“Should we pick a team name?” asked Kayleigh, as Silt and Wormhole took their seats.
“How about Three Badass Bitches, a Unicorn, and a Little Birdie?” suggested Silt.
“Who are you calling little?” I asked. “I’ve seen children taller than you.”
“And with dicks bigger than yours, no doubt,” she retorted delightedly.
“Oh my God,” murmured Wormhole. “This is a nightmare.”
I don’t know if Kayleigh agreed with Evelyn, or was just responding to the waves of embarrassment no doubt coming off of her, but the blue-haired Empath casually pressed her bare foot against my leg.
Toes like icicles, I’m telling you.
“Boneboy and I are just getting started, Evie,” declared Silt, brown eyes gleaming. “Wait until we start hurling shit at each other like monkeys.”
“You know,” said the other girl, “with you joining this group, your old group only has four members… maybe I should pop down and join them?”
“Don’t even think about it.” Silt grinned. “I know where you sleep.”
“What about The Friendly Five?” suggested Shane in desperation. His words prompted a moment of long, pained silence.
“I hereby move that Unicorn be stripped of all naming privileges,” said Silt. “All those in favor?”
Shane’s look of injured betrayal as everyone, even Vibe, voted in favor was a thing of rare beauty. Not unicorn-rare… but close.
“Now Fearsome Five, on the other hand,” continued Silt. “That’s got kind of a ring to it.”
“If we were Black Hats,” said Kayleigh, “but we’re not.”
“Black Hats… black sheep…” Silt shrugged. “I say we own it.”
The Fearsome Five had a much easier time picking the topic for our project. Something Alexa had mentioned regarding the number of former Capes at the Academy had left me curious about our teachers. Nikolai was clearly a Titan, and Jessica a Stalwart, but what about the rest of them? Did they all have powers? Had they all been Capes? And if so, who? More importantly, what had Gabriella’s costume looked like?
That flame might have gone dim, but it wasn’t entirely out. Not yet anyway.
The other four came on board almost immediately. After three months of teachers forcing us to study, the idea of turning the tables and studying them had a definite appeal. It also meant we might be able to just interview our teachers and skip the more tedious research methods entirely. I don’t think anyone minded that possibility.
The others headed off to the next class, while I went down to add our name and topic to the list. Amos had his feet on the desk, eyes closed, and the noises coming from his open mouth had to be heard to be believed. And the old man said I snored?
I rolled my eyes and started off.
“Mr. Banach.” Amos’ snores stopped before I could take a step, but his eyes stayed closed. “Good job. With today’s discussion and the Empath both. Keep it up.”
I was still shaking my head as I left and the snores rose again in volume. Curmudgeonly old fart or not, Amos was something else.
CHAPTER 29
Take your average first-year’s schedule. Add in tutors on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a mandatory counseling session. Then pile on after-hours group meetings a couple times a week for History, not to mention the occasional drive-by sensory-deprivation request from the resident Empath…
Tired didn’t even begin to cover how I felt. I could barely remember what simple tiredness was like. Sometimes, I dreamed of just being tired.
And then Nikolai decided we’d worked hard enough on conditioning, and that it was time to get back into actual combat. Two weeks of painful sparring later, I was one big walking bruise.
I shifted about on the hard soil, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt. I was meeting with the other members of the so-called Fearsome Five out in the clearing where I’d first found Vibe, the Los Angeles sun still pleasant and cheerful despite our steady push toward summer.
“So Nikolai didn’t tell you anything at all?” asked Shane.
“Afraid not, Unicorn.” Silt shrugged. “I’m starting to think the guy just doesn’t like me.”
“Did you try to… you know… be nice?” That was Kayleigh.
“I’m always nice.”
“We still have plenty of time,” said Shane, the group’s self-designated morale officer. “I’d say we’re making pretty good progress.”
“What about you, Boneboy? Any luck with Professor Strich?”
I’d pushed hard to have Gabriella Stein as my research subject, but for some reason, the others had voted me down. Given the way Isabel Ferra and Emery Goldstein felt about me, that had left me with a choice between Nikolai and Jessica Strich.
The choice had been pretty obvious.
“A little bit,” I admitted, trying to straighten up without wincing. “Turns out Jessica is Matthew’s older sister.”
“Yeah, no kidding.”
“I thought everyone knew that,” added Evelyn. “What else would she have been?”
“Hell if I know. An aunt? A cousin?” I shrugged. “Anyway, she’s a Stalwart, like we suspected. Graduated second in 69, and only became a teacher last year. She’s also way, way cooler than her little brother.”
Cute too, in a smile-with-you-flirt-with-you-drink-you-under-the-table-and-then-leave-you-chained-to-the-flagpole-in-nothing-but-your-underwear sort of way. Like Her Majesty, I guess… just without the fear-boner.
“Maybe we should change your codename,” said Silt. “Captain Obvious is still available.”
“Matthew’s not that bad,” protested Wormhole.
“Only because you’re so busy checking out his cute little butt that you can’t see the stick shoved right up it.”
The Teleporter went bright red, but I think Shane blushed even harder. Silt had no filter between her mouth and her brain.
She was right about the stick up Paladin’s ass though.
“Anyway, that leaves three years unaccounted for between graduation and her return to the Academy, but I’m not sure yet if she spent those years as a Cape… or what her codename was, if so.”
“Clearly, daddy dearest decided not to make her the next Paladin.”
I nodded. “I’m not sure what the story is there either.”
“I know we’re still just first-years, but have any of you thought about what we’ll be doing once we graduate?” asked Wormhole.
“I think it depends on which Cape team we end up on,”
