Page 33 of Obsession

Last year’s first years looked nothing like the wide-eyed cadets who had just been staring eagerly at me during my lecture. But the past year had been an arduous test that had aged them all.

The maze had been brutal, taking cadets before they'd barely had a chance to prove themselves. At least the academy was finally reconsidering these traditional sorting methods, though sometimes I wondered if every class went through this transformation from wide-eyed recruits to battle-hardened warriors. Was that part of the tradition that turned out such tough Drexian warriors?

The classroom emptied, but then quick footsteps rushed toward me. My pulse spiked. Vyk had a habit of surprising me between classes, his gruff exterior barely masking the tenderness underneath. Who would have thought the fearsome Commander and I would end up together, after starting as enemies? Not me.

But it wasn't Vyk who was hurrying toward me—it was Jess, her face tight with worry.

"You need to come with me," she said, grabbing my arm. "Now."

My stomach dropped as she pulled me up the stairs. "What's happened?"

"There's been an accident."

Fear iced my chest. "Vyk?"

"No, he's fine. Torq went to get him." Jess tugged me down the crowded hallway, dodging around cadets hurrying to their next classes.

"Tell me what's happening," I demanded, but Jess just shook her head, glancing at the corridor filled with cadets.

We rushed through the main hall and under the massive arch leading to the Blades. Only when the cadets had thinned out did Jess slow her pace and turn to me.

"It's Kann and Britta."

I frowned. "What about them?"

"They're trapped inside a holo simulation."

I stopped dead. "What?"

"Keep moving," Jess urged, pushing me forward. "We're not sure how it happened, but Torq went to get Zav, who knows more about the program they’re in than anyone.”

I allowed myself to be prodded as my mind raced. How did they get trapped in a holo simulation? I wasn’t trained in holo technology, but I knew the basics. I also knew that Drexians had been using it for decades and had made it extremely safe. It wasused on both space stations that housed tribute brides, and as far as I knew, there had never been a major malfunction on one of them. At least, I’d never heard of a tribute bride being trapped in the simulation of her fantasy suite. Not that anyone would complain much about being stuck inside a tropical paradise or a cozy, Swiss chalet.

“How?” I managed to ask.

“There's been some kind of malfunction. You know when the power went out and everything went dark for a few seconds?”

I bobbed my head mutely. I’d been preparing for my lecture, and the holographic display had vanished as my empty classroom had been plunged into blackness. I’d panicked for all of two seconds, before the light came back on, and the holographic diagram was restored.

“The power surge might have damaged the program or the chamber or the circuit itself.” Jess shrugged. “Who knows?”

“And Britta and Kann are both inside a running simulation?”

“That’s what it looks like, but I don’t know why or which one.” Jess motioned with her head in the direction of the holochambers. “We’ll know more when we get there.”

My gut twisted as I picked up the pace and started to run next to Jess. I hadn’t known Britta long, but she was one of the women who’d arrived with me to integrate the Drexian Academy. She might be a cadet while I was an instructor, and she might be an Iron while I was an Assassin, but none of that mattered. She had become a close friend. She had become family.

When we reached the holochambers, Zav and Volten were hunched over the console, their faces illuminated by the shifting lights of the display.

"No luck," Volten said without looking up.

“What does that mean?” Jess asked.

"Are they okay?" I pressed my hand to my mouth. "Are they alive?"

"They're alive," Zav confirmed, but his tone made a chill skate down my spine.

Volten straightened and turned to us. "The safety features appear to have been damaged in the power fluctuation, as well as some of the operating functions”

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