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"But I haven’t been trained"

"The only thing any of us really need to know is to always put our Garde’s survival ahead of our own" Brandon cast a glance back at the boy "And it looks like you’ve got that part down"

Another explosion ruaze across the sky to the approach of a adorian ship What looked like little wisps were parachuting out of the ship and landing gently, soundlessly on the ground

But of course, that was a trick of distance and perspective They weren’t wisps They were Mogadorian ground troops And there was nothing gentle about them

My fate had been decided We rushed to the rest of the group to board the ship and leave our beloved Lorien before it was too late

CHAPTER 16

"Oof" Barely awake, I was already in agony

The boy had just stepped hard onmy stomach, thenpainfully all over , but I was starting to get used to it

"Wake up," repeated the boy, e had all started to call "Nine" He was bright-eyed, playful, and so full of energy that five h to makeGarde had ht, barely a adorians The other Mentor Cêpans couldn’t believe the childrens’ resilience We envied it None of us would ever get over e’d seen

"I’s over the bed and swiping my Kalvaka T-shirt off the hook on the wall All of the other Mentor Cêpans were stuck with their LDA tunics, but I had only ht out in Lorien

"You’re too slow," said Nine, yanking

"Sorry, buddy," I said "Had a late one last night"

"What else is new?"

I looked up to see Brandon, s quarters fro onthe last Cêpan socializing into the wee hours in the ship’s canteen If Brandon had gone to bed there was always Kentra, or one of the others

"Today’s the first day of pre-co," he said "I’ll take Nine, it’s not a problem"

"Pre-co that they were already going to start conditioning some of the Garde as warriors Brandon and Kentra had explained it was just simple calisthenics and drills at this point, but still The kids were so young

I saw Four, Brandon’s Garde, poking his head out from behind Brandon’s back He shyly put his hand out for Nine to take, inviting hi this, I hoped Nine would take Four’s hand It was a sweet gesture

"Prucawbat! Rawr!" squealed Nine, and jumped back onto the bed, either unaware of Four’s overture or too keyed up to notice

I smiled, simultaneously exhausted by and proud of my Garde’s hyperactivity I scooped Nine off the bed and put hio off with Brandon and Four, okay? I’ll see you at One-on-Ones after" One-on-Ones were training and development sessions between Mentor Cêpans and their Garde It had been decided that my One-on-Ones with Nine would be overseen by another Mentor Cêpan, owing toBut even with Brandon or Kater breathing down my neck, One-on-Ones were my favorite tie ship had an open plan with no walls, but in the interest of our privacy and sanity, prograraphic partitions separated areas of the cabin into "rooms"

The canteen was one such space, located close to the ship’s cockpit It was nearly eot there, and the food options were slim: a packet of freeze-dried karo fruit; a plate of ht The perils of oversleeping

I settled for the Karo and took a seat next to Hessu, the only Cêpan there Hessu was the oldest of the Cêpans, and shy to boot I never knehat to say to her so I just nodded at her and ate my breakfast in silence

As tended to happen when I had a hts drifted to the events back on Lorien, both the things I had witnessed--the destruction of the capital; those heartbreakingly randfather’s cheeks--and those I had only i round troops while valiantly defending her beloved city

I also thought back to the ship’s takeoff, watching out the e pulled up and over the airstrip The Elder Loridas, who had insisted not to be taken on board, faded to a dot on the ground as we breached the planet’s at Lorien Defense Forces and Kabarakians still down there, holding off the advancing Mog horde

The first few days in space had been the worst We Mentor Cêpans had all huddled in the canteen together, our i for word from the ship’s pilot about the fate of Lorien Brandon had explained that the vast majority of the council, the academy and the LDF had been killed in the first wave, but there were bound to be survivors, heroes like Devektra ould fight off the invading forces no matter how bad the odds It had been decided by a vote that once we had reached a distance of relative safety, the ship would hang back, watch, and wait If there were any sign that the defeat of Lorien was incomplete, that whatever resistance er chance of survival, ould turn back and aid however we could

But after ed into the canteen from the front of the ship and shook his head "Fro back tears "There’s nothing Nothing’s left"

For every horror I had endured, that was the worst, the s iot, it was hard to stay doe had nine raetic kids all around us, every second of the day