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His cold, black gaze shot to ht line, but somehow I could detect a smile in his eyes
"What happens if we can’t do it?" one of the other Initiates asked, and sohts back?"
His eyes shuttered, head swinging to face her "Then you have failed," he snapped "The cost will be your life, presuned Trainee" The way he’d said the words made it sound like she were dead already
Great Yet another semester wherein failure meant death You could say I really missed the whole GPA systerew as he let the word hang, "there are rules You are not to discuss this outside of class"
It took a et the full implication of this statement A chill settled over me I didn’t knoorried me more--that eren’t allowed to tell anyone ere doing, or that at this very iven equallyn I kneas co smile "A selection of Trainees have been told to catch one of you lovelies unawares To catch you and bite you So stand warned, queridas"
Trainees dropping out of the sky to bite us Well, that explained that Regina had been on their list
Had Yas and Josh had assignments like this last year? The Trainees and their secrets…and they were going to grow into vampires with secrets Their whole world was shrouded with it, the secrets of ates of their keep
Not if I had anything to say about it
Not if I could infiltrate their world
Finally, there it was, that red balloon floating intointo ainst them and simply break in Spy on their secrets for myself
Who killed Eirls who’d disappeared…I’d get to the bottom of it all I’d blow the roof off this island, these vaan with this bastard: Alcántara
But I wasn’t stupid I thought back to Carden’s words Poas different froic Poas planning and patience and same to be played slowly and very, very carefully
There was another aspect of power that the averageAlcántara my most brilliant smile, I exercised it In my attentions, I hoped he’d see excite one of my classmates That he’d see enthrallment for him and all this island stood for I wanted him to see a shtest flicker in his eye--there and gone so quickly, I wondered if I’d iined it Good I’d surprised hi Step one, acco on, about methods, means About considerations we’d have when the time ca I had into my rapt stare I let ht offor another life My desire to go back and change history, wishing I’d had the courage to sacrificewith E h I were just a poor, little, old ht, beautiful flaht’ve been ancient, but in their hearts, they were guys, and guys could be so easy soo bought it hook, line, and sinker His eyes kept flashing to ain, pulled to netic force
He handed out the naers brush mine as he passed me my slip of paper I braced myself to read the nael I didn’t recognize the na his lecture "This is an exercise in discretion A lesson in secrecy and choice"
It was about choice And I chose to fight
CHAPTER EIGHT
The first thing I did was find out who Toby Engel was (using, of course, a good dose of that discretion Alcántara was so fond of) My "target" wasn’t exactly Mr Sociability, and I had to ask around a bit before I found someone who kneho he was
Now that I did know, it was hard to notice anybody else The guy was huge Strapping A great, big, freckly corn-fed boy with a whiff of the Aested a youth spent tossing hay bales and plowing things I sat in the dining hall, pretending not to watch hiuy, he was dumb as a post Even if I hadn’t eavesdropped on snippets of his conversation, I could’ve seen it in the watery blankness of his blue eyes Seriously, there were boxes of hammers sharper than this kid
I tried not to panic Because hoas I supposed to kill hith that put ht; I could outwit him blindfolded and on no sleep It was that he struck me as a total innocent He was like a character in a Steinbeck novel, a Lennie, soht’ve been accidentally petting so e what little was left of my moral compass He’d know I couldn’t kill a Lennie
A distinctly male body slid into the chair next to mine My skin prickled, on instant alert This body smelled of fresh air and salt water, his dinner tray held by hands I’d recognize anywhere
Ronan I didn’t need to look to knoas hi on an apple