I lower the gun and step back. My pulse roars in my ears. I glance back to face the vicious-eyed recruits behind me. They want to finish me, and they are so close, too. I’m a decent fighter,but I’m not arrogant enough to think I could face all of them and come out victorious. They would have beaten me to a pulp.
The platform lowers, making me slightly dizzy.
Ender approaches, boots echoing on the stone floor. He studies me with interest. My chest is rising and falling rapidly, and I can’t quite catch my breath. Not to mention my ribs ache, and my legs are sore and twitching.
“Acceptable,” he says at last.
Spider leans forward to whisper in my ear. “That’s high praise.”
I didn’t even sense him approaching. He walks like a ghost. And smells like green apples.
Ender returns to the wall.
“Training resumes,” he says. “We will continue until I am satisfied.”
Shoulders sag in disappointment, but nobody dares voice a complaint.
The room shifts, turning into an obstacle course again, and I swallow back a groan. I’m exhausted, everything hurts, and Rei and Aric are looking at me like a wolf would a lamb.
It’s going to be a long day.
chapter
eleven
Haven
Ilimp out of the drill hall, dragging my sweat-ridden, aching body along with me. We went at it for another hour. At least we fought in pairs the second time around. There were no more free-for-alls, which worked in my favor, because nobody seems to like me. Maybe it’s Aric and Rei’s animosity that is tainting their opinion of me, but everyone seems to agree that I do not belong here.
“Need help?”
I glance up at Spider, and anger chokes me.
“You.”
He looks behind him, as if my tone is intended for someone else. He points to his chest and bats his lashes innocently.
“Me?”
“You picked me for this…for this torture chamber,” I say.
As curious as I am about Ender and Block A and the regime’s secret, I have no intentions of dying in the pursuit of knowledge. Because that is exactly what Black Star is—a death sentence. How am I supposed to win against a group of Gifted when I cannot use my powers? And how am I going to make it to the end when onlyoneof us is intended to survive?
It is a savage training program intended to weed out the weak until only the strong remain, and I am being pitted against the best of the best.
“I did recommend you, but the final choice was Ender’s,” Spider says. “It took him a couple of days to come around to it, but he must have seen something in you.”
“Of course, it was Ender who picked me,” I say bitterly. “He’s been looking for a reason to kill me since the moment we met.”
“Yeah, he’s tough as nails,” Spider says in an admiring tone.
The door cracks open, and Knox steps out.
“Leave her alone, Spider,” he says. “Come on, Mercy. I’ll take you to medical.”
I give Spider a nasty look over my shoulder. This is all his fault. He could have at least given me a heads-up.
Spider simply blows me a kiss in response.
