A Blue Star Rising

by Cecilia Randell

  “Aren’t you one of them?”

  “No.”

  The answer didn’t invite further inquiry, and Blue dropped it. Elaina led them to a table toward the far left wall, under the windows. They were too high for her to see out of, but it was a nice spot. A cool draft swept over her, clearing out the stuffy air that had accumulated from so many people congregating in one space. There were a few others there as well, heads down and concentrating on their tablets. They were younger, and Blue recognized one of them from her class.

  “Everyone.” Elaina dropped her tray on the table. “This is Blue Faust. Blue, this is Zara, Bit, Damon, and Zimmie.”

  All four waved, though only Zimmie, the one from her class, looked up. Okay then.

  Duri set his tray down next to Blue, his back to the wall, and ate absently as his gaze continuously scanned the dining hall. It was a sharp reminder to Blue that there was something going on and it was serious enough that Trev had gone into paranoid mode.

  She was surprised that Elaina hadn’t asked more questions about him, actually.

  But back to her task. Now was the perfect opportunity to learn about the kid whose apartment she’d taken. “Makes sense. The breakdown in social groups, I mean. My last school was a little different, but more along the line of what everyone was interested in. There were the athletes, the guys interested in music, the artists, those who worked on the school’s news journal. Lots of groups, actually. And they overlapped some.”

  Elaina nodded. “It’s more like that at the university. The different departments have gatherings and socials to promote it. It’s good to make connections that can help when you’ve graduated.”

  That was a very insightful way of looking at it. “Yeah. Of course, there’s always those big parties. I went to a couple back on Earth. And someone always ended up bringing booze and… other things,” Blue said.

  “Booze?” Bit, a small boy directly across from her, asked.

  “Alcohol,” Blue clarified.

  He nodded and returned his attention to his tablet, but kept his head cocked slightly toward her.

  “Well…” Elaina shot her a piercing look. She was a perceptive girl, Elaina. “There are parties, sometimes. I haven’t been to one, but I hear there are ‘things’ there. And definitely alcohol.”

  Blue decided to go for it. “Elaina, do you know what happened to that other kid? The one whose apartment we’re in? I just want to make sure I don’t…”

  “Don’t get into something similar? Yeah, that makes sense. Petyr…” She shrugged. “Petyr was in trouble. He was falling behind the others.” Her head tilted to the center of the room.

  “Wait, Petyr?” Hadn’t Sarah and her friends been saying something about Petyr at the dinner the other night?

  “Yeah.” Elaina frowned. “Why?”

  Blue waved a hand. “Sorry. What happened?” Jason was supposed to be getting what details he could, but since the Academy’s disciplinary committee was conducting that investigation and he had no reason to officially request the information, he had to back-channel.

  Could the Piper Boy help? He’d have access to the results. He’d been friendly with her father and wasn’t nearly as stiff as the other Ministry and Academy officials she’d met. And he had held the secret of the piquets…

  “I don’t know all of it, of course.” Elaina paused as she took another bite of the pasta dish she’d ordered. “I did hear a couple of the investigators talking about a new drug. They’d caught a couple other students using it, and it was those who were struggling with their studies. I don’t know what it’s supposed to do and the Academy’s trying to keep it all hushed, but, well…”

  “Students gossip.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Would it—would it be possible to get some?”

  Duri stiffened next to her, and the other students raised their heads to stare at her. Crap, I pushed too far. I am so not good at this.

  “You don’t need that, Blue.” Elaina’s voice was stiff. “And don’t let anyone catch you asking about it. It doesn’t matter that the Alliance pushed to get you in, if you get caught cheating—and it is cheating—you’ll be out.”

  “Okay. Yeah. Sorry.” She struggled to figure out a way to fix this. “I don’t—I wouldn’t. I’ve never actually used any drugs. I guess I’m just nervous. I really am a fish out of water.”

  “Fish?” asked Bit.

  Blue realized she’d used an English idiom. She forced out a laugh. “English saying. It means to be in an environment that you are not suited to.”

  The others let it go, and Blue breathed an internal sigh of relief. Elaina chattered away the rest of the lunch period, occasionally asking Blue about her life on Earth. It quickly became apparent that the others were also interested in Blue’s answers, and the conversation quickly shifted almost exclusively to Austin and Earth.

  “We’ll have individual matches today. I’ll pair you up, and we’ll assess how you lot are progressing.” Instructor Fay, a well-muscled man in his mid-thirties with cropped hair, paced in front of the gathered students. Thin, red mats spread out behind him. They had done a short warm-up, and now it was time for the body of the class.

  The gym was actually a lot like any other gym she’d ever been in—large open space, high ceilings, equipment lining the walls. There were also fancy-looking weight machines in a far corner and a door on the opposite wall labeled “PROJECTILE RANGE.” Like in the dining hall, there were high windows that let in plenty of light.

  Oh, and it still smelled like a gym—sweat, feet, and disinfectant.

  It was comforting to know that some things didn’t change through the worlds.

  “No weapons today, so if you brought yours, take them off,” he continued.

  Mental note: Remember to bring blades. It was smart to do anyway, and Blue was a bit embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of it in the first place. She’d fallen into a weird complacency, despite the investigation and everything she’d been through. It was hard to reconcile attending school and needing to carry knives around. This was not how a probationary Order agent acted.

  Instructor Fay assessed the students ranged before him. They were all dressed alike, in form-fitting shorts and shirts, even the guys. The Academy’s training uniform was designed to “let the instructors see the way we move” according to Elaina. Blue much preferred what she wore when she worked with Levi, but this was really no different from what she might wear on a hot summer day.

  The boys did look kind of funny, though. And Jason hadn’t been kidding when he’d said Karranians matured slower. She assumed they were all around the same age as her and Forrest, at the very least, since this class was for those who had already gone through the theory basics.

  And Elaina really was a font of information. When she really got going, the font was more of a broken sprinkler, spraying everything in sight with copious amounts of random facts.

  For instance, Blue now knew that students were tested at fifteen for portal potential. If they were found to have it, or if they desired to join the Ministry, they started the next calendar year, at sixteen. Then there were two years of theory before they even started training for the field. Those who were simply going into administration would begin entry-level positions at that time.

  Elaina had started at fourteen and finished her beginning studies early. She really was a misfit, just like Blue.

  As those who had weapons placed them in a corner of the room and returned, the instructor began pairing people up.

  “I hope I don’t have to work with the new girl. She’s sure to be so bad she even makes her sparring partner look horrible.”

  The whispered words reached Blue, and she shifted her weight, trying to see who had spoken without being obvious. Her gaze snagged on a head of red-gold hair a little behind her and to the left. Great, Sarah.

  She shivered, remembering the girl’s words at the dinner. If all she did was spread rumors, Blue could deal with that. If it was more
… Yes, definitely bringing my blades from now on.

  Pulling her attention from the mean girl—because didn’t every school have to have at least one?—she ran through what she’d learned of self-defense and sparring. Because whatever the title of this class was, she had a feeling it would be much, much more.

  There were the classes she’d taken in Austin—extremely basic, but they had shown her how to get out of most holds as well as places to strike for the best effect on both men and women. But all of that was designed to fend off an attack long enough to get away.

  The Krav lessons were different, but she’d barely made it through level one and had only had a couple classes in groundwork.

  She’d been studying the kiti with Levi, both with and without knives, but he had insisted she master the patterns before he would spar with her.

  She had begun work with Mo’ata in the evenings, but they’d only done two lessons so far. She still thought too much about what he had shown her.

  She still had to think too much about all of it.

  But that’s why we have these classes. We need to learn this and practice it. Everyone is in the same boat as me. The thought didn’t reassure her.

  The instructor stopped in front of her and looked her over. Blue resisted the impulse to stick her tongue out at him and stood straight.

  He grunted. “You’ll work with Blaine today. Let’s see what all the fuss has been about.”

  Once again, she got the feeling today’s “review” was for her sake. Not to catch her up this time, but to evaluate her, specifically. It added another layer of pressure and expectation.

  A boy, taller and wider than many of the others, separated from the group around Sarah. Just perfect. He shot her a sly grin as he marched to one of the mats and stood in the center, arms crossed. His dark hair was styled in soft waves, and his chocolate eyes reminded her for just a minute of Phillip.

  He definitely had the same air of entitled arrogance. A megalomaniac in the making. Yay.

  She shot a quick glance at Duri, who had stationed himself once more in a corner, closely observing the whole thing. He wouldn’t step in unless something went too far, she was sure, but she shot him a warning glance anyway. He gave her a slight nod.

  Satisfied, Blue joined Blaine on the mat. “How do we do this? Are there any rules of engagement or any—”

  Blaine attacked. He was fast, and she couldn’t fully evade, the first strike hitting her shoulder and half spinning, half knocking her back.

  No rules then. Or if there were, the instructor wasn’t enforcing them right now. If he had even seen that.

  Blaine sent a kick at her midsection, and Blue was able to spin out of the way just in time. But it put her balance off, and the next strike, a sweep of her opponent’s foot, sent her to the ground. Then he was on her, his hips pinning her to the ground, and one of his hands captured her wrists.

  He smirked down at her. “Not so special after all.” His grip tightened on her wrists until she could almost feel the bones grinding together, and she choked back a whimper.

  Too nice. Jason’s words from the other night came back to her. And maybe she was, but that didn’t mean she had let Phillip-Two win.

  Her legs were free. In a move she’d only seen done a few times, and one she’d never practiced, she hooked her feet over Blaine’s, lifted her hips and pushed to the right, rolling them over, then twisted her wrists in. She was sure it only worked because her opponent wasn’t expecting her to counter. And instead of trying to pin him in turn, she scrambled to her feet.

  She didn’t taunt Blaine, just fell into the beginning stance of the kiti, ready to move. He climbed to his feet and mirrored her, though to her it looked like his right foot was a little too far back. Off balance.

  Too nice. The words rattled in her mind.

  He closed the distance between them, and Blue moved, flowing into the second figure. It put her in the perfect position to send an elbow jab into Blaine’s right side. He grunted, and she spun away.

  After that, things moved fast. His arrogance and anger made him sloppy, and it allowed Blue to keep him just enough off-balance that, though he got in a few more hits that were sure to leave bruises, she avoided the majority of it. And she was able to get in a few of her own.

  They’d been going on no more than a quarter hour when the instructor passed their station. He stood at the edge of the mat, observing. There was the slightest sneer on his lips, but Blue couldn’t spare the time or mental capacity to wonder at it. Blaine came at her again, his dark hair thoroughly mussed from its earlier careful arrangement and his cheeks high with color. And though sweat dotted his brow and his breathing was rapid, his movements hadn’t slowed.

  Blue brought her forearm up just in time to deflect most of the force of his punch, but she was wearing down fast, and the hit half spun and pushed her back. She kept the momentum going and regained her balance, but Blaine hadn’t backed off. She needed to get distance between them again.

  Going into figure nine, she bent her knees and ducked under his next swing while moving forward. It put her behind him, and she kicked, putting the last of her strength into her hips and that attack. The ball of her foot hit his lower back, a little to the right of his spine, and he stumbled out, off the mat.

  “Halt.” Instructor Fay dropped his hands to his sides and stepped onto the mat. “Sloppy Blaine. I’ve come to expect better of you.”

  “His balance was off.” Maybe she should have stayed silent, but it was true. “It was the only reason I was able to escape the first hold or get in the hits I did.”

  Blaine glared in her direction, promising retribution.

  Instructor Fay raised a brow. Am I the only one who can’t do that? Jeez.

  She shrugged.

  “That is true, Miss Faust.” His lips thinned, and he looked her up and down, then slid a glance to the corner where Duri waited. “And I do not care who you have backing you or whose favor you’ve earned. In this class all are equal, and you must all pass the same tests and assessments as the other students.”

  “Understood, and I completely agree.”

  “It is my responsibility to prepare these… men and women”—Blue was more than a little sure he had wanted to say children— “for anything they may encounter when they are given their first assignments. And none of this is a joke. No bodyguard will be there to rescue them if they get in trouble.”

  She sighed. “Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard or what you assume. I am here for the exact same reason.”

  His gray eyes pierced into her. Finally, he nodded. “You need better groundwork, and your endurance is abysmal. I expect you to be working on the latter between classes.”

  She managed to keep the grin off her face. “Already arranged.”

  He nodded. “Do you have any skill with weapons? Or will that need to be ‘arranged’ as well?”

  “I’ve practiced some with knives. Two styles. Still very beginner. Also throwing blades, very beginner. Archery, but I haven’t practiced in a few months.”

  He nodded. “Staffs? Firearms? Sword? Crossbow? Axe? Pike or spear?”

  Her eyes widened. “Uh, no.”

  He nodded again. “No matter, those are not addressed until the advanced class. Next year.” For the first time a hint of hesitation crossed his features. “Some students have employed private training prior to beginning at the Academy and through their junior years. For some, this is the first time they are learning to fight. All of them have been taking general fitness classes since they stepped inside these halls.”

  “Okay?”

  “Blaine is one of those who has been taking private classes, and you held your own.” He held up a hand. “But, your endurance needs a lot of work.”

  Blue nodded. In truth, if Instructor Fay hadn’t stopped the bout when he did, she would have ended up flat out on the mat in mere moments.

  Instructor Fay shifted his attention to Blaine, who stood to the side, arms crossed and de
ath-glare directed at Blue. “You, two rounds through the balance course.”

  Blaine tore his gaze from her. “Yes, sir.” He headed for a complicated configuration of beams and ropes set up in the far corner. Blue had thought it was just extra equipment.

  “You,” the instructor said, “Give me three laps before you finish for the day.” He spun and started for the next mat and the next sparring pair.

  “Um, where?”

  His shoulders rose and fell in a heavy sigh, but when he turned back, was that a tick of a smile? “Three laps around the Ministry.”

  Was he insane?

  He flicked a hand. “Go.”

  She swallowed. Right.

  “Take those doors.” He pointed to a pair close to where Duri waited.

  Ugh, she hated running.

  The class was over when she returned, drenched in sweat and head pounding and over-heated. Duri had kept pace with her, slowing to a walk when she needed to, speeding up once again when she was ready, and silently encouraging. Well, his easy breathing and pace were motivating, at least.

  “You need water.”

  She nodded but didn’t reply. What she needed was a cold shower and a nap. For like five years.

  Late afternoon light filtered into the gym, providing plenty of illumination, even with the lights out. She made her way to the changing room, Duri close behind. When he made as though to follow her in, she held up a hand. “I’ll be fine.”

  His lips thinned. “I will at least need to be sure the room is clear.”

  She raised her brows. “It’s a girl’s locker room.”

  “And no one is here, the lights are out.” He crossed his arms.

  “Fine. But if any women in there decide to teach you a lesson about invading their space, I’m not stopping them.”