Page 32 of Dissent

“Oh my gosh! So, you’ve eaten nothing! Like, at all?”

“Not really…”

“What!What about chocolate? Please tell me you’ve eaten chocolate.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh. My. God!”

Matias cracked up beside me, holding the back of his hand to his mouth to keep from spitting out his oatmeal.

My cheeks reddened as my fingers reached for my necklace, playing with the chain. “What? What’s chocolate?” I watched as he tried to swallow to answer, but Edith cut in again.

“Like, the best shit on earth. It’ssooogood. It’s nutty and sweet and milky and just totally delicious.”

I was still confused. Having tasted my oatmeal, food wasn’t on my list of top ten amazing things. Now the black tea, that was a little more interesting. Bitter, but the yellowish clear syrup they told me to add was way better. “Is it like honey?”

Edith’s eyes grew wide as saucers, and then she busted out laughing.

“What?” I suddenly felt stupid. “What is it? Is it not like honey then?” I looked from Edith to Matias.

He gave me a warm smile, and it made him look totally gorgeous, sending another wave of tingling sensations dancing across my skin. “No. No, it’s not like honey. It’s great though.”

“Can I try some?”

Chelsea snickered. “That shits hard to come by, and the little there is, isn’t going to bewasted.” Clearly, she thought letting me try chocolate was akin to throwing it away. I guessed my olive branch wasn’t going to work out. She sent me another glare before getting up from her spot. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

I wanted to say something snippy back at her, but I couldn’t come up with anything that remotely made sense. And even though she was being tart with me, I still felt like I owed her my life. I took a deep breath and stood up too.

Matias shot me a glance, and our eyes locked. “I’ll see you over at the training center.” I couldn’t get my mouth to work—my tongue heavy and clumsy. I opted for a nod instead.

“Let’s go,MissMara.”

I closed my eyes, preparing myself for what I was sure was going to be a walk through hell.

***

The hike to the training center was long. It took us through the woods until we reached a mountain ridge that expanded out in both directions. Chelsea indicated we needed to take a trail that switched back and forth all the way up the side of it. We were about halfway up when I finally started complaining.

“How freaking far is this place, anyway?” My breath rushed in and out of me in bursts as my lungs begged for more oxygen, sweat beading up on my brow. I wasn’t even carrying anything and felt like I was about to die. God, I was embarrassingly out of shape. Chelsea, on the other hand, seemed untouched by the climb. And the look on her face told me she was unimpressed by my athletics and most definitely annoyed with me…again.

She rolled her eyes dramatically, making sure I didn’t miss just how much of a pain in the ass I was to her. “It’s not that far,princess. You’re just slow. This hike is usually only fifteen minutes, but withyou, it’s going to take us five hours.”

I didn’t care what insults she threw at me. I was just so grateful that she stopped walking so I could catch my breath. My brain scurried to find something else to ask her—anythingelse—to keep her talking and staying put. “Why do you guys have the training center so far away from everything?” I bent over, putting my hands on my knees to rest my upper body. “Wouldn’t you want this place closer to camp?”

“There’s a valley on the other side, and it acts like a sound break. It keeps the noise from the firearms down, which helps keep our location a secret. Never know when Telvians will scout the area nearby, and the last thing we want is for them to hear us.”

Scouts? “You guys get Telvian Scouts out here? Just how far are we from Telvia?”

Something flashed across Chelsea’s face. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. But she quickly brought back her icy exterior. “Far enough.” She whipped herself around and began hiking again. “Let’sgo,Mara. We don’t have all day.”

The rest of the hike felt brutal, andIfelt like a big baby. Clearly, the switchbacks were no big deal because Chelsea practically ran the course, but I was pretty sure I was about to die from the effort. And after that last little chit-chat we had, Chelsea was tight-lipped. She ignored any other questions I made and just kept hiking, which wasawfulfor me because all I wanted was a freaking break. Eventually, we reached the top and when I looked down the other side of the ridge, I saw that there was actually a building below instead of tents. I could hear the muffled sound of gunfire and people yelling. Before I got a chance to say one word, Chelsea was already descending, almost at a run. I took a huge, deep breath and followed her down the path. It took everything within me to keep up.

Reaching the bottom, relief swept through me. Placing my hands on my hips and heaving huge gulps of air, I was immensely grateful we had finally stopped. As my pounding heart settled down from the exertion, Chelsea paraded a smug look. But she waited, somewhat patiently, for my breathing to steady. The silence stretched out a moment before I heard more gunfire close by. “What are they doing?”

She looked off toward the sound. “Drills.”

“What kind of drills?”

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