by Nikki Dean
The three students on the black ops team hadn't moved at all either, and were patiently waiting for something. She wished she knew what.
Mallory relaxed her focus, allowing her web to switch back to the animals, instead of people. It was too taxing to keep track of everyone at once, and she didn't want to wear herself out too quickly.
“So, what are we going to do with our flag?” Mallory whispered to Alfred. “Is keeping it here the best idea?”
“In our defensible base? Of course it is. Where else would we put it?” he hissed back, rolling his eyes.
“I just thought a moving target might be harder to find than a sedentary one. They know to look for our base, so why not make them work for it a little harder? Put up a decoy or something?” Mallory asked.
“It's a giant red flag, what are you going to use as a decoy?” Alfred asked over his shoulder as he turned away from her, back toward the forest around them.
“I don't know. It was just an idea. Leaving it out in the open doesn't sound like the best call,” she replied. “Anyone can see it. Like you said, it's a giant red flag.”
“We aren't exactly in the open right now, and they won't find us if you would just be quiet,” Alfred hissed. Gavin and Conner made noises of agreement. Janae just shook her head.
Why do men always think they know everything, and refuse to listen to reason? At least Nico isn't like that. I don't think I could put up with him if he was. Matt's a little stubborn, but he's willing to consider my opinions and change his plans accordingly, like that night they brought pizza. He was determined to make sure I was okay, but flexible enough to offer to leave me food and get out of my hair. If only he wasn't so damned determined to get in my pants, too.
Something flared on her web, pulling her attention. A sense of alarm came in from the west as squirrels, rabbits and snakes all fled in fear, allowing something to travel through the forest unhindered.
“Something's coming from that way,” Mallory whispered as quietly as possible. “I don't know what.” Which was strangely true.
Mallory stopped. I should be able to feel anything coming. The birds and squirrels should see it, or smell it at least. What the fuck is that?
Still, there was nothing. No images from them, or smells. Just wind and a sense of foreboding that didn't last long. The notes of alarm faded from her web and she squinted into the trees, trying to figure out just what kind of magic was at play here.
Nothing rushed at them from the trees, and soon the sound of birds chirping and insects singing filled the air again. Mal's unease turned to dread and she broke out into a cold sweat as Alfred turned to her with a doubtful frown.
“Where?” he whispered.
What if it's the amaroq again, and that's why I can't sense it? Her stomach turned at the thought and she grabbed at the strings of her web, drawing harder on the animals that surrounded them. They should see it, or hear it. It's huge and heavy, so it should leave some kind of tracks behind it.
The mental image of it hanging from the ceiling, staring them down while it prepared to drop right on top of her, Nico and Matt made her swallow hard. Unless it's using the trees, instead of the ground to get around. Still, I would think that would be even noisier. It was definitely solid enough to knock a few saplings over.
“What's coming?” Alfred whispered again when she didn't respond.
And then it was too late.
A sharp gust of wind buffeted the side of their outpost, making it rattle on its supports. Alfred sucked in his breath and Janae let out a little yelp of surprise as she was forced to grab the edge of the wall, trying to keep her balance. Mallory looked over to see her regain her footing just as a second blast hit them.
“What is this?” Mallory demanded. “The animals barely reacted and it was past them in a second. We just need to hold on.”
“Shut her up!” Conner ordered from the ground floor. He stood beside the flagpole that extended through the center of their post, holding the red fabric aloft for anyone to see it. Well, when it wasn't surrounded by an invisibility spell, that was.
Alfred nodded and clamped his hand over Mallory's mouth. He shook his head and pointed to the blowing trees, then his ear.
Does he mean the trees are listening to us? Or the wind? Is it some kind of searching spell, looking for us?
The wind blew harder, circling the small structure as they all hunkered down behind the its measly wooden walls. The slats creaked beneath the onslaught, threatening to lift up from their cheap nails.
This thing can't possibly last much longer. Are they planning to blow the entire outpost down? That would make it a lot easier to get to the flag, if it doesn't get stuck beneath the debris. Or anything else. An idea began to slowly take shape. I wonder how small the flag can be, and if I have time to get it out of here?
She let go of her connections to the animals above the ground and began to search below it, something she'd never really done before. Why would she, when all that was beneath them in the city was usually a bunch of rats and snakes? It might be different out here in the woods, though.
It wasn't very.
A group of skunks had a den twenty or thirty feet away, and a few moles had dug tunnels that criss-crossed the forest. Beyond that, it was mostly worms, rats and the occasional rabbit burrow.
Nothing useful.
I'm guessing the best idea will be to wait until this dies down, then have an owl swoop in and grab the flag. But that means I'll have to get it off the pole, and while Professor MacKenna didn't necessarily say that it had to stay up there, he didn't say that we could take it down, either. Still, protecting it is protecting it.
Her mind made up, Mallory jumped the short distance to the ground and began to untie the rope that held the red flag aloft. It was whipping back and forth in the wind, threatening to pull right out of her grip as she tugged on it. Hands covered hers, stopping her. She looked up to see Conner glaring at her and the other three students staring. Mallory pointed at the flag, then herself.
Conner shook his head.
Mal let go of the rope and spread her hands out as though to ask why not?
He shook his head again and flicked her hands away from the ropes, then pointed back to the catwalk that she'd clambered down from.
Mallory glared. This is stupid. Who decided he could run this thing, anyway? Not that I want to, but a good idea is a good idea, and he won't even hear me out. Oh, well, it'll be his fault if we lose.
He pointed again, grinding his teeth together in irritation. She grabbed the ladder and got back onto the wall, ducking behind it to keep herself out of the worst of the wind. Alfred glanced at her from the corner of his eye and shook his head, then ducked down too, keeping watch through the cracks between the boards.
What's the point of this if one guy is just going to tell everyone what to do? They have no idea where the other team is, or why the wind is blowing like that. It has to be magic, especially with the way that everyone is telling me to be quiet. Which means they're looking for us, and this is how they're doing it.
Mallory did her best to ignore the wind and her annoyance, which was possibly more distracting, and search for her classmates in the forest. Her web showed that three of them had set out, forming a sort of V shape with two students in front, about ten feet apart and one in the middle, about ten feet behind them. It was a decent formation that allowed any two to jump in and help the other one if trouble arose.
Mostly. She wouldn't want to be the student in the back, regardless.
The special ops team of three had moved as well, with one person headed toward the blue team's outpost and two moving quickly toward the red one.
Shit, that's five people coming at us. We're evenly matched in terms of numbers, but I have no idea what any of them can do. It would be best to move the flag now, but how do I convince them without telling all of my secrets?
Her head began to ache from switching back and forth on her web so often, going from animals to people
and back again. She looked at her watch and saw that it had only been twenty minutes since the battle started, leaving them with another forty-five to go.
I wonder if it ends early if they capture our flag? Probably so. A hand touched her shoulder and her headache disappeared. Mallory looked back at Janae and nodded her thanks.
And just like that, the screaming wind moved on, whipping through the trees on its way through the forest. The stillness was a little eerie in its wake.
“Do you think they know we're here?” the other girl whispered so quietly that Mallory barely heard her.
Mallory nodded.
Chapter 6
It was unmistakable - the three blue team students were heading in their direction, however slowly they were going. They were being cautious, something Mallory could appreciate. “Or they're just following the wind. It's possible that they're just walking along behind it, but the birds told me someone's heading this way.”
“What direction are they coming from?” Alfred asked. His hunched shoulders and lifted eyebrows made Mallory think that he probably didn't believe her, but was willing to take any intel he could get. She pointed.
“Gavin, you watching there, too?” Conner asked. The haze around them had cleared somewhat, and Mallory wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Janae jumped down and touched his shoulder.
Mal watched, fascinated as a little bit of Janae's light mutated, shifted in intensity and color as it matched Conner's and disappeared into his presence. His whole being flared a little as he perked up beneath her powers, his own magic getting stronger again.
It's like he absorbed her magic, instead of the other way around. I thought that maybe she took on people's injuries, and that's why she gets so tired, but she doesn't. She gives them part of herself. I wonder if she knows. And I wonder if she can keep it up, since it's only been twenty-five minutes now, and we're technically not even halfway done.
Mallory offered Janae some of the water from the bottle in her back pocket. The other students looked at her and she sighed, passing it around. “Just a sip. Why didn't you guys bring any?”
“We're not supposed to have anything from outside of class,” Gavin replied. “Professor MacKenna told us before the first simulation, but since you weren't here, I guess you didn't know.”
“Clearly, I didn't know. I don't want to do anything that would fuck up my grade on the very first project,” she grumbled, turning the bottle upside down. “You'd think someone would have told me the rules by now. It's not even listed in the syllabus.”
“Hey!” Conner glared.
“You said it's not allowed. I'm not going to be responsible for sneaking something in and distributing it when I need to pass this class,” Mal replied, unrepentant. “Get over it.”
The other guys backed off, not bothering to respond. She heard Gavin mutter, “but it's already here,” under his breath.
“Quit bitching about it and get your ass in gear. Three people from the blue team are almost here, and unless you'd like to just gift wrap our flag for them, we should probably have a plan. Although I still think getting it out of here is the best idea,” Mallory said in irritation. “Everyone expects it to be in the outpost.”
“Because it's the one place under our control, that's the most easily defended,” Conner shot back. “Definitely better than one person running around in the woods with it.”
“I'm not suggesting one of us keep it,” Mallory replied. “Or that we run.”
“What, hide it then?” Janae guessed. “It's not a terrible idea. It'd take someone a lot longer than an hour to find one little flag in the whole forest, especially if they're looking for it here.”
Hiding it's not a bad idea. I was just going to give it to a bird and have it fly over the playing field for the rest of the class period, but telling a squirrel to hide it in a tree would be good, too. “We could hide it. Or just keep it moving.”
“It's magic. Which means someone can probably track it, and would find it under a bush within ten minutes. Plus, it's a little late for all of that,” Alfred pointed out. “They're here, so shut up.”
He was right. Mallory could just make out three figures moving through the trees, still walking in that odd formation as they searched. Everyone on the red team got quiet, holding their breaths to see if the blue team had figured out some way to see through Conner's invisibility spell.
They had. Of course. Mallory should have realized.
“Does that look like a building to you?” one of the blue team asked, pointing. “See the way the dirt is shoved up right there, and that branch is just hanging in midair, like it's sticking out of something we can't see? Erica, what do you think?”
The girl in question, Erica, nodded. “I bet that's the red outpost, hidden in Conner's field. Let's find out.” Picking up a rock, she lobbed it straight toward them. It bounced once, then landed just on the other side of the outpost's wall, well within Conner's spell.
“Fuck,” he hissed. “They remembered from last month.”
Well, of fucking course they remembered from last month, if you told them about it then. Clearly they're gonna remember a guy making entire areas disappear. Mallory clenched her jaw together to keep from saying the words out loud.
“Looks like it's up to us then,” Gavin said, crossing the open rafters to come stand beside Alfred and Mal. “Ready?”
Alfred nodded. “Low-impact spells only,” he reminded the other guy, who shrugged.
“Just don't kill anyone, you mean.”
Wait, that's not really what Professor MacKenna said, Mallory thought. But I'm not going to argue anymore. These jackasses want to do things they've always done them, then fine. If they want to actually win, then I'm here for that.
Conner took up a spot beside the doorway facing the blue team. They couldn't see him, but they clearly knew he was in there.
“Who else is in there with you, Conner? There's nowhere you can go.”
Janae looked up at Mal and reached over, casually untying the rope that held their flag aloft. “Keep your shield up as long as you can, Conner. I think we should do what Mallory says, and get the flag out of here.”
“What?! Why?” he sputtered.
“Because that's Erica Woods, Tomas Bents and Rodrigo Gomez out there. She can slow time. Tomas is a telekinetic. Rodrigo can make lightning. You, Alfred and Gavin don't stand a chance against them, and my powers are all defensive. Mallory is better suited to intelligence than fighting, and you have all of the intel you need. The enemy is here. Let's not let them walk in and achieve their objective.”
“Alfred is telekinetic too, and Gavin can freeze nearly anything. We shouldn't give up yet,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Mallory jumped down from the catwalk and jerked on the ropes, bringing the flag down. “Don't worry, we can tell the professor that it was your idea if it makes you feel any better. Can you make a moving target invisible, too? Or just stationary?”
Conner stalked over to them, reaching out to grab the ropes from her hands. Mallory unclipped the flag and balled it up, hiding it behind her back as she narrowed her eyes at the bigger guy.
“Oh, yeah? Is pushing me around to get your way really what you want to do?” she demanded as he pushed up against her, his chest touching hers. She didn't push him back, but she didn't back down either. “I can talk to animals. Including any that you're afraid of. Snakes, spiders, rats, creepy crawly centipedes that just might start hiding under your pillow, or in your socks. Mosquitoes that will consider you a new delicacy, and skunks that you'll never see, but that's not the important part, now is it?”
He narrowed his eyes at her as he took a half step to the side, out of her personal space but not really away, and tried to reach around her to take the flag. She dodged him.
“Only if you ask nicely and tell me your plan.”
“We put it back and provide support to our team by joining the fight,” Conner bit out. “Like we're supposed
to do. Working together is the point of the exercise.”
“I thought the point was the keep our flag safe, and take theirs?” Janae asked. Conner glared at her and she lifted her eyebrows, silently challenging him to disagree. “Doesn't really matter how we do it, as long as we do it. Same as any other mission.”
“I can't believe you're agreeing with this. She's brand new and barely been at the academy for two weeks, Janae,” Conner said. “I expected more from you.”
“And you're no one's daddy, so quit tryna tell us what to do like you are. Your invisibility plan failed. That's okay. Now it's time to move on to plan B, and Mallory can make that happen. Now answer her question.”
Something hit the side of the outpost, causing a loud thud against the wooden walls. Alfred grunted and someone on the other team yelled out as they were shoved into a tree by an invisible force.
“So it's Conner and Alfred in there? Who else?” Erica called out. “Don't waste your energy with the invisibility spell any more, Conner, we already know where you are.”
Conner sighed and backed up. “Fine. Do whatever you're going to do. But don't blame me when Tomas crushes your animal friends to get the flag.”
“That still depends on you, actually. Can you make a moving target invisible too, or not?” Mallory asked as she shook the flag out, then hurriedly folded and rolled it. She fastened the clips together to keep it as small as possible.
“A stationary target,” he finally admitted. “I'm working on moving targets, but they can't be fast.”
“Well, something slow isn't really going to get us out of this mess. Can you put it around me, so I can carry the flag to the open? I think a squirrel can take it and run up a tree, then an owl or something can grab it from there.”
They both stared at her in silence for a second. Icicles shot from Gavin's hands above them, coating the ground around the blue team students with ice. It cracked as they watched, the chunks rising into the air as Tomas used them for ammunition and hurled them back at the outpost, shattering them against the wall.