MISSION MOONLARK, kotlc

43

"Fitz, this is totally your fault. I said we shouldn't leave Sophie alone with the suspicious creepy old guy! Now look what happened!"

Biana glared at her older brother until FItz mumbled something that sounded like an apology. Sophie struggled to her feet and tried to explain what happened.

Just as she was about to shrug and finish her story- which seemed a lot less dramatic in hindsight -Fitz cleared his throat. "Hold up. You have something in your hair, Sophie."

His fingers brushed the side of Sophie's cheek. And of course, with Keefe safely out of the picture, her heart just had to flutter. Chloe glared at them warily, but stayed silent.

"It's a... note?"

Sophie's head snapped up. "Can I see?"

Fitz handed her the tiny piece of paper. The handwriting was familiar, but so small, she had to squint to read it.

I'm sorry I can't say more than this. I miss you.

Underneath was a series of numbers, arranged in... "Coordinates?"

Dex peered over Sophie's shoulder. She inconspicuously used her thumb to cover up the words, leaving only the numbers and coordinates visible.

Nobody had to know that Keefe was probably the one helping them...

Dex was silent for a couple moments, his Technopath brain probably computing a million different things at once. "Well... I guess we have a new lead."

___________________________

"It's not far from here," Dex said, talking partially to himself as they hurried along the side of the street. "No need for a car or anything. It should just be in Foxfire... if I got my calculations right..."

They climbed the metal fence surrounding the campus and slipped through an open, empty classroom window undetected. Dex mumbled incoherently to no one in particular, glancing between his iPhone, the paper coordinates, and back to the hallway in front of him.

"Well... that's not good."

"What's not good?" Sophie hissed, trying to keep her voice low.

Dex spun in a small circle, scanning the hallway. "If my calculations are correct, these exact coordinates translate to the principal's office. Principal Alina's office."

Sophie mentally kicked herself. Everyone knew that Principal Alina was probably the strictest person on Earth. How were they supposed to get into her office without anyone noticing?

But Biana had a much better question. "Does that mean Alina's part of the Neverseen? Is this supposed to be where the bomb is at?"

"But- Principal Alina's nice!" Chloe said, her voice much too loud for the quiet hallway. "On my fifteenth birthday she bought me flowers! Oh, except... they had some sort of parasite that infected me and all my friends."

Biana raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, maybe not that nice," Chloe relented, looking more disappointed at this than the fact that the entire state would be blown up in less than an hour.

"We're still in our uniforms though," Sophie argued. "Two of us can stay out here. Three of us go in there, say we were staying after school to help set up the game but got sent to her office for... I don't know.... Punching someone? While she yells at us and gives us detention, Biana can say she has to use the bathroom. If luck is on our side, she'll let us use the office bathroom, and Biana can look around. Stealthily, 'cause she's a vanisher."

"That could work..." Dex said, drawing out the last syllable. "How about Fitz and I stay out here, and the girls go inside?"

"Throwing us to the sharks, huh," Biana said, cracking a smile. She elbowed Dex teasingly.

Dex blushed, rubbing his arm where Biana had hit him. "Yeah. Sorry not sorry, B."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Stop flirting, you two. Come on. Let's go get ourselves expelled already."

With that, she stomped into Principal Alina's office, dragging Biana and Sophie with her.