Jesse is really nice to me for the rest of the morning, slinging his arm around my shoulders and cracking jokes all the way to breakfast. Even I can’t help laughing, even as a deep pool of dread forms in my stomach, because I have absolutely no control over how Luca is going to react to any of this.
“Nah, I slept great,” Luca says, smiling warmly at Jesse and thanking the waiter, who comes back with the coffee pot. “Completely dreamless for once, which is a blessing. I feel amazing today.” “Good,” Jesse says, his eyebrows going up in surprise. I forget to draw breath as I just stare at Luca
But the Captain just smirks at me and turns his attention back to the group of us, beginning his lecture. “Espionage Track splits its chosen cadets further into specialties so that we can have a variety of agents trained for our nation’s particular needs. All of you will be trained by Dr. Neumann
“At home,” he says, folding his arms over his chest, “I trained a little in drone strike technology. I would be…interested to continue those studies.” “We’ll see what we can do,” the Captain replies, his eyebrows raised, “provided you prove adequate with this,” he nods now towards the weapons behi
I shrug a little, letting him see through my summer camp lie. He just laughs, shaking his head as we draw close to our targets. “Bullshit, if you ask me,” the tall blonde says, sighing as he gathers his arrows off the floor and I pull mine from the target’s body. “We’re forced to embarrass ourselv
I’m a cadet, after all. If I can’t even survive walking from the classroom to the dorm, what chance do I have on the battlefield? I consider that, a little, as I head for the brass elevator at the end of the hall, climbing in and pressing the button for the dormitory floor. Because today, in Marks
I lounge for a good ten minutes in perfect comfort, letting my mind turn where it will, brushing my fingers through my hair and wishing for a proper brush instead of the scanty little combs that the Academy provides to its boys, who apparently have no real need for hair care. I’m passively wonderi
But Luca – either he doesn’t notice the question in my eyes or he ignores it. Because he just shrugs and turns back to the room. “Come on,” he calls back to me, heading for his corner of the couch. “Let’s eat.” I just stare as I watch him – because this was our moment. No one was going to notice i