Chapter 9

The first thing I heard was the crackling of burning wood, and the stamps of hoofs on stall doors. My instinct kicked in, and I opened the burning door in front of me, ignoring the pain it caused. I put my hand out, and then ran to the supply closet. Grabbing the thickest horse blanket I could and wrapped myself like a burrito. I then ran low to the ground and burst through the crumbling wood, leading the horses out one by one after that.

By the time I was finished, I was deaf, dumb, and blind. I noticed a big crowd right after I came out with the last horse. A muddled figure came forward, and I collapsed gratefully into their arms, coughing out smoke and slipping into darkness.

The darkness opened up, but not to the sterile hospital room i thought i would see. Instead, i found myself standing on a cliff, thousands of feet above the ground. The air was red, matching the color of the cliff, and filled with smoke. To either side of me, there were piles of bodies. Clearly, i was having a nightmare. Then I noticed the throne behind me. it was built upon the dead bodies, which was disgusting and sickeneing. But the worst part, by far, was seeing Alex sitting on it, ruling over his dominion of death. He was laughing, a low chuckle. I looked around, trying to focus on something else. That's when i saw who the bodies were. The throne was on top of my mother, father, and brother. He had killed all of them. I knew this, but it was still hard to swallow. So i did the only thing i could think of to get me out of the dream; i turned and ran straight off the cliff.

I came to with a start. I was in a white bed, dressed in a white gown, laying on white sheets and a white pillow. I wanted to blow my brains out. Until I saw Dimitri, sleeping in the chair at the wall closest to my bed. Then I smiled and blushed.

"Why are you blushing?" I looked towards the other wall and saw Kylie, Nick, Lissa, and Abby looking at me curiously. Then I blushed even harder.

"No reason, probably just the medication." Abby, Kylie, and Nick all accepted this without a second thought. Lissa, on the other hand, waggled her eyebrows over their shoulders, again. I sighed, and asked, more to myself, "What happened to me?"

Of course, Kylie didn't get that, and answered, "Well, you saved all of the horses from the stable fire, which was really cool and brave, and then you stumbled out, coughing and saying something like, 'Blackjack'. You fell right into Dimitri's arms, and then he carried you all the way here. All the girls were totally jealous. All of the horses have been caught and are safe. Everyone thought it was really heroic. What were you doing there anyways?"

"Oh you know, just visiting my horse. So where are they now?" I was still cursing myself for feinting and missing being carried here by Dimitri, but I tried not to show it.

"They have a sort of temporary stable right now. Judge Harks gave you a medal or something and then said that the new stables would be built by next week." I nodded, and then spotted the medal she was talking about.

It was a small gold medallion on a simple silver chain, reading: Bravery in the face of enemy fire. Kind of ironic I know. But hey, when things work out, you don't question it. So I slipped it over my head and tucked the medallion into my shirt. It was oddly warm, and I was grateful.

We chatted until a nurse came in with sign-out sheets a couple of minutes later. The plus side of having medical healers was never having to worry about long recoveries. Once I was dressed and ready, we set off. It was early the next morning, so I wasn't going to miss any of my new classes. Which turned out to be awesome.

Tactical class was amazing. In leadership Theory, the attention had always been split between communication skills and tactical maneuver. I had always felt unchallenged by the other students. They only ever made the obvious, teacher approved moves. They never took any risks, which made them predictable and easy to defeat.

But in Tactical Class, I was able to really push myself, thinking up new ways to do things that had already been done 15 different ways. It was exhilarating, and I thrived. After two days of this, it was clear that I was the best. We were informed then that Battles would start next week.

Battles were fights between the Packs. It was a one-on-one war. Each Pack was given an assignment, an objective that they had to complete, and made aware of what the other team's goal was. The goal could be anything, from capturing a flag to capturing a person, to infiltrating and destroying a building. The list was endless. The Alpha of the Pack (that's me) had to plan a defensive and offensive strategy, and then tell their Pack how to execute it. The first Pack to accomplish their goal was declared the winner. The more enemies that you took out, the higher your rank went.

The wins and losses of Battles were recorded, and shown to the rest of the school on a giant scoreboard in the Cafeteria. Standings and ranks were based off of the Battles. Battles gave a purpose to the school, and the students treated rankings like a religion. Your rank made or broke your reputation in the eyes of the students, and even some teachers. I intended to be the best.

Naturally, when the class was told about the Battles, there was groaning and grumbling. They weren't ready. But I was, and so the next week passed in a flash. Monday morning, I jumped out of bed like a Pop-Tart from a toaster. We all went through class like normal, since we had a Night Fight, or a Battle held while it was dark. The minute classes were over, I made the Pack go back to the dorms to rest before the Battle. They would need their strength.

The Night Fight was scheduled for eight o'clock. At seven thirty, I led the Pack to the Arena, a huge stadium on the West side of the campus. I checked in with the Referee, Coach Dargan, to receive the Battle information. Our goal was to capture the opposing Pack's Alpha, Pierce Henderson. And they were supposed to capture me. This was going to be fun. Dargan gave me a map of the field and sent me on my way.

My mind raced as I explored the map. It would be completely dark, with only moonlight to see by. The terrain was mostly forest, with a river running through the middle and little clearings dotted throughout the Arena. So minimal visibility and maximum chance of getting lost. There was a camp on either side of the river, where we were supposed to take the captive to end the game. A thought popped into my head, and I ran back to my team.

I quickly showed them the map and explained my idea. They all agreed with my plan, trusting my judgment. "So Kylie, you'll be with me, Dimitri with Nick. Sam you're with Abby, Matt, you're with Lissa. That leaves Jean with Paul. Is everyone clear on the plan?" They nodded, and took off for their positions just as Coach yelled "The Battle has begun!"

Kylie and I started walking through the forest, in the vague direction of our position. We never got too close to the rest of the Pack, but we went as close as we could without disturbing the plan. Before long, I heard the metallic clang of weapons, followed by screams of pain. The fight had officially begun.

We continued wandering, alert and tensing at any sign of movement. After about 15 minutes of aimless walking, we stepped out into a clearing. A couple of leaves rustled, and I immediately drew the short sword that I had chosen, and Kylie notched an arrow. I motioned for her to hide in a tree. Just after she was hidden, Pierce stepped out of the trees and into the clearing. He appeared alone, but so did I.

Seeing me, he tensed. "You know that I have to take you to the camp right?" What a stupid question. Of course I knew. Idiot. But I merely said, "If you can." He looked around nervously, and I almost laughed. He'd brought a friend, but I wasn't concerned. How had he become an Alpha?

He drew the spear that he was holding, and I was almost impressed. Few were able to master the strength of a spear, and this proved to be true. He was gripping it too tightly, locking up his muscles and limiting his mobility. This would be easy. The inevitable fight ensued, and within a minute I had my sword point at his throat. "You know that I have to take you to the camp right?" I mimicked him.

Then, at the front of my throat, I felt the cold bite of metal. It was a Dief. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." His breath shifted the hairs on the back of my neck, and I shivered. As he took my sword, I scanned the trees. Kylie was nowhere to be found.

They walked me through the forest, and over the river. As we walked, my eyes darted around, searching the trees. Where was my Pack? When the enemy camp was within sight, I sighed. My risk hadn't been worth it. I should've known not to come out of the camp.

A movement to the right caught my eye. It was subtle, but my eyes were trained. Suddenly, Paul and Sam flew out of the tree above us, landing on either side of the Dief. Then Matt and Abby stepped out of the surrounding trees, helping subdue him. Lissa was healing any and all of their wounds. Dimitri then dropped right in front of Pierce, who had stopped in his tracks. He turned, about to run, only to find the twins behind and to the side of him, bows raised with arrows notched. We had him.

Dimitri stepped forward. "Dief 1 and Genezer 1 eliminated." He said it smugly, and I fought a smile. Next was Sam, who said quietly, "Jaeger 1 and Guardian Beta neutralized." Then Paul, "Jaeger 2 and Heks 1, out cold." Matt coughed. "Heks 2 and Genezer 2 unconscious." And then Kylie skipped up. "Dief 2 subdued, Guardian Alpha captured." I nodded, pleased.

Then I turned back to Pierce, whose jaw was on the ground. "You set me up!" I smiled at him. "Told you that you couldn't take me in. Time to go big boy." With that, my Pack formed a tight ring around him, and walked him back to our camp. When he was inside the door, Coach Dargan blew his whistle. "Pack 2 wins!"

That night we celebrated, staying up until 4 am. We partied, and part way through the night, beer appeared. I took a cup, but drank none of it. If I only got 1 hour of sleep that night, I would be hung over enough. I didn't need beer on top of that.

After about two hours, I looked around and noticed that Dimitri wasn't there. I crept toward the balcony, and stood there silently. Dimitri was sitting there, strumming an acustic guitar and singing:

Steady hands just take the wheel

Every glance is killing me

Time to make one last appeal

For the life I lead

Stop and stare

I think I'm moving but I go nowhere

Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared

But I've become what I can't be, oh

Stop and stare

You start to wonder why you're here not there

And you'd give anything to get what's fair

But fair ain't what you really need

Oh can you see what I see?

I took a sharp intake of breath. I had never heard him sing, and he was amazing. He stopped and looked around, clearly hearing my breath. "You know, spying isn't very nice."

I recalled our night on the balcony, and replied, "It's not spying if you're in plain sight." He smiled, and patted the chair next to him. I sat, and he started strumming again. We sang next two hours away, until we had to go to sleep or we wouldn't be able to function tomorrow. It was pleasant.