So… I guess I can’t really hold it against him.

(But I will keep right on making fun of his stupid silver bangs!)

As for Foster… I probably shouldn’t admit this because it’s super selfish and horrible, but… I’m really glad she was there. It killed me seeing her bound and helpless like that—kills me now just remembering it. And I can only imagine what kind of nightmares she must have.

But… if she hadn’t been there—and hadn’t gone all mega-powerful Telepath and kept our minds connected when the shadows hit me—I don’t know what would’ve happened.

Actually, maybe I do know.

I wanted to retreat into that darkness and never come back. But Sophie called for me. And I came back for her.

I’ll always…

Ugh, I’m back to more sappy, pointless rambling. Pretty sure that proves this project is a waste of time. It hasn’t triggered any new memories. I haven’t learned anything new about stellarlune, or those humans my mom killed, or the letter I delivered, or anything else. Seems like a pretty epic fail. But what else is new?

I guess I can try again later. But I think I’d better take a break, before I write something really embarrassing. Like how I’m pretty sure I’m—

HA!

I’m reckless, but I’m not that reckless!

Not that it matters. I’m going to hide this notebook so well, I doubt I’ll even be able to find it. And I should probably do that now because my ridiculously annoying bodyguard is getting bored. (YEAH, RO—I HEAR YOU LOUD-SIGHING OVER AND OVER. I’M PRETTY SURE EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET CAN HEAR YOU!!) And when she gets bored, she gets really humiliating ideas.

So… Hunkyhair → out.

Novella

Hi again, everyone!

Yay—you’re still here! I hope that means you enjoyed the first half of this book—though I have a feeling some of you have snuck back here before reading all of that other awesome stuff because you’re dying to know what’s going to happen next to Sophie and her friends. And that’s fine. I won’t judge.

BUT.

Like I said earlier, the novella you’re about to read takes place right after the ending of Legacy, so I need to interrupt this letter for yet another gigantic SPOILER ALERT !

If you haven’t read Legacy yet—and don’t want any of the twists and surprises spoiled—turn and flee immediately! Even the rest of this letter isn’t safe!

I’m going to pause one final time to make sure everyone has heeded my warning.…

…

Okay, back to what I was saying!

The novella you’re about to read is what I’d originally planned as the beginning of Keeper #9—until I realized that I could tell this part of the story better if I broke the usual pattern for the series. The Keeper books are limited to Sophie’s point of view, meaning the only scenes we see are scenes where Sophie is present, and the only thoughts we hear are Sophie’s. And to show how Keefe discovers the ways he’s been affected by what his mother put him through in the final scenes of Legacy, I needed to be able to include his thoughts and show certain moments that he would try to hide from the rest of his friends. So I decided to move this section of the story to here, where I can alternate between Sophie’s and Keefe’s POVs. Each chapter is labeled to let you know whose head we’re in. And don’t worry, this novella may be a little shorter than the Keeper books usually are, but it’s packed with huge revelations! You also definitely need to read it before you read Book 9.

I hope you enjoy every single page. And I promise, I’m writing Keeper #9 as fast as I can!

Happy reading!

xo

- PREFACE - KEEFE

I CAN’T DO THIS.”

The words felt desperate and terrifying—but Keefe could taste the truth behind them. So he didn’t lie or take them back or try to twist them into a joke.

He wanted to.

He missed laughing and pulling pranks and messing around with his friends.

But he wasn’t that guy anymore.

He didn’t know who he was.

All he knew was that he’d changed.

And the powers he’d been given were much too dangerous.

He needed to accept that, and make everyone else accept it too.

They were too busy hoping and planning and pretending that everything was okay.

But it wasn’t okay.

He couldn’t control this—not unless he did something drastic.

Something he definitely didn’t want to do.

But he would.

He had to.

He wasn’t giving up.

He was fighting back his own way.

- ONE - Sophie

SO… HOW DO WE ACCESS the memory?” Sophie asked, pulling free from the deal-sealing handshake to uncover the clear, marble-size gadget that had been pressed between her palm and Councillor Oralie’s.

The tiny blue jewel set into the center of the cache glinted in the afternoon sunlight seeping through the swaying Panakes branches.

Inside was a single Forgotten Secret.

Hopefully filled with the answers Sophie needed.

That was why she’d agreed to work with Oralie, despite barely being able to look at the pretty blond Councillor now that she knew the truth about her.

“Don’t even think about telling me we have to wait,” she warned when Oralie’s delicate features pulled into a frown.

Sophie didn’t have time to be patient anymore.

Or cautious.

Or afraid.

She needed to figure out how to help Keefe, then get back to the Healing Center.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” Oralie assured her.

But the crease between her perfectly arched eyebrows deepened, and she kept shifting the way she sat, streaking the skirt of her fluttery pink gown with mud and bits of grass.

“The cache is designed to erase itself if I perform the access sequence incorrectly,” Oralie eventually admitted, “and I’m having a difficult time determining the proper order of the steps.”

“Access sequence?” Sophie repeated. “I thought the memory just needed a password.”

That was what Dex had told her when he was trying to access the secrets hidden in Fintan’s cache—though he’d technically been trying to hack into a fake cache without realizing it at the time.

“The password’s part of it,” Oralie agreed. “But first I have to prove that I’m ‘authorized.’ And no, a Technopath won’t be able to bypass any of the security, if that’s what you’re about to suggest. Even someone as talented as Dex.”

Sophie groaned, wishing she could grab the cache and fling it off one of Havenfield’s cliffs—or maybe at Oralie’s head. But the memory inside had something to do with stellarlune—the term Keefe’s mom had used for the creepy things she’d done to herself and her husband before she got pregnant.

An experiment of sorts.

Designed to make Keefe ready for whatever “legacy” his mom had been planning for him.

And there had turned out to be a second, horrifying step to the process.

Sophie tried everything to stop it, but in the end, all she could do was watch as Lady Gisela forced Tam to use his ability as a Shade to dissolve the dwarven king’s magsidian throne after Keefe had been bound to it—and then ordered a Flasher who called herself Glimmer to blast the ethertine crown that had been placed on Keefe’s head. Exposing Keefe to massive amounts of shadowflux and quintessence to trigger…