Mirrored Conflicts (a Sokeefe story)

Chapter 10: The Searches

One of the major flaws of the bodyguard system was that on its own, it only protected the guarded individual from immediate, in-person, physical threats. So while Sophie Foster was off doing whatever Black Swan thing she happened to be up to today, there was no giant burly goblin anywhere near Havenfield.

Getting rid of the Ruewens had been easy enough, as well. Keefe was a highly talented mischief-maker.

So he had the place to himself for a solid amount of time—and he was good at covering his tracks. Anything Black Swan-related that Sophie happened to keep lying around was officially free for the Neverseen to dissect.

...Foster would be smarter than that, though right? Not that Keefe wanted her to be. Obviously he wanted to leave here with something. But she seemed like a pretty bright girl. He almost hoped she'd show her brilliance today.

Her room looked comfortable and cozy, decorated in a homey manner that made his heart twist as he remembered the cold, bland environment of stupid Candleshade and his stupid father with a stupid statue of himself. He'd been a child, but even then the lack of color and texture had driven him absolutely mad.

Propped up next to her pillows was a stuffed blue elephant, and Keefe had to stifle a laugh. It was... adorable. And clearly beloved.

Keefe shuffled through some of the things on the shelves, wondering briefly if she kept a memory log—though if she had a photographic memory, perhaps she didn't have to. (And if she did, it must have been well disguised.)

As the easily sidetrackable child he was, the first human invention he discovered immediately captivated his attention and Keefe lost all sense of urgency as he turned over the small, imparter-like device in his hands.

He was supposed to be looking for Black Swan info. Right.

But...

What did it do?

Keefe searched for a way to turn it on, startling for a moment when the screen lit up.

...How did it work?

—

This doesn't seem like Keefe.

It was the first thought that came to mind when they entered what had been the room of a six-year-old boy, which Lord Cassius assured them was entirely untouched since his disappearance. Sure, it had been a long time, and sure, Keefe had only been a small child and had likely changed drastically since then, and sure, Sophie didn't really know Keefe at all... but it was still hard to believe that he'd actually lived here.

"This definitely seems like a six-year-old child's room," Dex said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Starting to think this kid just ran away," Biana remarked.

There was nearly no evidence that the place had ever been lived in at all, despite Lord Cassius' claims that it had remained untouched since Keefe's disappearance.

She expected to see toys on his shelves, and while there were a few objects that were juvenile in appearance, there was a significant amount of... paper.

"What are these?" Sophie wondered under her breath, making her way over to one of the shelves. Dex and Biana followed, and she grabbed one of the pieces of paper out of a small pile.

Artwork—and not the kind of crayola scribbles that one would expect from a small child.

Real, genuine artwork. Keefe was... talented.

Something leapt in her chest.

It was odd, finding out all these things about the boy who was supposed to be her archenemy. Things that made him human.