What Will I Do Without You?

Chapter 6

Dex walked up to his room, avoiding the stares from his family members.

"Dex, are you alright?" Kesler asked, worry on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, is all." Dex replied.

"How did the mission go?" Juline asked.

"Tiergan didn't fill you in? Oh." Dex felt a twang of bitterness. "Sophie and Tam are with Elwin. They're both unresponsive and Elwin thinks that if he doesn't find a cure soon, that they'll both die."

Everyone sat in stunned silence.

"What happened?" Juline asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Dex huffed and ran up to his room. He suddenly felt very angry about this whole situation. Sophie was his best friend and his cousin, not to mention his leader. She couldn't die! Neither could Tam, Linh needed him and he was the most powerful Shade. The Black Swan needed him too.

"Why can't our lives go back to normal?" He muttered as he plopped onto his bed.

/////

Sleep did not come to Dex.

He tossed and turned most of the night, trying to get a wink of sleep. But sleep would not come.

"Might as well work on the gadgets... I'm not doing anything good while just laying there." Dex mumbled as he sat up from his bed, still fully dressed in his clothes from earlier.

After tinkering with just about every machine he had built in his room, Dex finally gave up on making himself tired and sat beside his window, looking out at the stars.

Why can't we figure out what's wrong with Sophie and Tam?

A thought, rather an idea, occurred to Dex.

No. No no no.

He pushed the thought out of his mind. He had never been the rebellious type, that was one of the things Linh always said that she liked about him.

But the idea, with the proper planning, could work.

Dex sighed and stood up, opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out his Sucker Punches. He slipped them on his wrists and pulled out a melder, stashing it in his boot.

Dex sighed and quietly opened his door, peering into the hallway to make sure he was alone. After waiting for a few minutes to listen for any sounds, he slipped out and quietly walked down the hallway.

Wait, what am I doing?

Dex shook his head, quietly laughing at his previous foolishness. He walked back into his room, carefully closed the door, and pulled out his imparter.

"Show me Keefe Sencen."

After a few seconds Keefe's face popped up. He had bags under his eyes and a distant sadness in his tone. "Hey, you couldn't get any sleep either?"

Dex shook his head. "Hey, you can easily get a hold of a pathfinder that leads to the Forbidden Cities, right?"

Keefe hesitantly nodded. "Yeah... why?"

"I have an idea but I'll need one to get to London."

"Dex don't tell me you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do."

"Well that depends on what you think I'm gonna do."

Keefe quietly groaned, then smirked. "Fine, I can get it to you, on one condition."

"What?" Dex sighed.

"I get to go with you."

Dex considered the thought for a moment. Having Keefe for back up wouldn't be that bad.