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“Yeah, you got it. Sometimes having your back against the wall is a good thing. ” He beamed. “Now free your leg. ”
I swung my leg away from under him. And then I laughed. These moves were a revelation. I could use my own weight, and then use my opponent’s weight against him.
He nodded to my shoulders. “Lean against the ropes. The ropes aren’t pinning you now, they’re supporting you. Edge up, bit by bit. ”
I took it from there, the move instinctual.
When I got halfway up the ropes, he backed off, hands lifted in praise. “And up you go. ”
I high-fived one of his open hands. And then I collapsed onto the mat to catch my breath, half laughing, half panting. “That was awesome. Thank you. I now feel completely equipped to be mauled by the next Draug with dignity and grace. ”
He plopped next to me, and we lay there for a few minutes in companionable silence.
“Why’d you do it, anyway?” he asked finally. “Keep your stupid iPod, I mean. I get the family photo, but seriously, D. An iPod?”
“I know. ” I sighed, flopping my arm over my face. “But it was a Touch. It even stored books. ”
“Books . . . cool,” he said sarcastically. “Until you die from your nerddom. ”
He’d struck a nerve. Girls had died because of it. I changed the subject at once. “What about you? You’re here with me—aren’t you nerdy by association? Shouldn’t you be hanging with all the vamp-trainee-jock dudes? Your pal Josh is, like, homecoming king now, the way Lilac and her clique are always hovering around him. ”
He shrugged. “We hang out. Sometimes. Some of the guys are all right. ”
There was something tight in his voice that I didn’t get. I wondered if it was fear. My questions spilled out in a barrage. “What’s the deal with the Trainees? Do you compete like the Acari do? Are you scared of the other guys? I mean, aren’t you scared of the whole process? Like, will it hurt to become a vampire? Does it mean you have to die first? And what if everything messes up and you turn into some sort of crazy Draug thing? Have they taught you how all that works?”
“You know I’m not allowed to answer any of that stuff, Drew. ” He sighed, and I heard the strain there. “But yeah. Scared is pretty much the word for it. ”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Weeks passed.
I went to class. I got stronger. The end of the semester was in sight. Just a matter of weeks until the Directorate Award was mine.
Many of the girls were gunning for me, just as Lilac had warned, but Emma and Yas watched my back.
I dared not befriend anyone else. Girls were disappearing every day now, and the rumors that’d once abounded had all stopped, as though Acari were afraid even to discuss it, lest they might disappear in the night.
It was becoming clear that either you succeeded or you died, and I couldn’t risk too many friendships when my very survival might depend on another girl’s downfall. Friends were a new concept to me, and I didn’t know how I’d handle the loss of one.
But I did let myself get close to the teachers. Oddly, we were really clicking. I’d always been smarter than my teachers back home, but these all had something to teach me, even creepy Master Dagursson.
I knew some girls were struggling. I could see it in class. But I was pouring myself in heart and soul. I was labeled a teacher’s pet, but I didn’t care. I think that might’ve been the only thing keeping other Acari from suffocating me with a pillow in my sleep.
The academics alone astounded me. There was no end to the knowledge available to me. Tracer Judge gave me a key to the phenom library, and I read whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
My morbid fascination with Master Alcántara continued to grow. I couldn’t decide if he was totally appealing or totally terrifying, but discussing map coordinates with someone who’d actually met Descartes, the dude who’d discovered the X and Y axes? Now, that was cool. He only guest lectured once in a while, and every time reminded me how profoundly I coveted that Directorate Award.
It would be mine. I was working so hard. I had to win. I’d find a way off the island.
Even combat class had taken on new meaning. I headed there now, thinking how in all my years of dissing gym class I’d been so wrong. Since fighting the Draug, I’d become exquisitely aware of just how valuable my body was, of how physical aptitude was precisely the thing that would transform my mind into a killer weapon.
“Good afternoon, Acari Drew. ” My combat teacher, Watcher Priti, smiled as I walked in. Her language, like her posture, was ever elegant. “You’re the last of my little birds to arrive. ”
I smiled back naturally. Because I adored Watcher Priti.
She was smart and strong and beautiful. It was like being taught how to kill with your bare hands by a maniacal Padma Lakshmi look-alike with a penchant for Chanel No. 5 and pert tennis outfits. I was certain she was as deftly dangerous with her chosen weapon, a razor-sharp discus she called a chakra, as she was with her charms.
“Just swooping in for my landing,” I said, playing off her nickname for us students. “I hope I’m not late,” I added, even though I knew I was. Just ninety seconds, but that’d be enough to get most girls on toilet-scrubbing duty for a week.
