Halfbloods of the Lost Cities

One

Keefe

"Come on Forkle. How many missions have we been on and not gotten hurt?" Keefe said.
"Pretty much none of them." Mr. Forkle sighed.
Sandor snickered.
Ro snorted.
He had a valid point, though. One of the only ones that they didn't get hurt was when they went to London to trigger Keefe's memories.
"Wait, how long will the mission be?" Sophie asked.
They didn't even know where the mission would be at or when. All they knew was that Mr. Forkle wanted Sandor and Ro to stay—which they were not exactly in love with.
Mr. Forkle hesitated before he said, "One month."
Silence.
Keefe could feel Sophie's emotions go to the I'm-going-vomit-all-of-my-breakfast level when he said that.
Sandor broke the silence saying, "Absolutely not! Sophie can not be alone for that long."
"She won't be alone. She will have me. And I have proven to be able to care for her." Forkle replied smoothly.
he paused, "I have two questions, though. Where and why?"
"It would be in Paris and because..." Mr. Forkle hesitated.
"Because...?" Keefe asked.
"Because you and Miss Foster need to find all of the hidden crystals there and tell us where they lead." Mr. Forkle finally said.
"So we are your spies?" Sophie asked, quizzically.
Mr. Forkle sighed and said, "No. All we need you to do is find the crystals and give them back to us. That's all."
Keefe sighed. "Why can't you do it or something? Obviously Foster has other stuff to do and—don't get me wrong—but one MONTH? Really? Why would it take that long to find some crystals that are scattered around a city? When there are probably like only five maybe. But STILL. Wh—"
"I'm going to cut you off right there hunkyhair. Your giving me a headache. Now, Forkle. I'm with Keefe though. Why one month?" Ro said. Hunkyhair was Keefe's nickname from Ro since she lost a bet to him.
"I'm just using that as a time limit. Or a due date maybe. If they get all the crystals before one month, they can come back," Mr. Forkle said, "but if they don't, they have to stay longer until they find them all."
"Ok, so let me get this straight. Was that a threat or was it just a warning? Because it really sounded like a threat?" Sophie asked.
Keefe was just about to say that when it hit him.
One month.
No annoying parents.
No friends.
No Fitz.
In Paris.
Just Sophie and him.
Alone.
Together.
This was his chance.
To finally talk about it.
To talk about friendship.
Until she was ready for more.