Agent Moonlark

Chapter Sixteen

Keefe

Later that night, after Fitz had been brought to the infirmary and Linh and Biana had been sent back to their rooms, Keefe crept through the halls, trying to find his way to Sophie's room. Honestly, the first time he had found it was more of an accident than an intention. He had been stumbling around Alluveterre, looking for somewhere to escape Ro and Bo. He had never been very good at navigating hideouts as sophisticated as the Black Swan's. He had passed in front of her door and heard a noise, so he had decided to investigate. Much to his delight, he had found Sophie.

Keefe would have loved to be able to say that his awesome brain allowed him to find her room in seconds. Unfortunately, it took around thirty minutes walking in the dead of night for him to finally find a hall that looked slightly familiar. He opened the door...and found himself back in his room.

Groaning, he threw himself onto his bed. Who the heck had been in charge of the architecture here?

"Where have you been?,"a voice in the shadows asked.

Keefe yelped and put a hand on his boot, where a dagger was hidden.

"It's me, idiot!" Someone stepped out of the shadows.

"Geez, Foster," Keefe whisper-yelled, "you scared me!" He moved his hand away from his boot.

"Yes, but aren't you supposed to be a skilled spy who's been training since he was a baby?" Sophie put her hands on her hips. Her outfit looked like it came straight out of Assassin's Creed.

"Uhhhhhhh....."

"Exactly. Now, let's go."

"Wait. Back the T-Rex up." Keefe closed his eyes and made the stop sign with his hand. "Where are we going?"

"To get answers," Sophie said simply. Without another word, she left his room. To Keefe, she looked like a shadow, moving faster than seemed possible, unseen to most, making not a sound. There was barely any indication that she was even there.

Keefe did his best to keep up with her, but he could barely see her. Adding on to that, she was practically running. Following her took up so much of his concentration and effort that he only noticed where he was once she had stopped.

He almost bumped into Sophie, but managed to stop last minute. "We're back in the infirmary?" Keefe was lucky that his night vision was so good. Otherwise, he would have been really lost.

"Here," Sophie said, as if sensing his (minor) struggles. She passed him a pair of glasses. "Dex and Tinker invented this. You'll be able to see better." She put on a pair of her own glasses.

As soon as Keefe put the glasses on, his vision turned golden yellow. The glasses started analyzing the objects and people in the room, showing him information about them. It was just like in the spy movies.

Sophie walked over to the cot with Mitya in it. "She looks so tired."

Keefe walked to the other side of Mitya's bed. "They all do." The glasses told him that this was Mitya Serenvale, age 58. It did not offer more. Probably because she was a member of the Black Swan.

"Do you think she knows anything that could help us?," Sophie asked.

"If you mean inside intel on how we could prank the Fork dude, then-"

Suddenly, a groan escaped from Mitya's lips. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open.

"Mitya?," Sophie whispered disbelievingly.

Mitya blinked, then gave the most imperceptible of nods. It seemed to take up all of her effort. She already looked decades older than the last time Keefe had seen her - and that was just hours ago.

"S-sophie?" Her voice was as rough as sandpaper. There was something so raw about it, like every syllable was agony.

"Yes, Mitya," Sophie reassured her. Her voice, unlike Mitya's, was thick with emotion. "We're right here."

Mitya studied Sophie, her eyelids already starting to close. "Y-you know," she said, panting.

"Know what?," Sophie asked, worried.

"The Panakes." She said it slowly, dragging out the words. She sounded exhausted. Maybe staying awake was taking every ounce of her leftover energy.

"We do," Sophie breathed. Hope glistened in her eyes. "Can you help us?"

Mitya smiled slowly, her lips cracking. "Yes." She turned her head towards Sophie. "Come closer."

Sophie kneeled down and hovered her ear next to Mitya's lips. Keefe's breath caught in anticipation as Mitya whispered something into Sophie's ear. It seemed like an eternity to Keefe, but really, it was only seconds.

Sophie stood up, her eyes meeting Keefe's. And it was then that Mitya decided to give in. Her eyes closed and she settled into a deep, painful sleep. After checking that she was still alive, Sophie turned to Keefe.

"Looks like we're going to Vermont."

A/N: I'm just going to say, there will be no smut in this book. So, for those who wanted some, I'm sorry but there will be none here.