It meant that no matter what they volleyed, nothing landed.
I’d rather not be there either.
I’d seen what doing the so-called right thing got a person, and I wanted nothing to do with that.I preferred not to make the same mistake more than once.
Carter rose, and for a moment, the room quieted.Was he about to say something profound?Something that would reassure them all that we were meant to be there?To remind them that despite all appearances, we were still S-Rank espers who were more than capable?
“I know you’re all concerned, and trust me, I understand.”A good start.“I want to assure you that I don’t want to be there anymore than you want me there.To make up for it, I’ll bring brownies.”
Wonderful.
I sighed at the sudden silence that engulfed the room, as not a single person in there knew how to react to such absurdity.
Then again, that was Carter’s move.He knew exactly how to throw people off their game, how to toy with them, how to play the part of an idiot so he could get them to follow his lead.
This was no different.Beneath that amused smirk, I sensed the things he kept hidden.
The fear.The anger.The pain.
Something stabbed back through that line, like a needle slipping into the center of my brain, and if I didn’t recognize it at his warning to stop poking around in his mind, I might have believed he had nothing to do with it—given his completely unchanged expression.
He sat back down, the scratching of his chair against the tile floor loud.
After another awkward heartbeat, Jin spoke up as though the exchange hadn’t happened.“Every squad here has been chosen because we think you’ll bring something important to this offensive.I will send all the relevant information along with the upcoming schedule of training to your squads.I have complete confidence that we will be able to face this danger as we have others, that we will overcome as we always have.This will be the third time some of you have faced this dungeon.Many of us have lost good people to it.However, we will absolutely not allow The Pitt to win.”
The Pitt.
The name sent a general unease through the entire room.Sure, anyone with a calendar knew it was coming, that the appearance of the stable dungeon was going to happen soon, but hearing the name never failed to put any esper who had faced it before on edge.
That wasn’t what caught my attention, though.
Instead, it was a sudden blast from my side, from the little guide perched there between us.Her expression didn’t change, her body language didn’t change, but her mind?All the little synapsis inside that secretive, illusive little brain of hers lit up like a fucking Christmas parade.
Well, it seems someone has a history…
Chapter Seven
Yun
The Pitt.
No matter how many times I tried to purge that place from my memories, the very name conjured it all right back up like a shitty magic trick.I stood in the bathroom, splashing water on my face to try to clear away the energy coursing inside me.
The water remained freezing cold no matter how long I’d left it on warm, but maybe that was better.The slight shock to my system helped clear my mind.
Shear had stared at me as the meeting had closed, suggesting he’d caught wind of something.I suspected that despite his presence in this squad, he was far too good an esper not to feel something.I could school my features, I could keep myself from reacting outright, but even I couldn’t control my feelings.
I’d excused myself with a weak reasoning of needing a bathroom break.Most men knew better than to ask questions when a woman said that, so they’d let me go without interrogation or complaint.
It gave me a moment to try to gather myself.
I’d known it was coming, of course.The Pitt opened every ten years like a fucking alarm clock put on snooze, showing back up just to fuck everyone over again.I’d just ignored it, hoped that it would never bemyproblem again.
Who would have thought that the fuckups of the NAG would get put on the front lines?ThatI’dend up right back there?
I leaned forward, gripping the sides of the sink, desperate for something to help me gather my wits and shove the feelings that seemed far too large back inside my shattered psyche.
“Well, if it isn’t the Blizzard.”
