what happened after unlocked

chapter thirteen ~ the taken lost

Note: I went to a whole-school athletics carnival, and we couldn't bring our phones or laptops so that's probably why I'm not in the best-writer-spirit. Although, I did come up with some new ideas that you probably won't like because they're murders - I'm evil. So watch out for Part 2!

"Come...on!"

This was the fifth time Sophie had tried to heal Alvar, and it wasn't working; neither had any other time she'd tried with her Empath/Polyglot powers or her Inflictor ones. It seemed like he was in a faraway state of delirium after everything Keefe had done to him - it was impossible for Sophie to prevent his whimpers or thrashing or shrieking.

After Keefe had woken up yesterday morning, he'd fallen asleep again and didn't wake up. Elwin was now calling it 'The Stellarlune Reaction' because that was what they were both convinced had happened to him.

Alvar whined through his teeth and pinched himself with his fingernails.

"Alvar! You have to push through!" Sophie said as she tried to pour happy emotions into him via their hands – but no matter how hard she tried to help him, it was as if nothing had happened, and it was slowly draining her.

Was that supposed to happen?

Sophie wandered over to Keefe's side, watching his face as he slept. She was probably being a creep – but she had to make sure that Keefe was okay.

Hopefully the grimace on his face didn't mean anything bad...

And then Keefe sat bolt upright, gasping for breath, eyes darting to either side as he recalled where he was and then noticing Sophie. "I have to fix him!"

He scrambled over his bed to Alvar, but Sophie grabbed his wrist to stop him. "You were a victim of something bad too, don't try to help him. And plus, nothing really seems to be working so far. I've been trying for a while now."

"How long have I been asleep for?" Keefe asked suspiciously.

"Oh, don't worry," Sophie smiled. "Only the night."

"Phew," Keefe said, and then turned back to Alvar. "What did I even do to him?"

"Wait. You mean you don't remember what happened yesterday?"

"Uh...oh, no this isn't good." Keefe rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "Nope."

Sophie dragged him back to his bed, her mind an avalanche of worries and doubts and new possibilities. "Well then...do you remember Tam holding your hand? You should be able to remember that; you two are rivals or something."

Keefe blushed and turned away, trying to hide his face. Sophie waited for his answer expectantly, so he said, "No."

Sophie smirked him – he looked very flustered – and then went back to panicking. "Well, what do you remember?"

"Um...I think...oh yeah, I was in New York City and I talked to you and then I saw Tam sitting in a café and then we kinda talked and he apologized and I told him I had to go so I ran off but he followed me –"

"Slow down!"

"Sorry. And then we stayed at that hotel together, but like, not together together, and that was when we saw Alvar late at night after I had another nightmare and...then...that's all I remember."

Sophie stared at him. "You talked to Tam. You both stayed at the same hotel together. You had a nightmare. You saw Alvar in the hotel. And now you've forgotten everything that happened yesterday?"

Keefe squinted into the distance for a second and nodded indifferently. "Pretty much."

"But before...you were so desperate to heal Alvar, like you knew what you did to him..."