Page 72 of The Divide that Binds Us

“No, I disagree.”

I shrug, smirking.“Fine by me, but I’m reassigning you to administration, Drake Strife.No more field work, or involvement in major missions.It’s for your own good.”

He crosses his arms.“That’s gonna be a hard disagree from me.”

“I don’t care.I’m your friend, but at the end of the day I am still your Commander.You can either be like Clyde who is still recovering in the infirmary, or you can be like Natasha if you disagree so much.Choose your pain, Drake.”

He scoffs and looks away.Mouth twisted with scorn.“Is that all, sir?”

“Yes, you’re dismissed.”

And just like that, Drake leaves my office, hand gripped tightly to the knob as if he wants to slam my door.But he doesn’t.

I make my way to the library and smell the trail of pepperoni and bacon all the way down the hall.The librarian looks absolutely annoyed with his constant eye rolls from the high pitch laughter at the back of the room.Lynn has a full smile with a tall smoothie frosting in her hand.

“Hey.Sorry I’m late.”I take the last chair at the round table and open the box of sheet pizza in the middle of the table.“Catch me up, now.”

I start with my first square slice while Eric goes over chatting with King Remington.Wave Riding Season will happen with no plans of canceling or postponing.Only problem is Queen Oona has already told him about our possible deficiency, so he’s hesitant on having us on standby with Elite present.

Dammit.Dammit.Dammit!How did I screw this up?

Lynn tells us Katarzyna is in a state of shock and isn’t speaking.The nerves and anger unravel within me, but I catch myself after realizing she was petrified and then stabbed in the leg within a short timeframe.

I eat another slice while we turn to Derrick for his little assignment.

“Drake didn’t respond to me.”He smacks his teeth.

I wave my greasy hand.“Already handled that.”

“How should we proceed, Commander?There seems to be a lot going on for us to keep up with, respectfully,” Lynn says.The twins start up the antics, bouncing ideas off each other in fast speed while Lynn rolls her eyes.

I mindlessly grab a third slice.

Listening to my members brings the realization of how much I’ve been reacting to things around me.There are so many floating variables of what’s going on that I’ve lost sight of the real mission at hand: making sure my team is okay and proceeding with operations as usual.Itisstrange we aren’t being deployed, but who am I to question the reason?

Wren, the missing girl, Elite, Wave Riding Season, using Natasha as bait, all of that, it’s mindless and not important.I need to stop meddling in unnecessary stuff that’s getting Ultima in trouble.This isn’t what I signed up for.

The heartburn is killing me, so I close the box in disgust so I’m not tempted to grab another saucy slice.

“We’re going to resume operations as normal.It’s nice we helped Elite extract the gem, but everything else is strictly requests I get from emails.No more snooping around,” I inform them.

Lynn frowns.“What about that girl?Malice?”

“We can only change what we have control over, and whatever feelings she harbors toward Ultima is not something we can change, but actively encourage to reconsider.We should not bother her.”My tone is definitive and well received when they all nod.

The twins shamelessly finish the pizza with marinara sauce slathered on their faces.The library is saturated with the smell of food likely clinging to the dust on the books.The librarian walks around spraying a freshener with a scrunched nose in our direction.

We leave the library with full stomachs and—at least for me—a burning chest.I want to burp so bad, but it feels painful.We trudge up the stairs, but a vibration underneath us stops me.

Thunder crackles outside, but before we can react, a visible shockwave of air ruptures the space around us.Lynn and the twins stumble down the stairs, while other members walking by at the top lose balance like we’re trapped in an earthquake.

“What the hell was that?”Eric gasps.

Screams fill the halls and glasses shatter.The tremors stop after five more seconds, allowing me to look back at my members.

“Everyone okay?”

“Commander,” Lynn calls to me, holding up her phone.“Another dragon was just killed on Garnet Island.”

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