Page 70 of Failed State

“Have you guys noticed the atmosphere in here?” Rory interrupts as he leans forward on his elbows. “It’s oddly quiet, yet I feel like there’s a thousand eyes on us.”

I blink, thinking about his question as I pretend to leisurely sweep my eyes over the room as I turn to Syd. The mage is right; there’s an ominous feel to the cafeteria and the lack of noise around us is weird. People are talking, but they’re keeping it quiet in their various groups. Occasionally, I see someone’s gaze flicker to our table, then away quickly. Something is going on, and I was too busy overthinking our relationship with Sydney to notice.

“Yes,” Sebastian says as he continues drinking with a bland expression. “I’ve been monitoring it, but I haven’t caught the whispers. Apparently, our fellow competitors are using their skills to obfuscate the surrounding sound. That’s not a good sign.”

Grimacing, I look over at Dante, then Huck, who both nod. They haven’t heard anything, either, then. “They could just be strategizing. It wouldn’t be a good idea to let everyone hear what they’re planning.”

“One does not plan in public places, bear.”

The dragon is right; I was just hoping this wasn’t actually a problem. “Fine. They’re purposefully gossiping behind spells and whatnot. Since the teams have barely interacted, what the hell is their problem?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’re all so pretty?” The mage chuckles, then frowns when we all roll our eyes at him. “Look, I wanted you guys to pay attention, but I doubt it’s anything serious. If it was, whatever it was would have made its way to our feet long before the end of lunch. Right?”

Sebastian nods, setting his mug down to steeple his fingers together as he leans in. “Stormbringer is probably correct. Violence would have erupted quickly, rather than simmering for an hour. We will need to keep our ears open as we head down to the gym. Someone will be stupid enough to let it slip outside of their safe zone. We’re not surrounded by evil geniuses, after all.”

Perfect. Just add another thing to the plate—why not?

As we head for the elevators, my entire body is on alert. I hate this kind of tension; it makes everyone and everything in the vicinity feel like a threat. That riles up my bear, and he’s a grumpy fuck when he gets territorial. It’s why I try to stay calm and placid all the time—I don’twantto be on the edge constantly.

“I’m useless with this shit,” Sydney mutters as she stabs the elevator button with her finger. “If I don’t get whatever I’msupposed to have before these things start, I might lose my fucking mind. I hate feeling like the weak link even more than I hate being violated by my captors.”

This way, madness lies; time for a subject change.

“Syd, you’re great hand-to-hand. Even Brick and Lancaster said so,” I say. She rolls her eyes at me, and I smile guilelessly. “Come on. You’re doing well with accepting the changes; don’t backslide.”

“Ugh.” Sydney wrinkles her nose and crosses her arms over her chest as we wait for the ding of the doors opening. “Fine. I’ll try not to let this bother me because I get to beat on you dicks soon.”

“That’s the spirit,” Rory chirps and her arm snakes out to punch his arm before he can blink. “Niiiiiice speed there, Vicious. See? You’re gettingsomepowers, just slowly. That was fast as hell.”

“He’s right, sweet pea.” Huck winks at our girl, holding his hand out when the bell signals the elevator’s arrival. “Now let’s go. We need to get changed before class begins.”

“You know, forcing us to wear different uniforms to various things is a waste of time and money.” Sydney walks into the car, waiting for the rest of us to join her. When Dante blocks other teams from joining us with a snarl, she chuckles softly. “I guess that’s one way to keep people talking about us, big guy.”

“I see no reason to allow them in our space if they are plotting something.”

His shrug is nonchalant, but I recognize the protective spark in his eyes. The dragon might be pragmatic, but he’s also quite good at keeping his natural instincts under wraps. Out of the entire team, what I know about his kind—besides their legendary tempers and tendency to hoard things—is that they are fiercely possessive of what they consider theirs. It feeds intothe hoarding, I’m sure, but it extends to other beings as well. Elias showed his hand just then, and I bet the others saw it, too.

“He has a point,” I offer, hoping to show the enormous man that I’m on his side. The knowing smirk on his face tells me he understands, and I reach out to push the buttons. “But we’re not going anywhere if we’re all too distracted to remember simple shit.”

“I’m stuck in the middle,” Sydney complains. “How am I supposed to get through the wall of muscle and testosterone mist?”

Chuckling, Rory reaches out to tug her braid lightly. “Very true. Point to you this time.”

Her eyes narrow as she pulls her hair closer to her body. “If we’re keeping score, you’re all in the negative. Keep that in mind.”

“No fair, darlin’. I’ve been accommodating as hell. Where did I lose points?”

“Hey, wait!”

“Excuse me, but?—”

They all scramble to correct her and I just stay quiet, smiling smugly as she growls. I’m smart enough to know she was baiting us and if we protested, she was going to use that to deduct more fake points for being annoying. Sydney turns to look at me, her lips curved fondly. “Thad wins this round. He knew better than to irritate me by whining. You all need to take your cues from him.”

Ha. Suck it, losers.

“Judas, Lilith, and Lucifer…” Huck grumbles as he smacks his forehead. “I walked right into that one like a damn freshly summoned darkling, I swear.”

“Sure did, buddy.” I wink at him, waiting for Sydney to turn away and then make a victorious face at my friend. “Classic blunder, really.”

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