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  Jordan gave her a roguish wink and added, “Much.”

  Alex smiled half-heartedly at them, and then she opened her mouth and let the words tumble out. “I got into Hunter’s class.”

  Three pairs of eyes blinked at her.

  “What do you mean?” Bear asked, his expression confused.

  “I got into Hunter’s class. Into SAS,” Alex repeated. “He came and told me just before you all arrived.”

  “But—But how?” D.C. stammered. “You didn’t even try out.”

  “I know!” Alex cried. “It doesn’t make any sense! Hunter said that because I was in the forest yesterday on my way back to the academy, to him that meant I was participating in the exercise.”

  She ran her hands through her hair in agitation and then moved them down to touch the Myrox necklace. “It might’ve been okay if I hadn’t found this. Apparently it was what you were all meant to be searching for. I just happened to have the advantage of height since I was already up in the trees—and not falling out of them, like the others.”

  Alex stopped talking. She had no idea what her friends were thinking. Did they hate her? Would they turn against her in jealousy? What if they never wanted to see her again?

  She sat there fidgeting and waiting for someone to break the silence.

  Then Jordan started chuckling.

  Alex looked at him in surprise, and turned her disbelieving gaze to Bear and D.C. when they joined in. Soon all three of them were laughing uncontrollably.

  “What part of this is funny?” Alex demanded.

  “Only you, Alex,” Jordan said with clear affection. “This could only happen to you.”

  “You’re not angry?” she asked tentatively.

  “Me? I’m stoked,” Jordan said. “We’re going to have a great time together!”

  “I wasn’t really asking you, Jordan,” Alex said quietly, turning to her other two friends. It was them who had missed out. But despite her fear, they were both smiling at her.

  “Definitely not angry,” D.C. promised. “Concerned for you, absolutely. I know how much you didn’t want this. But Hunter must have his reasons.”

  “Apparently he has a few,” Alex muttered, but she didn’t go into detail. She turned to Bear, more anxious about his reply, since she knew how much he in particular had wanted to be in the class.

  “Ghost is a mysterious man,” Bear said, still smiling warmly at Alex. “I agree with Dix. He must have his reasons for accepting you, especially since he knew you didn’t want any part in his class. You were kind of obvious about it. But I’m sure you’re going to learn a lot from him, and I’m just as excited for you as I am for Jordan.”

  Alex wilted with relief. “I thought you guys were going to flip out on me.”

  “We wanted it, sure, but we also knew that the chances of getting in were slim to none,” Bear said. “Hunter told us that at the meeting. There’s no point being disappointed by something we have no control over.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Alex acknowledged. Their reactions were much better than she had feared.

  They stayed together and chatted comfortably for the next few hours, throwing out ideas for what Hunter might teach in his class. Every new suggestion caused Alex’s stomach to flutter with nerves, making her dread the coming Tuesday night initiation even more.

  Eventually their conversation began to wind down as the strain of the weekend caught up with them all.

  “We should get going,” Jordan said, after checking the time on his ComTCD. Curfew meant they had to be back in their dormitory buildings by ten o’clock, but there was no lights-out policy at Akarnae. As long as students were in the building, they were free to do what they wanted. Their exhausting classes provided more than enough motivation for them to be responsible with their own sleeping hours.

  Neither Alex nor D.C. bothered to rise after Jordan’s announcement as they were already settled for the night, but when the boys reached the door, Alex remembered something.

  “Oh, and by the way,” she said. “Hunter asked me to tell you two to stop jumping on your beds.”

  She only had a microsecond to see their startled expressions before the door closed behind them, but it was enough to send her to sleep with a smile on her face.

  The next two days passed much too quickly in Alex’s opinion. Before she knew it, she was eating dinner on Tuesday evening, nervously awaiting what was surely going to be a horrible experience.

  “Are you excited yet?” Jordan asked for what felt like the twentieth time in as many minutes.

  “Not yet,” Alex said. “And the more you ask, the slower the excitement seems to be in coming.”

  Earlier that day they had both received notes telling them to meet at the forest boundary after dinner for their first two-hour class. They were also given specific clothing requirements that, to Alex’s bemusement, included wearing the black cape from her wardrobe that she’d always wondered about. Sitting in the food court dressed head to toe in the dark attire made her feel as out of place as Darth Vader at the beach.

  “Aw, come on, Alex,” Jordan whined. “It’s going to be amazing!”

  “You and I have very different definitions of ‘amazing’,” she told him.

  While Jordan was practically bouncing with anticipation, Alex was wishing time would rewind so she could find a way out of the mess she was currently in.

  “I’m sure it won’t be so bad,” D.C. said, trying to sound encouraging. “If nothing else, you’re bound to learn heaps from Hunter.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Alex mumbled. The man was too mysterious for his own good.

  “It’s time,” Jordan said, rising to his feet. “Are you ready?”

  “Definitely not,” Alex answered, but she stood as well. It wasn’t like she had a choice. So much for her gift of willpower— what good was it to her now?

  Together they left the food court and disappeared into the night. Almost literally, really, given how they blended into the dark with their black clothing.

  “If I get stuck in some kind of thorny bush, do you promise to come back and find me at the end of the night?” Alex asked, tripping on her cape for the third time. “This thing is going to kill me.”

  “It’s not that bad.” Jordan failed to hide the amusement in his tone. “You just have to learn how to ignore the swishing of the material.”

  “Ignore the ‘swishing’?” she repeated. “That’s your advice?”

  He chuckled and didn’t answer, but Alex found that walking was easier when she didn’t focus on the cape as much.

  “It’s still not very appropriate clothing for the forest,” she muttered to herself.

  All too soon they reached their destination, where only two other people were already waiting.

  “Hey, guys,” Pipsqueak said.

  “Yo!” greeted Blink. “It’s a fine night to discover our inner stealth, am I right?”

  “It sure is,” Jordan agreed, returning the offered fist-bump.

  It was clear that both Pipsqueak and Blink were just as excited as Jordan to have made the cut for Hunter’s class. Alex seemed to be the only one with any reservations.

  “Did anyone else get in?” she asked.

  “Not that I’ve heard,” Pipsqueak answered. “But I didn’t know about you, either. I don’t remember seeing you at the tryouts.”

  “It’s a long story,” Alex murmured, not wanting to explain.

  Pipsqueak shrugged. “It’s cool you’re here. This is going to rock.”

  Jordan, Blink and Pipsqueak struck up an excited conversation about what they hoped would happen, but as the minutes ticked by, Alex grew more and more anxious. They’d been told to show up by seven-thirty and it was now well after that, but no one had arrived yet, including Hunter. Given the name of the class, Alex wondered if they were about to receive a crash course in what was ahead for them.

  “Guys, I think you should keep it down,” Alex said quietly, urging the others to settle.<
br />
  None of them paid her any attention, but Jordan did turn to give her a reassuring smile. He must have just thought she was nervous—which she was. But it was more than that.

  A twig snapped and Alex whirled around, peering deeper into the forest. It was too dark for her to see much of anything, but her spidey-senses were on high alert, and she couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched.

  She squinted into the shadows until something caught her eye; a stirring of movement accompanied by the sound of a bush rustling.

  “Guys, seriously,” Alex whispered. “Shut up.”

  The tone of her voice must have clued them in that she wasn’t playing around, and they immediately dropped their conversation.

  “What is it?” Jordan asked, stepping closer to her.

  “There’s something in there,” Alex said, pointing into the shadows.

  Images of the Hyroa lunging out of the forest caused a shiver to run down her spine.

  “What sort of something?” Pipsqueak asked, her voice higher than normal.

  Eyes gleaming with the thrill of adventure, Blink said, “Let’s check it out.”

  Alex wasn’t a huge fan of the idea, but she was all for strength in numbers, so when the other three began to walk forward she followed along resignedly.

  They only had to step a few paces into the forest before they discovered the source of the movement. It was a piece of cloth caught on a tree branch, flapping in the wind.

  “Disappointing,” Blink said. “But at least we solved the great towel mystery.”

  Alex didn’t think the cloth was a towel, but that was hardly the point. What she was more concerned about was that the flapping noise it made definitely didn’t resemble the snapping twig and rustling bush sounds she’d heard. Something didn’t add up.

  Just as Blink stepped forward to take the cloth from the tree, Alex turned her gaze to the ground, and her eyes widened. “Wait—”

  But her warning was too late. Blink had already yanked at the fabric, accidentally activating the trap on which they were all standing. The net-covered ground flew up around them, throwing them all high into the air until they were trapped dangling helplessly in the woven material.

  “That was unexpected,” Jordan muttered, trying to push Alex’s elbow out of his face. There was no room for her to move though, since they were all squished together with their arms and legs tangled in and out of the net. Alex was doubly uncomfortable, since her annoying cape was twisted around someone else and tugging on her throat, nearly choking her.

  “Oor—oof—s—nn—m—fce,” came Blink’s distorted voice.

  “What?” Pipsqueak asked. “Ouch!”

  “Sorry, but your foot was totally in my face,” Blink repeated, his words clear now.

  “So you bit me?” Pipsqueak demanded.

  “It got you to move, didn’t it?” Blink asked. “Mission: success!”

  “Quiet, guys,” Alex said, preempting their argument. “We need to find a way out of this.”

  “Anyone have a knife?” Jordan asked.

  Alex was too busy trying to keep her cape from strangling her to tell him how ridiculous his question was. As if any of them would be carrying a weapon to class. But then she thought about some of their other subjects and realised it probably wasn’t that far-fetched an idea, really.

  “Sorry, man,” Blink said. “One hundred percent unarmed.”

  “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.”

  . 1D;

  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.