I keep my door locked. My gloves remain strapped with blades. And I remain on high alert.
Spider sent me a list of everyone’s powers to my tablet. I memorized it as I ate breakfast.
Aric: Transporter
Rigel: Sonic
Tyson: Elementalist (Air)
Odette: Elementalist (Earth)
Lane: Elementalist (Fire)
Rei: Kinetic
Flint: Shifter
Kaia: Shield
The nine of us are wary as we stand in a wide circle. The squad leaders stand behind Ender. He has been missing from our past few sessions, so his return is disturbing to say the least.
This has to be our first test. The one Spider has been preparing us for.
Ender stands in the center. Black t-shirt clinging to his muscles, arms folded menacingly across his chest.
“Eight people will survive today,” Ender says. His voice cuts like glass. “One of you will not make it to the end of this evaluation.”
Everyone is in their practice clothes. Cotton gray pants and an identical t-shirt. We’re not allowed to use guns during combat, so everyone is strapped with their chosen knives. We’re ditching the practice blades today.
“The aim is to fight without breaking your focus,” Ender explains. “The test ends when one of you dies.”
The environment switches, and we’re in a dense forest on a high circular platform. The walls vanish above us and are replaced with a false sky that settles overhead. This has to be one of Ender’s illusions. The simulation they use for mock battles isn’tthisrealistic.
The wind blows through my hair, tugging at my braid.
Ender and the others vanish as the world reshapes itself, but I know they are watching.
“This is not a test of strength,” Ender continues, in his monotone voice. It echoes around us, as if hidden speakers are planted in the clouds. “It’s a test of awareness.”
My gaze slides, unbidden, to Aric. He’s already watching me.
The threat in his eyes is clear. His mouth curves, just slightly, as if we’re sharing a private joke.
My fingers flex inside my gloves.
“Let’s work together,” Flint says, glancing at Rei and me. “Us against them.”
“I’m not sticking my neck out for her,” Rei says with a sniff of her nose. “They’ll be gunning for her.”
A shockwave rips through the circle, throwing us apart. I hit the floor hard, breath escaping from my lungs as the world explodes into motion. Jagged stone walls cut through the ground, slicing the group into isolated pockets.
They are separating us.
I roll to my feet and slip out my blades. Someone screams in the distance.
This ends when one person dies. I will not let it be me.
There’s a tunnel ahead of me. I’m in a maze now. It stretches like an abyss. It’s so dark I can barely parse through the shadows. I have to remind myself that nothing here is real. Nothing can hurt me. I have to ignore my surroundings and focus on the threats. Minutes pass by as I stalk forward, heart pounding viciously in my chest.
