Page 73 of Failed State

“Are you okay, sweet pea?”

Huck is trying to be kind, but it just makes me more upset. “I’m fine. Finish up and meet me at the damn lecture. I need some space.”

Before any of them can protest, I sling my bag over my arm and speed walk out of the locker room. Brick and Lancaster try to speak when I rush out, but I ignore them to get the hell away from this entire situation. As I stride down the hallway towards our next session, my emotions threaten to overflow and I have to take deep breaths to push everything behind the mask again. I’ll need to go see the damned doctor today; that’s a given when the things I used to control seem to fail much earlier than normal.

Just what I wanted to do during my dinner and free time tonight—fuck my life.

KNOW WHEN TO HOLD ‘EM

HUCKLEBERRY

Our girl’srapid departure from the locker room wasn’t shocking. In the time I’ve known her, I’ve only detected her cycle once, and I suppose it was some kind of early decline of whatever method she’s using to keep herself from being fertile. Thad said nothing that day, so I followed suit. Nothing about it is shameful; in fact, much like the vampire, it smelled like heaven in liquid form to me. But my sweet pea grew up without a mama and a father so concerned with keeping them away from the rest of the community that he failed to support her.

It’s not shocking that she’s so tightly wound about sex and the other mechanisms of procreation.

“You know, if that bastard wasn’t dead, I’d gladly ring his neck.”

The words come from the mage’s shower stall, and I hum my agreement. None of us want to press the issue, but Syd’s hero worship of a borderline neglectful father is a bitter pill to swallow. It doesn’t take a fancy degree to see that his rhetoric and paranoia damaged her in ways she hasn’t even figured out yet. As her only friends in the camps, the bear and I didn’t seethe need to bust that bubble she lived in if it helped her survive our daily bullshit.

Now it’s vital that she accept a lot of hard truths about the world and her past that she’s not had to face. I hate that, especially because I know it’s hurting her and it won’t get easier along the way. But we need to survive, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some tinfoil hat whack job who’s been dead for years keep us from achieving what his rebels couldn’t. This ragtag group of supes is going to start, lead, and finish the revolution that will end these fucking prisons, that I guarantee.

“Agreed, Stormbringer, but we cannot push too hard.”

I feel Thad’s bear prickle from the next stall and it makes me smile. His voice is rumbly when says, “Sydney is strong—stronger than she thinks, even. She’ll be able to get through all of this… new reality… if we give her time and space. I don’t think I’m over-assuming when I say that we’ve come to terms with almost everything she never dealt with. Other than her shitty dad, of course.”

“Hmmm,” Sebastian replies. I hear the water turn off at his end and the slap of wet feet on the tile. “That may be true, ursa, but we have precious little time to get her up to speed. We have no idea how long they plan to ‘train’ us, and the minute the actual competition begins, her blind spots become weaknesses. We can be respectful, but we also must be realistic.”

The dragon makes an annoyed sound that is somewhere between a huff and a growl. “I dislike forcing people to face things they are not ready for. It is not our way, mosquito.”

“Mine, either,” Thad admits. “Though I suppose the vampire and Huck are more inclined to do it by their nature. And Rory is just pushy.”

“Hey!” the mage says indignantly. “I’m not pushy, but I know how to convince someone when needed. That’s what I did theother night, and you assholes didn’t complain. Don’t hate the player, hate the game, buddy.”

“Do you think Sydney would appreciate being called a game?” The vampire tone is amused and I hear him rifling through his stuff to get dressed. “I’d put money on ‘no’ being the answer.”

Bets? Now, that’s my kind of action.

“Dependin’ on how much you’re willing to lay down, I’ll?—”

“For fuck’s sake. Betting is no better than using the term ‘game’. Stop being so juvenile.”

Elias thumps his big fist on the wall of his stall and I swear the damn lights shake in response. Probably best not to upset the storm dragon, I suppose. Sighing, I concede before he shorts out the electric and leaves us wet in the dark. “You’re right. I was only joking, anyway—about betting on sweet pea, anyway. I enjoy the fuck out of wagers otherwise.”

“Unsurprising,” Sebastian remarks drily. “However, I suggest what we say between us stays between us as long as it is not detrimental to Sydney’s progress and the team. If we are to bond in a group setting, some friendly interaction like this may be necessary.”

“Why do you sound like such a damn robot?” I shake my head and turn my shower off, exiting into the small dressing area to pull on our ever-present uniform. “You need to lighten up as well, Whitmore. If your ass gets any tighter, it’s going to shit out a diamond the next time you hit the head.”

That gets a laugh out of the rest of the guys, and I grin to myself. The bloodsucker isn’t wrong in his assertion, but he needs to say it in a less formal way. We do need to bond as guys and as a full team with our girl. Otherwise, the plan will not work, and neither is the suspicion I have about where this is going. None of us can hate one another forever; that much, I’m completely certain of.

Trick is, Syd can’t hate us, either, and right now, she’s probably hoppin’ mad.

We leave a spot for her between the mage and me in the back row of the lecture hall. Krista is at the front with all the other coaches, and I can’t help wonder what in the merry fuck this session is going to accomplish. There are too many cooks in the kitchen down there and way too many groups of suspicious supernaturals looking at one another as if a poison dart is going to materialize out of thin air.

Everyone is fixin’ to get ugly, no matter what their beauty sessions accomplishedearlier this week.

The room is just barely filled when I feel Sydney enter. I turn, looking for her gaze at the back of the large hall, and when she sees me, she hurries over to slide in between Rory and me. Our girl doesn’t say a word, but I notice her scent is drowned under alotof perfumes and sprays. Of course, she likely doesn’t realize that most supes can scent her underneath that mess, and I sure as hell don’t say a word. Her face is a bit pink as it is, and her discomfort is radiating from her frame.

“I didn’t miss anything, right?” she mutters as she pulls her tablet out.

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