Page 11 of Shadow Caster
The golden-haired feyblood inclined his head, his gaze sliding our way. Whereas a moment ago, his expression had been airhead, now it was sly and cunning. What the actual fuck?
“Shit,” Minnie said. “Oberon sucks and not in a nice way.”
Thomas groaned as if he was hearing the news about our team-up for the first time, but I was pretty sure his objection wasn’t to Oberon. His next words confirmed it.
“Come on, Madam. Why do we have to be stuck with the criminal?”
My neck heated, but I kept a straight face and my eyes on the whiteboard behind Garnet.
Garnet lowered her holotab and fixed her eyes on Thomas. “Are you questioning my judgment?” Her tone was a knife’s edge.
Thomas pressed his lips together. “Of course not.”
Her smile was brittle as she turned her attention to me. “I’m sure Miss Justice knows better than to let the team down.”
I didn’t bother gracing her with a response, verbal or otherwise, and after a long, uncomfortable stare-off, she returned her attention back to the class.
“The past eight weeks, you’ve been learning about the kind of threats you’ll be facing back in the human world. Threats from your own kind, from rogue nightbloods and moonkissed, from feybloods and creatures that enter our world via thinnings in our reality. The fomorians aren’t the only threat to our world, and although some of you will find yourselves chosen to fight the bigger threat, the rest of you will be rooted in the mortal world, fighting every day to keep the universal glamour from failing by making sure our existence remains secret. To do that, you’ll need to bring down the trouble-makers, the rogues, and the factions that care little for the balance of things. You’ll need to police demons that enter our world in an unauthorized fashion. You are the only line of defense beyond these wards.” She took a deep breath. “So, show me what you’ve learned. Work together in your teams to survive. Use the tools in your pack to get from point A to B, and remember, you need to cross that finish line together. If you lose a member or leave one behind, you all fail.”
Shit, this was not going to be fun.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Fire up, and let’s get this exam underway.”
Harmon and Thomas ambled over to us. As a team, we needed to be in connected pods. There were five of us, so one pod would be vacant. Oberon appeared at my side.
“Mind if I take the spot next to you?”
It was the first time he’d spoken to me, and his voice was like honey. I hated honey.
“Do what you want.” I climbed into my pod and hit the calibration controls.
The material of the seat was soft and alive as it molded to my body. Around me, the others hurried to get settled. I pressed my head back against the rest and closed my eyes. Don’t hold your breath. Don’t …
Shit, the material whooshed over my head, covering it entirely in a semi-permeable material that I didn’t know the name of. The first time this had happened, I’d almost passed out from hyperventilating, and then there’d been the puke. Yeah, all over my face.
I’d have been mortified if I’d been the only one chucking up my guts. Pod riding took time to adjust to.
Shit, hurry up already.
My head felt light, and then the world was whooshing away.
Four
Iopened my eyes in a leafy clearing at night. The air smelled crisp and clean, like just after a heavy rainfall, except the ground was bone dry.
Little incongruences like this ruined the authenticity of the simulation.
I looked up at the night sky and studied the map of stars—one map I could always navigate by—except it was all off. Urgh. Could they not get anything right? It shouldn’t bother me, but it did. Maybe I should say something; surely these tests should be more realistic with a little more attention to detail?
Why did I even care?
“Hey?” Minnie appeared beside me, a huge grin on her pixie face. “I have a good feeling about this test.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. It felt strange on my face. Smiling. “Are you sure you’re a Faraday?”
She snorted. “Not all Faradays are sticks-in-the-butt.”
“Except your uncle and your brother.”
