Page 38

I’M NICER THAN MY FACE LOOKS

ELIAS

Sipping my coffee, I wait for the others to rise. Last night was irritating for me, but as a royal, I frequently had to give up my personal needs for the good of my kingdom long before the idiotic humans locked me up. If it weren’t for their miraculous invention that keeps us from accessing most of our powers, I’d still be reigning over my people off the West Coast, unconcerned with their bullshit insecurities.

However, that ship sailed four years ago and as much as it chaps my spikes, I’m beholden to their whims.

The vampire was sure the magical Lothario could calm the little rebel down. He practically had to hog-tie the demon and the bear to keep them from joining in, but in the end, we allowed Stormbringer to shoot his shot. The rest of us took care of getting dinner, and when it came, I walked theirs down the hall to her room. The secretive thumbs-up I got when I delivered it made me hopeful, and now I’m simply waiting to see if things have been smoothed over. Our first class is one about social media with Krista, so we all need to be in sync.

“You get up this early every morning, dragon?”

Turning to look at the bloodsucker, I nod. “Force of habit. My kind like to greet the sun over the waves and though I haven’t been able to since my capture, it’s been ingrained for too long to change now.”

Sebastian walks over to pour himself a mug of the caffeinated brew, eyeing me with an amused expression. “That’s a lot of words for you.”

“Sometimes, more words are necessary; sometimes, they are not.”

“Communication is much smoother when everyone is sharing as much as possible, but then, I’m a demon,” Huck says as he stumbles out to join us. He’s still in his joggers, but the damn hat is on his head like it’s glued there permanently.

Shrugging, I take another sip before I respond. “Unsurprising.”

“That’s more like it,” the vampire says with a smirk. “Though you two being on opposing ends of the spectrum isn’t a stretch. Demons enjoy twisting words like the Fae, while dragons have made grunting a language unto itself.”

“Please don’t provoke anyone, Whitmore.” Thad walks out of his room and into the kitchen area with a yawn. “We need to be calm and united for Sydney. She’ll be in a mood for a couple of days after that bullshit yesterday. Trust me, I know.”

We all look at one another, sharing a grimace as the other two pour themselves morning joe. I hope he’s mistaken; the mage was sent to help her come to terms with her anger. If he failed, it will set us back for as long as she rages at something that cannot be changed. I understand why someone raised like a human might attach such significance to a thing that can be taken away at any time—don’t mistake me. But I also know that this will not be the last thing they force on us as we move through this cocked-up contest. That much became clear when they added piercings to places that audiences should never be able to see; they intend to play up our sexuality for popularity, as much as any other skills or attributes.

There may not be lines these fuckers refuse to cross, and we need to slowly prepare ourselves for that.

“Good morning.”

The soft voice catches me off-guard, and as we whip our heads toward the hall to see Sydney coming toward us, I’m struck by the difference in her posture from last night. Her hair is twisted into the long braid again, and she’s got makeup on, though not as much as the humans put on her. Unlike the rest of us, the little rebel is dressed in her uniform, every inch of her looking like she’s ready to face the nonsense downstairs. I have to cover my surprise with my mug because I don’t want to spook her.

“Hey, Syd,” the bear says with a broad grin. He walks over and squeezes her shoulder with a smile that you’d have to be an idiot not to recognize as smitten. “Want a coffee?”

“I think so. Thanks, Thaddy,” she says. Her gaze flits to each of us and she ducks her head as he walks away. “So… I’m sorry I was so sharp. I needed to work through some shit—which I guess you know—but I also needed to get over myself. I didn’t know that, but I do now.”

Sebastian blinks, tilting his head as he stares. “Huh?”

I’m kind of impressed that she shut him the fuck up.

“Rory came to talk to me. He helped me sort through all the shit, although I was pretty determined to feel sorry for myself.” Sydney sighs heavily, fiddling with the buttons on her shirt. “Because of that, I forgot that you guys and every other damn supe in these places have all had to suffer indignities as bad and worse as I did last night. And that perhaps I’d been sticking my head in the sand about how shitty others have it, especially since no one ever called me out on my bullshit.”

Huck and Thad look at each other guiltily, which almost makes me laugh. It’s obvious who was helping her stay angry and focused only on her own injustices. I can’t fault them for it, though; I probably would have wanted her to stay oblivious to the darker side of the camps, too. Sydney looks at them with a stern gaze, her arms crossed over her chest as her posture stiffens again.

“Don’t do that anymore. I know why you did it, and I appreciate you wanting to protect me. But I have to be aware of everything if we’re going to succeed. And I can’t be above criticism, either. Rory called me to the carpet on being self-absorbed and he was right to do it.”

“I am occasionally quite erudite,” the mage says as he strolls down the hall with rumpled hair and a smirk. “People miss it because I’m so damned hot. But the old noggin is just as sharp as yours, guys.”

Huck rolls his eyes as the bear gives our woman her coffee. “But you don’t mind being spoiled as a prize piggy, I assume.”

Sydney shrugs and takes the drink with a grateful smile. “You are supposed to pretend to be courting me. That’s the plan, isn’t it? I don’t know a damn thing about dating, but everything I’ve seen says this kind of thing is part of it.”

“It is.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes at me, and I consider throttling the sarcastic asshole until he nods. “For some of us, it will be easier than others to play the role.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry you have to deal with someone who repulses you.” The little rebel snarls into her cup, her brows furrowed as she makes sure not to meet anyone’s eyes. Her posture changes ever-so-slightly and I realize that reading her isn’t just about watching her face. She learned to control the amount of emotion shown there, but her body is full of clues if watched closely enough.

We’ll need to work on that, and I may be the one person who can teach her about it.

“Welcome to Social Media Savvy, team!”

The chipper human in charge of our team makes my teeth grind, but you’d never know it. I find the ones that pretend everything here is completely normal and not a horror show of the worst behavior in any species’ history to be the most egregious. At least the overtly evil guards who relish using cattle prods or the creepy types that Stormbringer likely serviced wear their lack of humanity on their sleeves. People like Krista are vacant automatons that accept the awful deeds of their kind because their own lives are more comfortable with it.

I want them to suffer even more than the others, because their apathy helped enslave every race that wasn’t theirs with a wink and smile.

Sydney bristles a little, I can tell, because her spine stiffens at the woman’s tone. Hiding the curl of my lips as I lean back and stack my head behind my hands, I clock the reaction of my other team members. The vampire is sneering—not at all unusual, so he’s off the hook to maintain deception in irritating environments. Thad looks bored as he, too, adjusts his bulk to fit into these stupidly small desk things. His indifference isn’t perfect, but easily honed. Stormbringer is flashing her his megawatt smile as a distraction, but I bet his eyes give him away. Of course, the demon is the very picture of relaxed, uncaring, good old boy lassitude.

Two skilled liars out of five aren’t unworkable. I’ll have to work with the ones who aren’t used to keeping things buttoned up, even while being physically harmed, like I am. Being in the ‘lockdown’ quadrants of every camp I’ve been in makes me an expert on that, especially because the humans who chose not to hide their cruelty loved to focus their efforts on anyone with lineage in leadership. They believed it would keep us from rising up when it only encouraged a simmering hatred that lay dormant, waiting for a time like now.

Hence why I’m perfectly willing to be part of this miniature resistance, even if we are all destroyed by it.

“As we discussed in the last, more informal session, you are being groomed by your full slate of professors and techs to fit images that will allow you to gain as many raving fans as possible in the quickest time you can. Those numbers—both individually and as a team—will be important for many reasons. You have to be obsessed with them in order to succeed; there is no other way to climb the ladder in this situation.”

“That sounds… healthy,” Sydney remarks wryly.

Krista frowns for a second, then continues. “Your focus, when not on camera, needs to be nurturing, maintaining, and cultivating those fans so thoroughly that they will do anything, say anything, and give anything for your attentions, even from afar.”

Rory chuckles as he runs a hand through his hair, rumpling it perfectly. “You want us to create followings that would literally go to war for us if anyone were to attack, yes?”

Cute, mage. That smartass remark was awfully close to the fucking line.

“Yes!” Krista claps her hands with an excited expression. “We want you to whip them into such a froth that they will even go after other competitor’s fans if they dare to speak ill of you. The crazier they are, the more likely they are to believe everything you say and do—without question. We don’t even want them to think about it, only echo your every word.”

I watch the vampire pinch the bridge of his nose as the cheery woman describes the brainwashing Taterman used to get all the scared and dissatisfied humans to support his rise to dictatorship. Sebastian knows how easily led unhappy people are, especially when people perceived to be powerful pay attention to them. That’s the blood bag vamps don’t even have to use their mojo on.

“Isn’t that dangerous, darlin’?” Huck drawls as he stretches his legs out in front of him. “Whippin’ people into that level of obsession always gets the truly deranged on board. I assume we won’t always be in this camp as we’re promoting this little venture.”

Good fucking question, demon.

“It’s true that there may be off-campus events at some point, but there’s no way any of your devotees will get into the camps, the competition arenas, or slip past the military escorts you’d have for any non-camp based events. President Taterman, in his infinite wisdom, has decreed that all the players in the games will always be protected by both human and contracted magical means as they honor their species in competition.”

I want to snarl in frustration. Monroe was definitely testing the boundaries of our confinement and the possibility of slipping communication out of the dragnet. Krista’s eagerness to show that we’ll be ‘safe’ from any of the mouth-foaming loonies we’re supposed to court also illustrated how difficult it will be to get the true message into the world. Whoever they have planning their strategy for this is smarter than anyone in the administration has been before.