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"I’ hallucinogens, solike that?" I reply

We continue to sword fight, although herto talk toheads?" she says

My stootten about that

"I just wanted to ot a pretty thick skull," I say, tapping my head

She narrows her eyes suspiciously at e Is that really what you wanted to askforward to Beetle’s party tonight?" I ask to change the subject

She grimaces "Not really Beetle hates ht," she says "Anyone else coh "Nope Beetle’s not exactly popular around here"

Natalie bites her lip shyly "So it’ll just be the four of us? Like a double date?"

I hadn’t thought of it like that, butoh, fragg, are we going on a date?

"Uh-huh" is all I e to say

"Everybody circle up," Sebastian calls out

We gather back in our group, and I sit as close to Natalie as possible without being too obvious

"Well, to say your sword-fighting skills are appalling would be a gross understatement," Sebastian says "Peter Gibb, you have to keep your eyes open when you strike Gregory, you fight like you’re trying to hack your way through a jungle Nataliegood work"

She blushes slightly, andto learn how to control our V-gene powers?" Gregory says

"You need a Darkling to learn how to do that, and you pathetic excuses for soldiers are in no position to be in a rooests

"No way!" I reply

Sebastian scratches his chin as he weighs this up "All right, let’s give it a go You’re all so awful at fighting, it ht be your only chance of survival, and you’ll need to learn this before you go on your first hunt next week"

"We’re going on a hunt? Aweso," I say, but no one’s listening to ivesthe hall into darkness, and there are a few startled exclaloo around the rooh he e I have over him: I can see in the dark

"Spread out around the room I want you all to focus on Ash Picture him in your mind’s eye You should experience a faint electric shock when you sense hi The sensation won’t be as strong with a half-blood, but you’ll still be able to detect his his sword and slices off so back "You could’ve chopped hs in response

"Seb, we can’t run around a dark rooet hurt," Natalie says

"Fair enough Everybody, place your weapons on the ground When you find the nipper, just tap his flood with venoht, you asked for it This is war

There’s a clatter of round, then the cadets start tofor aory reene

"Over here," I whisper

A number of cadets lurch toward me, but I deftly oing to be fun! I silently patrol the roo the wall beside one of the cadets to draw their attention away fro three out within acadet on the shoulder "Tag, you’re dead"

The cadet grumbles and sits out

"Don’t underestis will often try and lure you away from the pack so you’re easier to take down"

Is that what I’ve been doing? I hadn’t realized--it was just instinct

There’s ory starts walking roughly in my direction, slowly, deliberately

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, nipper," he says

He veers off to the right, clearly not sensing ht for me I’m too stunned to ather my wits and sidestep out of her way She iain Even in the dark, I can tell she’s s, Ash I can feel you," she whispers

She alain Bloody hell! She really can sense et the better ofher off her feet and pinning her against the wall

"Tag, you’re dead," I whisper ly in her ear

Somewhere in the dark, Sebastian and the cadetsin

I release Natalie’s arms and expect her to walk away, but instead her hand ers overthem throb with venom My breath catches in ? If they catch her doing this to ory taunts so how h my head why I should push her away, but I don’t Instead, I do the one thing I shouldn’t: I reach out ently touch her face She lets out a soft, breathy ertips explore the contours of her face In a weird way, this is the first tiertips chart aevery tiny detail to e a war insideher and ! And yet I’ers brush over her s past the di the soft fullness of her lips

"Ash," she sighs, tilting her head up

Her lips touchbolt shoots through theht into my heart An explosion of pain erupts inside my chest Natalie stumbles back, and I know she’s as stunned as I a inside rab , you’re dead, nipper"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>