𝕃𝕠𝕤𝕥 ~ 𝕂𝕖𝕖𝕗𝕖 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

[6] Keefe's house is...great (not with his dad around)

We arrived at Shores of Solace. Keefe's house. Now thinking about it, he's never invited me over, despite the numerous times he's shown up at Elwin's house.

"What exactly happened, if you don't mind telling me?" Fitz asked as I was busy admiring the large house on the beach.

I turned to look at him when he spoke, "if you haven't already heard I'm a Shade. So I'm taking classes with Tam... and for whatever reason Keefe is upset about that."

"Oh, I see. Well, want me to go in with you? His dad can be a bit..."

"It's fine. You can go home now." I smiled.

Fitz nodded, "hope everything gets resolved."

I nodded, "thanks."

He held up his crystal and leaped away.

I walked up to the front door and stared at it for a moment. I still haven't gotten over the fact of how big all the buildings are in the Lost Cities. With a bit of hesitation, I knocked.

I expected Keefe or Ro to answer, but it was Keefe's dad.

"Who might you be?" Lord Cassius answered.

"Um, Y/n. Is Keefe here?" I muttered peeking into the large beach house.

He nodded, "he's in his room."

Lord Cassius moved aside so I could step in. I looked around for a staircase. Keefe's dad noticed I was looking around cluelessly.

"I'll take you there." He offered.

I followed him up the staircase and down the hall to Keefe's room. I started to get really nervous. What if he just yelled at me to get out and go home? What if I destroyed our friendship over what I said...

Enough what if's. I'm going to make things right again. I'm sure.

We stopped at a door. Inside the room was silent. Made me wonder if Keefe was even in there. He usually was the type of guy to never stop talking... then again I did upset him earlier.

Lord Cassius knocked on Keefe's door and before he could say he was here, Keefe yelled, "go away Lord Jerkface! I'm a little busy right now!"

Keefe's dad sighed. "You have a visitor."

Footsteps came towards the door as it suddenly cracked open. Keefe poked his eye through to see who came to see him.

"Pepper?" He answered with a bit of surprise in his tone.

He opened his door all the way and gestured for me to come in, so I did. Ro was in a corner painting over her nails. And the room was huge, though everywhere in the Lost Cities is huge.

Lord Cassius tried to enter as well, as the curious father he was. But, Keefe shoved him out and slammed the door. I think I finally got what Fitz meant by watch out for his dad. They didn't exactly have the best of relationship. It makes sense why Keefe has never invited me over here.

"Why are you here?" Keefe asked, "Missed me already?"

I ignored the second part of what he said, "I wanted to apologize for earlier.... I'm so sorry, and I didn't mean to say what I did... it just slipped out of my mouth."
Keefe sighed, "it's alright. I overreacted anyway." He sat down at a desk filled with notebooks.

"Wait, am I missing something here?" Ro looked up, "did some juicy drama happen?"

"No." I lied to Ro.

She was just so Nosy. Only if she'd learn to keep her mouth shut sometimes.

"Awww," Ro murmured, then continued to paint her nails.

Out of curiosity, I walked over to Keefe's desk to see what he was doing. There was a notebook in front of him and a pencil that lay beside it. I peeked over his shoulder to see a drawing of myself. It looked exactly like me, but way prettier.

"Woah, you're so talented, Keefe." I breathed.

He turned around to grin at me, "after all, I'm Lord Hunkyhair." He said smugly. 

"I get that you're trying to impress Pepper and all, but don't forget I won our bet. So prepare for a whole bunch of embarrassment." Ro warned, "I have a couple of things in mind, but I don't think they're good enough."

"It doesn't seem like a good idea to be doing these bets..." I realized I had spoken out loud.

"Then it wouldn't be any fun." Keefe turned around to look at Ro, "besides I already know what I'm doing next bet I win."

Ro rolled her eyes, "if you'll even survive when I decide what to do for you." 

"Oh, I'll survive all right." Keefe grinned.

A moment of silence passed before Keefe randomly brought up, "Hey Pepper. Have you considered filling out your match packet?"

"My...what?" I muttered in confusion.

There went on a long conversation of Keefe telling me about the Lost Cities match-making system. Apparently, at a certain age you fill out your packet and you get a list of people to be matched with. And if you marry someone who isn't on your match list that is a bad match and is considered bad luck.

"Yeah, that's a little too much for me right now." I said, "and that system sounds a little...cruel."

Keefe shrugs.

"I know, elves are so weird." Ro exaggerated.

I had to agree with Ro on that one, despite being an elf.

"Wait, Pepper. If you lived in the Forbidden Cities does that mean you have a crystal to leap there?" Keefe asked eagerly.

"Umm, you tell me. You were the one who found me that one day." I said.

"You had a couple of crystals. I don't remember the colors," he said.

"Well, I have a home crystal that Elwin gave me... then two others. One was clear, and the other was a dark blue."

Keefe clapped his hands together, "yes! That's it, the blue one!" he shouted, "we can go to the Lost Cities!"

"Why do you want to go there...?" I asked.

He got up from his desk and walked close to me. Really close.

"Foster brought me some cookies there once...some with little elves on them! I was wondering if we could get more of those. They were bland, but I love them."

"I wanna go too!" Ro chimed in.

I slowly started stepping back, because Keefe felt a little close. He kept on stepping closer until my back bumped the wall. He put his hands right above my shoulders on the wall.

HE'S WALL SLAMMING ME?!?!!??!

"I don't think it's a good idea. Plus, we would stand out." I told them.

Keefe still didn't move, "c'mon Pepper. Pleeeeeease? We might even be able to restore some of your memories while we're there." He begged.

I was about to say no again, but he moved his face closer to mine. My face heated up so much I felt like I was going to explode.

Finally, I shoved Keefe back, "fine!"

"YAY WE'RE GOING TO THE LOST CITIES!!" Keefe and Ro shouted.

"Shhh!" I tried shushing them.

"Let's go right now!" Keefe said.

Before anyone could say anything else, Keefe's bedroom door opened. Lord Cassius stood there with his arms crossed and a slightly upset expression.

"Nobody is going to the Lost Cities." He declared.

______

Yay another chapter down x) i guess Lord Cassius is going to stop you guys from going to the lost cities? Or will he....👀