Keeper of The Lost Cities Fanfic: Elysian

Chapter 13

"What's THIS?" Sophie nearly jumped off the couch as she opened her eyes. "Oh, Grady...um...we just fell asleep." Well, truth be told, they'd talked and then fallen asleep. Sophie knew she was blushing hard as Keefe sat up. Then, he noticed Grady. "I was just reading her emotions. Making sure nothing happened, sir." Grady eyed Sophie suspiciously, then said, "We'll be talking about this later, Sophie Elizabeth Foster." Then, he headed into the pastures. Sophie groaned. "He's mad. Like, very mad. Grady never calls me by my full name." Keefe ran a hand through his hair and bit his lip. "Foster, it's my fault. I-I fell asleep next to you. I'm just glad Fitzy let me borrow a tunic." Sophie shook her head. "No, Keefe, it isn't your fault. It's mine. Sandor could've carried me to my room." Then, Keefe smirked. "If you think about it, it's kinda Gigantor's fault, isn't it?" Sandor grunted as he melted out of the shadows. "Usually, I would've taken her to her room to keep her from you, but by the time I got back from installing new security systems, you two were already asleep on the couch." Then, Ro came bustling down the stairs, the ends of her pigtails dyed white. "It was sooooo cuuuutttteeeee! I even snapped a picture on Blondie's human device. Here, let me show you!" Once Ro was out of earshot, Sophie said, "Why does Ro have to be so annoying sometimes?" Keefe smirked. "Welcome to my world!" Sophie playfully rolled her eyes when he held his hands out on either side of him, reaching for the sky. Then Ro came back, giggled, and showed them the picture. Sophie was on her side, her head buried between Ella's ears, a drop of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth, and at some point during the night, Keefe had wrapped his arms around her waist, a small smile on his face. Sophie snatched the tablet, turned it off, and set it on the couch next to her. Then she remembered something. Something important that wasn't her memory. "Ro, can you grab my memory log?"

Chapter 14

She projected the memory on a blank page, staring at it. It looked like someone had drawn a sideways hourglass with a flower in the middle, then drew a diamond over it, and almost took up the whole page. Everyone just stared at it. "It's a symbol." Keefe said, tracing a finger down the page. "But what does it mean?" Sophie sighed. "I swear, if this is another Lodestar Initiative plan..." That gave her an idea. "Let me try something real quick." She looked at all the symbols the Neverseen had used, hoping it would trigger something, but all it did was hit a nerve. "Nevermind." Edaline came in, covered in dinosaur feathers, and asked for a minute of privacy with Sophie. "I'll come get you when we're done." Edaline said as Ro and Keefe made their way to the pastures, probably to check in on Silveny. Sophie put the memory log beside her as Edaline sat next to her. "Grady told me about this morning." Sophie didn't know what to say. She thought she was in trouble with her mother, too. "I...look, I'm really sorry about that–" Edaline threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, Sophie, I don't have a problem with it. I know Keefe's a good young man." Sophie sighed with relief. "Grady still wants to talk to me, doesn't he?" "I tried to talk him out of it, but you know how he is. I'm surprised he didn't want to talk to Keefe." Sophie would rather do anything–even smell Iggy breath and farts for a whole day–than have that talk with Grady. "Can I just hide from him forever?" Sophie asked, squeezing Ella. Edaline pushed a strand of Sophie's hair behind her ear. "No. It's always better to get hard stuff over with than wait." Then she looked in the doorway. "Oh, speaking of which, he's here. I'll leave you to it." She kissed Sophie's temple, then went upstairs to clean up, and Grady filled her place, dinosaur feathers in his hair. "It's time for that talk, kiddo."