Belligerent (Vicara)

by B. N. Mauldin

  Once again on familiar ground, Ryan smiled at the engine but his experience with boats was limited. In fact, he had never before been on a boat. Clarisse briefly explained how to operate it and then pointed in the direction they needed to go. After a little tinkering, Ryan found the watercraft relatively easy to control.

  He soon had them on the other side of the lake where he secured the boat under Clarisse's helpful instructions. Grinning to himself, and remembering his company, he held out his hand to help her climb up the much narrower pier.

  “We're the only ones who live on this side of the lake,” she said, accepting his hand with a nod. “They gave us the villa farthest from the main part of campus as an insult, but we all like it really. We have a lot more privacy than the others and if we climb onto the roof we have the most incredible view.”

  “Who is 'they', and why would they want to insult your team?”

  “Our team,” Clarisse corrected. “They want to insult us because they think we're strange.”

  “Strange?”

  “We've never been quite the ideal candidates for student Belligerents. Shifter's a little eclectic. He likes unique things, so he picked us for his team when no other Owner would have glanced twice at us.”

  “You talk about being a Belligerent like it's a good thing.”

  Clarisse glanced over her shoulder at him. “It can be a very good thing.” She then changed the subject as she led the way up a trail that wound around the cliff. “Mackenzie used to say that I was going to end up falling off the edge because I get too distracted when I'm walking, so Aria made Logan add the railings.”

  Ryan had to admit that he would have been a little frightened to climb the trail himself if there had been no railing. The path was steep with smooth, slippery stones everywhere threatening to trip anyone who didn’t tread cautiously.

  When they reached the summit of the trail, Ryan got his first good look at the villa. It appeared to be made out of black marble and resembled a large, rectangular box. There were no windows, but there was a dome emerging from the back half of the roof covering. Other than the dome there was nothing worth noting on the villa's exterior except for the entrance which consisted of two doors with engravings similar to the ones on the campus's main buildings.

  “It's our home,” Clarisse said with a hint of pride in her voice.

  Pausing at the front doors, she held her wristband to the panel on the wall. An orange light pulsed under the clear plastic and appeared to be scanning the band.

  “Security precaution,” she explained. “Logan will have you programmed into the system in no time.”

  The doors slid open, revealing the interior.

  Ryan was already beginning to relax now that it seemed as if they could come and go from the villa at their own leisure, but he was still certain that living conditions would resemble a prison, especially after judging the cold exterior.

  “This is the foyer.” Clarisse announced as they stepped inside.

  Ryan gasped as he wondered exactly how many times he could be wrong in one day.

  Marble flooring greeted them. A small pool of water about a half meter deep took up a space roughly three meters square with a bridge crossing over the water. Ryan barely noticed all that as he was too busy taking in the sight of the courtyard in the middle of their villa. It was filled with flowers, herbs, and even a peach tree in one corner. Sunlight streamed onto the foliage through the dome, softly illuminating the flowers and leaves. Four benches on the outskirts of the courtyard pressed up against the walls.

  “All the villas have a courtyard because it's normally too cold for us to actually go outside for long periods,” Clarisse explained then gestured to their left. Through an archway Ryan could see what appeared to be a living room. “That's the main room,” she told him. “It's kind of like a game room. We spend a lot of time in there together.” She pointed to the right where there was another archway. “The kitchen and dining room are that way.”

  They crossed over the bridge and into the courtyard. Doors appeared on both sides of the courtyard, symmetrical in their placement. Looking up, Ryan was surprised to see windows facing from the rooms down into the courtyard.

  “Each bedroom has a loft area. The windows look down from there. The rooms on the right are Aria's, mine, Kenkun's, and Daylan's... In that order. The ones on the left are Eva's, Logan's, Mackenzie's, and then yours. Also in that order.” She pointed straight ahead where two doors stood. “Bathrooms are through there. Supposedly the girls' bathroom is the one on the right and the boys' is the one on the left, but-” she made a funny little movement with her hand. “They're group bathrooms, so we tend to just bathe with whomever we like. However, the girls' bathroom must be kept in perfect order at all times. Cause a mess, and we won't allow you back in.”

  “I don't think I'll be going in there anyway,” Ryan said, still bewildered by everything.

  Clarisse shrugged. “I don't tend to go in the boys' bathroom. Too messy for my tastes.” She twirled around. “Your room has already been decorated, but if you want some changes made, you can do whatever you like. Your uniforms are in the closet. Toiletry items have been placed in the bathroom for you, and they're marked by your specialty color to avoid any confusion.”

  “Specialty color?”

  Clarisse nodded. “Each specialty has its own color marker, so that when we're in our uniforms people know what our concentration is. Transportation gets green. I decorated your room as well as I could considering that Shifter didn't want me alerting the others that you were coming. However, it’s quite difficult to be sneaky in a houseful of people who have been trained to be sneaky and also observant.”

  Ryan was having a little trouble following the girl. She rambled from point to point at a speed that made his head spin. There was too much information to take in at once, and Ryan had a hard time focusing on what details were important.

  “Why wouldn't Shifter want the others to know I was coming here?” he asked.

  “That would have given them time to plot how to get rid of you before you were one of us.”

  “And now?”

  “Now you're one of us,” she replied with a shrug. She paused for a moment and reached up to tap at her ear twice. “I'm fine, Kenkun,” she said softly then glanced over at Ryan. “Sorry, comms,” she said. “Kenkun is protective.”

  “Thought his name was Kenichi,” Ryan asked. He had been certain he had at least gotten their names right.

  “It is. ‘Kun’s’ an expression in Japanese. It’s like saying… I don’t really think there is an equivalent in English, actually. It means we’re close friends though,” Clarisse explained. “The others will be here shortly. I'll show you your room and you can tell me if I've forgotten anything.”

  “Yeah, okay, let's do that,” Ryan said, wanting to ask her exactly how he would know if she had forgotten something. Instead he followed Clarisse over to his room.

  “Go ahead,” she said and gestured for him to proceed.

  He opened the door and stepped inside. It took him a few moments to process what he was seeing. His prior expectations of a prison cell were shattered. Instead of a dark compartment, he was greeted with a room holding a queen sized bed decorated in green and black pillows. All the furniture was wood carved in simple, sleek styles and painted black. The walls and ceiling were a peaceful but modern shade of bamboo green. A desk, chair and bookshelf were situated smartly against one wall. The bookshelf held what looked like a bunch of textbooks as well as a collection of magazines and a few recreational books.

  “We mostly carry our tablets to our classes, but since I know it's hard to stare at a bright screen for too long if you're not used to it, I made sure to get hard copies of all the books you would need.”

  “That makes sense. Thank you.” Ryan glanced over to the other side of the room at a long dresser against the far wall and a wardrobe.

  “All your uniforms are in the dresser, including the coveralls you'll need f
or when you're working in the garage. There are also some street clothes. I tend to be good at picking out clothes according to what I know about someone's tastes, but if you don't like them you can always go pick out some more later. We spend most of our time in uniforms here except for when we're hanging around the villa. Your armor and a few formal outfits are hung up in the armoire, and your shoes are stored under the bed,” Clarisse said without even pausing to take a breath.

  “This is my room? Are all the bedrooms this big?” Ryan winced at his own tone. He could come off either overly impressed or completely ungrateful. Both would be embarrassing. Luckily, Clarisse seemed to understand exactly what he meant.

  “All the bedrooms are this size, but they're all decorated to fit our individual tastes. Mine is more elegant, Aria's is cheerier, Kenkun's is darker, Logan's is more modern, Eva's is more floral, Mackenzie's is more open and Daylan's is more comfortable,” she ticked off the differences with the ease of someone who had obviously spent a decent amount of time in each of the bedrooms. “This is completely yours, though. None of us will enter without your permission,” she assured him.

  Clarisse reached up and double tapped at her ear again where Ryan could just make out a device so tiny that if she hadn’t told him it was there earlier, he wouldn't have noticed it. “I'll take care of it,” she said, though not to him. “I'll leave you to explore the loft area on your own.” It took a moment for Ryan to realize she was addressing him again. “I'll be somewhere in the villa if you need me.”

  She nodded once, though Ryan wasn’t sure if it was to him or simply a gesture for herself. Then, she left him alone in the room.

  Ryan glanced around the bottom part of the bedroom for a few moments longer. He couldn't remember ever having a room to himself before. He had been content having his own mattress in a corner of the Darton apartment. It became luxurious when Alex had shoved her mattress a few feet away from his and hung old curtains from the ceiling to separate their space from the other teenagers who had claimed spots in the room. Of course, she had also hung a curtain between his mattress and hers, but she had left that one tied back most of the time.

  Prior to the apartment, he had lived with his older sister, Wendy, on her lumpy couch. Well, that was before she had married the jerk and produced three children that had crowded the space. Sometimes, on the rare occasions when Wendy waxed nostalgic, she would tell him about the house they had lived in with their parents and an older brother. She would tell him about how it was outside the city and how they had a swing set in the back yard. She would tell him about her bedroom which had painted ponies racing across the walls and how his nursery had rocket ships on the ceiling, even though he was still little enough that he had slept in a crib in their parents' room. His only memories of that house and the three missing family members were the stories his sister had told him, and sometimes he thought maybe it would have been better if she had never told him that their lives had once been ideal.

  Ryan climbed the ladder up to the loft area where he found an old fashioned arcade racing game, one that had been invented well before the Vicara games. Another corner held a workstation with models of various vehicles lining its surface. More models were arranged on shelves circling around the room. Ryan took a closer look at a few of them and realized they were completely accurate models down to the wires and the parts of the engines. Though he had never spent a lot of time working on models, he could see the benefits of them for his studies. He gently lifted a hover-car model and took a better look at it.

  “I swear that man's a complete idiot sometimes!” The voice came from down in the courtyard. Ryan shifted over to his window and peeked down. Mackenzie was storming across the courtyard to the bathrooms. Clarisse and Aria were following behind her. “Does he think Riley-”

  “Ryan,” Clarisse corrected, though she knew the mistake had been intentional.

  “Does he think Ryan,” Mackenzie said, emphasizing his name, “is going to be a permanent member of our team? What about...?” she trailed off slightly. “We're still not certain after all.”

  “Whether this is temporary or permanent, we all have to work together,” Aria interrupted. Ryan didn't hear the rest as the three girls disappeared into the bathroom.

  A branded criminal and unwanted in his new life, things had certainly started on a downward spiral since eyeing that Zeus in the parking garage. He lied to himself and thought he believed that he was strong enough for anything thrown his way. This was just another situation he’d need to maneuver, avoid or defeat. No problem. Easy as that funnel cake Alex adored so completely.

  As soon as each thought was complete, he knew the falseness of his bravado. His heart thumped in trepidation, shame and perhaps a measure of fear.

  Chapter 6

  Mackenzie left the shower area and moved over to the large bath. She slipped into the pool of hot water and breathed a sigh of relief as the ache in her muscles began to fade away. Physical training was her least favorite activity when it came to academy life. She much preferred honing her mind rather than her body, and she doubted she would ever change her preference no matter how many years she had left. A few minutes after Mackenzie had gotten settled, Aria slipped into the bath and took a seat on the bench across from her.

  The two sat in a comfortable silence that was soon interrupted when Clarisse bounced her way over and climbed into the bath next to Aria. Her long hair was piled up on her head in two buns to keep it out of the water, as was proper bathroom etiquette. Mackenzie didn't know how she could deal with that much hair. She herself had enough of an issue remembering to pull her hair up in a high ponytail before entering the bath.

  “I showed Ryan around,” Clarisse said.

  Mackenzie noticed she looked uncertain about something. “Your emotions are showing,” she warned.

  “Maybe they're not my real emotions,” Clarisse said, and Mackenzie didn't bother to try figuring out whether she was acting or being honest.

  There was a reason Clarisse was the informant, after all.

  “How long have you known about Ryan?” Mackenzie said. “About Shifter's plan?”

  “A week or so. I had to arrange his room.”

  “I wondered why you kept sneaking off,” Aria said.

  “I told you that I was going shopping, which was the truth.”

  Clarisse didn’t tend to lie. She twisted the truth. They had all realized long ago that she thought of her manipulations as necessary games, and since she didn't tend to play her games on them except under Shifter's orders, none of them typically minded. Besides, it was Clarisse’s ability to twist the truth that Mackenzie leveraged in her strategies.

  “The number of hours you spent away and the number of bags you brought back for yourself didn’t quite add up. There should have been more,” Aria said with a smile. “And I should have tracked you better.”

  Clarisse laughed in delight. “You've been more observant of me!”

  “Back to the subject,” Mackenzie said sternly, causing them both to become serious again. It seemed like she was always wiping the smiles off people's faces. “How much information about Ryan did Shifter give you?”

  Clarisse looked at Mackenzie as if she had just asked something that she should have the answer to already, and Mackenzie tried to remind herself that Clarisse's job was to know more than everyone else.

  “Shifter simply told me that Ryan was from Darton. I found out the rest myself and confirmed for Shifter that Ryan had the kind of reputation that would have him fit in well with us.”

  “Basically you chose him for us,” Mackenzie clarified.

  “Ryan wasn't the first,” Clarisse said.

  “How soon after James did Shifter start looking?”

  “Mackenzie-” Clarisse started to protest. There was that look in her eyes. The one that meant if she said anything, someone would end up hurt.

  Mackenzie didn't care. “How soon?”

  “Two days after it was official.”

&nbs
p; “It's still not official!” Mackenzie shouted.

  Clarisse was too emotionally drained to flinch. Aria, however, glared at their strategist: a rare expression of disapproval and a slight protectiveness for Clarisse. Aria almost never interfered in the disputes of others except to play the part of a mediator, but it appeared as if she would take a side in this round.

  Clarisse continued. “Shifter started looking almost immediately. He knew that no matter the final outcome, we would at least need a temporary substitute. I'm not sure if he's even given any thought as to how long this arrangement will last. He's doing what’s necessary at this moment and leaving the future to figure itself out as he always does. You must understand that, since you're a strategist as well.”

  “I do understand,” Mackenzie said. “It's just... I can't separate the personal from the business. Not this time. Not when it concerns James.”

  “You don't have much of a choice right now. You're our leader, after all,” Aria said, relaying the obvious.

  Mackenzie sighed. “Maybe we should switch. You always seemed to be much better at being a leader,” she said with a small smile playing at the corners of her lips.

  Aria raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to spend most of your time locked in labs with potentially lethal chemicals?”

  Clarisse giggled behind her hand.

  “Never mind. I take it back.” Mackenzie said as she slid down a little further into the water.

  Her teammates were right. She didn't have any choice but to accept Ryan which meant she needed to learn everything about him: skills, intelligence, limitations, fears, weaknesses, quirks and potential sources of distraction.

  *

  Logan stared at the door to the last bedroom on the left for longer than could be considered normal before raising his hand and knocking sharply on the wooden surface. Nothing happened for a few moments. Logan considered that maybe Ryan had descended the ladder from his loft. That tended to trip him up as well. Actually any kind of heights tended to cause him to be a little less than graceful.