Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unlocked: A Fan-fiction

Chapter Twenty-Four - Keefe

Keefe's day started by Foster calling, checking in to see if he was okay, which he appreciated. He told her he was fine, like always, and like always, she didn't believe him. He explained about Forkle's research, leaving out his encouraging pep-talk last night. Then his voice got embarrassed and he hurriedly ended the call, hoping she hadn't noticed anything different.

"Hey, Stella?" Keefe asked, walking into the kitchen and cutting himself a slice of cake laying on the counter.

"Got to go, Tam. See you," Stella said hurriedly. She was sitting at the kitchen table holding an imparter in her hand. She clicked away, stood, and waked toward Keefe.

"Yeah?" she asked, cutting a small slice of cake for herself.

"Why'd you say, when you were explaining your name and backstory and stuff to Foster, that your name was sort of like star stella. And that you'd explain more later? What else, exactly, is there to tell?"

Stella startled. "How do you know that? You were out for that part. Or were you faking it?"

"Of course I wasn't. But Foster told me everything that happened – exactly, because she has a photographic memory."

"Oh. Why'd that part catch your attention?"

"Unanswered mystery? Duh. But a better question would be, why do you care? Are you stalling me? Avoiding the question? It seems like you're avoiding the question..." Keefe narrowed his eyes, hoping his sister could tell from his eyes that he was joking. Mostly.

"Nooo..." Stella said, glancing around and looking slightly guilty."

"Stella, come one. You said if there was something I really wanted to know, you'd tell me. I really want to know this."

"I really don't think you do," Stella whispered. That surprised Keefe. Was it something bad? "I'm sorry, I just can't." She turned and ran, heading for the Vortinator to go to her room. Keefe blinked, bewildered. It hadn't been a really hard question. Or, he'd thought it hadn't. Apparently, it was more upsetting than he'd realized. He thought about chasing after her to comfort her, but she seemed like the type of person who liked being left alone when they were upset. Unless it was their crush trying to comfort them.

And that was when he noticed an envelope on a far stretch of kitchen counter. It was white, and when he walked toward it, he saw that it had a black and white eye as the seal.

The Neverseen.

Their first sign of contact from them since the dwarves. His fingers itched to pick it up and open it, especially when he noticed one tiny word, written in elegant black letters above the seal.

Keefe.

But he'd learned his lesson. Both of the times he'd thought he knew best, what he was doing, how to fix things, he'd only made them worse. He wasn't going to make the same mistake this time.

He couldn't break Foster's trust again.

***

"A note? From the Neverseen?" Sophie asked, her face pale. Keefe nodded.

"I would have brought it with me, except I didn't want to touch it in case it was a trap or a listening device or something," he said.

"Maybe I can figure out if it's rigged," Dex suggested. They were at his house, in his room, with some weird red and green cards scattered around their feet. Biana was there too, and Keefe tried not to be offended that they had all been hanging out together without him. At least Fit- no. He wasn't thinking that way.

"Cool, do you want me to take you over there now?" he asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"Wait," Sophie said, "shouldn't we notify Mr. Forkle first?"

"Probably. How about you do that while Dex and I go check out the note?"

"No way! I want to see it, too. How about we just call him on our way?"

"Fine," Keefe grumbled.

"I'm coming, too, guys," Biana added, poking her head into the small circle Dex, Foster, and Keefe had made.

"Of course," Dex said.

At the same time, Foster said, "No."

"No?" Biana asked rising on her tiptoes in indignation. "You're not in charge of me."

"Of course not!" Sophie exclaimed, "You didn't let me finish. It wasn't a firm "no". I was just saying, no, I was wondering if you would alert everyone else about what's happening."

"Can't you call them, like Mr. Forkle?" Biana asked.

"I could, but it'd be quicker and make a lot more sense if someone were to leap there and explain it in person. Will you?"

"Fine. But I expect full details!"

"Of course. I'm sure you'll leap to Keefe's house right when you're done, anyways."

"I will," Biana agreed, and leapt away.

Keefe shook his head, a bit dazed at the confusing conversation.

"Are girls always so befuddling?" he remarked offhandedly.

Foster scoffed. "Girls? We're normal. But what about boys? They're practically another species. They never let you know what they really feel – it's always, 'I kind of like you', or, 'I want to be just friends', or, 'I'm fine', when they're not." She glared at Keefe on the last one.

"Well, at least they're not like girls, who's feelings are just wonky all the time," Keefe argued, "Girls never let you know how they actually feel, either. One minute it's 'him!' and the next it's 'him!' and the next it's 'none!'. How are you ever supposed to know what they really mean?"

"Wow," Dex said, staring at first Keefe, then Sophie. "Woooow".

"What?" Foster asked.

"Woooooooooooow," was all Dex said, an enormous grin widening his face. "Wow."

"What?" This time, it was Keefe.

"Oh, nothing," Dex remarked, still grinning like a maniac. "Just... wow."

Word count: 5678

Whew! Two chapters in one day! I am so proud of myself! And so grateful for all of you! I came back after posting one single chapter and I had 48 notifications, guys. Some were from other things, I'm sure. I haven't checked them yet lol. But my point is, thank you!

My brain is kind of fuzzy from writing almost literally all day, and my arms and eyes hurt from typing and looking at the screen. But let me just say, I love it all. I'm not sure if many of you know this, but I want to be a stay-at-home-mom/author when I grow up. So I want to make this my profession. Publish books if I'm good enough. So this is great practice!

Thank you all for reading! I love you guys! Comment what you liked/disliked about this chapter.

- Total_KOTLC_Fan