Um… What. The. Hell?
She wasn’t even going to mention that it didn’t matter since it wasn’t a uniform?
I wanted to ask Oberi what was wrong with her, but I worried she’d hear me. Instead, I said, “Chancey wanted to get the guys together today to work out.”
I held my breath, awaiting her response. I expected her to mention fight club. I knew that was a sore spot for her. I thought I’d have to explain that this was nothing like fight club— just some friends getting together to keep our strength up.
But all Ava said was, “Sounds good.”
“You… don’t have a problem with that?” I asked curiously. “Because if you want me here, I’ll stay.”
“No, it sounds fun,” she said. “I have homework to work on, anyway. You should hang out with the guys.”
It almost felt like Avawantedme out of the room. It made me really sad that she didn’t need me around, but if she needed her space, I’d honor that.
“I’ll see you this afternoon?” I asked.
“Yeah. Sure,” Ava said in a tone that was difficult to read.
I hesitated. It didn’t seem right to leave her here, but it didn’t seem right to stick around, either. My stomach sank as I left the room. I didn’t know what was going on between us, but something wasn’t right.
I was a nervous ball of energy when I met up with Chancey outside the cafeteria.
“Charlie, good to see ya,” Chancey said. “Ready to hit the weights?”
Was I ever. I had to dosomethingto process the weird encounter I’d just had with Ava. “Where’s everyone else?”
“They went on ahead,” he said. “They’re waiting for us.”
Chancey led me down the hall, while he spoke in soft whispers. “Now don’t go snitchin’ on me, ya hear? If Captain finds out I snuck a few weights out of the gym, I’m dead meat. He’s already got it out for me now that his best bookie is gone.”
The mention of Captain left a bad taste in my mouth. “Well, he’s just going to have to live with it. We made a deal with him.”
“And a fine one at that,” Chancey said proudly.
We wove through a maze of hallways, until I couldn’t tell where we were anymore. “Where exactly are we headed? I thought if you’d built a secret training room, it’d be in The Devil’s Playground.”
“Nah, Ives doesn’t want to give the wrong impression, you know? I’ve got a better place. Even the guards don’t know I’m there.”
“Oh?” I asked curiously.
Chancey opened a door and guided me through. It sounded like a heavy metal door, like the ones at the end of each cell block. I ran my hands along the wall as we walked and realized we were in a long hallway. Up ahead, I could hear the muffled sounds of a conversation going on, but that was it. It didn’t seem like there was hardly anyone down here.
“Cellblock 7,” Chancey said proudly. “Snagged us an old dorm room no one’s using anymore. What do you think?”
Chancey opened another doorway, and the muffled conversation I’d heard earlier became clearer.
“I’ll shove a battle orb up that man’s ass,” Alistair said.
Marcus quickly chimed in, “Look, I’m not shoving anything upanyone’sass, but he’ll take a battle orb to the face from me.”
I heard someone grunt, like they were lifting too many weights. “I’ll… send… Tahoma after him,” Ez said. His Familiar puffed a heavy breath, like he agreed. “He’ll get an antler up the ass, that’s for sure.”
“Who’s getting one up the ass?” Chancey asked nonchalantly— like we talked about assholes all day.
Come to think of it, the topic came up more than I cared to admit.
“Ivy’s father,” Alistair practically spat. His cat Pig hissed, like just the thought of Ivy’s dad made her uncomfortable. “I heard he came around the other day.”
