Page 67 of Akarnae

“I reckon I could take him,” Jordan said, flexing his arm muscles.

Bear and Alex burst out laughing and, after mock-scowling at them, Jordan joined in.

“Seriously, though,” Bear said, “he seemed pretty adamant that you’d meet again.”

“After I gave him back his head—and how weird does that sound?—he said he would be forever in my service. I just have to call and he’ll come, apparently.”

“Stalker alert,” Jordan said with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry we weren’t there when you needed us,” Bear said, “but it sounds like you did more than okay on your own.”

“Yeah,” Jordan agreed. “Still, I wish we could’ve come. I would’ve loved to have seen those doorways. Maybe the Library will let us go with you on the next adventure?”

“I hope so,” Alex said. She felt proud of what she’d accomplished on her own, but she would have had more fun with Bear and Jordan by her side.

Her stomach chose that moment to interrupt their conversation by grumbling at an embarrassingly loud pitch.

“Hungry?” Bear said.

Alex snorted. “What gave me away?”

“Come on,” Jordan said, pulling her to her feet. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for the day. Let’s go get you some food.”

No argument here, Alex thought, and she followed her friends back up the stairs.

Twenty

The next week of classescrawled by so slowly that it was officially dubbed the ‘Never-ending Week’. When Friday finally rolled around, Alex’s first three subjects dragged onforever, but when the gong sounded at the end of Chemistry, she could practically see the light at the end of the tunnel. All she had to do was get through one more class and she’d be on holidays for the next two weeks.

“I can’t believe Fitzy’s still going on about how great your fireball was,” Jordan said with a laugh as they left their Chemistry room and started down the corridor.

“I know!” Alex said, remembering how she’d accidentally blown up half the lab earlier that week. “It wasn’t even that impressive—it may have looked big, but it didn’t damage much. No staying power.”

“Says the girl who walked around for three hours without any eyebrows,” Jordan murmured.

“Yeah, well, at least Fletcher was able to fix my problem with that healing paste. He can’t do anything to fix what’s wrong with your face.”

“Ha ha,” Jordan said dryly. “You’ve got Combat now, haven’t you? I don’t even know why you bother going anymore since all you do is sit and watch.”

“It’s the principle,” Alex said. “Karter’s made it very clear he doesn’t want me there, and even though I certainly don’t want to be there either, my pride is at stake. I refuse to let him see me quit, even if I’m not actually participating.”

She paused before quietly adding, “And maybe a little part of me is hoping that one day he’ll get so sick of seeing me sitting on the sidelines that he’ll start teaching me something simple, something I can handle.”

“Well, good luck with that today,” Jordan said. “I’ve got to run if I want to make it to Archery. We’re meant to be out in the forest and I’m hoping Finn will be mapping out his new obstacle course so I canaccidentallyshoot an arrow through his—”

“Jordan! Hurry up!” Mel called out over the sea of students. She stood with Bear near the entrance to Gen-Sec, and when Alex and Jordan headed over to them, she bounced excitedly and chanted, “Last class, last class, last class!”

“Didn’t you just have PE?” Alex asked. “How do you have so much energy?”

“Finn was easy on us Betas today,” Mel said. “All we had to do was map out the new obstacle course he’s planning for some of the upper levels when classes start back.”

Jordan muttered unhappily under his breath, clearly disappointed that he wouldn’t get a chance to try and shoot their teacher.

“I don’t envy you guys,” Mel continued. “Finn is a genius—an evil genius, but a genius no less. You’re going todie!”

“I’m so glad you’re finding joy in our potential demise,” Alex said, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone.

Mel grinned. “You know you love my positive outlook on life.”

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