MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

45

Sophie punched him.

It was a reflex- she might've even felt bad about it afterwards. Keefe staggered backwards, grabbing his nose.

"Owie! Fosterrrr." Keefe pouted, which was surprisingly cute considering Sophie might've broken his nose. "That wasn't very nice. You know, I would've preferred a kiss, but I guess that works too-"

"You idiot!" Sophie shouted, her face growing hot. "Where have you been? I thought y-you left, ran off with your little Neverseen traitors and left us to die!"

Keefe gasped dramatically. "Foster! I would never do that. Don't you know me?"

"I thought I did," Sophie whispered, feeling her heart sink. All anger vanished, leaving an empty, hollow feeling in her chest.

Keefe studied her face for a fraction of a second. Then he curled his arms around her. "It's okay, Foster. I know how to defuse the bomb- or at least with Dex's help, I can. We'll be fine."

Sophie didn't know if she should cry or scream or punch him again. Her voice was shaky. "Why did you leave?"

"My mom hailed me earlier today, warning me to be back at Neverseen's headquarters so I could leave on the flight out of New York. I had to get there or it would've blown my cover. But I escaped right before the plane took off, stole some money and bought a ride back here to Foxfire. I tracked you, found you unconscious behind the ice cream shop, and knew a couple of Neverseen agents had stayed behind, at least temporarily, to attack you and kidnap Forkle. I couldn't say anything just in case they were watching, so I left you the note leading here."

"I'm sorry," Sophie muttered, speaking to her feet. "Is your nose okay?"

Keefe laughed, squeezing her hand. "Don't worry about it Foster. My face has been through worse."

The others burst through the room moments later, and it took a lot of rushed explaining to convince everyone that Keefe wasn't the bad guy- at least not anymore.

"So you're sure you know to defuse the bomb?" Dex asked, looking skeptical. "Where even is it?"

"It should be somewhere in this room. If you haven't noticed already, Alina's part of the Neverseen- a newer member, but one of the reasons why my mom was so happy when Agent Leto sent us here for punishment. Easy for Alina to keep an eye on us. Anyways, the bomb was originally supposed to be transported by a more senior member, but Alina convinced my mom to let her handle it instead. Prove her trust, move up higher in the ranks, blah blah blah."

"Is this it?" Chloe's voice was muffled, and the sound of shattering glass made everyone jump.

One of the fancy Foxfire plaques had dropped off the highest shelf, where Chloe was searching through, perched up on the typical nurse's-office cot. She stared at the shattered mess, shrugged, and pulled out a contraption from the ledge. It was a dark, box-like shape, but it didn't look like a bomb: no colored wires or timer flashing in bright, illuminated red, the amount of time left until explosion.

Even so, Keefe lit up as he saw it. "That's it! Hold on, bring it down here."

Chloe hopped off the bed, Fitz holding her for support when she tripped. She set the contraption on the floor, letting everyone form a circle around it. Keefe kneeled down and poked hesitantly at the dark outer shell.

"Ah, here it is." Keefe pointed to a small keyhole in the side of the box. Sophie passed him a bobby pin from her hair and within seconds, Keefe had easily broken through the lock and pulled off the top part.

Underneath was a sea of colorful wires, all tangled together.

"Would it be so hard for them to label them?" Biana muttered. "'Cut this one to defuse bomb?' 'Touch this one and go kaploo-y?'"

"Kaploo-y?" Dex stifled a laugh.

But Sophie was barely paying attention to them; she was watching Keefe. He gently brushed each wire, whispering something to himself. Finally, his hand stopped on one of the yellow wires.

"I think we cut this one," he said slowly. "According to what my mom said.. Or what I overheard her say... it should, at least theoretically, defuse it."

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but defusing a bomb 'theoretically' won't exactly help if it explodes in real life," Chloe pointed out.

Fitz shrugged. "She's got a point."

"Just cut it," Sophie said, trying to stop her voice from shaking. "We don't have any other choice. It's too late now."

She met Keefe's eyes and gave a tiny nod.

The wire snapped. The sound of a door slamming shut sounded.

Everything went dark.