The shot echoes in the night, and the rock shatters into several chunks, flying in all directions. Small fragments rain down on us as the pieces hit the ground.
She turns to me with a self-satisfied smirk.
I shrug, then snap my own rifle upward when Mako whips another target into the sky. I take aim and pull the trigger.
The rock explodes in midair.
I’m gratified to see smaller, finer pieces floating down, indicating I hit the target dead center. Evlynne notices, too, because the corners of her mouth tighten.
“Nice,” Mako says, and she glares at him as if to say,How dare you compliment her.
“Give me another,” she mutters.
A second later, another gunshot booms through the clearing. She only connects with the bottom of the rock this time, and I can tell the less-than-perfect angle burns a hole in her gut.
On my turn, I once again obliterate the target. White shards briefly become visible under the light of the moon before the night becomes dark.
Saint looks impressed, nodding at me.
Neema, of course, scowls as if I’ve personally offended her, then tries to catch me off guard by hurling a stone into the air before she even calls my name. Unfazed, I throw the rifle up on my shoulder and annihilate the target.
Evlynne nails her next shot, allowing her to feel smug again.
Then I nail mine.
And she nails hers.
And on and on it goes until Gray finally interjects with a grin. “I say we call it a draw and go back to getting boozed. Because I know from experience that Darlington can go all night.”
Karra’s eyes blaze, and he realizes at the last second how bad that sounded.
“Shooting, I mean,” he assures her. “We ran a ton of shooting drills in the Program. They would fly us out to the desert and make us shoot for hours.”
His girlfriend’s expression is cloudy as she says, “Can I please speak to you alone?” and in a singsong voice, Mako says, “Uh-oh, I think somebody’s in trouble.”
“Shut up, Mako,” she snaps, but when she tries to drag her boyfriend away from the group, he frowns at her, locking his boots in place.
Handing the rifle off to Saint, Evlynne folds her arms across her chest and focuses on me. “We all know you’re a good shot, Darlington. That was never in dispute.”
Uh-huh. So this little pissing contest was just for fun? It’s no secret that Evlynne fancies herself one of the best snipers at the Dagger. She was trying to upstage me tonight. It just didn’t go the way she’d hoped.
“Then what’s the problem?” I ask her, my tone cool.
“The problem is, it’s bad enough we have one inciter on this base that we can’t fucking trust. Now we have to deal with two.” She jabs her finger in the air in front of me. “Stay out of my head.”
“I have no intention of getting in your head.” I’m so frustrated, I want to scream. I look at the others, imploring them with my eyes. “Same goes for the rest of you. I understand, okay? You can’t protect yourself from me. But I promise I will never incite any of you. Ever. And if I do, I give you permission to kill me.”
Evlynne sneers. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
I swallow a sigh. This is futile, especially with the new knowledge that shields don’t protect against incitement. Of course they’re distrustful of me.
“Some people might be impressed with your powers, but we’re not,” Neema chimes in, because of course she does.
“I’m not trying to impress you, Neema,” I say, turning away from her.
I’m jolted backward when Evlynne grabs my arm.
“Hey, we’re not done here.”
