“You four!” Seth stands at the front of the class, pointing in our direction. “Out of the gym. If you’re not going to pay attention, I don’t want you in my class.”
Hunching my shoulders, I shrink down as far as possible, properly scolded in front of a class full of peers. This is shaping up to be a great day.
Sterling pops up off the mat. “Thanks, man.” He salutes Seth as if he’s just done him a solid.
With downcast eyes, I follow the others out, feeling the stares of my classmates as we make the never-ending walk past the different training sectors.
In the locker room, I skip a shower since we didn’t get a chance to spar before being kicked out of class. Greyson and Sterling finish changing before Ash and me, and we find them both leaned up against the wall in the hallway, waiting. Greyson’s head is down, and he’s typing out something on his phone. It’s a moment before he looks up.
“Let’s go somewhere we can talk.” He tilts his head to indicate the direction and starts off. The rest of us follow.
“So why do you think he’s only called you? It’s not like he doesn’t have his brothers’ numbers. In fact, he would have had to do some research to find yours. You didn’t get a phone until after he left.” Sterling speaks the other question I didn’t want to be asked.
Looking into Sterling’s blue-green eyes, I take the coward’s way out and shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
We’re about to round a corner when the sound of shoes beating against the stone floor echoes off the corridor in front of us. We all pause. A mischievous round of laughter rings out a heartbeat before Blaze and Aurora careen around the bend, crashing into Greyson.
He catches them both, one in each arm, miraculously keeping them all on their feet.
Aurora’s face is flushed red. A sheen of sweat makes her face glow and her eyes bright. Her long mane is ruffled in a few spots and fine hairs stick to her forehead.
Blaze is equally disheveled. His gaze darts behind him as if he’s expecting someone to appear in pursuit any moment.
“What have you hellions been up to?” Greyson asks.
“Nothing.” Blaze’s response comes too quickly. Paired with the fervent glances he keeps lobbing over his shoulder, it’s obviously a lie.
“Emmy!” Aurora wiggles out of Greyson’s hold and jumps at me. I absorb her weight with an “oomph” and return the hug. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her. She pulls back and peers up at me, the very picture of innocence. “Blaze and I need to lie low for a bit.”
Uh-oh.
“So you’ve been up to no good.” A grin spreads across Sterling’s face. “I approve.” Holding up a hand, Blaze slaps him a high five.
“What trick did you play today?” Greyson asks, a touch of weariness permeating his words. In Steel’s absence he’s the one who keeps having to talk to the teachers when the twins pull something on the staff or another student.
“It’s not our fault he doesn’t have a sense of humor. And really, what do they expect in a student science lab? We need to be free to learn and explore.”
This ought to be good. I do my best to plaster a neutral expression on my face, wanting to support Greyson, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold it together.
“What exactly did you do?” Greyson presses.
Aurora snuggles into my side, using my arm as a partial shield and leaving her twin to face the firing squad on his own. He shoots her a quick look that screams traitor. Toeing at an invisible scuff on the ground, he opens his mouth to confess, when someone shouts the twins’ names from down the hall.
“Whoops, gotta go!” Blaze says and grabs Aurora’s hand, pulling her from my side. With a half-wave they dash off, disappearing around the bend only a half-second before Eric, the younger grades’ science teacher, appears around another corner, his eyes wild and covered from head to toe in a moss green substance.
“Where did they go?” he asks our group.
Sterling immediately points in the opposite direction from the one his siblings went, and Eric takes off. The putrid stench of rotten eggs and skunk wafts off him as he passes us. It’s bad enough that I slap a hand over my face, pinching my nose and breathing in and out of my mouth, waiting for it to dissipate.
“I couldn’t be prouder of those two,” Sterling announces, the grin on his face a picture of brotherly affection.
Greyson shakes his head, but I don’t miss the ghost of a smile on his face. “Let’s get out of here. We have some serious things to discuss.”
After all the weeks I’ve spent at the academy, I’ve never visited the boys’ dormitory, but it looks pretty much the same as the girls’. Girls on the boys’ side and vice versa isn’t forbidden during daylight hours, but it isn’t encouraged either. This time of day, the hallways are barren. Greyson opens a non-descript wooden door halfway down the hall.
“It’s about time,” Nova snaps when we walk into the room. She’s sitting on one of the beds, her back against the headboard and shoe-clad feet propped up on the dark comforter beneath her, while Tinkle, in the form of a hummingbird, flits around her head. The Celestial has taken a shine to Nova and spends just as much time with her as he does me. I’m not sad about it. The little dude has a lot of energy. “What kept you guys?”
“I texted her,” Greyson offers by way of explanation.
Sterling pushes past his brother. “Could you have at least taken off your shoes?”
Nova lifts a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “I want to have as many layers of protection between me and your bedding as possible.” She shudders theatrically.
Is Sterling . . . blushing?
“I clean my stuff,” he grumbles under his breath. “If you’re not going to take your shoes off, get off my bed.”
Nova gives Sterling a one-shoulder shrug, but slides off his bed. Kicking off her heels, she climbs on Greyson’s bed, crisscrossing her legs under her.
“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Sterling grouses. The pink on his cheeks deepens, but it isn’t embarrassment reddening his face now.
He receives another one-shoulder shrug from Nova. A sly smirk dances on her lips. She’s a cat playing with a mouse, thoroughly enjoying the game.
“All right you two, playtime’s over.” Greyson pins Sterling with a pointed look. “Ash, Em, feel free to sit wherever you want.”
Spying what looks to be a jock strap sticking out from under Greyson’s bed, I quickly avert my gaze and sit gingerly at the foot of the bed. There are just some things I don’t want to know about my friends. Ash eyes Sterling’s bed with disdain before plopping down next to me.
As Sterling flops into his desk chair, my eyes bulge at the command center behind him.
Sterling has five monitors.
Five.
Three sit on top of his desk, and two more hover above those on dedicated shelves bolted to the wall. He has two keyboards and three laptops docked below the monitors. An open bag of licorice sags out of the top desk drawer, and empty cans of Red Bull litter the little space he has left.
Sterling snags a red candy rope and starts chewing on one end. He lifts up one of the energy drink cans and gives it a little shake to check for liquid. “Score,” he says before bringing it to his mouth and chugging whatever contents remain.