Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-43347423-20200111144721/@comment-43347423-20200111154531

Chapter Two

Sophie rushed out of the healing center, trying to transmit to Fitz. It didn’t work until she was quite far from the healing center.

Fitz!

A heavily accented voice replied, What?

Did you hear what Keefe said? she asked.

Yeah, I heard enough. What was with his tone?

Uh, Sophie said awkwardly, what are you talking about?

''How well you two seem to get along now. I thought you weren’t ready for a boyfriend yet.''

First off, Keefe’s not my boyfriend, Sophie began, although… she was blushing. What did that mean? But she continued what she had been saying. ''Second, I wasn’t talking about that. Did you hear what he manifested as?''

Fitz replied, No, I walked out when you started your intense hugging session.

Sophie decided to ignore that last bit. ''He can take away abilities. Just by being near someone.''

Wait, then how are you talking to me?

I walked away from him to try this, she said, hoping his reaction wouldn’t be enthusiastic.

It was. ''Oh good, you walked away.  Okay, I don’t know why you’re being so rude, but I have to go check on him and tell him I can still use my abilities,'' she snapped. If you want to come, you can.  I think I’ll pass.

Oh, and by the way, Sophie said, not entirely sure why she was so angry all of a sudden, ''this isn’t exactly great for him either. He’s not even an Empath anymore, thanks to Lady Gisela.''

Then she stepped into the zone where Keefe would be blocking her telepathy so she couldn’t hear his transmissions.

She ran back to the healing center.

“I can still use my abilities,” Sophie said immediately.

Keefe let out a breath he must have been holding. “What took you so long?”

“I was talking to Fitz,” she said, hoping he couldn’t pick up on all of her anger.

Keefe nodded. “What’d he say?”

Wow, he really wasn’t an Empath anymore, was he?

“Just that he was glad you’re awake now,” she lied.

Again, he couldn’t tell.

And for some reason, that made Sophie start to cry a little bit. She’d never noticed how nice it was to not have to come out and actually say things to him. But now that she couldn’t…

“Foster, it’s okay,” Keefe said. “I’m awake now. And clearly, since you all missed me so much, we need to figure out how I’m gonna get to see everyone! ‘Cause, uh, guess what? Elwin came back, and he said it hurt him.”

“What?” Sophie asked. “But it didn’t hurt me…”

Oh. Her impenetrable mind. It had made what Keefe did painless. But for other people…

Keefe fidgeted. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m going to try something,” Sophie said. “Do you remember when I learned to control my enhancing?”

“You can’t enhance me right now, Foster.”

“I know. It doesn’t matter if I can. I’m going to walk you through an exercise I did to learn how to control my enhancing. It might help you learn to control what you can do now. And actually, this training stems from Empaths, so you’ve probably already done it. It’s a countdown exercise,” Sophie said.

Keefe nodded. “Yeah, I’ve done that.”

“Okay, so I’m not sure how this is going to work, but we may as well try it,” Sophie said. “Maybe you should think of five adjectives for Empathy and just one for your new ability?”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me,” Keefe agreed, and winked.

Sophie’s heart fluttered.

“Okay, so first, what are five adjectives that describe Empathy?” Sophie asked, ignoring her stupid heart.

“Uh, that’s kind of hard. Empathy just makes you feel what others feel,” Keefe said.

“How does feeling what I’m feeling feel?” Sophie prompted.

Keefe thought about that for a second. “Enlightening,” he said with a smirk.

“Are you choosing that as your adjective? Because if this doesn’t work…” she reminded him.

“Yeah.”

Sophie nodded, and held up four fingers. “Four more.”

“Ugh, this is so hard,” he complained. “But I guess, uh… Maybe, like, unifying?”

“Okay, three left. You have ‘enlightening’ and ‘unifying.’ What else?”

“Difficult,” Keefe said after a pause.

“Is it hard to read emotions?” Sophie asked. “I thought you had to train yourselves not to constantly read them.”

“We do. I meant it in a different way.”

Sophie wasn’t sure whether to push for more or leave his answer be. She chose the less awkward option. “Okay, well you still have two left.”

Keefe groaned. “Ugh, this is impossible!”

“It’s going to be worth it,” Sophie promised. “Next word.”

“Fine. How about stressful?”

“Okay, so now you just have one left. ‘Enlightening,’ ‘unifying,’ ‘difficult,’ and ‘stressful.’ What else describes Empathy?” Sophie asked.

“Helpful.” Sophie nodded. “Okay, so Empathy is enlightening, unifying, difficult, stressful, and helpful. What describes your new ability?”

“Scary,” Keefe said. “Or maybe… powerful.”

Sophie saw his expression change, felt her head grow lighter. She hadn’t even realized there had been fog clouding her mind, but now that it was gone, she could think so clearly.

“Keefe, I think you can control your ability now,” Sophie said, hoping she was right.

He smirked at her. “Don’t get those hopes to high, Foster.”

“So you can’t… wait, how did you know I felt hopeful?”

“I have my ways, Foster. Couldn’t let you live too long without someone reading your emotions constantly,” he replied. “And you know what else? I can block your emotions now.”

Sophie wasn’t sure why she felt sad. “Wait, you can?”

“Yep! I have to concentrate to translate them now, just like I have to with everybody else.”

“Oh.”

Keefe frowned. “I thought you’d be way more excited about that.”

“I did too,” Sophie mumbled, and seeing Keefe’s frown, she added, “I guess it’s just, like… it was kind of nice having you guess things instead of me having to come out and actually say them.”

“I can keep reading your emotions if you want,” Keefe offered.

Sophie shook her head. “It’s fine.”

“Okay, well thank you,” Keefe said. “I’m so glad I don’t have to hurt people anymore.”

Sophie smiled. “I needed to help you either way. It’s not like I could go long without you around,” she said, and blushed. “Keefe, I can’t believe you had to go through that. I’m so happy we fixed it early on.”

“But now I can use this against my mom, Foster,” Keefe said. “And I will. She’s only made me stronger.”