Page 57 of Nova Academy

I couldn’t say how long we sat like that, rocking back and forth in each other’s arms on the floor. The captain came in at one point, took one look at us and walked right back out again, though I was barely coherent enough to notice.

When my arms went limp and I finally released her, she got up and came back with a cup of water. I downed it, relishing in the coolness as it soothed my overused vocal cords. A moment later the nanites finished their job and I was back to normal again.

‘You’ve been through some shit, huh?’ It wasn’t a question.

I could only nod.

‘Who’s Libby?’

‘My best friend,’ I said, my voice incapable of anything more than a whisper for so many reasons.

‘Why did you leave her behind?’ she asked, and the tears started back up again, streaming down my cheeks as I silently cried.

‘We got caught. We were fighting them off. They took her down, so she told me to leave without her. I never should have left without her…’ I choked out through a body-wracking sob.

‘That’s not your fault, Artemis,’ she said, but I wasn’t hearingher.

‘It was my choice,’ was all I said.

‘It was her choice, too.’

‘No.’

‘Yes, Art- ‘

‘No. I should never have left her there alone. I betrayed her.’

‘But is she alone? You mentioned someone… D?’

I sniffed. ‘T.’

‘He helped you escape?’

I nodded.

‘Then he stayed behind to be with her?’

I nodded again.

‘Then you didn’t leave her alone.’

‘But she’s still in there, Addy. She’s still in there and I have to get her out.’

Something clicked for her then, a light shining behind her eyes. ‘That’s why you’re here, masquerading as a boy? You’re trying to get back to her so you can get her out?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why here?’

‘I overheard… some bad people talk about how they’re using Nova Academy and a few others as recruiting grounds.’

Her voice was breathy when she spoke aloud the implications of that fact. ‘Recruiting grounds? For what?’

My only answer was to shake my head.

She sucked in a shallow breath, something else clicking for her. ‘We have a mole.’

‘You have multiple moles,’ I corrected.

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