Broken

Bad News

***CONTAINS SPOILERS UP THROUGH FLASHBACK***

"You're on your way?"

"Yup! Did Forkle tell you what this meeting was about?" Sophie was worried. Mr. Forkle rarely called emergency meetings, and whenever he did they seemed to be due to life or death situations.

That being said, Sophie was always worried. About everything. She couldn't help it, the weight of the Lost Cities rested on her shoulders!

"No, he just said that we should be prepared for some bad news." Sophie rolled her eyes, causing Fitz to chuckle on the imparter she held. The sound caused the ever-familiar butterflies to swarm through her stomach, a blush flaring across her cheeks.

She and Fitz had been dating for a few months now, and it was nice! He was always bringing her little gifts, and the time she spent with him felt like a bit of a reprieve from the stress of fighting the Neverseen. It did bring up a new stress altogether, though: her match status. Sophie was Matchless, and knew that Fitz would never be willing to form a bad match and put his family name at risk.

After a brief farewell, Sophie hung up the imparter and light leaped to Everglen, where the group was meeting to discuss whatever emergency had arisen now. All but one of her friends were already crowded together in the pristine living room of the crystal, castle-like house when Sophie glistened into view at the front door.

"Where's Keefe?" she asked, glancing around to confirm that he hadn't arrived yet.

Fitz shrugged. "Probably still in bed, if I know him at all."

Mr. Forkle cleared his throat. "That's actually why I called you all here today. Keefe i-"

"WHERE IS HE."

Ro's shout could be heard all the way from the living room, the thud from the door slamming against a wall echoing through the house not a second later. She ran into the room, grabbing Mr. Forkle by the collar and forcing him against the wall. His face turned nearly as purple as her newly-dyed hair as she pinned him there, whispering obscenities and threats in between her interrogation.

"Ro, what do you mean?" Linh asked softly, concern in her voice at Ro's obvious distress.

The ogre princess narrowed her eyes at Forkle. "You haven't told them yet?!" He choked out a stuttering "I was g-getting to it before you b-barged in he-here."

Ro dropped Mr. Forkle to the ground, the wrinkled man stumbling onto the nearest couch as he struggled to catch his breath. Her face turned somber as she addressed the whole group, but her eyes didn't leave Sophie's. Not even once as she said, "Keefe is gone. He's just...gone. He was being annoying so I stuffed him into a closet and then when I opened it a minute later cause he was being suspiciously quiet, he wasn't there anymore. But there was a symbol on the floor. The Neverseen symbol. They took him. And we have to get him back."

Sophie's heart plummeted to the floor. Keefe was gone. Adrenaline flooded through her veins, her mind a flurry of racing thoughts as she tried to process what she had just been told. She tried to keep it together for the sake of her friends, but this news...this was the one thing that could set her over the edge. Who knows what the Neverseen will do to him?!!

Her knees buckled, but before she hit the floor a pair of steady, scarred arms halted her fall. "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna get him back."

Biana's voice brought her back to her senses, and as her friend steadied her on her feet, Sophie's brain shifted from panic to determination. Heck yah, they were getting Keefe back. And they were getting him back now.

"Come on, Ro, take us where you last saw him." Ro opened her mouth to respond to Sophie's demand when she was interrupted by a calm voice.

Tam was in the shadows, light glinting off of his silver-tipped bangs as he said, "Sophie, I know he means a lot to you and you don't want to see him hurt, but we need to think this through before we jump into action."

The words sounded vile to her ears, and Sophie turned to Tam with a frown, her glare blazing. He looked regretful at his words, but regret wasn't enough to justify leaving one of their team behind. "I know you've had stupid competitions with Keefe in the past, and I know you guys don't like each other, but that doesn't mean that we can just leave him behind." Her words were bitter and sharp, but in her desperation she didn't care.

"Sophie, I don't think that's what this is abou-"

Sophie cut into Fitz's words with a scoff. "We can't leave him. I've been in their grasp before, and so have you Dex! You of all people should be with me on this." Sophie still had nightmares of the time she and Dex had spent kidnapped by the Neverseen, constantly sedated, bound, and abused under their vicious care. She couldn't stand the thought of Keefe going through the very same thing.

Dex nodded from across the room, looking nearly as determined as Sophie to get their friend back.

"Let's take a step back and look at this from a logical standpoint-"

"Shut up Forkle, you don't get a say in this." Ro's voice was just as sharp as Sophie's had been.

Sophie turned to the huddled group of her friends, looking them each in the eye as she said, "If you were in Keefe's shoes, wouldn't you want us to come after you as soon as we found out you were missing?!"

A quick glance around the room showed that she only had the support of Dex and Ro. Biana and Linh wouldn't look her in the eyes, and Tam, Fitz, Marella, and Wylie (the rest of the group that had been gathered for the emergency meeting) all gave her concerned looks.

"Sophie, let's go home and sleep on it. We can meet again tomorrow to decide our final course of action."

An idea sparked across her mind, leaving a trail of warm hope in its path. "Fine, but I'm going to try to transmit to him tonight." Mr. Forkle conceded with a nod, and the group began to disperse.

As Sophie pulled out her home crystal she registered Ro protesting, Dex shooting her a sympathetic smile, and Biana and Fitz trying to approach her to comfort her before she left, but none of that stopped her from stepping into the light and letting it pull her back to Havenfield.

She gave it a good twenty minutes for things to settle down at Everglen before she hailed Ro, not wanting Mr. Forkle to catch wind of the new plan she'd formed.

~~~

Hey y'all! I'm a major KOTLC fan (especially Keefe!!!), so I hope I did the series justice and you enjoyed! More chapters where that came from. I know it's not perfect but I'm having fun with it.

Let me know your favorite Team Foster-Keefe moment. Just so I can go back and reread all the happy times :)

Also let me know what you think is gonna happen in book nine!! I'm so excited, and curious to see what you guys think.