Keefe's Whereabouts

17

"At last, we can end this," I hear Dex say next to me.

I look down at the cave etched into the mountain. The Neverseen's hideout. And the real Gisela. I glance over at Keefe and watch as his eyes narrow. Oh Keefe. My fiancé. The ring provides a feeling of love and comfort to my body.

"It's confirmed, they are down there," Della appears back to the rest of the group.

"Is everyone ready?" Mr. Forkle asks, looking at all of us.

Everyone nods and hums in agreement, no hesitation. This is the end, no more after this. We slowly split off in two groups, making sure to block off both entrances we found. I pat my side pocket, slipping out one of my goblin throwing knives. As we approach closer, someone's voice cuts through the cave.

"Welcome," her voice sends anger through my body.

Gisela. She walks out of the dark, a smug smirk on her face. Good, it looks like she doesn't know about the other group.

"I've been waiting for you, Black Swan," the words come off with poison.

"Gisela," this time Tiergan speaks up. "It was an impressive trick, how'd you pull off a whole clone?"

"Oh, nothing too complicated," she says, "I almost forgot to ask, how's your arm?"

I grit my teeth. The last battle we had with the Neverseen, Tiergan lost his left arm. But he keeps his cool.

"This is the end, Gisela," Mr. Forkle pops up next to him, "you cannot run anymore."

"Aww, are you giving me a chance to turn myself in?" Her smile grows larger.

Cloaked figures start to appear behind her. There are at least 30 of them with her. The last of the organization.

Before any more words can be exchanged, one of the Neverseen members starts to form a gust of wind. Shit.

"Move!" Maruca steps in front, using a force field to protect the rest of us.

It breaks loose. I try to tune out everything around me and move straight to Gisela, who is currently trying to shoot Biana with a melder. I run up behind her and tackle her. We start rolling down a ledge by the cave.

"Oh, you insolent brat!" She yells, hitting her with the back of her arm.

I quickly recover, using some of the moves I learned from training with Sandor. I lock her in, kicking the melder away from her. But suddenly, I feel my body stop obeying my mind.

"Mesmer!" Dex yells as I'm forced to get up and move towards the cliff.

Shit, shit, shit! The Neverseen is keeping everyone busy. I walk closer and closer to edge. This cannot be the end. I close my eyes. If I can inflict whoever is mesmering me, I can get out of this haze. But who is it? I can't turn my head. I feel my eyes start to water. This cannot be the end. My ring. Keefe's promises fill my mind.

No.

I hone in on everyone's thoughts. Who is it. Who is it.

Found you.

The ball of fury in the pit of my stomach slowly unravels. I let that pain push out into their body. The pain of the losses. And from everything that went wrong. The pain of not being able to spend my days growing old with Keefe.

I hear someone hiss in pain. And I also feel my limbs free. I turn my head around and see a cloaked figure thrashing in pain on the ground. The blaze of fire knocks me out of my thoughts. I see Marella knocking down a few people who tried to run away. It looks like the other group has been exposed. Which means Keefe-

He's approaching Gisela, towards the edge of the cliff. This is the first time I've seen her look actually scared. Almost like despair. Maybe even... regret?

"You're done," Keefe says.

I head towards them, avoiding the fighting around me. I need to get to him. Before he does anything he regrets.

"You don't understand," she says, backing up even more. "I was doing all of this for you! Everything was for you!"

The crack in her voice exposed the newfound empathy I didn't realize she had. She loves her son. Of course. But she destroyed so many people's lives, it's inexcusable.

"Keefe," I say, stepping up next to him. "Don't."

"She deserves to pay for every life she took," Keefe says, his eyes are red.

"She does," this time the voice comes from Brandon.

I notice Gisela's eyes going wide. "Brandon?"

He throws back his cloak all the way, exposing his scars. "Hello."

"I thought you- I thought you were with your father," she's in utter shock.

She abandoned him. Left him with humans. I know exactly how overwhelmed he must have felt. Then she had another child just to use him for her own experiment. Evil.

I notice her look off to the edge of the cliff. Don't tell me-

"I guess my work is really done," she says.

"It is," Brandon says. "You will be in exile. And you will never ever kill another innocent person again. This world will be safe."

She gives him a small smile, I notice a tear fall down his eyes. "I just want both of you boys to know," one more step back.

No. There's no way.

"That I loved you both and I just wanted what was best for you," she says.

Then everything goes silent. She steps back, leaving her with no more room to spare. My body acts before my mind. I run faster than I ever have and jump towards her. There's no way I'm going to let her get away.

"Sophie!" I hear Keefe's voice.

I grab onto her, but I notice she's not prepared to conjure or use telekinesis on her body. I close my eyes as she tries to thrash against me.

Take me to the void.

And a loud lightning strike leads me to an endless black void.