Chapter Text
Amy screamed as the Neverseen pulled her out of Sophie’s arms.
“No! You can’t have her, not her too.” Sophie was sobbing, her throat raw, as she begged and screamed for them to leave her sister alone.
Sophie was grasping at Amy’s fingers, desperately trying to hold on to anything, trying to keep her safe. But when has she ever kept anyone safe? When had her efforts proven to be anything other than futile?
Amy’s screams grew louder. Echoing in Sophie’s ears as the Neverseen pulled her sister away from her ever more forcefully.
Sophie had just felt Amy’s fingertips leave her skin when suddenly she was alone. The Neverseen had vanished, taking Amy with them. Leaving Sophie with just the dark abyss surrounding her for company.
She started to run, yelling Amy’s name, begging her to be safe. But the abyss swallowed up her cries, choking them in Sophie’s throat. Her ears were ringing, but as she continued to run, the ringing was replaced with tapping?
“What the– “
One would think that after all that Sophie had dealt with, waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in her own sweat, only to find a boy dangling precariously outside her window wouldn’t faze her.
One, however, would be wrong because as soon as Sophie had enough senses to realize that a person was trying, and failing, to get into her room, she scrambled back, lost her balance, and collapsed onto the floor. Unfortunately for Sophie, the soft petals did nothing to prevent the air from being knocked out of her lungs. They did make a good resting spot for her head while she tried to figure out what the heck was going on.
Why, why, why could she not just get one night of good sleep? Sophie’s hands shook, her breathing hard and quick, trying to regain what she had lost. She sat up slowly and peaked over the edge of her bed.
Mother of all that is good and holy in this world, was that Keefe? Sophie blearily stood up and walked to the window. Maybe all the sleep deprivation had made her delirious.
Keefe was levitating. Outside her window. In the middle of the night. He noticed her walking towards him and sagged in relief, causing him to drop out of the sky. Sophie rushed forward, but her fears were quickly dissipated when she saw his head bob back into view.
“I’m fine Foster, though your concern warms my heart.” His voice was dampened by the glass.
Sophie moved to open the window. “What are you doing?”
“Trying not to fall to my death, why?” Keefe’s smirk played across his face as he lifted himself through the window and gracefully summersaulted onto the floor.
“You know, in my experience, people with that same goal don’t often find themselves floating thirty feet in the air.” Sophie offered him a hand, and he took it thankfully.
“Well, I’m sorry to say that in your limited experience, you haven’t met someone as ambitious as me.”
Sophie let go, and Keefe tumbled back onto the floor, jumping to his feet as soon as he gathered himself. His eyes scanned Sophie as if looking for injuries, and behind his signature smirk, she saw concern?
“What’s wrong, Keefe?”
His smirk washed away as he brought his eyes to hers. “Actually, that’s my line. What’s wrong, Foster. Are you okay?”
“You came here just to ask me if I was okay?”
“I felt enough fear off you to have a heart attack, so yeah, I came to check on you.”
Sophie scoffed, “No chance you could feel my emotions from The Shores of Solace, try again.”
Keefe’s eyes shifted, and he started to back away. “I’m just going to assume that means you’re fine. Goodnight Foster.”
His hand grasped the windowsill, and Sophie faced the idea of being alone with Amy’s screams in her ears.
“Wait, Keefe?”
Keefe froze, looking back at Sophie, his hand still on the windowsill.
“Stay?”
Keefe’s smirk returned, “All due respect, Sophie; if Grady finds me here, he will kill me.”
Sophie laughed, “I’d protect you.”
Keefe finally took his hand off the windowsill and walked back towards her.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Foster?” He took her shaking hand and lifted it between them.
“Yea- actually, no, not really. Just the usual though, Silveny hasn’t been able to help me much lately.” Sophie felt like tugging at her eyelashes, but Keefe had taken her other hand. “Could you just, please, stay?”
She barely whispered the words, but Sophie knew that he’d heard them.
“Yeah, I’ll stay.”
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
Sophie guided him to her bed, watched as he kicked off his shoes, and laid down stiffly on top of the covers. Sophie got under the covers on her side of the bed, and not-so tactfully placed her longest pillow between them. Which stirred a huff of amusem*nt from Keefe.
As awkward as it was, the darkness was somehow so much more bearable when he was beside her. And as Keefe’s breathing turned slow, Sophie too drifted into sleep.
