"Sounds easy," Jordan whispered to Jessie, purposefully loud enough for everyone to hear. I took a breath and counted to five in my mind. Bryce told me that always helped him when dealing with annoying soldiers. I was probably that soldier for my poor ex-captain.
"No exceptions. Do the exercise, or sign up for extra training if you don’t feel ready to drill yet," I addressed the crowd. Faces looked more alert and serious after that. Even Jessie and Jordan perked up a bit. They would do anything to get out of any extra work, so that was good enough motivation to do the current exercise well. Nobody liked extra training.
"I hope you're ready to climb," I told them. "Hellraisers, as my team, you'll go first and we’ll split you up into two teams so you can demonstrate for everyone else. Captain Kelly will coach Team B. Please make me proud." The last part was a dig at the twins. I split them up into two groups. Team A would attack the "monster”—the moving rock-climbing section—by helping a teammate who was trying to climb the wall, but they also had to defend themselves from Team B. The goal was to get one member from Team A safely to the lever so that they could disengage the mechanism, unless Team B overwhelmed Team A’s defense. Defense or offense could win in the timed rounds.
The Hellraisers lined up. Jones and Evans were separated, but they didn't care. They might be disrespectful at times, but they understood the point of Bureau exercises, and they were seasoned veterans. A soldier never knew whether their preferred team member, who they worked best with, would fall in combat. You can never rely on someone completely. You have to adapt to your surroundings. A younger version of myself laughed somewhere inside me, knowing that I was regurgitating the lessons Bryce had handed down to me. I was such a wild child for him—and still was, in a lot of ways—but the knot of anxiety in my stomach was new to me as I watched the Hellraisers. They were my responsibility, but it was something more. I wanted them to do well.
Captain Kelly shot me a grin as she joined me on the platform. "Ready to see how your team does today? I know it's hard at first." She was forty, and kind in all the ways that Hindley was cold and straitlaced. I liked her, and her team had done expertly in the other lesson's drill. I swallowed the small lump of nervousness in my throat. I was a fighter, but now it was time to fight to make my team a better version of themselves.
“They’ll try their best,” I replied, hoping it was true.
I blew the whistle, and the drill began. I chose Jones, Holt, and Jessie for the offensive side while Kelly took Jordan, Colin, and Evans on Team B. I wanted to separate the twins, even though they grumbled about it. They needed to learn to be apart. I held my breath as Jessie and Jordan went into their separate groups. More and more, I understood Lyra's frustration as a captain. It came with a whole lot of wishing people would act a certain way and having to be the bad guy when you realized just wishing for people to be better wouldn't work.
Immediately, Holt and Jones conferred with Jessie. She seemed to be listening to them, but her eyes were still locked with Jordan’s. Quickly, it became clear that Jessie would head for the wall, since she was more agile. Jones and Holt were easily six feet, making them bigger targets for the other team. Hindley crossed her arms as she watched the Hellraisers intently. It was hard not to feel like a mother hen with a foul mouth.
Jessie sprang up the wall as Evans and Colin hurled themselves at her. Immediately, Jones and Holt went on the defensive to fend them off. Jessie scurried up the rock walls, the shaking segments no match for her. Hindley didn't know it, but Jessie loved rock climbing. The more extreme, the better. She and Jordan had often gone out on day trips before they signed up for the Bureau.
The teams on the ground were at war—except for one person. Jordan was making his way up the wall after Jessie with a giant grin on his face. I wanted to smack my hand against my face. He didn't look like he was planning on trying to fight Jessie off. No, instead, they were lobbing jokes back and forth. As I watched, Jessie stopped and pointed out the easiest path for Jordan to climb, waiting for him to catch up.
"Amazing view up here," Jordan called to his confused teammates. Holt, for his part, continued fighting, but Jones let out an annoyed snarl and started going up after Jessie on the wall. His age and experience meant he wouldn’t take her actions lying down. Oh no.
"We're your teammates, Jessie," Jones snapped. "Is not listening genetic in your family? You’re trying to win with your brother instead of fighting for your own team." Jessie let out a loud laugh, but the comment hit me like a punch to the stomach. Captain Kelly frowned, her composure fading in the face of such defiance.
"Jordan, push her off! She's your opponent, not a flower," Kelly yelled. The other teams were snickering in the crowd. Hindley narrowed her eyes. My head spun. All my hard work for the day seemed to be falling apart in front of me, and my last chance at some dignity
