Page 28 of Obsession

“Don’t blame me for the temperature.” Kann used his free hand to rub his arm. “I never specified that it would be so cold.”

“Didn’t your planet used to be colder?” I remembered Zav saying something about this when we’d been designing the simulation and he’d been talking about the environmental accuracy.

Kann blew out another visible breath. “Maybe.”

I was suddenly very aware that he was still holding my hand, I slid it from his and pinned him with a serious look. “I didn’t do as much work on this program as Zav, so before we go any farther, maybe you should tell me what else I should know.”

“Like?”

I waved a hand toward the building we’d left. “Like the Drexians who you designed to be scary.”

“I did not design them that way,” I said. “That is how they are described in historical texts.”

I tapped one foot on the crackling dried leaves. “What else did you pull from the historical texts?”

“This challenge was called the Silent Hunt because the cadets were supposed to be released onto the academy grounds and be tracked by instructors, so the quieter they could be, the better their odds of escaping capture.”

I stiffened, wondering if we were being tracked now because we were talking. "We need to learn to communicate without making noise.”

Kann studied me. “Do humans have some telepathic abilities I'm unaware of?"

I shot him a look. "No, but…” An old memory surfaced—playground games with my friend Sara. "I learned some sign language from a friend in school. She was deaf."

His brow furrowed. “There are people on your planet who cannot hear?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Of course. Don’t tell me that Drexians are so perfect that no one is ever born blind or deaf.”

“They are, but our medical procedures cure them.”

“Well, we’re not that advanced. People must learn to adapt to their challenges.” I gave him a pointed look. “Which means I can now teach you how to sign.” I demonstrated the sign for 'quiet'—one hand to my mouth, finger to the side, then both hands moving down and out. “This means be quiet.”

Kann watched intently, his golden eyes focused as he mimicked the motion.

I nodded. “Not bad.”

"What's the sign for 'run'?" he asked.

I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering Sara teaching me that one so we could evade the mean boys who liked to play a full-contact version of tag. "Ah!" I made finger guns with bothhands, hooked the back one over the front, then wiggled the front finger forward while moving both hands ahead. “Run.”

Kann's eyebrows lifted, amusement flickering across his features, but he copied the movement perfectly.

"Good," I said. "Now we can tell each other to be quiet and run for our lives."

He laughed, the sound low and grim. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Someone should disable the program soon."

I tried not to worry, but I felt certain our absence had been noted. If one, or both, of us had been tracked back to the holochamber, the simulation should have been turned off. If it wasn’t, that meant there was a problem. I did not want to think about what that meant.

“We should keep moving,” Kann said, then he made the sign for quiet.

I grinned. “You’re smarter than you look.”

His mouth fell open, but I could tell his outrage was manufactured. “What does that mean?”

“I’m only saying that you’re full of surprises, Blade,” I whispered as I followed the path he cut through the woods.

He held a branch back for me. “I’ll take that as a compliment coming from an Iron.”

A snap of a twig that did not come from either of us made me go still and silent.

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