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I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from responding to him. It may be petty to be giving him the silent treatment, but I don’t trust myself at the moment. I’m never purposely cruel, but I worry my words will be.

Arriving at my room, I whisper, “Thank you,” then disappear inside.

It’s only ten-thirty in the morning, and I already feel as if I need a nap.

Thirteen

SILLA

Feeling a little more alive once I wash my face, shower, and brush my teeth, I walk to class in my uniform that actually fits me. I didn’t have time to do much with my hair, so I braided it instead.

My body is still sore from being punched and bruised between Andrya and the vent, so sitting for any length of time is sure to be uncomfortable. It’s not the hardest thing I’ve done in the last twenty-four hours, so I know I’ll survive.

Stepping into the room, I find a lot of eyes are on me as I walk to my chair with my head held high. They witnessed one of the worst things that has ever happened to me, I won’t shy away from that.

“Silla, I’m so glad that you managed to make time to attend class. I thought after yesterday, you’d be skipping,” Ayden sneers.

Glancing over, I notice that Andrya smacks him over the head for his words.

“Ow, fuck,” he yelps, to which she merely rolls her eyes.

“Grab your seats, and we’ll get started,” Sidney says drolly, winking at me when he sees me watching him.

I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but I don’t really trust it. They must be trying to get on the Warden’s good side, but I no longer have one. I don’t believe in people changing their spots once they’ve truly leaned into their cruel ways.

The memory of what it feels like to ruin people’s lives is often too strong to ignore.

Sitting down with my notebook, I take a deep breath. My hands are shaking slightly, and I force myself to pay more attention to my surroundings. I watch the way my instructors move, because I’ll be damned if I suffer a repeat of yesterday.

“Today, I want to talk about how a mission is run outside of these walls, and your role in this,” Sidney explains, sitting in a chair on the auditorium stage. Andrya and Ayden sit on either side of him, and I force myself to listen.

I feel a little spacey, and am already planning when I can fit in a nap.

“You’ll always work in a group of three on a mission: the hacker, the intelligence agent, and yourself. The hacker will support you in gathering the information that you need, and the intelligence agent will help position you so you can meet the mark. This will sometimes change, but it’s often easier to get someone to have a drink with you and take you home to fuck,” Sidney says with a shrug.

“Sometimes you’ll need to take a chip to download information that you’ll give to the hacker you work with, and other times it's a termination contract. Someone who has managed to piss off the crown,” Ayden explains with a shrug. “This is why we teach you poisons, because the ones you’ll use won’t be able to be tracked, or will mimic natural causes.”

“Unfortunately, it also puts you in danger because you’re in the field. There are times where the men or women that you receive contracts for, figure out what’s happening before you can complete your work,” Andrya sighs, making me shiver as I think about what that means for the spy in a compromising situation.

“One of the reasons that we are on a six month program is because we have the highest mortality rate,” Sidney explains, leaning forward. “It’s why we push so hard…”

The three of them look over at the classroom, their eyes finally all stopping on me. “Yesterday was an oversight on our part, which led to a breakdown in our teaching environment,” Sidney continues.

My fingers curl in to ground myself from the attention I’m drawing. I fucking hate it, because it always means something bad is going to happen.

“So we want to move past it, because our intention was to show how the enemy can use your fears against you,” Andrya says, though there’s a shadow in her eyes that shows this is a lie. I know exactly why they pulled my secrets from Zachary. “We didn’t do our due diligence before running this exercise, which was sloppy of us.”

The class moves on, but I can feel myself getting angry. My hand writes notes even though I’m not really paying attention to what they’re saying, though my eyes watch to make sure I know where the three of them are at all times from under my lashes.

When class is over, I pick up my notebook and pen, standing to leave.

“Miss Tremaine, will you please stay after for us?” Sidney asks, and I hold back a frustrated sigh.

I’m actually hungry, something I haven’t been recently, and it’s harder for me to mask my emotions.

Nodding, I walk to the front of the class. Someone touches my hand, and I glance over. There’s a girl with a small, nervous smile on her face, and I raise my brow.

“Hey, I’m Gracelyn. Will you come find me later? I just want to talk,” she says carefully.