The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



"We don't know which is which," Rafe says into my ear, "though obviously knowing which one belongs to Wright is going to be useful. Both teams are going to be sending out runners - scouts - trying to get the lay of the land. Wright will probably use Luca for that. So, if you see Luca coming from the direction of one team or the other, we'll know which camp is which."

"Why do you think he would he use Luca as a scout?" I ask, curious, laying flat on my belly and using the binoculars to attempt to locate the camp that should be to our south, along the line of our canyon.

"Because he's fast as hell," Jackson says into the earpiece, his voice pleased and a bit entertained.

"Hey, where's Jesse?" I ask, bright and interested.

"Could we please cut down on the chatter?" says another voice along the line, making me jump. "Some of us are trying to concentrate."noveldrama

I grimace a bit. I didn't know the rest of the team was on the line with us.

"Watch it, Miller," Rafe snaps, not liking his tone. A beat passes. "But yes, Clark, please concentrate and keep the questions to a minimum. Cadet Sinclair is out of range by now, out on his own mission."

I smirk but do as my brother says, concentrating and attempting to locate any movement in the area around that southern landing space, wondering a little where Jesse is and hoping he'll be okay.

Unfortunately, despite my excitement this morning, the majority of the Game is...boring as hell. I spend the vast majority of my time just looking through the binoculars, scanning the trees, looking for movement. I find that movement pretty fast on both teams, marking down the location of enemy soldiers on my map with the red pen Jackson left for me and relaying the information to Jackson and the team below.

Jackson uses that information to chart the movement of the enemy troops and give advice to Rafe about how he should move, predicting where the other teams might send their soldiers next and setting Rafe up to be on the defense.

As the hours slip by I listen to the chatter over the earpiece, my elbows starting to hurt because of all the time I spend laying on my belly propping up the binoculars.

War is so boring, I say to my wolf, who is laying on her back in my soul with her paws up in the air, her tail idly swishing back and forth.

Yeah, she replies, snapping her jaws at an imaginary fly, let's get up and bite someone.

I smirk at her, shaking my head, but then flinch and refocus my eyes when the tinny sound of paintball guns shooting breaks the air.

"What's happening?" I whisper, unable to help it, even though I know Rafe and Jacks will tell me what I need to know.

"It's not us," Rafe replies, sounding a little smug. "If the other teams were trying to work together to come for ours, then someone just broke."

More sounds break out and then

shouts as well as a great deal of noise and movement directly across the river. I shift my binoculars and begin to tell Rafe and Jackson precisely what I'm seeing,

but knowing that I'm their eyes in this situation. As I watch, report that the teams seem to be in a heated fight with several soldiers on either side taking hits and thus being marked out of the Game.

knowing a bit into the earpiece

―

As they're hit, the soldiers scowl and slink off into the forest, I guess going back to their bases - I'm not really sure. But by the time the fighting stops, there's only a few left

- and none of them are anyone I know.

UMS

And each and every one of them turns towards us - or, at least towards where our camp is, directly across the river.

"What's next?" I ask quietly when our line goes silent.

l

ง

Rafe and Jackson exchange a few hasty words that I don't understand - speaking in some kind of warrior-track shorthand that I haven't learned. But then Rafe's voice s darkly pleased when he turns his attention back to me.

MS

"What do you think, Clark?" he says. "Can you make the shot?"

A huge grin spreads out over my face as I finally, finally reach for my gun. "Hell yes I can."