Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles Book 2) (15 page)

“Same here,” Pipsqueak agreed.

“Alex?” Jordan asked.

“I’ve got nothing,” she answered, finally managing to tug some breathing space between her cape and her throat. Now that she wasn’t in imminent danger of suffocation, she reached out to touch the netting. “I don’t—”

A weight landed in her open hand. She was so startled that she almost dropped the object, and when she realised what it was, she
did
drop it. But she scrambled to grab it before it could fall through the net, despite how shocked—and repulsed—she was.

… Because in her hands was the dagger Aven had used to Claim her, the one that had stabbed her in the back and nearly killed her.

“Uh, actually, I think I might have something that can help,” Alex said, her voice wobbling slightly. “Everyone hold on, and I’ll try to cut us out.”

The ice-coloured blade sawed through the dense netting like it was made of butter. Alex hadn’t anticipated such easy results, and she was unprepared when the woven material sliced open around her. She had to drop the dagger to hold onto the net, but she watched as the weapon fell through the air and…
disappeared
.

Alex was so shocked that she let go of the netting and fell to the ground with a heavy
thump
.

“Ow,” she muttered, rolling over and frantically searching the ground for the missing weapon. But she couldn’t find it anywhere.

“You okay?” Jordan asked, still dangling in the air above her.

“Yeah,” she answered, despite the fact that she felt anything but okay. Where had the dagger come from? And where had it disappeared to? Her last memory of the weapon was when it had been flying through the air towards D.C. just moments before Alex had intercepted the attack. She’d never thought to
ask Fletcher or Darrius what they’d done with it after removing it from her flesh. She hadn’t
wanted
to ask. Now, though, she wished she had.

“Do you feel like moving anytime today?” Pipsqueak called down, sounding impatient.

Alex was jolted from her thoughts.

“Sorry,” she said, getting up and moving to the side.

Pipsqueak, Blink and finally Jordan dropped to the ground, landing much more gracefully than Alex had.

“That was fun,” Jordan said. If he hadn’t sounded so sarcastic, Alex would have contemplated throwing a rock at him.

“Totally ripping, bro,” Blink agreed.

Alex wasn’t entirely sure what ‘ripping’ meant, but she presumed it was a good thing, judging by Blink’s glowing expression. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the guy well enough to knock some sense into him.

“What now?” Pipsqueak asked, peering into the trees around them.

“Now we begin your training.”

Eight

Hunter’s words echoed around them, but no
matter how hard she looked, Alex couldn’t see the teacher anywhere. Not until he stepped out of the forest, appearing before them as if out of thin air.

“Welcome to your first class in Stealth and Subterfuge,” he said. “You’ve just had your introductory test. What did you learn?”

There was a pause as the four of them got over their shock at his sudden manifestation. Then Jordan jumped in.

“Keep an eye out for hidden traps.”

“Good,” Hunter said. “What else?”

“Don’t grab random towels off trees?” Blink suggested.

Before Hunter could respond, Pipsqueak added, “Keep Alex around for when you need a weapon handy.”

Jordan and Blink chuckled, but Alex was still too unnerved by what had happened to join in.

“What about you, Alex?” Hunter asked. “Anything to contribute?”

She thought for a moment, not wanting to answer straight away. She’d learned quite a few things during the ‘test’, but one thing in particular stood out to her.

“Appearances can be deceiving.”

“How so?” Hunter prompted.

“The cloth was a diversion, aimed at keeping our attention off the ground. It was a distraction to keep us from noticing the trap.”

“And yet, you noticed it,” Hunter pointed out. “Even when your classmates didn’t.”

Just how long had he been watching them? Probably the whole time, Alex realised.

“You’ll learn many things in my class,” Hunter said, addressing them all, “most of which will come from experience. If you pay attention to what I teach, you’ll remain my students for this year and next. It’s very rare that I take on apprentices, but if you show a high level of aptitude, I may offer to further your training. At present, I have only one apprentice, and the remainder of your classmates are fifth years.”

As he spoke, four people stepped silently out of the forest. They were dressed exactly like Alex—wearing black, black, and more black—and they wore the stupid strangling capes as well. They had their hoods lowered and Alex immediately recognised two of them. She’d already known about Kaiden, but she was pleasantly surprised to see Declan as well.

“Take five minutes to introduce yourselves,” Hunter said. “Most of the time you spend together in my class will involve group activities where you need to be able to trust each other. You don’t have to become best friends, but you do have to learn to respect one another. Starting now.”

He walked over to the tree that held the trap and began lowering the netting down to the ground, leaving his students to converse.

The two classmates Alex hadn’t yet met were Skyla Fay, a girl in the year above her, and Tom Barrett, Hunter’s first year apprentice. Skyla was tall and willowy, with golden hair framing her classically beautiful face. She barely glanced at Alex and Pipsqueak when they introduced themselves, instead focusing entirely on Blink and Jordan—Jordan more so. When she wasn’t looking at either of them, she was staring—rather obviously, in Alex’s opinion—at Kaiden. Alex couldn’t exactly
blame the girl, but still, Skyla clearly had her priorities, and apparently neither Pipsqueak nor Alex rated high on that list.

Tom seemed like a nice enough guy, if quiet. He was also tall, with closely-cropped black hair and skin so dark that he effortlessly blended in with the shadows of the forest.

Once their introductions were complete, silence descended upon them until Blink asked the older students if they’d witnessed them getting caught up in the net. Apparently they had, and mentioned that Hunter had pulled the same initiation trick on them.

Alex was only half listening. She was hyper aware of the eerie forest around her; every little noise intruded on her peace of mind, making her wonder just what might be out there. What if Aven was nearby? Or another snarling beast? She scanned the surrounding trees, anxiously waiting for Hunter to begin the class so that she could be distracted by his lesson.

“I had a feeling I might see you here,” a warm voice whispered in her ear, causing goose bumps to rise up on her skin.

Alex whipped around to find Kaiden standing close behind her. The others were deep in conversation about the various ways they could have escaped the trap, and Alex hadn’t noticed him approach. Other than in Combat the previous day—where she’d had very little interaction with him—the last time she’d seen him had been in the Medical Ward.

… When she’d turned her back on him.

“Why do you say that?” she asked as she took in his striking features. If anything, he was even more mesmerising under the light of the moon. The way the shadows framed everything from his strong brow to his chiselled jawline—

Chiselled jawline?
Alex mentally slapped herself.
Snap out of it, girl. Jeez.

Kaiden shrugged and his cape rustled with the movement, reclaiming her attention. “Call it intuition.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for the heads-up,” Alex said pointedly.

“You’re obviously here for a reason,” he told her, echoing the words of her friends. “Hunter wouldn’t have taken you on otherwise.”

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” she muttered on a sigh.

“Time’s up,” Hunter called out at last. “For the rest of this lesson, you’ll be paired up and given a task to complete. Phillipa, you’re with Tom; Jordan with Kaiden; Blink with Declan; and Alex with Skyla. Grab your partner and come get a piece of paper from me.”

This’ll be fun
, Alex thought sarcastically, noticing the disappointed pout on Skyla’s face.

“Tough luck,” Kaiden murmured to her as he went over to meet Jordan.

Not sure what to make of Kaiden’s comment, Alex stepped forward to take the paper from Hunter, since Skyla didn’t seem to be making any effort to move. She opened it and read the words as she walked over to her partner.

Where the little people play,

sing songs, and dance around all day;

only there you’ll f

to retrieve a figurine of clay.

Follow the mushrooms and you’ll be okay,

but do be careful what you say;

for tricky are those pesky Fae,

so take care or there’ll be a price to pay.

“Well? What does it say?” Skyla asked.

Alex handed over the paper. “It’s a riddle or something.”

Skyla scrunched up her face, squinting at the note. “What does it mean?”

“I’m the new student here,” Alex reminded her. “You’ve been in Hunter’s class for a year, so your guess is better than mine.”

Skyla shrugged and proceeded to buff her fingernails against her cape.

Wonderful.

“You have ninety minutes to follow the instructions you’ve been given,” Hunter called out. “If you’re not back in that time, you’ll have failed your task.”

“What do we do if that happens?” Alex asked.

Hunter looked at her as if the answer was obvious. “You keep going until you’re done. Only when you’ve completed your assignment will you be dismissed.”

Alex had to hold back a groan. She was going to be stuck out there all night, she just knew it. Maybe even longer.

“Off you go,” Hunter said. “And new students, remember what class this is. You won’t have an easy journey.”

As much as she wished it wasn’t true, Alex presumed that was Hunter-code for, ‘
I’ve rigged more traps and you’re all going to die
’.

Cue: sigh.

“Let’s go, Skyla,” she said, taking charge and heading deeper into the forest.

“Where are you leading us?” Skyla asked, trailing along behind Alex.

“The clue mentions following mushrooms,” Alex said, “so that’s where I say we should start. Unless you have any better ideas?”

“Nope,” Skyla said, too busy inspecting a tendril of her hair to even watch where she stepped.

“I didn’t think so,” Alex muttered, too low for the other girl to hear.

Ten minutes later and she wondered if she was developing a nervous tick. While Alex wasn’t the quietest person in the
world, she might as well have been in comparison to the racket Skyla was making as they walked through the forest.

“You know,” Alex couldn’t help but say, “I’m pretty sure it’s called Stealth and Subterfuge for a reason. Emphasis on
stealth
. Do you mind picking your feet up when you walk?”

Okay, so that was kind of snarky. But she was anxious to get out of the forest, and so far they hadn’t seen any mushrooms, let alone ones that led to places unknown.

“You think you’re so special, don’t you?” Skyla said.

“Not really,” Alex answered, though she figured the question was supposed to be rhetorical.

“Good,” Skyla said. “Because let me tell you, you’re not. Special, I mean. You’re not special at all.”

“Thanks for clarifying,” Alex said, her tone dry. “I wasn’t sure what you were talking about for a moment there. But now I know, I’m not special.”

“That’s right,” Skyla said victoriously. “It’s good you can agree. But you should also know that unlike you,
I
am special. And that’s just the way it is.”

She’s special, all right
, Alex thought. During their walk, she had come to the conclusion that Skyla wasn’t really the uncaring snob she came across as; she was just shallow, but in a harmless way. While that was better than her being an utter cow, it didn’t help their current situation, nor did it explain how Skyla was accepted into Hunter’s class to begin with.

“Can I ask you something?” Alex asked, ducking under a low-hanging branch. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but how did you get into SAS?”

Hopefully Skyla wouldn’t read the obvious message in her words—the ‘
what the hell was Hunter thinking?
’ implication.

“It’s because I’m special, remember?” Skyla said. “I just told you that. Weren’t you listening to me?”

“Of course I was,” Alex answered quickly, wanting to avoid the impending hissy fit she sensed was coming. “What I meant was, what is it exactly that makes you so, uh, special?”

“Oh,” Skyla said. “Well, that’s all right, I guess. I hate it when people don’t listen when I talk.”

Alex didn’t say anything, figuring it was best to keep her thoughts to herself.

“Other than my obvious appeal,” Skyla continued, and Alex had to fight back a snort of derision, “Hunter recruited me because of my gift. It’s very handy in stealthy and subterfuging situations.”

Alex knew that ‘subterfuge-y’ wasn’t a word, but at least it made more sense. Skyla’s ‘subterfuging’ sounded like some kind of nasty chemical reaction.

“What’s your gift?” Alex asked, holding back all the other comments that wanted to burst from her mouth.

“I can shape-shift,” Skyla said.

Alex stopped pushing her way through the leafy woodland and turned to gape at her companion. “Seriously?”

In answer, Skyla’s whole body began shimmering and, seconds later, she transformed into an exact replica of Alex.

“Seriously,” the Skyla-Alex-copy answered, mimicking Alex’s response.

“That’s just
freaky
,” Alex said, staring wide-eyed at her doppelganger.

Skyla shimmered again and shifted back to her normal self. “I can’t hold other forms for too long without getting tired, but it’s worth it for the shock value sometimes.”

Alex didn’t doubt that. She certainly wouldn’t get the image out of her mind for a while, that was for sure.

“Shape-shifting would definitely be a huge help with subterfuge,” Alex admitted. She didn’t bother to mention how sucky Skyla seemed to be with the stealth aspect. “You could
literally trick people into thinking you were anyone. That’s insane.”