what happened after unlocked

chapter ten ~ tam's pov

The world was cold and cruel and smelt much worse that what Tam was used to.

He'd been searching for a while now, sorting through the streets and roads and pathways of many different cities – ever since Keefe had been reported missing.

At first when he heard the news he'd kept his true feelings concealed. All Shades did that. He hid behind a false façade of calm, keeping that stupid goddamn glare on his face that he always wore when he was talking to Keefe – but not for the reason everyone thought he did.

When he got away from everyone else, though, he lost himself. He was forced to succumb to the overwhelming sadness controlling his heart; the undeniable love he felt for the person who would never love him back, the feeling of it being ripped away from it as he fell into what Sophie might call a meltdown.

And he knew, after what he'd done to Keefe, that he had to make things right. He'd probably ruined everything by melting that magsidian throne Keefe was bound to – he should have fought back against Lady Gisela far more than he did before; he'd barely tried to help any of his friends.

The problem really was the ethertine on his wrists.

He'd never really told his friends about the pain he really had to go through just to warn Sophie about what Lady Gisela was going to make him do, he never told them the struggles he fought just so that he could talk to them.

But it didn't matter, really. Because Keefe had been changed, anyway, and there was no way to reverse it now. It was all Tam's fault, and he'd never gotten the chance to apologize to him.

So now, that was what he had to do.

Berlin was crowded. And busy. And loud. Basically, if you looked it up in a dictionary, you'd get that as the definition.

Tam was currently trying to push through a crowd watching a fire-breathing human so that he could look out for a head of thick, tufty blonde hair styled in Keefe's signature hairdo.

He'd been coming back to this city for the past two days, relentlessly searching for any sign of the elf, so by now Tam was almost entirely certain that Keefe wasn't in this city.

Everyone in this crowd seemed to be sharing the same thick air and space – there was no room for Tam to breathe, let alone move. He struggled against the tide, feigning panic so that he could earn sympathy points, and the humans cleared the way.

Tam rushed into a shadow-filled alleyway and concealed himself with them, flicking his wrists to finish hiding himself.

He carefully crept around to corner to where the light was, keeping his shadows down, and lifted his leaping crystal. You could never be too careful when around humans.

The light beam carried him somewhere new – it was another city. But this time the square he was standing in was more spaced out, and the high-rise buildings around him were covered by billboards and commercials and lots of flashing bright lights.

This was New York City.

Tam had been careful to wear the clothes that most resembled something a human might wear – a simple black tunic and pants.

His silvery-blue eyes skirted his surroundings, surveying the people and shops and foods and wide variety of tall apartments. The city didn't look very intimidating.

A human couple was staring at his outfit, so Tam quickly located the closest store in the vicinity and rushed inside.

The shop was much quieter than the world outside. The gentle scent of gingerbread and coffee and sugar wafted into his nose and a tinkling piano was playing – it took him a few seconds to realize that it was playing over some kind of speaker in the wall.