The Academy (17 page)

Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to scream…and shut it again when the blue-green leaves of the blushes rustled and North came out of the break in the high security gate.

“Let him go, Broward.” His voice was deep and commanding but Broward didn’t drop the knife or gesture for Nodes to let me loose. Instead, he took another step toward me, his blade coming closer and closer to my right eye.

“Not this time, North. This time I’m going to do exactly what I want to your pretty little roommate and there’s not a thing you can do to stop me.”

North came closer, moving with a cat-like stealth that was surprising in such a large male. “Think about what you’re doing, Broward.” He spoke softly, his eyes flickering between me and the bully. “Having a knife on campus will only get you expelled. But you’ll lose a hand for actually using it on someone.”

I felt Nodes shift uneasily behind me. “He’s right about that, Broward. We’ll all lose a hand if you do this.”

“What’s the matter, Nodes?” Broward snarled. “Afraid they’ll take the one you beat off with?”

Dawson laughed uneasily. “Broward’s just joking around, Nodes. He’s not really gonna cut the runt.”

“You think I’m playing a game?” Broward turned toward Dawson, a manic look in his muddy eyes. “After what he did to me in class? Hell yes, I’m gonna cut him! Freshie here is gonna literally be
fresh meat
when I’m done with him.”

As the three of them fought, I watched North creep closer and closer. They knew he was there but their argument distracted them. Also, Broward seemed confident that he had the upper hand.

I couldn’t say that I disagreed with him. After all—he had a knife blade about an inch from my face. One wrong move and I would be blinded or even dead. I had no idea how North planned to defuse the situation—even if he jumped the bully, Broward could have my eye out before North could stop him. What was he going to do?

“C’mon, Broward,” Dawson was saying. “Just because the runt beat you with that little toy sword—”

“He did it in front of the
whole class!”
Broward roared. “In front of
everyone,
damn you!”

“You’ll get over it.” North was right behind him now. I looked at him, my eyes wide and he shook his head slightly, as if telling me not to worry. “Come on, Broward, this has gone far enough,” he said in a soft, reasonable voice.

Broward turned his head and seemed to realize exactly how close North had come. “Get back.” His voice was cold. “You take another step toward me, North, and I’ll—”

Suddenly, everything happened at once. North’s dark gold hair and blue uniform were a blur of motion and I saw the knife coming toward me. I stared at it numbly, expecting to feel its sharp tip pierce my eye and pop it like a grape at any minute. Instead, it magically disappeared and Broward with it. I watched in amazement as he flipped up and over. There was a surprised look on his face as he was momentarily airborne, and then he landed hard on the ground on his back.

The bully looked like a bug on its back, his face red and angry as he tried to scramble to his feet. North put a foot on his neck and glared down at him.

“Stay down.”

“What the hell, North!” Broward shoved the foot away and got to his feet, fists ready. “Come on!”

“You really want to?” North raised one eyebrow at him. “You sure about that, Broward?”

In answer, the bully charged him, swinging wildly. North sidestepped the charge easily and gracefully but I saw him grab Broward’s beefy arm as he rushed past. Suddenly, Broward was up in the air again. He fell even harder on his back this time and coughed, obviously struggling for breath. Still, he tried to get up again.

“I don’t think so.” North put a foot on his neck once more. “Stay down this time.”

Broward’s face was purple with rage. “Let me up.”

“Not yet.” North frowned at him. “I mean it, Broward—stay down. Don’t make me pin you.”

Broward abruptly stopped struggling and glared up at the other cadet. “What do you want?”

“First, for those two idiots to let go of Jameson.” North nodded at Dawson and Nodes who hastily dropped my arms and stepped away without even consulting Broward. North smiled. “Good. Jameson, get over here.”

I lost no time in complying. I made my way to his side as quickly as possible, being careful to stay out of the supine Broward’s reach as I did. “Thanks,” I said, under my breath.

North only nodded. “Now we’ll take care of this.” The long silver knife appeared in his hand as if by magic. Turning, he threw it as hard as he could into the woods surrounding the security fence. I saw the sunlight flicker off its silver blade and then it was gone, probably lost forever in the thick underbrush.

Broward cursed loudly. “You’ll pay for that! My father bought that knife for me.”

“Oh?” North said coolly. “You think he meant for you to use it on little boys half your size?”

Inwardly I bristled at being called a “little boy” but I wasn’t about to say anything about it to North right now.

“It doesn’t matter.” Broward laughed nastily. “I can always get another. And when I do, you can bet little freshie there is going to be the first to see it.”

“No.” North’s voice was harsh. “This ends
here
. If I catch you bothering my roommate again I’ll break your ribs, your nose, and
both
your arms. You won’t be able to jerk off for months—unless you can get one of these idiots to help you out. Do you hear what I’m saying, Broward?”

Broward’s piggy little eyes narrowed sulkily. “I hear you,” he grumbled.

“Good.” Finally North removed his foot and stepped back, allowing the bully to get up. “Don’t forget it.”

“Oh, I’ll remember, all right.” Broward shook off Nodes, who had tried to help him to his feet, and dusted himself off slowly. “Believe me, North, I have a long memory for this kind of thing.”

That didn’t sound very good to me but apparently it was the best we were going to get. I hoped North would let us leave now—I just wanted to get as far away from Broward as possible.

To my great relief North nodded at me and said, “Let’s go.” Then he strode confidently off in the direction of our dorm, leaving me to stumble along after him. I stole one last look over my shoulder and saw Broward standing there, glaring at me, a look of pure malevolent hatred on his face. It sent a shiver down my spine and made my stomach knot itself into a fist. Hastily, I looked away but that look stayed with me.

Something told me no matter what North said, my problems with Broward were far from over.

North rounded on me as soon as we got to our room. “What the hell were you doing, riling Broward up? You think I don’t have anything better to do than to run around campus saving your skinny ass?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” I yelled back, balling my hands into fists. “He came at me first. Coach Janus was doing a lesson on fencing and Broward—”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard all about it.” North waved me off with a frown. “Simpkins told Wilkenson who just
happened
to be in the infirmary at the time Simpkins went to get his cut treated. Wilkenson came and told me—and it’s a damn good thing he did too. If he hadn’t, you’d be picking your eyeballs up off the grass right now.”

“I know.” I shivered and put my arms around myself, all my anger abruptly leaking away. “I know that.”

“Hey…” He sat down beside me. “You’re shaking.” He put a hand on my arm but I brushed it off.

“No, I’m not. I…I’m just fine.” I tried to make my voice strong but it wavered despite my best efforts. “I’m sorry you had to save me again. I’m sorry if it made you angry.”

North sighed and ran a hand through his hair, rumpling it up into a dark gold halo around his head. “I’m not really angry with you, shorty. I was just
worried
. You could have been seriously hurt back there—Broward’s crazier than I thought.”

“He certainly proved that.” I looked down at the bed. “Do you really think he’ll leave me alone from now on?”

“No, I don’t.” North sounded grim. “Even though he knows I’ll follow through on my threat, I think he feels like messing you up would be worth it.”

“I was afraid of that,” I said flatly. “What can I do? I don’t want to go to the headmaster.”

“Wouldn’t do much good even if you did.” North frowned. “They expect you to fight your own battles at the Academy. And besides, Broward’s father’s position gives him an edge. What you need is some way to beat him, like you did in fitness class.” He grinned at me. “I heard all about that, you know. Simpkins told Wilkenson you were amazing. You must be pretty good with a sword, huh?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “It’s too bad I can’t carry one with me everywhere I go.”

North looked thoughtful. “You can’t carry a sword, and I can’t be with you every minute of the day, but there
is
a way you can protect yourself.”

“How?” I looked at him hopefully. “I’ll do anything.”

“I need to teach you some self defense moves.” He slapped the bed decisively. “That’s it. Starting tomorrow you and I are going to spend some serious time in the gym.”

“Self defense?” I frowned. “Is that what you did to Broward?”

“No, what I did to Broward was Judo—it’s a martial arts technique from Earth-that-was.”

I shook my head. “I’ve never even heard of it. How do you know all that, anyway?”

“I took lessons—the same way you took fencing lessons,” North said patiently. “I have a black belt, you know. I was going to compete in the Prometheus system championship finals until…”

“Until what?” I asked, genuinely interested.

But North only shook his head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me,” I said softly. “I can tell you have a secret, North. I don’t press it because, well, I know about secrets. But if you ever want to talk…”

“Thanks, shrimp.” He gave me a half smile and ruffled my hair affectionately. “Maybe someday I’ll take you up on that. Right now it’s almost time for dinner.”

I sighed. “Yes, it is. And I’ll be cowering in your shadow as usual.” A sudden surge of anger made me grit my teeth. “I just wish…I wish I was big enough to take Broward on myself!”

“Hey, you’re not a coward and you can’t help being small.” North took me by the shoulder and looked intently into my eyes. “Don’t worry, Jameson, I don’t really mind you tagging along.”

“Well,
I
mind,” I said stiffly. “I mean, I don’t mind going places with you—I…I like that. But I
do
mind feeling like I’m not safe if you’re not around.”

“That bothers me too—a lot.” North sighed and got a troubled look on his face. “I wish I knew why…”

“Why what?” I prompted when he trailed off.

North frowned. “Why I feel so…so
protective
of you. Maybe it’s because of Jamie…” he muttered, half to himself.

“Who?” I asked.

“No one.” North shook his head. “It’s just…That’s uh…not the way you usually feel about your friends. Guy friends, anyway.”

My heart was banging against my ribs again. Was he close to discovering my secret? “Maybe because I’m such a ‘little boy'?” I said mockingly, trying to defuse the situation.

“What?” North laughed. “Oh
that
. Look, shrimp, you can’t take anything I say to Broward personally. I was just trying to get him off your back.”

“Well if you can teach me how to flip him onto
his
back the way you did, it might help,” I suggested. “How did you do that, anyway?”

“I’ll show you in the gym tomorrow,” North promised. “I’ll leave Applied Chem a little early and come meet you right after your fitness class. We can practice on the mats—and maybe you can show me some of your fancy sword work too.”

“Fencing lessons for Judo lessons sounds like a fair trade to me.”

“I’m not really going to be teaching you Judo—I’m not qualified to do that. But I can show you how to defend yourself better—if you happen to find yourself without a sword.” He smiled.