Chapter 2
TWO
athena
And I thought the dungeons were terrible.
The pulsing rush of adrenaline hadn’t subsided since we’d been yanked out of the van.
Even during the quiet time we’d spent in the barracks.
Every part of this place felt wrong. While the dungeons were awful, they were secluded.
Quiet. Dark. Often, I felt like I could crawl into the corner of the dank underground prison and hide.
Here? We were utterly exposed to the scrutiny of dozens of strangers. Even when the building sat empty, I sensed the eyes on me, prying. Watching.
At least our cots were at the end of the building. The wall to my back was the only protection I had.
Outside of Sinner, I supposed, since he looked like he’d kill any one of these mystics the first chance he got.
I’d been mostly silent since we were thrown into that van. Because there was nothing to say. I’d royally screwed up. I’d let Director trick me into exposing my true power, thus demolishing the one edge I had over her.
Margaret, Katherine, Benedict, and the others were somewhere out there while Sinner and I would be forced to play the Ministry’s little games once again.
They were getting old.
The cadets stared at us like we were fresh meat, but I’d been the fresh meat before. This was nothing new.
Sinner stood in front of me, but I peered around him at the mystics crowding around us. Most of them ignored the red-haired girl and her insolence, but she had a few little friends standing behind her, matching her stare.
Her little pets. I was having freaking déjà vu.
Like I did, Sinner knew better than to take her bait. She wanted to get a reaction out of us? She’d have to try a lot harder than that.
“We’re not here to play your little game,” Sinner stated. “And it’s in your best interest to leave us alone.”
The woman’s eyes widened in mock horror and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Talking a big game so soon? Don’t tempt me with a good time, hot stuff.”
Her focus slid up and down Sinner’s body, causing heat to flare up my spine.
“Relax, everyone.” Another one of the cadets—a tall male who was obviously unfazed by this woman’s antics—sauntered our way. “I’m tired and hungry. Let’s move past the annoying alpha shit, okay?”
The woman rolled her eyes, but eventually made her way to the opposite side of the communal space.
The others followed—thank god.
Once they all seemed to move on with their lives, I unclenched my hands.
Okay, our first interaction here was at least slightly better than when I showed up at the dungeons.
We settled on our cots and I tried to pretend this was normal, tried to pretend I wasn’t losing my freaking mind here.
Sinner was silent too, with his ankles crossed and his back pressed against the wall behind him.
“What do you think he meant when he said war games?” I whispered after several quiet minutes.
Head tipped back against the wall, he sighed. His broad shoulders had widened even further since we got here. He was on guard. Even as the mystics around us went about their routines. Some ate. Some collapsed in their beds. Some went out the nearby door, presumably to head to the showers.
Though some stood around, whispering to each other and looking at us like we were three-headed dogs.
Sinner flinched like my voice surprised him, his eyes widening.
That sharp brown color glistened in the light before he zeroed in on me, recovering his calm, collected demeanor.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound fucking good.
” He tried to keep his voice quiet, but the vibrations echoed through my bones.
More eyes drifted our direction.
“The war games?” A man whose cot was across the small walkway between rows sat up and dangled his black boots over the metal railing. Fresh sweat glistened on his dark skin, and his toned muscles rippled beneath his shirt as he leaned forward and grinned.
That look alone probably awarded him many favors in life, especially with the tact he used, waiting for the perfect time to slip into our conversation.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been brought all the way here and you don’t know what the games are,” he said, his tone light.
Sinner and I didn’t smile in return.
“We weren’t exactly brought here by choice,” Sinner answered.
The handsome man laughed quietly. “Not everyone is, though we all at least knew what we were getting ourselves into. The games are the ultimate preparation for battle. Think of it as a training simulation for your power.”
“A training simulation?” I repeated. “Like…a fake war?”
I’d never been a fan of men—call me a skeptic—and this interaction wouldn’t change that.
Because his bright green eyes lingered on me long enough to make me want to squirm before he answered, “I wouldn’t say fake, sweetheart.
It’s as real as it gets out there. Life or death. Real blood, real stakes.”
“So we fight each other?” Sinner asked. “How is that supposed to prepare the Ministry for overtaking the earthlies?”
The man sat up even straighter, his attention flicking to Sinner, almost like he’d only now noticed him.
“Be careful what you say around here. We don’t talk about the earthlies.
” The last word slid out of his mouth so quietly it was almost inaudible.
Like he was afraid to even say it. “If I were you, I’d keep any political thoughts to myself. ”
I braced myself, waiting for Sinner to blow up. To grab this man by the throat and squeeze the breath from his lungs for speaking to him that way. That was the Sinner I knew.
But instead of inflicting unspeakable violence, he simply sighed. “So we’re training for a war we aren’t supposed to ask questions about. Sounds logical.”
Sinner returned to that nonchalant pose with his head relaxed against the wall behind him.
I’d seen this pose from him hundreds of times.
Casual. Calm. Calculated.
I used to think he was as cold as he looked. But I’d discovered that there was a lot more to Sinner than what he showed people.
“You’ll get the hang of things quickly,” the man added. “I’m Alexander, by the way.”
A blond man several inches shorter than Alexander approached him, wearing a mischievous smile. The two men were opposites in many ways, but he was just as attractive. “Are you scaring away the new guys?” He leaned in and kissed him on the temple.
“Just giving some helpful tips. You know half the mystics here are assholes.” He looked back at us. “This is Karlyle, by the way. My claimed.”
The blond turned our way too. “Welcome to cadet hell. He’s not lying. When we got here a month ago, that bitch over there spent a week trying to haze us. That stopped once we got to training and kicked her ass a few times.”
He motioned to the redhead who’d given us our warm welcome.
“Right,” I sighed. “She seemed friendly.”
“Stand your ground and mind your business,” he said. “The truth will come out in the games. It always does.”
He turned then, and he and Alexander began talking in hushed whispers.
The damn games. We’d been here for a matter of hours and I was already sick of hearing about them.
“Don’t get too cozy with any of our new roommates,” Sinner whispered, leaning my way. “We can’t trust anyone here.”
“You’re very cynical.” I sighed, my body deflating. “It was one conversation.”
“That’s where it starts. Next thing you know, you’re sharing secrets and building alliances and that’s a sure way to get yourself betrayed.”
I glowered at him. “Since when do you care if I get betrayed?”
His dark eyes slid to mine, and for a second, the world around us disappeared. We weren’t in this new prison, we weren’t surrounded by strangers who probably wanted to kill us during the war games.
“You know I care, Athena. Don’t make me fucking say it again.”
My heart stopped beating. But before I could recover, the moment was over.
Sinner straightened and went back to pretending like this was all normal. Like he was actually relaxing on that too-small bed. Like he wasn’t bothered by the dozens of stares and the whispers that surrounded us as the hours passed by.
So with an exhale, I went back to pretending this was all a normal part of life and not incredibly, incredibly messed up.
After dark, the two of us stayed glued to our cots like our damn lives depended on it. After the “you know I care” comment, he didn’t speak again. Before long, he even pretended to sleep.
Or maybe he did doze off. If he was half as fucking exhausted as I was, maybe he actually calmed his nervous system enough to get some rest.
But as worn out as I was, I was too restless. My mind spun, eager to learn what the hell was going on in this place, what the hell these war games were.
Every few minutes, my stomach rumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.
I had to get out of these damn barracks.
Silently, I stood. The mattress didn’t even squeak as I shifted my weight. Then I tiptoed to the back door. I had plenty of practice sneaking around. Hell, I spent half my life actively working to not be seen.
As I opened the door, the cool night breeze hit me in the face.
We were probably half a mile from the beach, but the distinct saltiness of it engulfed my senses in an instant.
Beyond the sound of the breeze, the lapping of the waves trailed in the distance, threatening to make me believe this place was actually capable of being relaxing.
For a second…I was at peace.
Checking my surroundings, I moved silently toward the next steel box, the bathhouse. The buildings were all aligned in a singular row, one long street of cadets who would train, eat, and sleep in preparation for this war we knew nothing about.
The whole situation was off. Why would all these mystics be here to train if the world didn’t yet know they were fighting a war?
As I got closer to the structure, a gust of wind blew my hair across my face. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, like I was being watched. Heart thudding, I turned, looking for the source of the attention.
I found nothing. Nobody.
I kept moving forward through the dark, more nervous than I probably should be. I was a cadet like everyone else. Simon had pointed out the bathhouse earlier and Alexander had said it himself—we weren’t prisoners.
I didn’t see a soul as I rounded the corner and slid through the massive door standing open a few inches. It could have been the moonlight shining through the small windows up high, but for a military unit, it was actually quite beautiful.
In the middle of the space, a fountain trickled, creating a fresh stream that filled several large pools. Large stones rimmed each one, offering a hint of privacy to bathers. Luckily, at this time of night, it was empty.
Still, my heart pounded.
This was nothing like the dungeons. We weren’t prisoners. We’d been given this large place. We’d been put up near a beautiful sea. Yet our powers had been stripped from us.
The sensation that came with it was one as violating as any.
I never realized how present that ball of power deep in my chest was until it was gone. Suppressed now for an entire day.
Focusing on that missing sensation, I tried to pull it back, tried to bring that buzz of energy to the surface.
And I got nothing. Nothing at all.
My heart pounded.
Or were those footsteps?
Shit. They were real footsteps this time, approaching quickly.
I spun toward the door, ready to bolt back to the safety of my tiny cot.
I’d taken one step when I slammed into a strong male body and reeled backward. Blinking, working to steady myself, I discovered a man I’d never seen before. The woman beside him, though, I had. She was the unfriendly redhead who’d snarked at us when we arrived.
And of the two of them looked much, much too excited to see me.
“And where, exactly, do you think you’re sneaking off to?”