Yana frowned. “Way to ramble. This was more interesting the first time, when Ms. Treble told us.”
Masha wasn’t feeling the cute factor today. “The dogs are much more useful than the rabbits,” she muttered as Bernadette droned on. She didn’t miss the twitches of annoyance from Ms. Treble every time Bernadette said something that skated the line of being offensive.
“She isn’t a fan of the dogs, that’s for sure,” Halli remarked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
“I still don’t think it’s fair that Devi has to stay outside.” Masha spoke quietly, not wanting to earn a rebuke from Bernadette. The crabby rabbit handler really had it in for the German Shepherd puppy.
Halli shrugged. “If it was up to me, I’d let her in. The rabbits are fine with us Wechselbalg, so I don’t think a puppy is going to scare them.”
Mischa picked up a wide-toothed comb to deal with a particularly matted clump. “How do they get so tangled? Ugh.” She teased the clump free and deposited it in her basket, lowering her voice to a whisper. “We could always sneak her in.”
Yana frowned, also speaking quietly. “How would we do that? The handlers are always here.”
Masha grinned. “Not at night, they’re not.”
“Fair enough,” Yana conceded. “But how do we get down here without being noticed? Meredith would know, and we’d get caught. I’m not getting involved in an escapade. It was a big mistake not telling Ms. Dukes when you discovered the plot in Wales, so I would think you’d learned your lesson about sneaking around.”
Masha and Mischa shared a glance, turning to Yana with their hands up in mock capitulation. “Okay, we won’t sneak Devi in!”
Yana gave them her sternest look before returning her attention to her rabbit. “You’d better not.”
“It would probably be easier to sneak one of the rabbits out anyway,” Masha mused. “Then the rules haven’t been broken and Devi gets her wish.”
Yana rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just don’t involve me.”
“Forget that,” Halli broke in. “What are we going to do about Tina and Ron? The last week has been horrendous. And has anyone seen much of Maxim?”
“Maxim’s got a lot to deal with at the moment,” Yana told her. “He’s meeting us at the library later. You are right about Tina and Ron, though. They keep arguing, and I feel torn between the two of them.”
“It’s affecting all of us,” Masha agreed. “Although I don’t see what the problem is.”
“I think Tina has it right.” Mischa flipped her hair. “She shouldn’t have to compromise her prospects just to save Ron’s hurt feelings. If they’re meant to be together they’ll meet again when the time is right.”
Halli shrugged. “I just wish they’d waited until after graduation to get all dramatic about it.”
“Less chatting, more grooming, ladies,” Bernadette called.
Masha raised her eyebrow just a fraction as they got back to work and Mischa winked at her.
It was on.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Library
Maxim sat waiting for the others to arrive for their study session. The students had all finished for the day and Yana had organized an evening meetup while the library was quiet. He’d gotten here early and ended up staring at the galaxy as it swirled softly outside the picture window. However, he wasn’t really seeing any of it. His mind was elsewhere.
A movement in the lobby below caught his attention, snapping him from his brooding. Tina was gesticulating angrily at Ron as they crossed the floor toward the double staircase on their way up to the library.
He wondered what Ron had done to get himself in the doghouse this time. Those two had been arguing a lot since the Gate.
Maxim didn’t want to dwell on the Gate. He pushed the thought aside quickly, before the pain that even thinking about it caused could blindside him. He had resolved to harden his heart, and that meant diverting himself every time thoughts of his father reared up.
The doors opened, giving Maxim the distraction he needed. Tina stormed in with a face like thunder, followed a minute later by Ron.
“What’s up?” he asked, looking from one to the other.
Tina jabbed an accusing finger in Ron’s direction. “Ask him!”
Ron glared back at her, his face flushed.
Maxim held up his hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make it worse.”
“It’s not your fault, Maxim,” Tina told him, putting her bag down at a workstation and switching it on.
“It’s not my fault either!” Ron cried. “You’re the one who’s making it impossible. It can’t get any worse!”
Much to Maxim’s relief, Mischa came into the library at that moment.
Mischa assessed the awkward scene in one quick look. “What’s going on? Are you two fighting again?”
“Ron thinks I should forget about studying.”
“No, I don’t!” Ron cried.
Mischa tilted her head. “What! Why?”
Tina sent icy daggers Ron’s way. “So I can wait around for him.”
Ron hit his forehead with his hand. “That’s not what I said! I said that you’re taking on too many classes and you won’t have time for anything, not just me!”
Tina arched an eyebrow. “‘When is our time?’ That’s what you said. ‘Why don’t you drop a few classes so I get to see you when I’m not doing my thing?’”
Maxim shook his head at Ron in disbelief. “You didn’t really ask her to do that. Not cool, dude.”
Ron went red. “It’s not like that! I get one shot at impressing the R&D team. It’s hard enough knowing they see me as a kid. If I flake now, it just proves it! My armor is going to save lives, but if I’m not on the team it’s never going to get made.”
Maxim grimaced. “It doesn’t sound easy, but you can’t ask Tina to put her life on hold just to make you happy.”
“Yeah, Ron.” Mischa snickered. “What fantasy are you living in? You sound like some 1950s mudball sitcom.”
Tina huffed impatiently. “I understand that you need to prove yourself, Ron. I really do! What I don’t understand is why you expect me to stay here and...and do what, exactly? I have my own life to build. Do you hear me asking you to stay at school with me? Not to disappear for days at a time while you’re on a project?”
Ron shook his head reluctantly.
“No!” Tina emphasized her point by banging her hand on the desk. “Do you know why? Because I respect you enough to let you find your own way. Maybe you should try doing the same for me.”
Ron’s mouth opened and closed. He turned on his heel and stormed toward the door. “Screw this! Do what you want, Tina. You were going to anyway.” He slammed the door behind him.
“Sheesh, I’ve seen tripwires less tightly-strung than him.” Mischa looked at Tina’s screen. “What are you studying, anyway?”
Tina laughed and waved a hand at the screen. “What, this? Nonlinear ordinary differential equations.” She shrugged, seeing the blank look on her friend’s face. “It’s math for engineering.”
Mischa screwed up her face as she attempted to work out what possible use the squiggles on the screen could be to an engineer. “Nope, it may as well be in Yollin. I’ll stick to practicing how to win at conversation with strangers who have an agenda, thanks.”
Tina turned back to her workstation. “It’s not too bad. How’s it going with the rabbit project? I’m almost regretting not taking the class now.”
“Grooming the rabbits is more fun than poking strands of hair into tubes and testing them for hours on end.”
Tina snickered. “Why did you take the class, then?”
Mischa shrugged. “I needed a science credit and it looked to take the least time and labor. The class has been boring, but the rabbits are kind of cute. And the plants and ecologies level is, well, flat-out interesting. It’s like its own world, and the adults there are all so dramatic! Bernadette still won’t let Devi in, so Masha and Yana stayed behind af
ter everyone left to help her today. Masha said she would get information out of her.”
“Information?” Maxim asked, suddenly interested. “What kind of information? Why?”
Mischa shrugged. “Beats me. They’ll be here soon, so you can ask her.”
They didn’t have to wait long. The door swung open, and Masha and Yana entered the library. Their heads were together and they were deep in hushed conversation as they crossed the room.
Mischa called to her sister, “Hey, what’s happening?”
Masha’s eyes shone with anger. “That ridiculous woman!”
Yana nodded, surprising Maxim and Tina.
“It’s not like you to see the worst in someone, Yana,” Maxim responded. “What has this woman done to make you both so angry?”
Yana’s face was troubled. “She’s just so petty. We stayed behind to help and she didn’t even thank us! And she says the most horrible things about Yelena.”
Tina’s eyes flashed as she looked up. “What does she have against Yelena?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but she had plenty to say about Yelena getting some kind of preferential treatment over her.” Yana shrugged and took a seat at the workstation next to Tina’s.
Masha scowled. “You didn’t hear her when she thought we were out of earshot. Guess she forgot I’m a Wechselbalg. I heard her bitching to Jainey that she would never let Devi in, and she didn’t care if the Queen was unhappy with her. Ugh.”
Mischa examined her nails. “She’s not important enough for the Queen to take notice of. If you ask me, she’s just bitter because she has a thing for Bobcat.”
Everyone cracked up at that.
“So she’s taking it out on Devi?” Tina surmised once the laughter died down. “What a nasty and small-minded thing to do!”
“I know, right?” Masha agreed. “I think we should keep an eye on her. The dogs all use the space down there to exercise. And what’s up with Ron? He stomped past us without so much as a hello.”
Maxim looked away. He had no intention of adding to the drama between Tina and Ron.
Tina flushed and muttered darkly under her breath. She stood and grabbed her things. “I’m going back to the dorm. I’m all done here.”
She left without another word, her head down.
Maxim pushed away from the window. “I’m going to go too. I have early training tomorrow.”
“Wait up, Maxim,” Yana called. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told Masha and Mischa as she ran off, leaving the twins alone in the library.
“Way to kill the mood, sis.” Mischa snickered.
Masha threw up her hands. “What did I say? Never mind, we’d better get back to the dorm and get some sleep. I have a plan about how to get a rabbit...”
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Delta Class Dormitory
Masha frowned at her twin in the darkness. “Shhh, you’ll wake Ksenia!”
She grabbed the carryall she’d placed at the end of her bed earlier and silently picked her way across the dorm. She grabbed her sister’s hand. “Stop wasting time. Come on!”
Mischa stifled a giggle with her free hand and let Masha pull her out of the sleeping area. “I just find this whole thing too funny,” she whispered after she’d shut the door behind them.
Masha turned on her penlight, resting it on the table while she took two soft bundles of clothing out of her carryall. She shook one out and pulled on the dark form-fitting all-in-one jumpsuit, leaving the other items aside for the moment. “What’s so funny about it?”
“We’re sneaking out in the middle of the night to kidnap a bunny so our friend the talking puppy can meet it. Life doesn’t get more absurd than that.”
Masha pulled a hood over her hair and tied a scarf around her face. Last were the gloves. “We have to get there without getting caught first.” She grinned at her sister, checking her clothing to make sure there were no gaps.
Mischa gaped at her twin. “You can’t walk around looking like that!”
Masha snorted. Trust Mischa to come out with something like that. “I’ve got the same for you. Make sure you’re covered. You don’t want to get covered in grease stains.”
Mischa paled, pulling on the clothing and tying her hair back hastily. “Grease stains?”
“Uh-huh.” Masha was matter of fact. She waited for Mischa to finish before opening the door to the corridor a crack and peering through to make sure nobody was there. “How else do you expect to get away with roaming around the Meredith Reynolds in the middle of the night, or to make it in and out without Bernadette catching us? We have to be sneaky, so we’re going through the maintenance tunnels.”
“I thought we were going to take the tram,” Mischa complained. “You didn’t mention anything about getting dressed up like ninjas and creeping around in dirty tunnels when you said you had a plan.”
“And get busted? No way. Stay here if you like, but I’m on a mission for Justice.” Masha opened the door a little wider and stepped into the corridor, then looked back at her sister. “Are you coming?”
Mischa sighed and reluctantly followed. “Fiiine, but I want a spa day when this is done.”
“Whatever. We’ll bring Devi if she wants to come with us.”
___
Quiet returned to the Delta Class dormitory, but all was not as it appeared. A silent conversation was going on where nobody else could hear it.
Are you sure about this, ADAM? The appropriate course of action would be to inform the school administrators before the students leave the Academy grounds.
>>Normally I would agree, Meredith, but after you brought up Masha’s conversation with Yana in the cafeteria I had to get Bethany Anne’s take on the problem. She wants me to find out what this young woman is made of.<<
What she is ‘made of?’ I do not understand.
>>Her fortitude, Meredith. I believe she would serve faithfully and well as a Guardian, but she dreams of something more. I may have a solution, providing she’s got the mettle for the job. Besides, the only reason Bernadette isn’t letting Devi in to see the rabbits is because she and Yelena are feuding.<<
That is…illogical.
>>Which is exactly why I intervened before you contacted Diane and Dorene. Let the kids have a little fun. I’ll keep my eyes on them.<<
Your eyes? Oh, good one, ADAM. That’s funny.
>>Glad you think so, Meredith. I’ll be here all week.<<
ADAM followed the twins on the security cameras. They crept down the staircase and through the shadows of the lobby, then into the administrative wing toward the service tunnels that would eventually take them to the ecologies level.
He often amused himself this way when Bethany Anne was sleeping or busy. Although he respected the privacy of the humans aboard the Meredith Reynolds, he had taken to observing their comings and goings in the public spaces in an attempt to better understand them and improve the accuracy of his heuristic algorithms.
He hadn’t counted on the enjoyment factor. Humans were fascinatingly illogical. Even he had trouble predicting the outcomes of their behaviors sometimes.
Now and then TOM would join him, and the two of them would compare the social interactions of the humans to memorable scenes from TV shows they had both seen. This time he was solo, since he had a purpose in allowing the teenagers to get up to their shenanigans.
Masha Kosolov didn’t know it, but she was being interviewed.
Masha wanted to walk the line, and if that was where she belonged then ADAM would do his level best to point her in the right direction. She had certainly proven herself to be brave and resourceful during the siege at the castle, but did she possess the other qualities required for the hard road ahead?
He sent a message to Bernadette.
He guessed he’d find out.
CHAPTER TEN
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Residential Area
Peter glanced down at his tablet to make sure he had the address right. “Meredith, would you let the
m know I’m here, please? And start recording. I may have to refer back to this interview later.”
Recording now, Meredith replied through his implant.
He waited patiently until the door opened to reveal an aproned elderly woman whose wispy white hair was twisted up in a messy bun above her rosy face.
“Oh, what a handsome young man!” she cooed. “You must be Commander Silvers.”
“That’s me, ma’am,” he replied, blushing a little. The older ladies always embarrassed him. “I hope it’s not too late to bother you?”
“Nonsense, come inside. I’m about to put supper out, if you’d like to join me? And call me Greta.”
“Thank you, and call me Peter.” He followed her inside, all the way back into a steamy kitchen. The aroma was heavenly, reminding him he was overdue for a meal. “Is that borscht I smell?”
“You bet it is! Sit yourself down. It’s ready.” She ladled out a bowlful and placed it on the table in front of him, then served herself and put a basket of rolls out before sitting opposite him. “Now what can I do for you?”
Peter nodded as he tasted his soup, the rich flavors playing across his palate. “Oh, that’s good. Yeah, I wanted to get an idea of where you found our mystery Wechselbalg to try to find his people so he isn’t alone. What can you tell me about him?”
Greta frowned in thought. “Not much that I haven’t already said.” She offered him the basket of rolls before taking one herself, ripping a piece from the crust and dipping it in her soup. “He came from nowhere. I did not know such things as vampires and Wechselbalg existed outside my baba’s stories until I carted him home and watched his wounds heal before my eyes.”
Peter let a small smile slip out. “I bet you were surprised, hey?”
Greta slapped the table and threw her head back, cackling. “Surprised? Oh, that’s a good one! You could say that. Visitors were not common where I came from, you know. It was strange enough to see an unexpected person at all, never mind one who howled at the moon.”
Peter made a face. “So you wouldn’t know of any Wechselbalg near where you lived?”
Alpha Class - Graduation_A Kurtherian Gambit Series Page 7