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“Good.” Turning around, I start back towards the door. “And don’t linger afterwards.”
Without waiting for his reply, which I know will never be anything other than what I want to hear, I stride back into the corridor.
Dark anticipation crackles through my soul.
If Alina thought last night was humiliating, she has no idea what awaits her this afternoon.
9
ALINA
Confusion pulls at my brows as I scan the large but relatively empty space. The rest of the first-years around me do the same as we all file in through the door.
Just like most of Blackwater University, the walls and floor are made of simple gray concrete. No decorations or unnecessary ornaments. Only bright lights in the ceiling. It was built to be practical. Not beautiful.
There are no tables or chairs in the room. Only a freestanding wooden wall that is easily three times my height. Two ropes hang down the face of it. I slide my gaze to the open boxes on the floor beside it and find even more rope. About half of them are already tied into various knots.
My confusion deepens. Are we really learning how to tie knots? What is this? The boy scouts?
“Welcome,” Mr. Brown says as we all stop close to where he is standing by the wooden wall. His shrewd brown eyes skate across our faces before he smiles knowingly. “I always like to start my class with a little competition. To get the energy going, so to speak.”
Excitement ripples through several parts of our group. My cousins, who are both in the same group as me this afternoon, rub their hands together and grin. I, on the other hand, am just praying that he won’t pick me.
“You,” he says, and points at the twins. “How about a little competition between brothers?” Turning, he gestures towards the wooden wall and the two ropes hanging from it. “The first one to reach the top wins.”
The moment he has finished speaking, Maksim and Konstantin take off like missiles. Sprinting to the wall, they leap up and grab the rope in both hands as they start climbing.
I gasp as Konstantin’s rope suddenly gives out halfway.
He plummets back to the floor, landing with a grunt, while Maksim scrambles up the final distance and slaps his palm onto the top of the wall.
“Ha!” he calls, and turns to grin over his shoulder. Then he sees Konstantin on the ground, and worry blows across his face instead. “You okay?”
Before Konstantin can reply, Mr. Brown starts clapping his hands slowly as if applauding a job well done.
Even more confusion spreads across the whole room, and several people glance at one another.
“Congratulations,” Mr. Brown says, and points up at Maksim. “You have just successfully assassinated your target.” Lowering his arm, he points towards Konstantin. “While you just fell a hundred feet down the side of the building and died.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Konstantin protests. With a scowl, he stabs a hand towards the rope he was climbing, which is now lying on the floor. “The rope came free and—”
“Exactly,” Mr. Brown interrupts. He pauses for a few seconds to sweep his gaze over all of us. Then he raises a finger in the air. “The rope came free.”
Only the faint thuds that Maksim produces as he climbs back down break the confused silence in the room. He drops down next to Konstantin and gives him a quick once-over, to which Konstantin nods, as if confirming that he’s fine.
“How many of you walked through that door, took one look at the knots I had laid out, and thought ‘what is this, the boy scouts?’ while rolling your eyes?” Mr. Brown asks, breaking the silence.
Embarrassment flashes through me, because that is exactly what I thought. And based on the way half of the other first-years awkwardly shift on their feet, I was not the only one.
“Learning how to tie proper knots might not feel as badass as shooting a gun or wielding a knife,” Mr. Brown continues. “But the knowledge will mean the difference between life and death for you all the same. Now, let’s get started.”
As far as introductions go, I have to admit that this was an incredibly effective one. When Mr. Brown begins showing the different knots and explains what to use them for and how to tie them, everyone watches intently. A lot more attentively than they probably would have without that little demonstration at the beginning.
I try my best throughout the whole class, but I don’t really stress over the fact that I can’t get the knots right, because I’m not going to become a hitman anyway. Mr. Brown must feel my slight disinterest because he drifts over several times and stares down at me disapprovingly where I sit on the floor and try to replicate the knot he showed.
My ass is still sore from Kaden’s punishment yesterday, so I try to sit on my hip as much as possible, which isn’t exactly helping my rope tying efforts either.
The twins cast me questioning glances from a short distance away, silently asking if I want them to help me. I shake my head at them and keep trying.
