Keefe's P.O.V

Keefe rushed as fast as he could before night could come. He had to be quick and unseen. If he wasn't careful, he would be in deep trouble.

He felt a little guilty for leaving the others behind to be locked up and have to face the Forkleman when he comes back but Keefe knew he had to do this in order to have any shot of ever getting things back to the way they were.

It was only a few months ago when everything had fallen apart yet it felt like it had been years.

Eventually, it was getting to late evening and Keefe had arrived.

He snuck his way through the secret entrance of the hideout that he had discovered. He slipped his way through and entered the room he would come in so many times.

Sophie's.

There he saw her. The blonde girl he could never leave.

Immediately she looked up and gasped. "Carter?! What are you doing here? I thought you told me to go away?" She exclaimed, glaring at him.

"I did?" Keefe asked, confused.

"Don't give me that— you were all mad and you've been giving me attitude lately," Sophie exclaimed, getting up.

Oh no.

Keefe must have been still in Biana's trance from the crystals.

"Look Sophie— hold on. There's a lot I need to explain," Keefe said, putting his hands up.

"Uh yeah you do," Sophie replied.

"Look this isn't what you think— I'm not who you think I am," Keefe exclaimed.

"Uh no duh, you've been acting very different lately. Just tell me what's going on," Sophie demanded.

"No! That's not what I mean!" Keefe exclaimed.

"Then say it!" Sophie exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Keefe exclaimed, hoping Mai didn't walk in on them. "Look, I'm not Carter."

"Uhhh Carter are you okay? Do you need sleep—"

"Sophie stop! Carter is someone I made up!" Keefe exclaimed.

"Huh?" Sophie said, confused. She slowly approached him.

Keefe then quickly changed his deep voice he used to play as Carter to his normal voice. "Sophie, it's me— Keefe."

"What?!" Sophie exclaimed, stumbling back. "Is this some kind of sick joke?!"

"No Sophie it's not! Look!" Keefe exclaimed, slowly approaching her. He then pulled out his dark wig to reveal his blonde hair. He then took out the brown colored contacts he hated wearing to reveal his ice blue ones.

"Oh my gosh...there's no way..." Sophie gasped, running into the wall behind her.

"I'm so sorry Sophie. I had to go undercover to find a way to get you out of this miserable place," Keefe explained.

"No stop— this doesn't make sense," Sophie mumbled, her eyes widening.

"Look, the while whole the whole gang was searching for you, I would sneak during the middle of the night to come here to play as Carter."

"Wait what do you mean the gang has been searching for me?" Sophie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh god...Sophie...we've been searching for you ever since you were taken! We split into two groups. Your parents, Wylie, Marella, and Dex have been searching here the whole time based on a lead we found and the rest of us with Mr. Forkle have been searching at San Diego until I made a false lead to move here with the other group when the Neverseen moved here," Keefe explained.

"But...they told me you guys were all at San Diego this whole time..." Sophie mumbled. "They made me think I had no one to go back to all the way here at Tennessee."

"Sophie, c'mon— it's the Neverseen. They lie to manipulate. Now there's no time for this— I need to explain everything quickly," Keefe exclaimed.

"How did I not know it was you?!" Sophie asked, looking into his eyes.

"I tried my best not to go noticed. I even tried not to do my signature smirk," Keefe said, smiling.

"I feel so terrible— it's really you?!" Sophie exclaimed, her eyes tearing up.

Keefe nodded and suddenly she tackled him and squeezed him as tight as she could. They hugged, clinging onto one another.

It felt so good to be with her again— actually with her.

All this time playing as Carter required him to keep his distance even though it was so hard. He messed up back at the cave when he just couldn't resist not kissing her.

It hurt when she shoved him away but in a way he was glad that she had pushed him away thinking he was someone other than Keefe.

Eventually Sophie pulled away and smiled, tears falls down her face.

"It was so hard to play this Carter dude. You have no idea how much I hated wearing contacts!" Keefe exclaimed.

Sophie gasped. "That's why you would always rub your eyes! Ugh why didn't you just tell me?!"

Keefe shook his head. "I couldn't. I couldn't risk Mai or someone else figuring out who I was or you giving it away. Our friends and family don't even know and I'll have to tell them."

"Oh but then Zach found out!" Sophie realized.

"Wait what," Keefe exclaimed, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Omg!" Sophie exclaimed. "Keefe, this was yesterday! Do you not remember? You and Zach had that argument and he said how he knew who you were and was going to expose you— remember?"

"Uhm...no," Keefe mumbled, confused.

"Uh how could you not?!" Sophie exclaimed, now she looked confused.

"Oh wait...I think I was still under the crystal's trance that Biana put on me!" Keefe exclaimed.

"What do you mean?"

"Okay, somehow Biana got her hands on the crystals the Neverseen had us get in that cave," Keefe told.

"What?! How is that possible?!" Sophie exclaimed, her eyes widening.

Keefe shrugged. "I have no idea. But according to Dex, she used them against me to control me and I have been under her trance ever since this morning. That's why I was acting differently. I think when Dex explained what happened to me, it shook me out of it."

"Oh my gosh— why would she do that? What did she even control you to do?" Sophie asked.

"I have no idea, just don't worry about it. I'll figure it out later and confront her later. Right now, we have bigger issues to fix," Keefe said, grabbing Sophie's hands.

"Right," Sophie said.

"And I think Zach knowing who I am is another issue on the list to fix," Keefe said. Sophie made a strange face then.

"What? What is it?"

"Uhm...well while you were under the trance...Zach was murdered," Sophie said, looking away.

"What?! By who?!" Keefe exclaimed.

No seriously what?!

"Mai wants to hunt down whoever did it but it's one of us...and Keefe...I think it was you," Sophie said, whispering the last part.

"God no...no that can't be...but wait that makes sense— he was going to turn me in," Keefe realized. Sophie nodded.

"Okay, I'll figure out what to do with that one later. Right now, I need a plan for saving you."

"Wait so how did you even pull this off?like being Carter," Sophie asked.

"That day you were captured, some dark mystery boy came during my shift and gave me a slip of paper with an address and number. It was almost like he knew I would need help before I even knew it. I followed the address the minute I found out you got kidnapped and it led me to some secret recruitment where the Neverseen were hiring members. I figured it was my chance," Keefe explained.

"Wow...you don't know who that guy was?" Sophie asked.

"No...but I think I'll know soon. So far, my plan is to have Mr. Forkle propose a standoff against the Neverseen where we could try and take you back with us. If that possibly fails, the mystery boy put a number on the slip of paper that I'll call so that he can then help me get you back," Keefe explained.

"Wow, that's a lot. How are you even going to pull any of this off?" Sophie asked.

"Hey, I was able to pull of some hot dude named Carter," Keefe said, smirking.

Sophie laughed, shoving him lightly. "Shut up!"

"I was worried you might fall for him!" Keefe exclaimed, joking. But when he said that, Sophie's face fell.

"What's wrong?" Keefe asked.

"Nothing...it's just, if you were with me this whole time, why did you move on?" Sophie asked, pulling out her eye lashes and looking hurt.

"What? I didn't move on," Keefe defended.

"You don't have to lie, the Neverseen showed me a clip of you and Biana kissing," Sophie said, blinking hard.

"Oh my gosh— no! I didn't move on," Keefe exclaimed.

"Then what was that kiss all about?!" Sophie questioned.

"See, that's what Biana controlled me to do. Dex said that she made me kiss her," Keefe said, feeling weirded out himself as to why she would even think of doing that.

Sophie jerked up in surprise. "Why would she do that?!"

"I have no idea but I'll have to confront her later. But I promise you, that I still love you and will never feel the same for anyone else," Keefe promised, grabbing Sophie's shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

"Promise?" Sophie asked, her eyes looking misty.

"I promise," Keefe said, gently moving a strand of her hair out of her eyes. He then laid a gentle kiss on her forehead that gave him tingles and flutters all over.

"I never stopped loving you either," Sophie said, holding him tight.

They stayed like that for a few minutes but Keefe hated to be the one to ruin the moment when he realized he had to move quickly. "Look, there's so many other things that have happened back with the search but I'll have to explain that to you when we get you back. For now, I have to go."

"Aww why? I don't want you to go!" Sophie begged as Keefe got up and made his way to the exit.

"I'm sorry Sophie, I have to. I promise we will get you back. Just don't say a word and play along," Keefe directed, starting to head out.

"How can you be so sure?" Sophie asked, getting up.

"I love you," Keefe said, leaving it at that as he made his escape, ignoring her question.

He wouldn't think about what would happen if things went wrong.

He would save her, he knew it.