Keeper of the Lost Cities: Forgetten

Chapter 15

The home was dark and cold.

Just like the man who lived here.

Brant helped Sophie bring Keefe into the house because she was too exhausted to do so herself. They carefully placed him on the cot that Brant slept in and left him alone to rest. Now they were sitting on the freezing cold metal chairs and Brant was listening to Sophie's explanation of how she ended up here.

After Sophie finished, Brant sighed and set the iced hot chocolate he had been drinking since Sophie arrived. He offered her some and she drank it slowly hoping it wasn't secretly poisoned. "In all the years I've known Grady, he's never been that upset before. Even when I admitted to killing his only daughter, he only used half his power."

"Only half, huh?" Sophie sipped the hot chocolate and looked into Brant's eyes. He was looking better than usual. Some of his new scars had faded completely, leaving him as revolting as he did the day she met him. "He's that weak?" She said quietly.

"Of course not! Didn't you know it's harder to control a nearly broken mind than to control a perfectly fine one?"

Sophie looked down at her cup and groaned. "I still don't get why you let me in. Last time I saw you, you were trying to burn me alive."

Brant smirked, causing some of his skin to crackle. "The past is the past. Plus you brought the 'Lodestar' with you so it gives you immunity from me."

A stray lock on hair fell in front of Sophie's face and she carefully put it back behind her ear. "Is he truly the Lodestar?" She said quietly.

"That is for you to found out later, Moonlark."

Sophie sat up straight in her chair and turned around to see Fintan standing right behind her. "You!" She yelled.

"Don't fret, little girl. I'm not here to kill you yet."

"Yet?" Sophie scowled.

Fintan nodded and looked over at Keefe. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know exactly. I found him yesterday in the woods near Foxfire, extremely pale, skinny and covered in cuts and scrapes." Sophie shook her head as she tried to stop the image of his body on the ground.

"The last time we saw him was when he came back from that Forbidden city and..." Fintan stopped and looked over at Keefe then Sophie looked as his already bandaged hands burst into blue flames. "That's why she came back like that."

Sophie was too tired and exhausted to even flinched at the flames. She took a sip of her drink and looked at Fintan straight in the eyes. "Who came back like what?"

"No one."

"But--"

"No one." Fintan said in an annoyed tone, the flames on his hands turning into a bright red.

"Alright.."

Fintan sighed and the flames on his hands disappeared. They sat in silence for what felt like a couple hours. They would often glance at each other, random objects or Keefe and sip their drinks.

"Do you think you could heal him?"

Sophie looked over at Fintan and saw his eyes were locked on Keefe as he started to twist and turn on the small cot. He looked so normal but inside of him was madness that would keep eating him until he was truly destoryed internally. Sophie sighed.

"In the morning, I'll see what I can do."

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A loud crash from outside woke up Sophie that following morning. She sat up from the cold ground and groaned.