Secrets

Fourteen

Keefe froze, staring wide-eyed at the hideous creature running towards him. 

"KEEFE!" Sophie screamed desperately, "RUN!" 

But Keefe just stood there. 

Staring.

Sophie yelled at Damel. "Is this what you want? Killing an innocent elf just because you don't want us to find Silveny?" 

She ran to Keefe. 

Keefe unfroze. "Sophie, what are you doing?!" He shouted, " You are going to get yourself killed!"

Sophie looked at him. "And so are you." 

Keefe locked eyes with her just as the loctoga pounced in anticipation.

And swallowed him whole.  

--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--

Tears blurred her eyes as Sophie stood in a daze, staring- staring at the spot where Keefe was just a moment ago. 

The loctoga sat back and licked its chops.

"No. No. NO!" Sophie felt the words tear out of her throat, barely registering what she was seeing.

Keefe couldn't be dead.

He just... couldn't.

But if he did- it was all her fault.

Guilt consumed her, but she pushed it away.

She needed to stay strong. 

She needed to be angry. 

Sophie felt her anger stew. She felt it bubble, felt it boil, simmer, and seethe.

She screamed, her eyes glistening with hot tears as she unleashed her rage.

Damel smiled.

Speaking calmly, he asked, "You didn't think that I wouldn't have come prepared?" Grinning, he added, "This, is a Deillusioner." He held out a something that resembled a glowing ball with wires weaving intricately into it. "It is like- what do humans call it again?" He thought for a moment. "Ah, FaceTime. Like this... FaceTime, I am literally talking to you right now, except that I am a hologram instead of a screen." 

Sophie blinked, tears still running silently down her red face. 

Damel continued, still calmly speaking. "So, since you can't inflict on a hologram, you can't inflict on me. But, since the loctoga responds to my voice, I can control it without being there. Although your little freak of a brain will probably understand the concept, it is more fun to distract you while your little friend is quietly being digested within the loctoga's stomach."

Sophie whirled around, her hair whipping into her face as she ran towards the horrible creature.

She didn't care if she got hurt. 

She didn't care that Damel could make this animal kill her.

She didn't care that he had called her a freak.

She only cared about her friend.

The friend that had cheered her up in Atlantis when no one else could. 

The friend that had always been there for her.

And now, it was too late. 

She got closer, skidding around puddles of water that dripped down from the stalactites. 

The loctoga was there- waiting, its beady black eyes avidly staring right at her, alert.

Sophie's shaking legs faltered and she fell down, face first onto the stone floor. 

Her tears soaked the ground as she curled up into a ball and sat there, trembling. 

Keefe was gone.

Dead. 

She felt contented to stay there forever, crying her eyes out, hoping that this was all a dream.

But, it wasn't. 

Nothing was a dream.

And now she had to face another betrayal and a creepy, repulsive creature that thirsted for blood. 

And she was all alone.