The Academy (5 page)

My heart sank. It was a communal shower! Though I looked everywhere, there were no other smaller, enclosed stalls for private bathing. How was I ever going to be able to take a shower? Even if it was deserted in the bathing room, as it was now, there was no privacy. The minute I shed my clothing and the bandages wrapping my breasts, I was vulnerable. Anyone who entered the bathroom would discover my secret. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t want to take a shower out in the open in a place where a lot of naked men might appear at any moment. What was I going to do?

No answer presented itself and I decided I would have to think about it later. Turning away from the disheartening sight of the communal shower, I made my way down the narrow hallway that led to the main fresher area again.

But when I rounded the corner, I found that my way was blocked. Broward and two of the other cadets I’d seen him with that morning were standing shoulder to shoulder, cutting off my escape. I looked behind me but the shower area was a closed room. There was no other way out of the fresher and no one else in the fresher area to ask for help. I felt my stomach clench like a slick fist and my heart started pounding frantically against my ribs.

I was trapped.

“Hello, freshie.” Broward gave me an ugly smile as he stepped forward. He curled one beefy hand into a fist, his knuckles popping menacingly.

“Leave me alone.” I took a step back. “How did you even find me?”

One of the other cadets, who had bulging green eyes and red hair answered. “We couldn’t get your room address from ole’ Kinky Hinky but we
did
manage to find out your dorm building.”

“And what do you know?” Broward grinned. “We’re neighbors, freshie. My room in on the floor right below yours. Isn’t that sweet?”

“I didn’t do anything to you,” I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling. “I wasn’t watching you and the headmaster on purpose—I swear it. I just happened to be in his office and I heard your voices so I went to take a look. That’s all.”

“What happened with the headmaster?” The red-haired cadet frowned and looked at Broward. “What’s he talking about, Broward?”

“Shut up, Nodes,” Broward growled, his face turning a dull scarlet. “Freshie here doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“You said he just lectured you,” the other boy, who seemed to have some kind of chronic skin condition, said. “You said—”

“Never mind what I said, Dawson. Just
shut up.”

I suddenly understood that his friends didn’t know about the paddling—I had just made things about a million times worse for myself. And now Broward was coming for me.

How I wished in that moment that Kristopher’s physical education tutor had allowed me to take the hand-to-hand combat courses along with my brother. But though he had agreed to the fencing lessons, he had drawn the line at what he called “letting a lady grapple on the floor like a dog fighting for a bone.” Now I wished he had let me grapple a little, lady or not. If he had, maybe I would be in a better position to defend myself at the moment. Then again, maybe not—there were three of them and only one of me. Not to mention that they all outweighed me by a hundred pounds at least.

I was going to die. Either that or I would be so seriously injured that I would be taken to the campus medical facility and my secret would be discovered. I had to do something, but what?

“Stop!” I held up a hand and made my voice as deep and imperious as I could. To my surprise, Broward actually did stop and stood there staring down at me with a frown on his face.

“What? You have something to say before I rearrange your face?” he demanded.

“Let’s settle this like men.” I drew myself up to my full height and lifted my chin, looking him in the eyes.

“Oh?” He cocked one thick brown eyebrow at me. “And how do men
settle
things, freshie?”

“Give me a sword,” I said.

“A
sword?”
The redheaded Nodes let out a burst of trollish laughter and Dawson joined him.

“Listen to that, Broward—he asked for a
sword.”

“Hear me out,” I said sternly, ignoring the hilarity my words had caused. “I’m sure you study fencing here, right?”

“Some cadets do. So?” Broward shrugged his thick shoulders.

“So we should fence for our honor,” I said desperately. “After all, you’re so much bigger than me, this isn’t a fair fight. But put a foil in my hand and I’ll prove who is the better man.”

Broward actually seemed to be considering this for a moment, his low brow furrowed in thought. Then he shook his head. “Nope. I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” I gave him a challenging stare. “Are you afraid? Too cowardly to take me on in a fair fight?”

“No.” He gave me a slow, ugly grin that made me feel like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cubes into the pit of my stomach. “Just too lazy. Besides, I don’t like a
fair fight.
It’s so much more fun my way.”

“Wait.” I stepped back farther into the narrow hallway that led to the shower area as he began advancing again. But this time Broward didn’t stop.

“Not waiting anymore, freshie,” he told me, still grinning. “Nodes, Dawson,” he saidto his two hulking henchmen. “Hold him. I’m gonna mess him up.”

It was a tight fit in the narrow corridor but the two of them surged forward and grabbed my arms before I could jump away. They dragged me back out into the main fresher area by force though I was kicking and shouting all the way.

“Help!
Help.”
I thought my throat would give way from screaming but no one came.

“Shut up now, freshie.” Broward slapped one meaty palm over my mouth. “Doesn’t do any good to shout. Even if somebody hears you they won’t mess with us.”

“That’s right.” Dawson guffawed in my ear. “Even the headmaster doesn’t mess with Broward.”

I knew better but unfortunately that knowledge was about to get me killed. However, I wasn’t going down without a fight. Opening my mouth under Broward’s hand, I bit down hard, aiming to take a chunk out of his beefy palm if I possibly could.

“Ow! You little bastard!” The bully yanked his hand away and my mouth filled with the thick, coppery taste of blood. “You bit me. You actually
bit
me.” He looked at me as though he couldn’t believe I would do such a thing.

“Ah, yes.” I spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed, sounding slightly hysterical to my own ears. “How
inconsiderate
of me. Why would I do such an impolite thing as
bite
you when you were simply trying to ‘rearrange my face'?”

“Very funny, freshie.” Broward curled his bleeding hand into a fist, wincing as he did so. “Oh yes,
very
funny. You’ll be laughing all the way to the Infirmary.” He drew back his arm and hit me as hard as he could.

I realized later that I was lucky I had bitten him in his dominant hand. Because of where the bite was placed, he wasn’t able to make a very good fist. My head was rocked back on my neck and my cheekbone felt like it was broken, but at least my teeth and nose remained intact. I didn’t feel very lucky at the time, however. I just felt sick and dizzy.

Stars danced in my vision and my cheek throbbed. I’d never been punched in the face before—small wonder since most of the ladies in my social circle preferred needlepoint to street fighting. But my beating was just beginning. I saw Broward’s bloodied fist draw back again and tried to brace for the next punch because there was nothing else I could do. Absently I wondered what I had done to deserve this. Who would have thought that my very first day at the Academy would go so very, very wrong?

The bloody fist came plowing toward me and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see it land. I waited breathlessly for the blow to fall…and waited, and waited. But for some reason, it didn’t come.

“Three against one, Broward? That’s low even for you.”

Opening my eyes I saw my new roommate holding the bully’s arm, the bloody fist just inches from my nose. My roommate didn’t seem to be exerting much effort but Broward was red in the face as he tried to free himself and go after me again.

“Let go, North,” he snarled at the taller cadet. “This doesn’t concern you.”

My roommate’s piercing blue eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately, I
do
get concerned when I see a murder in progress.” He held Broward’s gaze with his own. “Let him go
now
or you’re going to be sorry.”

Broward sneered. “In case you didn’t notice, there’s three of us and only one of you, North.”

“Good odds, considering none of you knows how to do anything but terrorize runts like this one.” He nodded at me. “Let him go and come at me if you think I’m wrong.”

Dawson and Nodes were watching eagerly, obviously wondering what Broward was going to do. I was wondering myself—as much as I could with my head ringing like a bell, that was.

“Forget it.” Broward stepped back. “I don’t have time for this, anyway.”

“You’re going to have to make time in a minute,” my roommate said, finally dropping his arm. “I saw the dorm monitor coming up the stairs just now to see what all the screaming was about. You get away with a hell of a lot around here, Broward, but I don’t think you can literally get away with murder.”

Broward still looked angry enough to beat me to a pulp but the other two cadets were obviously nervous.

“C’mon, Broward, let’s get out of here.” Dawson was suddenly pale beneath his pimples.

“Yeah, not all of us have fathers on the Board.” Nodes dropped my arm and Dawson followed suit. “Come
on.”
He tugged at Broward’s shoulder and turned for the arching fresher doorway.

“Fine, if you two are so piss-in-your-pants scared, we’ll go.” Broward started backing away but his eyes were still fixed on me. “This isn’t over, freshie. Watch your back.”

My roommate, whose surname was apparently North, gave me a speculative look. “Well, shorty, you certainly have a way with people. What did you do to piss Broward off?”

I opened my mouth to answer and then the world started spinning. Before I knew it I was falling, the hard blue and white tile floor coming up to meet my face at an amazing speed.

I never hit the floor. Someone caught me and the next thing I knew I was being slung over a broad shoulder and carried like a sack of grain out of the fresher and down the hallway.

“Hey, put me down!” I beat weakly on North’s broad back even though the motion made me feel like I was going to be sick.

“Take it easy, pipsqueak. We’re almost to the room.” His deep voice rumbled through me as he talked.

I wanted to protest some more but the world started spinning again at that point. I closed my eyes and went limp on his shoulder. There didn’t seem to be anything else I could do.

When we got back to the room he put me down on my bed with surprising gentleness and left. I was just wondering where he had gone when he came back and put something cold and wet on my stinging cheek. I moaned and tried to push it off but he brushed my hand away.

“Hold still, you’re a mess.” He pushed a straw to my lips. “Here, drink this.”

I didn’t want anything to drink but I took a small sip to appease him. Something cold and sweet and fizzy ran down my throat, making me cough and gasp. The straw was abruptly withdrawn.

“It’s just a carbo drink. Can’t you manage anything?” My new roommate sounded impatient.

I coughed again. “I…I’ve only had it once before. I wasn’t expecting the…the bubbles.” My voice sounded hoarse and uncertain, even in my own ears.

“Take another sip now that you know what it is. You need a little sugar in your system.” He pressed the straw to my lips again and this time I was able to drink without coughing.

To my surprise, he was right—the sugary sweetness of the fizzing drink did make me start to feel better almost at once. My cheek was still aching but at least the world wasn’t spinning anymore.

“Thank you,” I said, after finishing the drink.

“Welcome.” He was sitting on the edge of my bed, staring down at me critically, the way someone might study a half-crushed bug. “I think you’re okay. You’ve got blood on your face but you don’t seem to be bleeding.”