Page 32 of Interion

“And you're a stubborn one who has one minute to leave the house before I make some calls.”

I wanted to curse him out, as well as appeal to whatever empathy he had inside him. I quickly typed “You wouldn't dare,” but before I could work up the courage to send it, the general had already sent another message, as if he'd read what I'd typed.

“I don't bluff, Kyller.”

Δ

Standing there in front of the gym door, heart racing from the hurried run, all I could think was that I'd gotten myself into trouble just because I wanted to avoid it. It was incredible how fate could screw with my life.

The truth was that after Zion's arrival, people seemed to behave better around me, and now that he was away, I feared they'd go back to harassing me. I didn't want to face a tedious day of provocations. During my years in Interion, I'd managed to dodge most of the prejudice. If they threatened me, I ran; if they cornered me, I backed down; I did anything to avoid being a walking target. I knew the world's cruelty and didn't want to suffer again. But today there was no escape: it was me or Ambrose, and he didn't deserve to pay for my schemes.

The substitute teacher shot me a warning look when I walked through the door. He didn't seem satisfied with my tardiness, or maybe it was because I was Drute—yes, that was the proper name for those born in Drutes, but my people were so patriotic they'd adopted the nation's name as their identity. One way or another, he didn't like me. He was a soldier who was also on leave and was supposed to be following Zion's instructions.

The students were doing warm-up laps, so I weaved through them to catch up with Breno.

“Why didn’t you come yesterday?” my friend asked when I caught up to him.

“We had a problem at the hospital and I needed to cover the afternoon shift,” I lied, feeling awful about it. I didn’t want to drag Breno into my problems and fears. “What did I miss?”

Aish ran past us and waved to Breno, leaving us in the dust. Speed was an Amperian trait: their people possessed gifts related to physical agility and control over earth, along with a natural supernatural resistance to heat. From the smile she flashed at the sky, her love for this weather was obvious.

“You didn’t miss much. This trainer is the worst we’ve ever had.”

“I noticed. He’s not even paying attention to us,” I commented, keeping up with the pace. It was sweltering, and despite the climate barrier over the city, we were cooking in our uniforms.

“What happened to Zion?” Breno asked suspiciously.

“He had to go deal with some conflicts in the forests.”

“But he’s on leave.”

“I guess only he can handle certain things.” I looked at Breno, who seemed lost in thought, then joked to distract him. “But what’s this, Mr. Lutièvre? Are you falling for the general?”

Breno laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Kay. Let’s face facts: he’s a good trainer.”

“He’s a sadist who gets off on monkey fights. Except we’re the monkeys, and I’m sure Zion enjoys watching us get beaten up.”

Breno laughed beside me.

“I still think he’s right to go back to the original training. Students assigned to the army will have better survival chances if they’re better trained.”

“And what about those of us who aren’t going to the army, like me? We just get beaten up for free?”

“At least you learn to defend yourself.” He shrugged.

Farther back, I spotted Adele running. She wore sunglasses and had sunscreen slathered all over her skin. Behind her came Anninka, another Yonserian. In addition to the academy’s full-coverage uniform, she also wore a vrokiu—a traditional black scarf from that nation, used to cover women’s hair and neck. Yonserians were made to live in ice, in their frozen country with minimal sun exposure. Interion’s 97 degrees must have been hell itself for them.

“I missed you, you know? I was ready to call if you skipped today.” Breno nudged me with his elbow. “Your complaints about training brighten my day.”

“My complaints?” I frowned.

“Well, that’s the best I can come up with, since it would be uncomfortable if I praised your beauty, or your scent, or how lovely the curve of your lips looks when you smile.”

I shot my friend a sideways look, worried about the flirting.

“See?” He laughed and shook his head. “Uncomfortable…”