Aestus, Book 1: The City

Aestus, Book 1: The City | Chapter 25

He followed her gaze. "Wow. You make friends quickly."

Jossey poked at the slop on her plate and sighed. "I literally have done nothing to her. I came in after lights-out, I guess? The other one seems nice enough."

Caspar shrugged, taking a giant bite. He seemed to enjoy the food, she thought sourly.

Somehow the Patrol uniform, plus the half-ponytail, made him look even more handsome. She blinked the thought away, annoyed at herself. She didn't have time to think those things. Besides, with her scar, why would he ever –

She stopped thinking, took another bite of food.

At least he didn't seem to flaunt it. Gavin seemed to revel in the effect he had on people, she thought, half-smiling to herself.

Caspar looked at her. "What?"

"Nothing." She smeared some of the...bean paste?...on her bread. "How do you stand this stuff?"

"We ate a lot worse back when I was an apprentice." He grinned, silver eyes dancing. "I think it was fully artificial. Your roommate's staring at you again."

She didn't turn around. "It's probably my scar. I think some people are bothered by it. Not my problem."

He snorted. "Probably the fact that you don't have to prove yourself to the boys. They already know who you are. I guess your commander friend told the entire unit about the security...incident. He was, um, most displeased."

She could imagine. Caspar went on. "My roommates wouldn't stop asking me about what happened in the tunnels, how you fought the Onlar."

Jossey was horrified. "What do you– "

"FIVE MINUTES," a familiar voice bellowed, cutting her off.

Jossey whipped around. Gavin was standing there, in full uniform, hands behind his back.

Only it wasn't Gavin here. She reminded herself she couldn't call him that. Commander Tskoulis. Tskoulis for short. Or just Commander.

She glanced down at her own uniform, where the badge said 2-5.

She looked back up at Gavin for a long moment. He was scanning the room.

His gaze passed right over her without apparent recognition. She wilted.

Caspar tapped her plate with his fork, and she realized he'd been watching her. She quickly looked away from his gaze.

"Better hurry," was all he said.

"I know." She stuffed another forkful of maybe-beans into her mouth, trying not to breathe.

Maja and Olivia hurried down the hallway ahead of her, bags slung over their shoulders. Jossey was glad she'd at least noticed the bags before going to the mess hall. She pulled hers up higher on her back, hoping her old leg injury wouldn't ache today.

The training area was a wide-open space, she guessed somewhere between sublevels 1 and 2. It was a giant square. Sets of weights and other mysterious-looking piles of equipment were scattered around the perimeter. A series of red rubbery mats was laid out on the ground.

Jossey followed the group over to the mats. Olivia split off and joined a different subunit. The Patrol troops stood in clusters, whispering, as Commander Tskoulis walked to the front of the room and turned to them.

He didn't need to shout, didn't need to say a word. They all went dead silent, standing up straighter, as if by instinct. There was an undercurrent of something in the air – excitement. Fear.