KotLC Unlocked

Chapter 10- Sophie's POV

"W-what?" Sophie said, stumbling backwards.

"Vespera," Gisela croaked.

It all clicked. Vespera could create illusions, but she needed others to do so. If Keefe's new ability was creating illusions, then she could just use him.

Sophie felt tears leaking down her face before she could stop them. She was distracted, when all of a sudden, Gisela pulled out a crystal and light leaped.

"NO!" Sophie shouted. "Where- why,"

She didn't even see Gisela get up. Cassius still seemed out of it, and honestly terrified. Sophie realized that Ro was no where to be seen. Not that it mattered in the moment though. As of then, her only goal was getting Keefe back.

She ended up transmitting the issue to all of her friends, and Mr. Forkle. Hopefully they'd know what to do.

"Soph! He's ... he's really gone?" cried a voice behind her. She turned around, just to see who she was dreading, Fitz. The reason she didn't want to see him was because of how close he was to Keefe. She knew that they had been working on mending their friendship, so this situation must've been hard on Fitz.

Fitz ran over to her, wrapping her in a hug in the process. When he pulled back, there were also tears coming down his cheeks.

"Where's Biana?" she asked.

"I... I told her not to come," he said, "I just didn't want her here."

Fitz looked around the room, until he laid eyes on Lord Cassius. Sophie knew Fitz sometimes got really angry when something bad happened. That's exactly what happened this time.

"What did you do to him?" Fitz yelled at Cassius. Cassius stared back, not moving a muscle, even to flinch.

The two walked over to him.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Sophie asked. She was trying to channel her "inner Keefe" as she was trying to look at things positively.

No answer, though. Lord Cassius's eyes looked blank, but it wasn't like an evil glare. It was more of a "lost in thought" look.

"You think he's alright?" Sophie asked him.

"I hope so," Fitz responded, "he's just about our only chance of getting Keefe back." He mumbled a quick apology when he saw Sophie looked discouraged.

"I think I'm going to need to check his memories. Maybe something about him will be there. It was when I checked Gisela's," she told him.

"Alright. But I'm coming too."

"Deal."

They both reached out their thoughts to Lord Cassius's mind. It was strange for Sophie to be working with him again, with their recent history, but they shoved that aside.

Normally by this time, thoughts of the person would start to appear and develop, but nothing of the sort came. Instead, Sophie could see shards of his memories.

She stumbled backwards, needing to breathe. Fitz slowly walked back, his hands violently shaking. The two made eye contact.

"His mind is broken," they said in unison.