Second Chance

The Aftermath

The Council entered the house and fell silent when they saw Alvar.

"What is going on?" Emery asked.

"Well, the truth or what you wanna hear?" Dex asked sheepishly.

Emery raised an eyebrow.

"We went and got him from the Neverseen," he sighed.

"But by the look on Miss Foster's face and the fact that Mr. Sencen is absent, implies something happened to him?"

"Unfortunately, they would only hand him over if Keefe surrendered to them," Sophie whispered.

Then Grady's face appeared on Alden's imparter.

"Get over here. Keefe is here at Havenfield near the gorgodon cage.

Alden glanced at Sophie.

It was clear that he and Della didn't want to leave Alvar.

"It's okay, Tam and I will go to Havenfield. Also, where's Honor?" Sophie asked.

"No idea," Tam replied, "Wait. You don't think that she was that Neverseen member do you?"

"There's no way to know for sure until we ask Keefe. He may know something we don't."

Sophie and Tam leaped over to Havenfield.

"You really couldn't fight their shadows?" Sophie asked.

"I wish I could've. But whoever they are, they're either 1,000 years old with tons of training or they were genetically altered. I don't think I've ever fought something as hard as that. Exillium kids are more potent than most, too, so maybe they went there.

"Well, I'll take your word for it. Also--" Sophie paused, her eyes widening as she saw Keefe's still body lying just out of range from the gorgodon, who was growling and snapping at him.

"I was afraid to move him. Elwin's on the way," Grady explained.

But Sophie couldn't hear a word he said. She knelt down next to Keefe and brushed the hair out of his face.

"Oh my gosh," Elwin breathed.

He rushed over to Keefe as he rummaged through his bag for the right elixir.

"I never should've left him," Sophie whispered.

"It's not your fault, Sophie. You ALL chose to leave for Alden and Della's sake. You made the right choice." Grady assured her.

"Good news. Keefe's going to be okay," Elwin confirmed.

Sophie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bad news, his mom did pretty bad things to him."

Then Keefe made a soft groaning sound.

"Keefe," Sophie said.

"Foster?"

"It's me."

"It was one person."

"What?"

"It was one per-- just look."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

Sophie pushed her consciousness into his mind. She saw Keefe freeze the member, and how he had only heard one thud. And the moment they realized their mistake.

"That helps even more."

"What do you mean?"

"We think that Honoria is the new member. She doesn't know who her parents are. And for having Telepathy as one of her "only" abilities, she doesn't seem to use it often. She could've gotten her Telepathy from Gethen."