Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Mace lays his ART in his palm, screen up. A projection of Stella’s face appears between us. ‘Congratulations, Team Gold. Your team has been reunited. You’ve finished this challenge in second place. The extra points have been added to your account.’
Mace glares at me with – shocking! – a frown. I’m not sure what I did this time.
Don’t send me home, I beg him in my mind.
‘Your next task,’ Stella goes on, ‘is to find the closest supply point. You’ll receive mission-appropriate apparel, and the items that you packed for the Test Mission. Good luck, Team Gold.’
Humph, I wonder what happens when you haven’t packed, because you had no idea that you were going to be recruited for the Test Mission?
I guess I’m about to find out.
Julian pumps his fist, and Xandra says, ‘Finally. I was getting tired of walking in these shoes.’
Mace taps something on his ART and half-turns to the right. ‘This way. It’s the closest point I could find.’
Allen looks to his own ART. ‘Shouldn’t we try to find one that looks less … crowded? Two more teams seem to be heading that way. It could be a problem.’
‘Not if we get there first,’ Mace says, pointing at a path between trees. ‘Stay off the trail. We’ll cut through the forest. Julian, chart the shortest path. Xandra, you lead. I’ll take the rear.’ He pockets his ART, making his longsword manifest in his hands.
‘Whose rear?’ Julian asks with a grin.
‘The rear that makes sure that there aren’t any stragglers on our team who can’t defend themselves,’ says Mace, still avoiding looking at me.
‘Whatever,’ I murmur.
Xandra scoffs and we set ourselves in motion.
We continue for a while in silence, Julian leading the way through the trees and up rocky paths.
I scramble to stay upright – the terrain is nearly impossible to conquer with my choice of footwear which wasn’t even a freaking choice.
With the high platforms, narrowed at the back, I’m in danger of twisting my ankle every few steps.
Central Command is evil. Who sends people directly out of the party of the year into the most important mission of their apprenticeship?
After a while, Mace says in a low voice, ‘Should I carry you? You’re going to sprain your ankle.’
A shiver goes down my spine at the thought of being in Mace’s arms again. But the team has barely accepted me as one of their members – do I really want them to see that I’m unable to walk up a hill? I’ll need to prove that I belong here and not that I’ll be costing my team points.
‘No, thank you, Mace. I’m fine. I can carry my own weight.’
He seems unconvinced but doesn’t argue with me. I can sense that he walks closer to me, though, probably to catch me if I fall.
My chest squeezes and honestly, I shouldn’t be pining for him. I should focus on the mission instead. Putting one foot in front of the other.
Ahead of me, Julian veers to the right – towards a steep, steep rocky hill. ‘Tell me we aren’t going that way,’ I grit through my teeth.
‘That’s where we’re going,’ Allen says cheerfully. ‘Up, up, and we’ll be able to avoid the other teams heading this way.’
Xandra groans and I’m glad that I’m not the only one unhappy with our course, but on the other hand, her walk is … springy. Freaking annoying Xandra with her freaking perfection.
I start braving the hill and I’m panting after just a few dozen steps. It’s rocky and hard to scale and I’m trying hard not to slip. Ahead of me, Allen and Julian and Xandra are making better progress.
‘Are we there yet?’ I ask, after what seems like an eternity spent climbing.
‘We’ve only got about a third of the way to go,’ says Allen, who is a few dozen feet ahead of me.
I can do this, I tell myself again – even if my legs are trembling.
As if the path itself is intent on contradicting me, I slip on a loose rock and start tumbling backwards.
My fall is broken by a wall of muscle, and when I throw my arm out to steady myself, Mace’s forearm comes around my waist, righting me up.
Not again. How is Mace there every time I mess up? Not that it’s altogether unpleasant, I have to admit.
My back is flush to his chest, the heat of him warming me up to my bones, spreading through my body.
‘Good catch,’ I murmur, half-turning, to find his head is lowered, so I’m almost nose to nose with him. His eyes are the heart of a storm, and I feel his soft breath tickling my lips when he says, ‘Are you alright?’
‘Never better,’ I quip.
I can’t ignore the heat, as much as I’d like to.
My bottom is pressed against his broad thigh, my upper body nestled back into his hard chest. Some madness descends on us both, because neither of us moves.
Mace shifts slightly behind me, his fingers lifting the hem of my top incrementally, two callused fingers sliding against my skin.
I clutch his forearm, my nails digging into muscle.
At some point, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and … yeah.
I had no idea I had a thing for forearms until just now.
His eyes drop to my lips.
He wants to kick me off the team. I hate him now, I tell myself. Though the heat gathering in my belly is saying anything but that.
My thoughts puff out of existence. How easily I could close the small distance between us and kiss him. I could even make it look like an accident?—
A bell chime comes from his ART and Stella’s voice pierces through the haze that is holding my brain captive. ‘Team Gold. The supply point will be guarded.’
Mace is already leaning back, putting distance between us, when Julian calls from the front of our group, ‘Holograms ahead! Seven of them.’
Mace springs away from me so fast that I’m reeling. He sprints ahead, the magical longsword materialising in his hand as he runs by Allen. ‘Protect Ellie, Allen. See that the holograms don’t harm her.’
Holograms? I can deal with holograms. Stella has been training me to do precisely this for years. With some level of success.
But before I can manage to tell anyone that, Mace is way ahead of me, nearing the top of the hill, where Xandra and Julian are battling with seven holograms.
Shit.
Those are worse odds than two to one. And if they get hurt, I can’t do anything to heal them.
Allen positions himself in front of me, magically generating two short daggers.
I pull at his elbow. ‘Go and help them. I can handle myself,’ I say, pretty confident that I can hold my shield up for as long as they need to defeat the holograms.
I look up at where the rest of our team is. The three of them move in well-practised combinations, weaving from between the holograms attacking them. Mace’s moves have a brutal grace. The broad blade of his longsword cuts and slashes through the air.
‘Allen!’ Julian shouts. ‘Look out! Incoming!’
A hologram has broken free from the group and is running down the hill.
‘Ellie, get behind me,’ Allen shouts. ‘I don’t want you to get hurt.’
I do as he says as doubts begin to flood in. What if these holograms aren’t like the ones that Stella made me fight against? What if they’re powered by a sort of energy that can break through my shield?
As the hologram’s short sword is stopped by one of Allen’s daggers, I begin to question everything. The hologram shoves back with its short, rounded shield, and Allen darts to the side, to avoid the blow.
I take another step back and lift my hands, raising a protective dome around me.
Allen tries hard to strike at the hologram with his daggers, and he’s fast on his feet, but his weapons have a short reach, and the hologram uses the shield to parry most of my teammate’s blows.
From up on the hill comes a hair-raising scream that sounds more like a battle cry, and I look up in time to see Mace severing clean through one of the battling hologram’s arms. Impressive, I have to admit. The dummy-warrior flickers and vanishes from existence.
A-ha. So they can be defeated.
I reinforce the dome around me, wishing there was something I could do to help. I hate being useless. If my protective dome can’t even hold up against the holograms, I’m nothing but a weak link in the team.
The hologram with the shield clearly must realise that, because it tries to step around Allen, and make its way to me. Allen jumps in its path and pushes it back, but the hologram slices him with his short sword across his wrist.
Shit.
At least, unlike the holograms that Stella puts me up against, these ones don’t seem to render their opponent unconscious.
Allen hisses in pain and tries to divert the hologram’s attention away from me, but it’s too late. Another one comes bounding from the top of the hill. This one wields a longsword, just like Mace, and is coming straight for Allen.
‘Watch out!’ I call to him.
With his daggers, there’s no way that he can deal with two holograms at the same time. I step to the side, hoping to distract and confuse them.
Allen turns to the longsword hologram. I glance over at the hill, where only two of the other holograms are still active, which means that we’ll probably get help soon from the rest of the team. I have to make sure that no harm comes to Allen before the others come to assist us.
There’s a screeching sound as Allen’s crossed daggers make contact with the longsword. The hologram with the short sword rounds up next to Allen, who is too focused on not breaking his hold to see him coming.
I have to do something, I have to react, before the two holograms catch Allen between them. They could cause serious damage that none of us will be able to heal, since we have no supplies whatsoever.
I don’t think twice before jumping into the way of the hologram with the short sword just before it reaches Allen. I shove at the mock-warrior with my energy dome. The hologram whirls towards me, a second before delivering its blow against my teammate.
‘Come on, sweetheart,’ I say. ‘I know you want me.’
I step back, trying hard to keep my balance on my heels and keeping the dome up at the same time.
‘Ellie!’ Allen shouts in alarm.
‘I know what I’m doing,’ I call back, and by Mars, I hope it’s true.
There’s no time for doubts, because the hologram’s sword comes down on my dome in a slashing motion. I hold my breath for just a moment, before there’s the familiar crack of hologram weapons smacking against my defences.
‘Come and get me,’ I grit through my teeth, reinforcing the flow of magic.
A few moments, a few more moments, I tell myself, my attention fully on the hologram now hacking wildly with both sword and shield at my dome.
I can feel the reverberations of each impact and try to keep a steady flow of magic with every exhale.
There’s movement in my peripheral vision. Allen’s probably resumed his fight with Longsword, but I can’t look, trying to draw Short Sword away from my teammate with small motions. I don’t know what will happen if Allen accidentally smacks into my shield.
A loud crack makes me flinch. The longsword mock-Warrior has also started attacking my dome. To be honest, the force of his blows isn’t even half of what the axe man hologram inflicted upon me during my last training, so I only have to stay focused and keep a steady flow of power.
There’s a whir of motion – Allen comes in from my right, digging one of his daggers into a hologram’s back, and it begins to falter.
There’s a longsword, flickering purple, above Short Sword’s head, and I wonder what that’s about, if somehow another hologram got away from the group on top of the hill.
The purple sword comes hacking through the hologram’s shoulder, stopping halfway through his chest. The simulation shimmers out of existence, revealing Mace behind him.
By Mars, he’s a sight to behold. His dark blonde hair is damp, locks thrown back. He’s flushed and panting and watching me with wild eyes. The muscles on his arms are still straining after the battle, glistening with sweat.
I blink, completely taken in by the sight.
‘You can let the dome down, Ellie,’ says Allen from my right. ‘We’ve got them all.’
After a few moments, I comply, my hands shaking with the effort of making sure my magic wouldn’t falter. I can’t do any of the things that Top Team can do, but Stella has trained me enough so that I won’t kill myself or put them at a crass disadvantage.
‘What was that dome?’ Allen asks.
‘I don’t know. I can’t explain it,’ I reply.
‘In the ballroom,’ Mace says, ‘it stood against those forcefields that Command threw at us.’
Allen scratches the top of his head. ‘I can do a full analysis of your power, if you want,’ he suggests. ‘It might tell us why Stella teamed you up with us.’
I have seen my power levels, though they don’t fully explain what I can do. But Allen is supposed to be skilled with analysing data. I read that in one of the online articles.
‘You can try,’ I say, eventually.
I don’t think any harm could come of it.
Mace is still watching me. ‘You didn’t do too badly. It might be easier to protect you than I thought.’
‘I don’t need you to protect me.’ My voice is shaking with the adrenaline, the exhaustion, the pain in my calves.
I’ve only been on this mission a few hours, and I’ve finally realised what I don’t have that the others do, the one thing that could make me drag them down.
The one thing that Stella kept telling me, over and over again. ‘I need you to teach me how to fight.’