As he spoke, four people stepped silently out of the forest. They were dressed exactly like Alex—wearing black, black, and more black—and they wore the stupid strangling capes as well. They had their hoods lowered and Alex immediately recognised two of them. She’d already known about Kaiden, but she was pleasantly surprised to see Declan as well.
“Take five minutes to introduce yourselves,” Hunter said. “Most of the time you spend together in my class will involve group activities where you need to be able to trust each other. You don’t have to become best friends, but you do have to learn to respect one another. Starting now.”
He walked over to the tree that held the trap and began lowering the netting down to the ground, leaving his students to converse.
The two classmates Alex hadn’t yet met were Skyla Fay, a girl in the year above her, and Tom Barrett, Hunter’s first year apprentice. Skyla was tall and willowy, with golden hair framing her classically beautiful face. She barely glanced at Alex and Pipsqueak when they introduced themselves, instead focusing entirely on Blink and Jordan—Jordan more so. When she wasn’t looking at either of them, she was staring—rather obviously, in Alex’s opinion—at Kaiden. Alex couldn’t exactly blame the girl, but still, Skyla clearly had her priorities, and apparently neither Pipsqueak nor Alex rated high on that list.
Tom seemed like a nice enough guy, if quiet. He was also tall, with closely-cropped black hair and skin so dark that he effortlessly blended in with the shadows of the forest.
Once their introductions were complete, silence descended upon them until Blink asked the older students if they’d witnessed them getting caught up in the net. Apparently they had, and mentioned that Hunter had pulled the same initiation trick on them.
Alex was only half listening. She was hyper aware of the eerie forest around her; every little noise intruded on her peace of mind, making her wonder just what might be out there. What if Aven was nearby? Or another snarling beast? She scanned the surrounding trees, anxiously waiting for Hunter to begin the class so that she could be distracted by his lesson.
“I had a feeling I might see you here,” a warm voice whispered in her ear, causing goose bumps to rise up on her skin.
Alex whipped around to find Kaiden standing close behind her. The others were deep in conversation about the various ways they could have escaped the trap, and Alex hadn’t noticed him approach. Other than in Combat the previous day—where she’d had very little interaction with him—the last time she’d seen him had been in the Medical Ward.
… When she’d turned her back on him.
“Why do you say that?” she asked as she took in his striking features. If anything, he was even more mesmerising under the light of the moon. The way the shadows framed everything from his strong brow to his chiselled jawline—
Chiselled jawline? Alex mentally slapped herself. Snap out of it, girl. Jeez.
Kaiden shrugged and his cape rustled with the movement, reclaiming her attention. “Call it intuition.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for the heads-up,” Alex said pointedly.
“You’re obviously here for a reason,” he told her, echoing the words of her friends. “Hunter wouldn’t have taken you on otherwise.”
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” she muttered on a sigh.
“Time’s up,” Hunter called out at last. “For the rest of this lesson, you’ll be paired up and given a task to complete. Phillipa, you’re with Tom; Jordan with Kaiden; Blink with Declan; and Alex with Skyla. Grab your partner and come get a piece of paper from me.”
This’ll be fun, Alex thought sarcastically, noticing the disappointed pout on Skyla’s face.
“Tough luck,” Kaiden murmured to her as he went over to meet Jordan.
Not sure what to make of Kaiden’s comment, Alex stepped forward to take the paper from Hunter, since Skyla didn’t seem to be making any effort to move. She opened it and read the words as she walked over to her partner.
Where the little people play,
sing songs, and dance around all day;
only there you’ll f to retrieve a figurine of clay.
Follow the mushrooms and you’ll be okay,
but do be careful what you say;
for tricky are those pesky Fae,
so take care or there’ll be a price to pay.
“Well? What does it say?” Skyla asked.
Alex handed over the paper. “It’s a riddle or something.”
Skyla scrunched up her face, squinting at the note. “What does it mean?”
“I’m the new student here,” Alex reminded her. “You’ve been in Hunter’s class for a year, so your guess is better than mine.”
Skyla shrugged and proceeded to buff her fingernails against her cape.
Wonderful.
“You have ninety minutes to follow the instructions you’ve been given,” Hunter called out. “If you’re not back in that time, you’ll have failed your task.”
“What do we do if that happens?” Alex asked.
Hunter looked at her as if the answer was obvious. “You keep going until you’re done. Only when you’ve completed your assignment will you be dismissed.”
Alex had to hold back a groan. She was going to be stuck out there all night, she just knew it. Maybe even longer.
“Off you go,” Hunter said. “And new students, remember what class this is. You won’t have an easy journey.”
As much as she wished it wasn’t true, Alex presumed that was Hunter-code for, ‘I’ve rigged more traps and you’re all going to die’.
Cue: sigh.
“Let’s go, Skyla,” she said, taking charge and heading deeper into the forest.
“Where are you leading us?” Skyla asked, trailing along behind Alex.
“The clue mentions following mushrooms,” Alex said, “so that’s where I say we should start. Unless you have any better ideas?”
“Nope,” Skyla said, too busy inspecting a tendril of her hair to even watch where she stepped.
“I didn’t think so,” Alex muttered, too low for the other girl to hear.
Ten minutes later and she wondered if she was developing a nervous tick. While Alex wasn’t the quietest person in the world, she might as well have been in comparison to the racket Skyla was making as they walked through the forest.
“You know,” Alex couldn’t help but say, “I’m pretty sure it’s called Stealth and Subterfuge for a reason. Emphasis on stealth. Do you mind picking your feet up when you walk?”
Okay, so that was kind of snarky. But she was anxious to get out of the forest, and so far they hadn’t seen any mushrooms, let alone ones that led to places unknown.
“You think you’re so special, don’t you?” Skyla said.
“Not really,” Alex answered, though she figured the question was supposed to be rhetorical.
“Good,” Skyla said. “Because let me tell you, you’re not. Special, I mean. You’re not special at all.”
“Thanks for clarifying,” Alex said, her tone dry. “I wasn’t sure what you were talking about for a moment there. But now I know, I’m not special.”