Compete by Norilana Books Read Free Book Online

thing to do, what you did back there,” he says immediately, taking my arm. “Citizen? Really? Do you have any idea how much unnecessary attention and trouble this could cause? I mean, I get it, I know what you’re trying to do, but there’s a better way. You simply choose Cadet, take all these months to train, build yourself up. . . . Then, if you still think you can do it, you enter those goddamn Games when we arrive on Atlantis.”
    I look at him with a frown. “I thought you, of all people, would understand.”
    “I do! But I also want you to be safe and careful. And now look, you’ve been reassigned.”
    I continue to frown until he sighs, lets go of my arm, and steps back. But then all my anger and hurt deflates as soon as I hear what he says next.
    “I’ve been transferred too,” he informs me with an equally serious expression. “I am going to be on Imperial Command Ship One, Red Quadrant, Drive and Propulsion, Cadet Deck One. That’s Commander Manakteon Resoi’s flagship.”
    “Oh, man, that’s wild!” Gordie exclaims. “You’re on the first ship in the Fleet!”
    I just look at Logan and bite my lip.
    Apparently we’re all getting separated.
    Well, what did I think was going to happen?
    “At least Gee Three and I get to be on the same ship together,” Gracie says.
    “But not in the same sections,” Gordie adds.
    But Logan watches me intensely. “So, you’re on Command Ship Two,” he says. “I don’t like it. That’s his ship. Phoebos, Aeson Kass—or should I say, Kassiopei.”
    “Yeah,” I mutter. “I guess.”
    “So, did you know who he really was? I mean, about his family—”
    “Sort of. . . .” I look up at Logan, feeling a strange heat rising in my cheeks.
    “Wait—you knew? Did he tell you himself?” Now Logan is starting to frown, and he draws closer to me.
    “No!” I hurry to reply, with rising agitation. “Of course he didn’t tell me anything like that. It’s not like we ever talked about personal stuff, it was all voice training related. I just heard about it from one of the Atlantean Instructors. . . . I mean, I don’t think he’s hiding it like it’s a huge secret or anything, just not advertising the fact that he’s some kind of royal. At least not while we were still on Earth. I suppose now that we’re here on the ships, we’ll learn all kinds of other interesting things about him and the others—”
    “The fact that he had you transferred to his ship means he’s got special plans for you.” Logan is still watching me with a strange expression that I have trouble reading.
    “Well, yeah.” I blink. “He expects me to use my Logos voice for whatever Atlantean purposes. I bet he will continue to train me.”
    “I still don’t like it. Be careful of him, stay alert. Don’t let him— get to you.”
    “Get to me? How?”
    Logan takes a deep breath. He begins to say something, but decides against it and stays silent. A long weird pause happens during which he looks at me with somehow vulnerable eyes and I stare back at him, my temples pounding.
    When he finally speaks, it’s in a more aloof tone. “Whatever it is, we still don’t know anything about their long-term plans or real motives, Gwen. It’s all just the tip of an iceberg.”
    I nod. “Yes, it’s complicated, I get it.”
    Logan cranes his head to the side. “Do you?”
    I frown then punch him on the arm. “Okay, stop that! Enough, seriously.”
    But my mind, my pulse continues to race with an inexplicable emotion.
     
     
    W e walk back to our temporary barracks which happens to be somewhere on Residential Deck Four, within the Yellow Quadrant of this ark-ship. Here we collect our duffel bags with our belongings from the small storage units behind wall panels corresponding to our bunks, and proceed outside. Gordie’s been assigned to Residential Deck Two, which is in Blue, so off he goes after giving me an elusive hug—or rather, I hug him and he slips out of my grasp