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

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Keefe

Foster's knees buckled, and Keefe caught her just in time, grateful he had been near enough. As he helped her up, though, there was a sense of determination in her eyes. Keefe smiled. Mommy Dearest had no idea what was coming for her. But to his surprise, Foster turned to Fitz, not Lady Gisela.

"How dare you?" she asked.

Fitz grunted. "I just thought, maybe, if you knew who your other parent was, you'd be more comfortable, and maybe-"

"Her other parent?" Keefe interrupted. "Who... you know who the first one is?" he asked Foster. Seriously, he needed to know. His curiosity was going to go kaplooie if he didn't figure it out.

"I... yeah, I know. But I can't tell anyone. And now, thanks to Fitz, I know who my father is, too." Foster turned to Ruy, who was staring at her. Or, Keefe assumed he was. He couldn't see, because of his addler.

"I suppose there's no need for this, now," Ruy said. He snapped his fingers twice, and some sort of strange cloaking fell away, revealing blond hair, a familiar jawline, and... brown eyes.

"Are you a conjurer?" Foster asked a minute later. For perhaps the fifth time just that day, Keefe wished her charging powers were off so that he could send her a green breeze.

"No. It's part of the technology of the addler. It's designed to come off when I willingly snap twice."

"Oh," Foster gulped. "So, you're my dad. Good to know. Or maybe not... I don't really know... things are... ugh." She stepped away from Ruy, toward Keefe. "Looks like I get to join the "horrible parents" club with you, Tam, Linh, and Stella," she said.

Keefe laughed, then pressed his lips together. Now was not the time.

"Should we finish the questioning at a more... convenient place?" Juline asked, shoving Ruy with her foot.

"Good idea, Mom," Dex said, looking down at the glaring prisoners with disgust.

"We'll take them to join their friends," Vika Heks said. Della, Juline, Mai, Dex, Biana, Stina, Tam, Linh, and pretty much everyone else but Ro, Sandor, Edaline, and Foster leapt away. Keefe had no idea if they were all going to the same place, but he had something slightly bigger to think about at the moment.

Fitzphie was over. That was clear from the way Foster had rebuked Fitz. He hadn't felt a single flutter from Foster when Fitz had first walked in the room.

Keefe had to at least try. Painful though it would be when the rejection came, he would never be able to live with himself if he didn't. He knew he would wake up every day, wondering what might have happened. So even though nothing would come of it, and it might ruin the best friendship he had ever had, he still had to try.

"Hey, Foster, can I talk to you?" he asked quietly. The sooner this was over with, the better.

"Of course," she said. "I – actually, I wanted to talk to you, too."

Uh-oh. What about? She and Fitz? Getting back together? Getting married? Having little Fitzphie babies? Growing old together? Love, love, love?

"Oh, okay," he said weakly.

"I'll leave you two alone," Edaline said quietly. And before either of them could blush, she leapt away.

"Hehe," Foster said. Oops, too late. There was that blush. "Do you want to... maybe we should..."

"Go somewhere we haven't been fighting evil villains at for a half hour?" Keefe finished. She nodded. "Yeah, probably. Let's –"

"You're bleeding!" Foster cried, pointing at his hand. Sure enough, there was a thin red cut on his hand.

"Actually, so are you," Keefe pointed out, not sure if the worry he was feeling was from himself or her.

"Oh, yeah. I actually kind of forgot about that, what with... but we should probably head to the healing center."

"No!" Keefe said, alarmed. He wasn't sure his stomach could take the pressure that long. "Unless you need it for your hand," he amended. "I just meant that I didn't need it."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure Sandor has some healing elixirs at home that we can use, so..."

"I do," Sandor agreed. "Come with me now, both of you!" He pulled a pathfinder out of some unknown pocket and cast a beam of light on the floor. Ro grabbed Keefe's arm; Sandor caught hold of Foster. And they stepped into the light.

Word count: 794

Eeek! I'm excited! The next chapter will be what most of you have been waiting for for pretty much the whole book, so... yay for that! Sorry this chapter's so short, again.

Three days till Unlocked, guys! I'm soooooo excited!!!

Thanks for reading! Please comment what you liked about this chapter.

- Total_KOTLC_Fan