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Chapter 44 - Keefe

Keefe didn't sleep.

Or he tried not to, anyways.

But as the night stretched on, it was getting harder and harder to stop his eyelids from drooping. The sky was starless and dark, almost impossible to see through the canopy of trees above him.

Keefe glanced towards Sophie, who'd fallen asleep a few hours ago. Her emotions were less intense when she slept, and it was easier to control his ability. When they'd been fighting earlier, it felt like he was being torn apart in every way possible. The monster scratching at his throat, his heart drenched in ache and guilt as she yelled at him, even though their situation right now was completely and utterly his fault.

A part of him was worried that if she fell asleep she wouldn't wake up—she was still impossibly weak. There was one bottle of youth left, but he wanted to save it for when they needed to make the journey to Paris.

Keefe shivered as a cool wind blew past, tossing his hair as goosebumps rained along his skin. The fire was out so the smoke wouldn't draw attention, and he'd burned the Neverseen cloak in case there was a way to track them. His other cloak laid on Sophie, and she deserved it a thousand times more than him.

Hopefully, the cold would keep him awake and on his toes, because he couldn't fall asleep. If he fell asleep and something happened to Sophie while he was out...

He would never forgive himself.

So he stayed up, keeping watch.

She was with him now, and he wasn't going to let her out of his sight, even if she hated him. He had to get her back to the Lost Cities and to Elwin before it was too late.

The Lost Cities.

Elwin.

Keefe was trying very hard not to think about what it was going to be like returning to the people he'd abandoned again.

All it did was intensify the awful headache he already had. When he'd hit his head in their escape, it must have been hard. His vision kept blurring around the edges and it took several seconds for it to return to normal. It also didn't help that he felt he might throw up. An awful pressure seemed to have rooted in his head, refusing to move.

But he knew Sophie was going through a lot worse, and he tried to forget about the ache not only in his head, but in his heart.

Keefe started at the spot where the fire had been, charred sticks crumbling in the wind. He wasn't sure what time it was, all that he knew was that it was dark. Very dark, so most likely the middle of the night. The only source of light was the limited luminance from the moon, but it was obscured by clouds and tree branches.

Keefe felt his eyes start to sag although weights had been placed on them, and for a moment, they closed all the way, his head rolling forward. The reality hit him quickly though, and he snapped his eyes open to sit up straight. He shook his head hard as if to shake away the grogginess. He didn't have to stay up much longer. At sunrise, he'd wake Sophie and they'd make their way to Paris. He wasn't going to pressure her to teleport when she could barely even move.

Keefe felt his head turn towards Sophie once again. Her back was to him, but the steady rise and fall of her chest put him at ease.

Sunrise.

✿✿✿

Keefe's eyes fluttered. He felt a light on his face, the heat of it shining on his skin and warming it in the chilly forest.

He brought his hand up to shield himself from the sun, opening his eyes. A small amount of sun was shining on him, weaving and bending through trees. That was when he realized.