Her body gave her a second wind by the time she reached the courtyard. She noticed Troy there but didn’t bother to wave. He was engaged in a game of sticks with a couple of jerks named Odom and Skall. They usually hung out with Dahla, who was watching the game from the opposite side of the lawn.
Each boy gripped a wooden staff and circled his opponents, waiting for an opportunity to knock one another to the ground. Players weren’t allowed to strike the left side of the body, and they could only hit below the waist. They didn’t wear cups, either. Only the hard-core L’eihrs played sticks, and Troy was surprisingly good at it. He deflected each attack with lightning speed and struck back twice as hard, keeping Odom and Skall on the defensive.
Cara moved in closer.
Troy had pulled his black curls into a ponytail, and sweat dripped between his bare shoulder blades as he twirled his staff. Typically, Cara didn’t pay much attention to her brother’s body—because, ew—but she couldn’t help noticing how much he’d bulked up on L’eihr. He was seriously ripped, holding his own against the two largest clones in the Aegis. Even when Odom and Skall teamed up against him, Troy left them limping in pain, whacking one in the gut and the other in the thigh. Without hesitating, he swept his staff behind both men’s ankles and knocked them to the grass.
Cara summoned enough strength in her noodle arms to applaud her brother. “Woo-hoo,” she called while clapping wildly. “Go, Troy! You kicked—”
In a flash, something solid hit the backs of Cara’s knees, and she fell, hard. When she opened her eyes, she was staring at the beige sky and struggling to breathe. After blinking a few times, she pushed up on her elbows and realized Skall had used his stick to flatten her.
Dahla broke into hysterical laughter while Skall jumped to his feet. They pointed at Cara, clearly teasing her in their native language. A few onlookers joined in mocking her, and she half expected her brother to laugh the loudest.
But Troy was not amused.
His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He threw down his staff and charged Skall without warning, planting his shoulder in the clone’s midsection. For the second time, Skall landed on his ass, but this was no game. Troy used the side of his hand to slam Skall’s windpipe, leaving him coughing and retching in the grass.
Odom rushed to his friend’s aid, but Troy stopped him with an expression that said, The Marines taught me how to pull a man’s nuts through his throat. Want a demonstration? Odom backed away, and Skall glared at Cara while he rubbed his neck. His message was also clear: Your brother won’t always be here to protect you.
“Let’s go.” Troy helped her to standing and brushed loose bits of grass from her uniform. Then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her up the front steps and into the Aegis lobby. When they reached Cara’s door, Troy held her at arm’s length and inspected her for damage.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me.” She knew Troy wouldn’t like it, but she gave him a hug.
As she predicted, he squirmed away. “Gross, Pepper. I’m all sweaty.” He sniffed the air a few times. “And you smell.”
She glanced down the hall into the lobby, where Odom, Skall, and Dahla had just stalked inside. “Do you think they’ll tell the headmaster?” L’eihrs didn’t tolerate fighting, and she didn’t want Troy whipped with that awful electric lash.
“I doubt it.” Troy stretched and flexed his fingers. “If he snitches, he’ll have to admit that he hit you. He’ll keep his mouth shut—or his eyes shut, or whatever, since that’s how they talk.” He started to say something more, but Elle joined them, and Troy stood a few inches straighter and tightened his abs.
Elle didn’t spare him a glance. “Why haven’t you showered yet?” she asked Cara in a rush. “The headmaster called a house meeting in the dining hall. You can’t be late.”
Cara checked her pocket to make sure she hadn’t lost her com-sphere. “I didn’t get an alert.”
“You didn’t?” Elle seemed surprised at that. “The message transmitted a few minutes ago.”
Cara shook her sphere and listened for the rattle of loose parts. “Maybe it’s broken.” That would explain why she hadn’t been able to reach Aelyx. “Did the headmaster say what’s wrong?”
Elle cupped her mouth and whispered as if the message were too shameful to speak aloud. “It’s Instructor Helm. His tablet has gone missing—he believes someone stole it.”
“Whoa,” Troy said. “That’s a heavy accusation. Don’t they execute people for theft?”
Elle seemed to notice him for the first time. She scanned his sweaty chest and took a step back. “Yes, but there hasn’t been an execution in many generations. Our people know better than to steal.”
“I’m sure he left it somewhere and forgot.” Cara pressed a palm to her keypad. “I need to grab some clean clothes.”
“Me, too.” Troy nodded good-bye to Elle, but she ignored him. Poor guy.
Elle rushed to the cafeteria, and Cara hurried into her room to gather a towel and a uniform. She stuffed her com-sphere beneath her pillow for safekeeping, but in doing so, she heard it click against another object. She used her fingers to explore, feeling cool, smooth metal. She lifted her pillow and a breath locked in her throat. There, on her mattress, rested a white-rimmed tablet.
Instructor Helm’s tablet.
Oh, fasha. She was toast.
The pillow slipped from Cara’s fingers as she realized what this meant. Helm’s tablet hadn’t accidentally materialized on her bunk. Someone had planted it there to frame her. For a capital crime. Dahla had assisted Helm in his lecture today, which had given her access to his tablet. But Cara had barely exchanged ten words with the girl. She couldn’t hate humans that much, could she?
Cara sank onto the mattress, wondering what to do.
If she returned the tablet to the headmaster and told him the truth, he might believe her, but then again, he might not. She could use Silent Speech to project her feelings of fear, but not to proclaim her innocence.
Maybe she should wipe the prints from Helm’s device and return it to his classroom. The clones and instructors had assembled in the cafeteria, so it could work if she hurried. But what if a latecomer caught her in the act? She’d look guilty as homemade sin inside Helm’s lab with his stolen tablet in her hand. And what about video cameras? She didn’t know if L’eihrs recorded activity in the hallways like at Midtown High.
One thing was certain: she couldn’t leave the tablet here. Whoever had planted it would lead the headmaster to her room. Cara grabbed her blanket and used it to wipe down the glossy screen and the metallic backside, hopefully erasing her fingerprints. She wrapped it in a clean towel and stepped into the hallway, still unsure of what to do.
In a daze, she glanced past the vacant lobby and toward the cafeteria. Maybe instead of returning the tablet to Helm’s class, she should leave it in the bathroom or shove it down the sanitation chute.
Wait, the sanitation chute…
Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of that before? It would take days before anyone discovered the tablet, and even then, no one could link it to her. She scrambled toward the nearest sanitation door and tugged the handle.
“Hello, Cah-ra.”
She flinched, nearly dropping her bundle, and whirled around to find Jaxen approaching from the other end of the hall.
Double fasha.
Jaxen’s smile fell as he surveyed her. “Are you all right?”
Cara clutched the evidence to her chest and stepped away from the chute. What were the odds she could get rid of Jaxen and ditch the tablet before the assembly began?
At her silence, he bent to meet her height, and studied her closely. “Your pupils are dilated, your cheeks are pale, and I can see the pulse racing at the base of your throat. What’s wrong?”
Those odds? Zero. Even if she chucked the tablet, Jaxen would remember this encounter and suspect she’d done something shady. She didn’t have a choice. She had to tell the truth and hope for the best.
“I’m beginning to worry,” he said. “Perhaps I should summon a medic.”
“No!” Cara extended one hand, stopping just shy of touching him. “I need your help. I think I’m in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“First, promise you’ll listen before you make up your mind. I’m not a liar—I swear it.”
Jaxen didn’t hesitate. “I promise. You can trust me.”
Cara swallowed hard and unwrapped her bundle, revealing what lay inside. “I found this under my pillow. I didn’t take it. Someone must’ve put it there to make me look guilty.”
Jaxen’s brows rose up the length of his forehead. “Who would do that?”
“Who wouldn’t?” she asked. “Half the Aegis wants me gone.”
He glanced at the sanitation chute and back to her. “And you were about to destroy it?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what else to do. I was afraid no one would believe me.”
For the next few moments, Jaxen said nothing. Then he held out his palm. “Give it to me. I’ll turn it in to the headmaster. That will settle the matter.”
“But what’ll you say when he asks where you found it?” L’eihrs couldn’t lie through Silent Speech.
Jaxen took the tablet from her. “The headmaster doesn’t question me. I answer to none but Alona.”
Cara averted her eyes and thanked him. She hadn’t expected him to believe her.
Using an index finger, Jaxen tipped up her chin. “You’re welcome. I want you to come to me if this happens again.” His touch made her uneasy, but she held still. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He released her and gestured toward the cafeteria. “I’ll take care of this. Go shower and calm yourself.”
As he strode away, Cara tried to pinpoint why her stomach was still turning somersaults. She’d discovered the tablet in plenty of time and had managed to dodge a potential death sentence. She should feel ten pounds lighter, not weighed down by dread.
It wasn’t until she reached the showers that the reason for her unease became clear: she now owed Jaxen her life, and deep down, she knew he’d ask for something in return. But what would he want from her, and when?