ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ

d e c i s i o n s

Keefe

Keefe's mouth went dry, and it took him a second to speak.

"Alvar wants to talk to me?" he asked, his voice sounding small to his own ears.

"Yes," Edaline answered hesitantly, looking at him with a worried expression. "Of course, we can always tell him you don't want to. That's definitely an option, Keefe."

He hesitated. He really, really, really didn't want to talk to Alvar, but he might be able to get something useful out of him if he played his cards right.

"Okay," he said, wincing inwardly at the pitiful sound of his own voice. He cleared his throat. "I mean, yeah, I'll do it."

Sophie glanced at him, her eyebrows knitted together, but he ignored her. If he looked at her, he'd change his mind in a second, and this was a good opportunity. He stood from her bed, keeping his eyes away from his friends' Are you crazy? stares, moving towards the door. "He's just waiting?"

Edaline hesitated, and then nodded. "He's waiting to see if you'll agree to talk to him."

Keefe swallowed, took a breath, and forced his feet to move, out into the hall and down the stairs. All he could do was hope this meeting would be worth it.

~~~

Sophie

Sophie started to run after him, but Edaline gently put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Alvar only wants to speak with him, sweetheart."

"All the more reason I should go with him," she argued. "Alvar's dangerous, Mom."

"I know," Edaline agreed softly. "But Mr. Forkle and Alden are both out there, monitoring the conversation. It'll be all right, Sophie."

Dex stood from the bed. "What if Keefe needs us, though?"

Fitz also stood, glowering. "Yeah. I don't trust Alvar." He spat out his older brother's name like it was poison.

Edaline wavered for a moment, and Sophie had a feeling they'd lost. But she finally exhaled and gave a slow nod. "All right. Go ahead, but I'd advise you to stay out of the imparter's range, so Alvar doesn't know you're there." She glanced at Fitz. "And, Fitz, please try hard not to say anything. I understand you're angry, but arguing or screaming insults isn't going to help the situation--and it really won't help Keefe."

Fitz looked as if he was about to protest, but swallowed down his words. "Fine," he answered shortly.

Edaline attempted a smile. "Thank you, sweetheart. Now good luck." She opened the door for them, and Sophie almost laughed at how much they'd been going back and forth between the house and the pastures as they rushed back outside.

~~~

Keefe

"Ah, Keefe." The all-too-familiar, sickening sound of Alvar's voice rang in Keefe's ears as he reached the circle of adults and came into the imparter's view. "Decided to join us?"

Mr. Forkle gestured for everyone else to move back, out of the communication device's range, as if to give them space. Keefe shifted uneasily, trying not to look at them. He would have much rather had the grownups at his back, but Alvar had probably ordered that no one was to listen to their conversation--though that must have been part of Alvar's plan too, because the older Vacker brother wasn't dumb enough to think the adults would truly allow Keefe to be left alone with him.

Alvar gave Keefe a wide smile. The smile was almost charming, but coming from him, Keefe found it borderline terrifying. "I see your loyalties are already shifting in the right direction," Alvar told him, sounding pleased.

Keefe stared at him blankly. "What?"

"You ran out here pretty quickly, didn't you?" Alvar questioned. "Don't think I can't see how much you're panting."

"That's because I was trying to get this stupid meeting over with," he snapped.

"If it's so stupid, why did you come in the first place?"

Keefe hated--hated--Alvar's cursed logic. Alvar shouldn't have been able to be logical. Alvar shouldn't have been alive at all.

"What did you want to tell me?" Keefe asked through gritted teeth. He'd pay Alvar back later, he promised himself. One day.

A sudden movement caught the corner of his vision, and his gaze instinctively shifted towards it. His heart plummeted, and he hoped Alvar didn't hear his sharp intake of breath. He met Sophie's eyes, shining brown and gold even from this far away, and bit his tongue to keep from cursing. No, no, no, he wanted to scream. Don't come here. Don't. Stay away, Sophie.

But if she saw the wild panic in her eyes, she either didn't notice, or chose to ignore it. Most likely the second one.

All he could do was watch with dread as his entire group of friends made their way across the field. Sophie's chin was raised in determination. Biana was pale, but her jaw was set, and Dex's brow was furrowed as if he were trying to puzzle something out. And Fitz--Fitz looked like he was ready to tear something down.

"KEEFE."

Alvar's sharp voice jolted Keefe back from his spiraling thoughts, and his gaze snapped back to the imparter's screen.

"Spacing out, are you?" His voice was irritated, all sweetness wiped from his expression. Then, like a switch, the charming smile was back on, his cobalt blue eyes bright. "Never mind that. I understand you're distracted--after all, you have a big decision to make."

"A big decision?" Keefe asked, his voice weaker and more brittle than he wanted.

"You didn't hear me?" Alvar sighed. "Keefe, how would you like to join me"--he gestured all around him--"here, in this lovely Neverseen hideout?"

~~~

A lot of people probably didn't see my announcement, so I'll copy part of it here -

Green Eyes: Ah, the book everyone is mad at me about...yes, I WILL be continuing it. But I've been thinking about it, and I've decided I'm going to partly branch off from the main KOTLC storyline. The conflict will still be the same - defeating the Neverseen - but there are so many little parts to the actual series plot that it would be impossible not to miss something. So I'll continue *distantly* according to the original storyline (they'll probably be headed to London soon ;), but many small details will NOT match the real series.

Just to let you guys know. Thank you to anyone who read this far, hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

~ volt <3