Selection (Book 2 of P.O.E. chronicles)

Chapter 8 New blood

“Mr. Ho?” I asked uncertainly at the man; he had a kind face and looked to be in his late thirties. He smiled at me as I walked forward to hand him the slip.

“Mr. Kwan, actually.” He said with a slight trace of Chinese accent. “But everybody call me Ho.”

Blushing at the mistake I took a step back joining the circle. There were three girls in the group including me and the red head. The other girl was a pretty brunette with blue eyes who gave me a calculating look when I saw her. I frowned at her attitude. What was her problem? Before I had time to assess the rest of my new team Ho spoke.

“Since we are all here, let me welcome everyone.” Ho said, beaming at us. I found this slightly odd that a mercenary would be so cheerful. Don’t they all rob each other or something? Surely the wilderness would have dampened the spirits. Or maybe it’s just a façade to us newbies?

“It’s a tad strange to have so many new ones in one group – but the Ganesh family wants new recruits trained as soon as possible so we are running a huge basic training.” The others around me all nodded, obviously aware of the facts already; but these were all news to me and I found this new world of families and mercenaries fascinating.

“This will be a hunt and gather mission.” Ho continued, looking at each of us in turns. “We will be with eight other trainee groups and five professional groups. The route we are going on had been used by many throughout and we seldom encounter any problems.”

Five professional groups. My heart warmed at the thought of Nirmal going through so much effort to get us back. Maybe I didn’t know much about this world, but I was certain that five groups of professional were a substantial force even in a big family.”

A collective intake of breath from everyone else also confirmed my suspicion. Ho smirked, enjoying the effect of his words on us. An excited chatter broke out between some of my group mates.

“Our main purpose is to get you trained in the survival and team work.” Ho said, “We have three days before we leave and I would like you all to get to know each other’s power and come up with your own plan of defense. So now, introduce yourselves to one another. We have a lot of training to do for the next few days. You can start first.”

Ho’s eyes then turned to the red-headed girl next to him, signaling her to start. She smiled confidently and straightened herself, enjoying the attention. “My name is Kailey Smith.” She said as she curled her fingers around a strand of her hair to the side, making the guy to my right swoon a little. “I am seventeen from Australia Citybase. My power is emotion control.”

Emotion control? I wondered briefly how she would be useful in a real life situation; then I realized that she would probably be good for moral. God knows we thought we were going to die on several occasion when we were out there alone. Depression can kill a team if you are not careful in the wild.

Next to her was the Oriental boy who announced my entrance earlier; he smirked and flicked his hair and I resist the urge not to gag. Fred and him would become great friends.

“My name is John Kuo. I am eighteen from Hong Kong Citybase.” He said, winking at the brunette who winked right back at him. God, what’s with the raging hormones? “My power is gravity control.”

Gravity? My thoughts immediately sprang back to Elise. I hope she was one of those who got saved in the test.

“Vladimir Makinon.”The brown hair boy next to him said; he had blue eyes and was the tallest of us all. For some reason he reminded me of Oscar, they both had the same silent brooding look going on. “I am nineteen from Moscow. Power is energy.”