Every Sokeefe Moment Ever

Lodestar, Chapter 3

"I know this is all very overwhelming," Magnate Leto said. "But that's only because you're trying to interpret Mr. Sencen's actions with your head. You have a very good head, Miss Foster. Very logical and clever and strong. But do you know what's even more powerful?"

He pointed to her heart.

"Which means what?" Grady asked. "We're relying on teenage feelings?"

"I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them. Miss Foster understands Mr. Sencen in ways the rest of us simply cannot. I watched them most carefully during their time in Alluveterre. He opened up to her. Leaned on her. Trusted her. So"—his eyes met Sophie's—"what does your heart tell you?"

Sophie crossed her arms over her chest, wishing she could reach in and pluck out the answer. Instead, her head kept taking over, flooding her consciousness with memories:

Keefe crying on her shoulder the day she'd had to tell him that his mom might be dead.

The window slumber parties they'd held so they wouldn't have to face the tougher nights alone.

His room covered in notes and crumpled bits of paper as he desperately tried to piece together the truth hidden in his past.

A much younger Keefe, sitting and waiting in Atlantis for a family that didn't care enough to remember him.

Over and over the scenes replayed, until another image slowly replaced them.

Keefe, in the Healing Tent in Exillium, his humor and confidence stripped away, revealing the scared, angry boy he kept hidden underneath.

The memory didn't tell her anything. But it made her heart ache—made her wish she could wrap her arms around him and make everything okay.