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"Enough!" A voice Mykie was highly familiar with roared.
The crowd immediately silenced, parting like the Red Sea to let their leader through. The man was only in his mid-thirties but the power he held—both within the Cantils and in the world outside those walls—practically rolled off his body. His hair was a sandy blonde, which matched the beard he'd been maintaining for at least five of the thirteen years he'd led the Cantil so far.
"What's going on here?" Chance snapped, looking between the two tired teens.
"She attacked me," Jered said, coughing as he held his stomach. "We were defending ourselves."
Chance crossed his arms, looking over at Mykie, who was bent over and trying to catch her breath. "Is that true?"
"Well, I—" Mykie started to explain, but Chance held a hand up.
"If it's true, I think you've proven that you can fight for us. But, do you know our rules?"
She nodded.
"Do you agree to those rules?" Chance said, his eyebrow raised.
"Yes."
Chance stepped closer to Mykie, placing one hand on her shoulder while he held his other hand out to the crowd. Within seconds, someone handed him a jacket and he pushed it into her chest.
"Welcome to the Snake Pit, Mykie Vesper," Chance said, and the entire room was filled with yells and cheers as they welcomed a new Cantil into the folds.
“Thanks, Dad,” she whispered under her breath.
The Valkyrie
Four years later...
"I’m done," Dexter said, setting his game controller down as he died for the fifth time in the last few hours.
"Wait! Can’t we try one more time before we quit?" Mykie asked and held back her condescending smile. They both knew her character had enough health that she could most likely finish the level on her own.
Dexter was the closest thing she’d call her second-in-command in the Cantil. That is, if she had anything to command. He was a man of little words majority of the time, unless it was when they were somewhere where he felt safe, like his house. Otherwise, he was always on guard and ready to fight anyone who got in either of their way to finish their tasks.
Mykie, on the other hand, prided herself on her ability to put people at ease before going for the jugular, which earned her quite a few nicknames around the Snake Pit; the most popular one being "Snake Charmer". It’s what made her decide to learn dancing and pose as one of the dancers at Chance’s club. It allowed her to get close to clients and find out information.
However, outside the Pit, there were stories of Cantil's Valkyrie, who rumors said was deadly to cross, and to make a deal with her was almost worse than the King Snake himself.
While Dexter threw people off—confusing them and making them uncomfortable enough to give away their secrets—Mykie made people feel comfortable. Together, there was little they couldn't accomplish.
"No, I think you've kicked my ass enough for one day," he grumbled.
In the distance, the door handle jingled slightly down the hall before they heard someone swear and kick the door. Neither Mykie nor Dexter moved, intent on trying to stare the other into submission into either playing the game or leaving it alone.
After a few moments, the door opened and closed with a slam before they heard feet stomping through the hallway.
“Seriously?! You’re both home and you couldn’t get the door for me?” Noah huffed. Mykie glanced over her shoulder and noticed his hands were balancing a pizza box and a stack of official-looking folders. On his shoulder was the bag Mykie bought him for his nineteenth birthday four months ago.
His blonde hair was slightly tousled, suggesting that it might have been windy outside from the irritating northeastern November weather. His sunglasses were slightly askew, but with his hands full, he had no way of fixing them on his nose at the moment.
Noah was more Dexter’s friend than Mykie’s. However, when she met Noah the first time, Mykie saw what Dexter meant when he mentioned seeing potential in people. Noah was a genius when it came to martial arts, apparently training ever since he was five, and he was famous for it. Dexter initially met him when he was taking a few classes at the same training facility as Noah, and they instantly rubbed each other in just wrong way that they were almost the perfect pair.
While at that point, they’d only known him less than a year, the boy was only hanging out with them outside of class for the last three months. The boy wasn’t stupid, either. He knew exactly the type of people he was getting himself involved with, but he didn’t care. He didn’t believe the legends or stories about the Cantils and what they were capable of. His attitude was that if they were such bad people, he would have known something was up with Dexter and Mykie the moment they got him alone.
“Oh, you brought pizza? You didn’t mention that.” Dexter had ignored what Noah said entirely, and Mykie wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. He got off the couch and took the pizza box out of Noah’s hands, bringing it into the small kitchen to the right of the living room. He set it on the counter before he started to dig in the cupboard for plates.
“Idiot,” Noah grumbled, pushing his sunglasses up to rest on the top of his head.
