The Lost Cities: Book 9: Showdown

Chapter 24 - Keefe's POV

Days turn into weeks, and I lose myself in LA. Griffith Observatory is mind-blowing.

I'm not even joking.

Every inch of it reminds me of Foster - she would love the architecture, the planetarium, the view. Everywhere I turn and see something, oh, Foster would love that flashes through my head and I almost turn to say something snarky and point it out to her. But then I remember that I'm in the Forbidden Cities and she's in another world.

But I like the observatory too.

I took Liam with me once, and he walked around looking at everything, and when I asked him if he liked what he saw, he said "meh" then went back to staring at the huge pendulum.

Oh-kay, then.

Liam was a helpless cause, so the next time I went I took Dr. Daniel with me, who also brought his fancy-schmancy professional photography camera. He insisted on staying there the whole day, arguing that he wanted to see the sunset and the stars.

It was so worth it. Dr. Daniel is a man of many talents, and a few days later he showed me the pictures he'd edited - they were worth auctioning, which I pointed out to Dr. Daniel. He gave me a smile then asked to go back again, this time because he wanted to take notes on the architecture.

Liam and I both left as soon as we could to escape an architecture lecture from an ex-college professor.

He ended up going by himself.

When I wasn't out exploring new places in LA, which there weren't many of since I'd been in LA before, I was wandering through the Hollywood District. I found myself doing that thing I did with Fintan - looking at people, feeling their emotions, and profiling them - what kind of personalities they have, how likely are they to do something. It turned into a game - I'd sit in a café, or ice cream parlor, or some place, profile someone while they walked in, and try to guess what flavor they'd get or what souvenirs they'd buy.

I was right most of the time.

It was amazing how much you could tell about someone simply by the way they stood and the way they dressed. Someone wearing a hoodie and headphones was most likely to get one of the classic, simpler flavors, but someone wearing a flowy dress would probably go for a smoothie. If they were wearing a floral print, whatever they ordered would definitely have chocolate in it. Wearing a cardigan over their clothes was almost a 100% guarantee that they wanted something really fancy and over-the-top, but couldn't. Guys would almost always go for a single scoop in a cup, no toppings and none of those unique flavors. Girls, on the other hand, tasted every. Single. Flavor there was before finally making a decision.

Hold the applause, please.

It was one of those days of sitting and profiling that I randomly pulled out my laptop (Liam got me one, why, I don't know) and started typing. At first, I didn't even know what I was doing - my fingers splayed across the keys, pressing different letters, forming words, and I'd stayed that way for quite some time, and it turns out I'd been so absorbed in what I was writing I didn't even notice Liam come up next to me with coffee in each of his hands, offering me one and wrapping his hands around the other. "What're you doing, Hunkyhair?"

I looked at him, astonished and taken aback. "Where'd that come from?"

"Ro."

"Ro?"

"Ro," he reiterates.

"Where'd Ro come from?"

"I don't even know," he confides. "I was at that abandoned observatory you found the other day, and she was there - just staring at the sky the same way you were."

"And?"

"And she's still there," he said, hiding a smile as he took yet another sip from his steaming cup. "If you want-"

But he didn't have to say another word, because I'd slammed my laptop closed, barely told him to take my stuff, and ran all the way to the old observatory - an idiotic, goofy smile on my face, one I wished no one would ever see.

Ro was here - and I'd missed her much more than I thought.

"RO!" I yelled as I pushed open the trapdoor and heaved myself above it. "RO!" I couldn't seem to say much more as I tackled her around the waist (which probably hurt me more than her) and gave her a hug so tight you'd think she was my mother.

Not that I'd hug my mother that tight, anyway.

"Hey, Hunkyhair," she said, patting my head and keeping it close. Tears leaked out of my eyes, and I smiled against my will.

Like I said - I missed Ro much more than I thought. "Guess what, Ro?"

"What?"

"I'm not scared to talk anymore."

She laughed - being surprisingly gentle. But that was Ro - all fun and games. "I can hear that, Hunkyhair. But you know what I'm really concerned about?"

"What?"

She gripped my forearms and pried me away from her as we finally looked each other in the face after a looonngg time. Two stray tears fell and I grinned because pure, true happiness is something you have to be very lucky to feel, and luck must have gotten a brain because I'd finally received a little of it. "You finally confessed to Blondie!"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes!"

I tried to look upset, but ended up grinning out of my accord again. "Here I am, dehydrating my eyes and grinning like a madman, and you're hooked up over Foster."

"Do you blame me?"

"A little."

"God, Hunkyhair," she said, and this time I caught sight of a tear trickling out of her eyes. "I missed you so much... I haven't been able to pull any pranks on your father since you left."

"You stuck around? I thought you'd go back to Ravagog."

Ro looked at me like I'd lost my sanity. "And tell my father that I lost my charge? No, I'll stay in Sparkle World, thank you very much."

"Why... why haven't you - is my father -"

"Trying to express concern for Daddy Dearest?"

I scowl.

"He's not okay," she concedes. "You know that room he kept at Candleshade, for your awards but all that ended up in there was your detention slips?"

"Yeah?"

"He just... sits in there, and reads through your reports. He doesn't even show any emotion." Ro looks at me, raw and pure emotion flickering in her eyes - concern, pity.

Some sort of heat flares through my body before subsiding.

"He's broken inside, Keefe," she says. "I know there was a point in time where we both hated him fiercely, but he cares about you." She looks to the setting sun. "He loves you more than anyone could imagine, he just doesn't know how to express it."

I set my jaw. "Everyone's 'broken', Ro, in some way or another. Some of us just have to fight a little harder."

Ro nods. "I just wanted to tell you."

"I know."

An awkward silence commences.

"How'd you find me?"

"Bangs boy told me," she said. "I don't know why."

"Bangs Boy needs to go mind his own business," I growled.

"Oh, yeah?"

"He can go die in a hole."

Ro grins.