I look to Red who squeezes my arm and sets off to find the Diamond area, I wish she wasn’t on her own.
“Oh Ace’s, if you’d like to come up here, I’ll be assigning you personally,” she calls gleefully, but it’s so fake, and it feels like a trap.
Wren is standing at the front waiting and the guys line up behind her, with me trailing at the back. It’s crazy how Ace is so small in student numbers but holds the most power. I feel my phone buzzing in my bag and sneak a glance, a message has just come through.
West: Avoid the middle envelopes, they’re the wild cards.
I don’t respond, there isn’t time if I want to pass it onto the other. I quickly fire a text to Red, hopeful she will get it in time, then pat Oscar on the back frantically.
Once I have his attention I lean in and whisper.
“Not the middle envelope, tell the others, quickly.”
He searches my eyes a second then passes the message on. I see it reach Roman just as Wren begins choosing hers. He looks at me and I can only nod. Let’s hope this wasn’t a shit game of Telephone.
Wren takes two envelopes, from the outside. Ahh, so her mother doesn’t want her taking part in the wild card. Which has me consider the fact that if she represents her mother’s bloodline, who was her father? It soon leaves my mind as I watch Roman step up to choose his. He takes the two from the outside and moves along, thank god. I watch Parker reach for one when Dietrichson intervenes.
“Oh Parker, your father has asked for you to take two, you know, to prove your worth.”
Fucking bitch.
I can’t control the growl that leave’s my throat. Parker looks to Roman who nods, and he picks another. I watch as she switches the envelopes around and I panic. Luckily, Parker caught the move too and picks the right envelope.
I’ll kill her. I swear to god.
Parker quickly moves away from her and I know she’s just dampened his mood. Kai takes one, and Oscar pulls the two from the outside like Roman.
That just leaves me. I hate being this close to her, especially when I’m mad because I really want to strangle her. She holds the three envelopes out as she did the others and I go to take the two ends, when she pulls them back.
“How silly of me, if you think you can attend this prestigious Academy representing three bloodlines, it would only be fitting for you to take all three, don’t you think?”
She tries to thrust them all at me, but I step back a little and glance around trying to remain calm. I hear someone swear, and I lock eyes with West who gives a slight nod. I can’t get out of this. I have no choice but to accept them, but the wild card can’t be good.
I’m not prepared for anything that lays inside these envelopes, but I refuse to let her see that. Placing a sickly sweet smile on my face I hold my hands out.
“Of course, I would be honored to complete the THREE assignments for the bloodlines I represent, thank you for giving me the opportunity,” I say, grabbing them out of her hands. I hold her stare as I place them in my handbag, offering her a wink before slowly stepping back. Leaving her stunned in silence.
That makes a change.
I don’t want to open them near her. I refuse to give her the satisfaction of seeing my response. So I make my way to Red.
“You okay?” I ask her, seeing the frustration in her eyes.
“Yeah, it’s something I’m completely capable of, I just hate being a pawn for these criminals,” she responds, holding out her card.
Featherstone Academy
With your skillset we would like to offer you the opportunity to:
Create gas explosives
We want two dozen
You have six weeks to complete
Failure to complete is not an option
Good Luck
What the hell? I look at her.
“This is why you take Science, huh?” I say waggling my eyebrows at her, trying to ease her tension. She nods and her cheeks turn red.
“Red, are you blushing?”
I can’t help but tease her, and it has her grinning back and smacking my arm.
“Hey, if this is what you have to do to survive then we make it work, okay?” I say wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
“Yeah.”
I feel the guys approach, all of them frowning, which must be because of their assignments. Before anyone can say anything, Dietrichson’s at it again.
“I’m sure you’ll all need some time to consider what you have been assigned, and with that in mind Business is cancelled this morning, for you to begin organizing what has been asked of you. All other classes for the day will continue. On a final note, I want to make it very clear that failure to complete your assignments will mean you are no longer able to attend Featherstone Academy.”
She surveys the crowd before continuing, hoping a pause will build anticipation. “You won’t ever leave these grounds, if you catch my meaning.” With that she walks straight to a waiting car and leaves.
Did she really just tell everyone if we didn’t complete our tasks, we’re as good as dead? Fuck. If we were unsure how dark this world would get, she just told us. If we’re no use to Featherstone, we’re no use at all.
Looking around our small group, I sigh.
“I’d rather not read these so publicly, so I’m going to take a car, read it on the drive and grab a coffee.”
“I’ll meet you there, if that’s ok?” Red asks and I just give her a nod.
I’m too focused on what my assignments will be.
Stepping into the closest Rolls, Kai follows. I raise my eyebrow at him, and he just shrugs his shoulders.
“We all know I have a calming effect on you, and I think you’re going to need
