Keeper of the Lost Cities Moonlark

Chapter Sixteen: Keefe

     As Keefe glittered back into focus he stood before a crowd, all of them staring at him like he'd just grown another head. "Uh, did I miss something?" Keefe asked with a puzzled face. Suddenly everyone just looked away silently and kept looking at the door that led into Sophie's bedroom. "Hellooooooo? Can anyone tell me what's going on?" Silence. "Uh, okay, nevermind." Weird.

     The door burst open and everyone just suddenly started shouting. "Woah woah woah, okay back it up. I'm just coming out here to say that Sophie only wants 2 people to come in at a time. I chose 2 people and I'm just here to see if they're ready." More shouting followed. "Okay! Just stop for like, one moment. Alden and Della, you're the first ones." This time the yelling came back with a vengance. Then, a loud piercing high pitch whistle finally created silence. "Sorry, but uh, you guys are gonna have to stop. Sophie is perfectly fine now, she just needs to rest. You all don't need to worry so much."

"Wait, Elwin! What about me? Am I late to the party?" Keefe asked, but Elwin just ignored him. Clearly too distracted to notice even a nuclear weapon going off.

     Alden and Della stepped forward, "Can we see her?" Alden asked.

     Elwin sighed a sigh of relief when no more shouting followed. "Of course." He motioned for Alden and Della to follow him through the big golden doors with crystals covering the frame.

     After they went inside, Keefe looked around at all the tired faces. "How long have you guys been here?" He asked, only a lot of shuffling and mumbling followed. "Okay, that's cool. I'll stand over here in this corner." He walked over to the far right corner and plopped down on a light grey ottoman, which was the only plain piece of furniture on the entire floor. Looking around he saw what looked like a massive kitchen with rubies and emeralds covering the outline of most of the appliances. A chocolate cake with white frosting sat in a corner untouched. Next to the white fridge was a big clear bookshelf, and yep, you guessed it. MoRe CrYsTalS!!! Plus a bunch of recipe books and elixirs.

     While Keefe was distracted, he didn't notice the chubby figure with grayish hair looming over him. "Keefe."

     He almost jumped out if his skin when he looked up to see Mr. Forkle. "Wow, what a way to sneak up on someone."

     "Sorry, but I was wondering if you've seen young Mr. Vacker."

     "Actually.... yes. I have run into him recently."

     Mr. Forkle's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. " Really? Well that's a surprise, all of my camera's haven't detected  him." 

     "Well, yeah. You see, he's been hiding out in Foster's room these past days." he laughed nervously as Mr. Fokrle's eyes hardened to as tough as steel.

     "Are you playing games with me Mr. Scencen?"

     "Uh." Keefe cleared his throat. "No, Forkle."

     "I see. Well, I better report this to the Black Swan." with that he lumbered off, leaving Keefe slightly worried for the big guy's sanity. He decided to go see if he could peek through the big double doors to see if he could get a view of what was going on in Sophie's bedroom. As he slipped into the crowd he noticed people he didn't think would be in there, for some reason Marella had somehow figured out what had happened.

Finally, he peered into the crack in the door and strained his ear.

"Alden, Della? You guys are here?" Sophie asked as she saw them come through the doors. 

     As soon as they laid there eyes on Sophie they rushed to her side. "Of course we are." Della said with her eyes turning glassy. "We've been worried about you ever since we found out what happened."