Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 14: Part Three

        Damian blinked. Forger had come out of nowhere and tagged the girl. As if she had known where to be and Damian slowed.

"Aww, c'mon!" The girl cried as she stomped away. She had, indeed, gotten very close.

"Not bad, Forger." Damian said off-handedly before turning back to the border. And chased down another boy. After he had been sentenced to jail, Damian compared numbers.

The red team had captured six of their own already. Damian's team (the blue team) also had six. They weren't winning. Damian didn't like that. As he considered this, he saw yet another of his teammates get captured.

He looked back at Forger who had stayed near the flag. Damian hadn't wanted to risk getting tagged yet, but Forger wasn't looking all that adventurous today. . .

. . .

That wasn't something he thought would ever describe her. Or liked that it did at all lately.

Damian studied the remaining nine enemies that he would have to dodge and which ones looked the slowest and fastest. He took note of which students were paying attention and who weren't.

He had this. These plebeians wouldn't be able to touch him.

Somewhere to the right side of the gym, Damian streaked away from the line he had been guarding. Shouts screamed from the other side of the enemy's territory for their teammates to pay attention and catch Damian, but he was already past them. His heart raced. He veered away from a boy who nearly tagged him and then suddenly Blackbell was on his tail.

Damian's path had severely strayed and he ran around the flag's safety zone, venturing to the left side around the back to avoid getting tagged. Blackbell had gone around the other side of the safety zone to meet him head on and Damian's shoes squealed against the floor, coming to an abrupt stop, and raced for the safety zone. With one last dodge from a guard, Damian at last landed himself beside the flag.

"Way to go, Boss!" Ewen yelled from the other side.

"That's Lord Damian for you! He's the best!" Emile added.

Damian huffed, leaning on his knees. He got inside, but now he had to get out and the red team was ready for him. The good thing about so much of their attention being on him though, was that they were less prepared for the three kids who broke from the border at the same time. Damian's guards noticed them very late, and when they did, most of them ran off to catch the invaders. Leaving Damian abundant opportunity to escape. And he did.

With a quick swipe of his hand, he snatched up the flag as he ran out, turning surprised heads at his escape. But he had too much of a head start. He had too much of an opening. With the red flag in tow, he crossed back onto his home turf and the whistle blew.

"Team blue wins. Elegant victory, Damian." Professor Henderson complimented. "Any incarcerated students may return their side." Professor Henderson had the red flag restored to it's original position and readied for the next round.

The whistle shrilled for a fourth time.

Damian was more reserved this round. He tagged anyone he could, watching over the flag, but he refused to dare into enemy grounds until Forger did. It was silly. Probably stupid. Probably fruitless. But Damian was stubborn and he didn't care.

Forger was equally reserved, but for the random movements that didn't make sense at all until she was suddenly in perfect position to tag an opponent.

Reading minds really was handy, Damian had to admit.

During the last round, Forger had been uneasily navigating the game, unsure of herself, like she wasn't quite comfortable being here. Participating. It hadn't dissipated since then, but she moved more, she wrung her hands a little less and Damian really hoped that meant something. He didn't want her to be stuck in this weird state of existence forever. It was hard to watch and it must be harder to actually deal with it.

Damian wanted to know for the millionth time what caused her to act this way, what was really going on, and had a feeling he might never know. Forger kept her secrets locked up tight and the amount of leverage it took to pry them out of her, was something Damian didn't know if he had. The only reason he knew she was a telepath was because he had just happened to get to mixed up with her past. He might never have unraveled how Demetrius had intuited Damian's thoughts otherwise.

"Tag him! Tag him!"

Someone shouted over the loud voices, the dozens of shoes, the constant thudding of children running wildly about, and Damian was dropped back in the moment. He ran for the boy that was indicated. He was fast and agile and he managed to somehow slip just out of his pursuers' reach.

Damian came at an angle, heading for where he thought the intruder would go to escape Damian's teammates, but he swerved again. Right into Forger.

She tagged him.

'Okay. . .' Damian thought as he came to an abrupt stop. He knew telepathy had to have advantages, but it was almost spooky how Forger was just. . .always there. Was this cheating? Should Damian be questioning the morality of this?. . .

. . .

. . .

Nah.

Damian cast his field of vision about for a quick assessment of everyone's position and settled into a general mode of guarding the border. Both teams had significant casualties and both their numbers were halved down or so.

The red team seemed to adopt a more cautious approach and Damian and other teammates danced with their enemies, watching and waiting for who would make the next move.

Damian didn't expect it to be Forger.

From his peripheral vision, he saw the pink hair streaking away and as he had seen yesterday, he was surprised how fast her stubby legs could go. He couldn't look away. It was like Forger had been in hibernation and Damian was hypnotized by the unbelievable sight of her speed. Watching her weave. Albeit with that same look of consternation like she was gonna be sick, but he thought it was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen.

Even when she got caught.