diff --git a/packages/datastore/src/request.js b/packages/datastore/src/request.js
index 95c00b794b7..37ce304a9f5 100644
--- a/packages/datastore/src/request.js
+++ b/packages/datastore/src/request.js
@@ -362,7 +362,9 @@ DatastoreRequest.prototype.get = function(keys, options, callback) {
       }
 
       var entities = entity.formatArray(resp.found);
-      var nextKeys = (resp.deferred || []).map(entity.keyFromKeyProto);
+      var nextKeys = (resp.deferred || [])
+        .map(entity.keyFromKeyProto)
+        .map(entity.keyToKeyProto);
 
       split(entities, stream, function(streamEnded) {
         if (streamEnded) {
diff --git a/packages/datastore/test/request.js b/packages/datastore/test/request.js
index 071106e8549..5d27873c491 100644
--- a/packages/datastore/test/request.js
+++ b/packages/datastore/test/request.js
@@ -426,7 +426,8 @@ describe('Request', function() {
           }
 
           var expectedKeys = apiResponseWithDeferred.deferred
-            .map(entity.keyFromKeyProto);
+            .map(entity.keyFromKeyProto)
+            .map(entity.keyToKeyProto);
 
           assert.deepEqual(reqOpts.keys, expectedKeys);
           done();