Keefe Sencen

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details from the latest book.

Keefe Sencen
Foxfire Level	Five
Biographical Information
Gender	Male
Special Ability	Empathy, Mimicry, and Photographic Memory
Residence	Candleshade
Physical Description
Eye Color	Ice Blue
Hair Color	Blonde
Other Information
Important Information	Affliated with the Neverseen Rebel Group. Also betrayed the Black Swan

Keefe Sencen is one of Sophie Foster's friends. He attends Foxfire and is an elf belonging to the Sencen family. He is fourteen years old as of the first book. It is also mentioned in Keeper of The Lost Cities that Keefe also skipped Level One in Foxfire, making him the youngest prodigy in his level.

The name "Keefe" means "handsome".

Abilities

Empath - Keefe is an Empath, which means that he can feel other people's emotions. He can also feel Silveny's emotions and talks to her, but not like Sophie, who can understand what Silveny is transmitting. Unlike most empaths, Keefe can feel emotions without physical contact. He received this from his father.

Photographic memory - Like Sophie, Keefe has a photographic memory, explaining why he has skipped a level and generally ditches class.

Mimicry - Keefe can mimic as he shows that he can do a perfect impression of Dame Alina, now Councillor Alina. He is not actually a Polyglot, and he learned to mimic by learning to imitate his mother, Lady Gisela, who is a Polyglot.

Artist - Keefe is an amazing artist. However, his parents (mainly his father) don't appreciate his talents and even tell him art is a waste of time. Sophie mentions multiple times she thinks his drawings are so realistic that they look like photographs.

Biography

Keefe is an only child and his best friend is Fitz. He usually hangs out with the Vackers and treats them like family. Most of the time, Keefe plays Base Quest with Fitz, Biana, and Sophie.  He also likes to play Bramble with Fitz, although Keefe always cheats. At home, his mother ignores him and his father always scolds him. Keefe always tries to impress his father, Lord Cassius, and he successfully did in the second book, Exile, by telling him that he was helping Sophie with Silveny the Alicorn. This impresses Keefe's father because Silveny is the key to the people's faith in the Council and his father works for the Council. Despite his father's seriousness, Keefe is fun loving, even giving the nickname Glitterbutt to Silveny despite her importance. He has fun teasing people - especially Sophie. He is also kind to Sophie when she is at her weakest. He suggested to Elwin to rename the Healing Center the Foster Center because of how many times Sophie had to go there.

In the first book, Keefe is known to have a goofy personality, and has an reputation as a trouble maker. In Exile, however, Keefe has a more important role, and you get a glimpse at the more compassionate part of him when Sophie is upset about Alden's broken mind. In Everblaze, he does a great deal of aiding Sophie with whatever mysteries she has to solve involving the Black Swan. At the end of the book, Keefe fights his mother and begins to harbor a deep grudge against her. In Neverseen, Keefe takes on a darker, more angry edge in some areas of the book, especially when it has to do with his mother, and after learning that she has has someone Wash away many of his memories of her, he joins the Neverseen in order to save his mother and find answers.

In book four, Neverseen, Keefe feels betrayed by his mother and fights with emotions of regret, grief, and guilt. He still loves his mother deep down, but refuses to admit it. Keefe is desperate to gain the memories stolen by his mother, and when he does, he believes that he was never meant to be a hero, but a villain. Keefe joins the Neverseen, and when Sophie sneaks along with him, he tries to protect her. Keefe ends up sacrificing Sophie's cache, given to her by Kenric, and steals it by mimicking her voice. He begs Sophie not to hate him, and his last words before Sophie leaves are "I have to do this. Please don't hate me." He gives her a necklace inscribed with "trust me" right before he helped her escape.

Relationships

• FITZ (friend)

Fitz is Keefe's best friend. The two are very close knowing each other all throughout their school lives. Keefe is often at the Vacker house, Everglen, playing base quest or just hanging out.

• SOPHIE (friend/love interest)

Sophie and Keefe met mid-way through Book 1 and since that time the two have become good friends. Keefe always wants to join Sophie on her adventures, and is there for her various times throughout the series. In book two, Exile, Keefe and Sophie become very close. It's been hinted a couple times that Keefe could possibly like Sophie, due to his constant teasing and subtle compliments. In the fourth book it becomes quite obvious that Keefe likes Sophie, becoming jealous of Tam, who he believes is trying to steal his spot in his "Sophie Foster Fan Club". They share many close moments, and he even goes as far to give her a necklace that he had originally made for his mother, in order to protect her from himself. He also seems to confide in Sophie more than the others, as well as stalling his own reckless plans for "only her". They also shared two "window slumber parties", where they both sleep at their respective windowsills, covered in blankets, just to enjoy each other's company. Sophie is shown to have been mildly, unknowingly jealous of the fact that Keefe kissed Biana (on a dare, nonetheless), as when Keefe told her the story, she was clenching her fists, and even she didn't know why. Sophie is also heartbroken when Keefe joins the Neverseen, and, honoring his last wish, decides not to hate him.

• DEX (friend)

Keefe meets Dex through Sophie, but their bond is later implied to extend farther than that. In Book 3, when it is revealed Dex is a Technopath, Keefe begins planning various schemes with him. Keefe and Dex both like to tease Sophie and Fitz about being cognates by fake-vomiting.

• BIANA (friend/love interest)

Biana is the sister of Keefe's best friend, Fitz. They are good friends, and she seems to care about him a lot and even has a small crush on him. She saved his life in Everblaze, tackling Lady Gisela, who tried to shoot him with a melder. It is not confirmed that Keefe has feelings for her, but in the Neverseen cover, she is shown holding onto his arm. Also, in the fourth book, Keefe admits that he has kissed Biana before in a dare.

• LORD CASSIUS (father)

Lord Cassius first appears in Book 1 and is shown as a very controlling father. He often states how disappointed in Keefe, but his negative intentions have never extended farther than that. Later, after Keefe knows about his mom being in the Neverseen, he says he is surprised his dad turned out to be the good parent. Lord Cassius wrote a book about Empaths called The Heart of the Matter, that Keefe had to suffer through, and describes his dad as not so much an author but "torturer of innocent readers."

• LADY GISELA (mother)

Lady Gislea appears in Book 3. She also often states her disappointment in Keefe, but it extends farther than that. At the end of Book 3, it is revealed that she is part of a secret organization called the Neverseen, designed against the Black Swan with uncertain negative intentions. In Neverseen, Keefe learns that his mother has had someone Wash his memories so that he wouldn't remember her affiliations with the Neverseen. Broken, hurt, remorseful, and feeling a tad bit guilty, he joins the ranks of the Neverseen in order to retrieve his memories.

• ALDEN (guardian)

Alden is like a father to Keefe, always allowing him to stay over and making sure everything is working out for Keefe. When Alden's mind is broken the grief is agonizing for Keefe.

• SANDOR (friend)

Keefe is constantly teasing Sandor and trying to make trouble for him. Sandor acts annoyed but is actually very fond of Keefe and trusts him.

• TAM (disliked)

Keefe often seems jealous when Tam and Sophie interact. Keefe also doesn't want Tam to take a reading of him, which makes it hard for them to trust each other.