Page 12 of Akarnae

Jarvis handed her a lollipop and she looked at it dubiously.

“Go on,” he urged. “This is the potential test.”

“That makes absolutely no sense,” she said, but she took the candy and unwrapped it, sticking it in her mouth. She swivelled her tongue around the foreign object, surprised at the different flavours it produced. Apple, cherry, grape, pineapple, orange. Every swirl brought a different fruity flavour to her mouth.

“Now,” Jarvis started again, “the potential-based classes are divided into five different levels of difficulty—Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. The level you train at is based on your potential for that particular class. The potential-based subjects also tend to be the most physically demanding.”

“Like Combat?” Alex asked around the lollipop. “Is that even legal?”

“Akarnae abides by a unique set of laws,” Jarvis answered sketchily. “Our instructors are given free rein to do what they must in order to help bring out the best in our students.”

Well… that didn’t sound daunting at all.

“I can assure you that Combat is a favourite subject for many students,” Jarvis pressed on. “Very demanding, but educational nonetheless. Karter is the instructor for that class.”

Why was she not surprised? Big man. Leather costume. Sword. Total no-brainer, really.

She swirled the shrinking candy around her mouth, waiting for Jarvis to continue talking about the classes, but his attention was elsewhere.

“Where did I put that thing?” he muttered, rustling through the papers on his desk.

As she watched him, Alex unconsciously crunched down on the remaining sweet, chewing until only the stick remained.

“Aha!” Jarvis exclaimed, withdrawing a small, resealable bag. He indicated to the stick poking out of her mouth. “All done?”

She nodded and he motioned for her to drop the stick inside the bag. Alex did as directed and, after he sealed it and placed it on his desk, she watched in amazement as the bag disappeared, replaced by a single piece of paper.

“How—?”

“New world, new rules,” Jordan said, laughing at the gobsmacked expression on her face.

Right. She’d have to remember that in the coming days.

“Well, this is certainly a surprise,” Jarvis mumbled to himself as he read the words on the paper.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Some of your results are… unexpected.”

He handed over the sheet of paper and Jordan and Bear leaned in to read with her.

Potential Test: Alexandra Rose Jennings

Combat ~ Epsilon

Equestrian Skills ~ Epsilon

PE ~ Delta

Archery ~ Gamma

Chemistry ~ Gamma

After reading the page, Alex looked up to find her friends staring at her with shocked expressions.

“What?” she asked.

Jordan looked like he was about to burst out laughing. “This is going to be agreatyear.”

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