Page 96 of The Stone Secret
“Out there, in a real-world situation, you’d never know for sure.”
“In other words, you’re not gonna tell us,” Curi said. “Fine.” He rolled his shoulders. “I like surprises.”
Levi walked to the parking lot barrier. “Beyond this point, there is danger. Navigate it, reach the other side of this settlement, and you pass the test. The exit warp is due northeast.”
He shrugged the pack off his back. “I have compasses. Take one as you pass.”
Hamlin went first, trailed by a couple of the goyles from his dorm. Levi handed them each a compass, and as they stepped past the barrier, the air rippled. It looked like this was a protected zone.
Shar and the twins passed through, followed by Touron then Curi. Then it was me and Derek.
A breeze kissed my face, cold enough to make me squint. “I thought you were coming with us.”
“I’ll be on hand if needed.”
He’d be watching somehow. Monitoring us?
He handed me the compass but didn’t let go of it. The tips of his fingers grazed mine, and gentle warmth bloomed between us along with words unspoken. “Be safe,” he said finally, letting go of the compass.
I dropped a nod and joined the others outside of the safe zone.
“This way!” Hamlin held up his compass and strode off down the road.
“Someone’s overcompensating for his earlier cowardly comment,” Shar said.
“Who put you in charge?” Dayn demanded.
“Fuck you, Lowther,” Hamlin said.
“Fuck you.”
“Why don’t you both fuck each other?” a goyle with a square jaw and angry eyes growled. “Or shut the fuck up. This is a training exercise. There’s danger out here, and we need to be stealthy.”
“Who’s that?” Ginia whispered.
“His name’s Hawke. He’s a Foxe,” Palia said.
“He certainly is.” Ginia caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “How did I not notice him before?”
“He’s one of Farnell’s cadets so isn’t in our regular classes.”
Now that I thought about it, there were a couple more faces that I’d never seen in any of our classes. “Farnell has special cadets?”
“It would seem so. But from what I gather, this is his first year doing it.”
I made a note to ask Serath about it. He was close to Farnell. He’d know.
Hawke’s admonishment seemed to have shut Hamlin and Dayn up. We trudged down the road and into the town in silent vigilance.
The world here was gloomy, the sky heavy with rain clouds. The sun broke through here and there, lancing down to dapple the earth with golden light. The buildings were worn but patched up. You could see that someone had gone to the effort to put in a new door here or fit a new window there. The Stone Council took care of this settlement because they needed it.
Had there been people living here before the council commandeered it?
The sky darkened as the sun was obscured by a cloud.
A clatter and scraping sound brought us all to a halt, drawing our attention to the rooftops of the nearby buildings.
“There’s something up there,” Curi said under his breath.
