MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

42

"You don't think we could make a quick stop for some ice cream, huh?" Chloe asked hopefully, pointing towards a nearby gelato shop.

Sophie glared at her. "Seriously?! Half the state of New York is going to blow up in a couple hours, and you want ice cream?"

Chloe's half-hearted shrug was so innocent, Sophie almost felt sorry. "I mean... you only live once, right?"

Biana scowled, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "Yeah, and you're gonna die!"

Fitz tried to reach for his sister, but Biana pulled away from him. "Whatever, you guys. Let's just grab ice cream. There's nothing we can do, not with this little time. We might as well live our deaths to the fullest."

Live our deaths to the fullest. Ha. That was a fun way to put it.

"We can't even evacuate?" Dex asked, his voice so small Sophie felt like she needed to give him a hug. "I mean... maybe not ourselves. But we have a couple hours. The football game starts at 5:30 and it's only 3 o'clock. We can try to get some people out of here... as far away from Foxfire as possible... you know, the little kids and stuff..."

"No one's gonna believe us." The realization hit Sophie hard enough to falter her step. She almost tripped on the curb of the sidewalk. "I mean, look at us! We're in our uniforms- clearly ditching school. And other than that, we're just a group of teenagers moping around. If we try to tell anyone about this, they're gonna think we're either drunk or crazy."

"How did I even get dragged into this?" Chloe wondered.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough to ask that question."

But even Sophie's ice cream tasted bitter. Maybe it was because the ice blue cotton candy flavor reminded her too much of Keefe- or maybe Keefe was the reason she'd picked the flavor in the first place.

"Aren't you kids supposed to be in school?" the gelato man asked suspiciously, as he scooped Chloe a huge cup of salted caramel gelato.

"Um... no, we got out... early." Sophie opened her mouth to make up another excuse, but something about the gelato man's words struck her as odd.

You kids.

That was Agent Leto's signature phrase.

Of course, it could always be a coincidence. And the gelato man looked nothing like the head of the Black Swan.

But it could always be a disguise...

The ice cream man was watching her closely, probably seeing the pieces fit together in her head. He cleared his throat and asked, "Ah, I see you're not enjoying your ice cream? Here, if you don't like any of these flavors, I can take you to the back. There's more flavors there."

"No, I-" Sophie broke off, realizing what he was doing. "I mean, yeah. Okay, thanks."

He led her to the back of the store. Biana shot her a quizzical glance, but Sophie did her best at a smile- assuring her that she'd be okay.

"Agent SF, you can not tell anyone that I was here today," the ice cream man- Agent Leto -said sternly, once they were safely out of sight and earshot.

Sophie gasped. "So it was you!"

"Observant, as always," Agent Leto noted, and despite everything he'd done, Sophie still felt a surge of pride at his affirmation. "I only came here to make sure everything was going smoothly at Foxfire. And judging from the state of your rather gloomy friends, I'm guessing it's not."

Sophie shook her head, relieved that he was willing to listen.

"So Agent KS left," Agent Leto clarified, when Sophie was finished. "And yet you still have the same number of people. Who is your new friend?"

"Oh, Chloe?" Sophie rolled her eyes. "She overheard everything and we had to take her along before she had a panic attack. Plus all the boys are like, in love with her or something."

"Jealous?" Agent Leto asked, with a knowing smile.

Sophie wrinkled her nose. She was not about to talk about crushes with her "boss."

She opened her mouth to object, but a loud crackle cut her off. Everything happened too quickly for her to follow.

A sharp, feminine voice cursed, and a figure cloaked in black landed abruptly on the concrete, in between Sophie and Agent Leto. A second voice shouted, and Sophie felt a dark blindfold wrap around her eyes. The sound of a struggle- some kind of fight -made her squirm. She tried to elbow her attacker, but a bitter sedative burned in her throat.

When she opened her eyes, three things were terrifyingly obvious.

First, she was in the same alleyway, sprawled against the back wall.

Second, the two mysterious figures, presumably from the Neverseen, had vanished.

And third, Agent Leto was gone.