Page 16

“Sure, sure,” Blink said. “Despite the bogus food poisoning rumour that went around, everyone knows you were, like, stabbed or something at the end of last year. That’s epic.”

Alex must have looked panicked because Jordan leaned towards her and whispered in her ear, “It’s okay, they don’t know what actually happened. But news travels fast and there was a lot of commotion that night with half the teaching staff running off and you coming back all bloodied and everything. Word spread quickly, but no one knows anything solid.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to all the curious faces staring at her, but thankfully she didn’t have to worry about a response because at that moment, lollipops appeared on the table in front of all her classmates. Alex picked up her own, knowing exactly what it was but still looking at it with curiosity.

“Why do we have to get potential-tested again?” she asked, copying her classmates and popping hers into her mouth. Just like the first one she’d tasted, it had a fruity flavour, changing from orange to apple to banana, then mango, passionfruit and pineapple. The taste continued to change as she swirled it around her mouth.

“It’s rare, but your potential can change after certain life experiences,” Bear answered.

“Does that happen much?” she asked around the lollipop stick.

“Nope, not often,” Jordan said. “Bear was bumped up from Delta Chemistry to Epsilon two years ago. Actually, most of the people who are currently in any Epsilon classes weren’t there to start with. It’s almost unheard of to start out at the academy and be put straight into Epsilon-level anything. Delta, too, sometimes. That’s why the harder classes tend to have mostly older students in them.”

“Which is why I’m such a freak of nature,” Alex mumbled.

Her friends grinned at her but none of them disagreed with her statement.

“Can potentials be downgraded?” Alex asked.

“Sure,” Bear said. “I started out as a Beta in Equestrian Skills, but in my second year I was dropped back to Alpha. Horses and I don’t mix well.”

“Hmm,” Alex hummed thoughtfully, mentally crossing her fingers.

She was down to the dregs of her lollipop when she absentmindedly crunched down on the candy to get rid of it faster. She then pulled the stick out of her mouth, wondering what she was supposed to do with it. As if reading her mind, a small plastic bag materialised out of nowhere and she dropped her stick into it. After sealing the bag, she placed it on the table where it blinked out of sight.

Within a few minutes everyone in the court had finished their lollipops and there was a hushed silence as they waited in anticipation to find out their results. Seconds later, the tension was broken as little slips of paper appeared on the tables in front of every student. Alex eagerly picked hers up, scanning her new class timetable.

She looked up to meet her friends’ eyes and sighed in disappointment, sending them a wry smile. “No change in my potential. Next year I want a different lollipop.”

It turned out that none of them had any changes either, which was both good and bad; bad because it meant Alex was stuck in Epsilon Combat without her friends again—she only hoped Kaiden and Declan would still be with her—but good because it meant she had their company in all of her other potential-based classes. D.C. was with her in Gamma Archeryand Epsilon Equestrian Skills, both D.C. and Jordan were with her in Gamma Chemistry, and both Jordan and Bear were with her in Delta PE. And they would all be together in their age-based classes.

“Whoa, they must be trying to kill you this year,” Jordan said as he looked over Alex’s shoulder.

Alex squinted at the paper, trying to make sense of his words. But then she noticed where he was pointing and groaned.

“PE, Archery, Equestrian SkillsandCombat all in one day? And three times a week! Who did I kill to deserve that?” Alex grumbled. Starting any day with Finn and ending it with Karter was just not nice.

“At least Thursday will be easier,” Jordan observed. “Only age-based classes all day. And your Tuesday isn’t so bad.”

He was right, but that didn’t make her Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays any better. It was going to be a very long year.

“If I can have your attention for a moment,” Darrius called out, standing in the middle of the room. “After you’ve finished dinner, the rest of the night is yours to spend settling in. Feel free to leave here at your leisure, but do remember there’s a nine o’clock curfew for first through to third year students, and ten o’clock for fourth years and up.”

Alex looked at her timetable again and was excited by the change of curfew that she hadn’t noticed before.

“And one final thing,” Darrius announced. “Fourth year students, I’ll need you to remain behind after dinner to hear about one of your upcoming curriculum options. Thank you.”

Apparently that was all he had to say, since menus immediately appeared in front of everyone. Alex eagerly picked hers up and, after a brief glance, she touched the circle beside the lasagne with chips, deciding to treat herself with a glass of bubbly purple dillyberry juice as well.

Within seconds her food appeared and she dug in with relish. She hadn’t eaten since Mrs. Gribble’s, and after the day’s events she was starving.

After she’d swallowed a few mouthfuls, she turned to her friends.

“Why do you think Darri—um—Professor Marselle wants us to stay behind?” Alex asked, hoping no one else at the table had noticed her slip with the headmaster’s name.

“I’m presuming, andhoping, it’s about Hunter’s class,” Jordan said, cutting into his steak. “We’re meant to be able to take Stealth and Subterfuge this year.”

“Yeah, I think it’s that too,” Bear agreed after taking a sip of his drink. “But I guess we’ll see.”