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All the Tracker cadets sit in a circle in the center of the hall, dressed in our sparkling new uniforms Sebastian’s second-in-coivesat the collar of et so claustrophobic in the expensive cotton One of the other Trackers--a girl avy brown hair--flashes me an appreciative look Whoa! Since I put on this unifor ood to be respected, but it’s a bittersweet eet respect

Natalie’s sitting close by She tucks a golden curl behind her ear, revealing a small freckle just above her collar I wonder what it would be like to place s into her neckShe turns and catchesA small smile flits across her lips, and in that instant, my fate is sealed

I want her

So look

"What do youto Sebastian’s earlier coht"

Sebastian nods at Claw Neck, who unbuttons the top two buttons of his jacket, revealing his upper body The claw e chunk of flesh ’s taken a bite out of hi attention now

"Darklings are taller, stronger and faster than us If you take one on without the odds being in your favor, which they rarely are, then they’ll kill you before you can blink," Sebastian says "If you want to survive, run There’s no sha back to HQ alive"

"We hunt in packs," Claw Neck continues "That’s hoe put the odds in our favor Your unit is your family now Your life is in their hands It’s vital that you learn to move as one, anticipate one another’s movements and protect one another This e’re unstoppable"

"We have an added benefit, of course The V-gene," Sebastian says "With training, it allows you to sense Darklings, giving you an edge over the ene to hone this sense can mean the difference between life and death But first, the essentials Sword fighting Get into pairs"

I grab a sword froht There’s no way I’ I put the blade back

"What are you doing?" Claw Neck growls at me

"I don’t need a sword I have s

Natalie takes one of the s me a shy smile My heart pounds inside my chest, ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom I can’t believe I nearly told her about ? She’ll say I’ain I can’t risk that, when I still don’t knohy she’s doing this to rel," he says

"Sorry," I say sarcastically "I didn’t see you down there"

Gregory’s nostrils flare He takes the biggest sword on the rack

"You knohat they say about boys with big toys?" I say

Natalie giggles, and Gregory narrows his eyes atjust me and Natalie

"I’ll try not to hurt you too htly touching her shoulder Just that ss hurt

"Maybe you should sit this one out I don’t want you putting too much strain on your heart," he says

Her cheeks flush crimson "I need to practice, don’t I? Otherhat’s the point of being here?"

"I’ out for you--"

She lifts her sword threateningly at hi rin

Sebastian squares up to ot it?"

"Loud and clear," I growl back

"Sorry about Sebastian," Natalie says when he’s gone

"Your boyfriend’s a dick," I say

"Seb’s not hs "I only told Chris that so he’d stop hitting on low

We run through a few basic strikes and parries, and it’s pretty clear Natalie’s done this before Her movee to strike !" she teases as I dart out of the way of another one of her attacks

"That’s sort of the idea, isn’t it? A Darkling isn’t going to just stand there and take it"

She bea sain and this ti a small rip in my jacket I rub my arm dramatically

"Wiht me," she says A shadow briefly crosses her features, and I wonder what dark

"How have you been since we found Linus?" I ask gently It’s been two days since we discovered his dead body in the htmares about it There was a short article about it in the paper Did you see it?"

I nod It was just a paragraph lost in the sea of news stories They’d chalked his death up to a Haze overdose--and that was that A whole life suet even that ot your frowny face on," Natalie says

"Huh?"

She pulls a very serious face,about Linus That was a tough way to go," I say

"I can think of worse," she mutters "What do you think was in that Golden Haze? Itto kill Linus and his friend so quickly"