The Morning Bell came at six o'clock as always. It rang shrilly through her skull until she raised her head heavily from her pillow. If she'd gone to stay at the sickbay, she would have been able to sleep soundly until she woke on her own, since there was no bell there. But she'd chosen this, so now she had to live with it.
Normally she had no trouble getting up in the morning. She preferred waking at about four a.m. to get a head start working in the practice rooms before breakfast at six. But this particular morning she wouldn't have minded sleeping a few hours longer.
This is what I have to do, Alessa thought. She set her jaw and climbed out of bed, fixing the covers as carefully as always and getting dressed. The uniform was made of a flexible black material with white trim. The long-sleeved, button-up top was cut slim and tight. The pants were loose enough for easy movement, but not so that the legs would get in the way. Certainly more practical for fighting than yesterday's outfit, Alessa thought with a grimace.
Her hair was still half-damp from her shower four hours earlier, stuck messily to her head. She pulled a brush through it and tied it back in a ponytail.
She stepped outside her room and closed the door quietly behind her. She would stop at the bathroom, and then head to the practice rooms before breakfast at seven . . .
Someone coughed down the hall, and she looked up warily.
It was the guy from last night-actually, this morning, she corrected herself. He leaned against an open doorframe, his long legs stretching out into the hall. He shook the dark hair out of his eyes and smiled, looking every bit as out of place in the hall of the Institute as he had the first time she'd seen him.
He shifted away from the doorframe. Humor flashed in his eyes before he stood tall with his heels together and raised his hand sharply in mock salute. Alessa stared after him incredulously as he walked away.
Shaking it off, she went to practice, which was in large gymnasium-size rooms on the first level. The trainees of the lowest rank practiced in Gym 1, while more experienced Hunters used Gym 3. Alessa took a deep breath, enjoying the quiet. Then she proceeded with her usual set of stretches, excluding those that might break open her shoulder wound. She was lucky, she thought as she reached down to touch her toes, that she hadn't injured anything major. As a warm-up exercise she did step-ups on a block, since it wouldn't strain any of her injured parts.
She went through the familiar warm-ups, mind going blank as it usually did during exercise. It was a relief that way. Sometimes she could almost forget the fear that lived in every bone of her body. Almost.
Alessa had tuned everything else out when she felt someone else's presence near. She slowed the treadmill to a walk and glanced over curiously.
Daniel sat on a bench nearby with his muscled legs sprawled out lazily in front of him. Since his smooth, honey-colored skin was soaked with sweat, he'd obviously just finished exercising. His green, almond-shaped eyes glittered hard like emeralds when he saw her looking.
"Thought I'd come see how you were doin'," he said breezily in his soft Southern accent.
Alessa stared back at him calmly.
"I'll have to tell Kate she lost the bet," he said, a slow smile lighting his features. "She thought you'd lose something major at least, like an eye." He got to his feet slowly, like a cat waking from a nap.
He came much too near, peering at her closely. "We couldn't have that, now could we? Besides. . ." He brought his face up so close she could feel his warm breath on the side of her face. His mouth came up to her ear. "Nobody can do that to our Alessa," he murmured caressingly. "If anyone's going to stab your eye out, it would be me. I'd like to do that. I wouldn't start with your eye though. I would want you to see the rest."
His laugh was soft in her ear before he pulled back, raising his voice again. "I'm glad you're well enough to join-"
"You're in the way." A cold voice interrupted.
Daniel jerked, surprised. Alessa followed his gaze and felt a jolt of recognition in her belly.
The guy from before tilted his head and measured Daniel, eyes flicking over him in contempt. Though he smiled, the hardness of his obsidian eyes made it sarcastic. Even looking contemptuous he was handsome, with high, angled cheekbones, an aquiline nose, and strong jaw. Right now his face was hard and smooth, unreadable.
Daniel recovered from his surprise. "Excuse me," he said graciously, stepping back out of the stranger's way.
Alessa wondered how he'd gotten there without Daniel noticing. He was always very careful in making sure no one was near to hear his little performances, and he was never, ever surprised at hearing anyone's approach.
"Are you new?" Daniel asked in his best friendly tone. She watched the gears churn in those fathomless green eyes as he tried to take the measure of the newcomer.
"I'm Cael." He didn't offer his hand to shake. "Are you finished over here?"
"Yes." Daniel smiled, but she could read the cold fury in his eyes. She watched him hesitate for a minute and then walk away, leaving them alone in the corner.
Cael didn't look nearly as amused as she'd seen him before. He watched her for a moment and shook his head.
"If you didn't want him near you, why didn't you tell him that, or push him back? Why'd you just take it?" he asked. His expression was not as hard as before, but he still looked angry. Alessa bit down on her tongue in hesitation before speaking. She was surprised that she cared whether he was disappointed.
Daniel's words didn't affect her terribly at first-she was neither angered nor frightened easily. But over time she had come to hate him with a deep, burning fire. She wasn't sure why he and Kate had picked her of all people. She wondered sometimes if, like a vicious flock of birds, they sensed something different about her and thus instinctively tore at her.
"I'm afraid," she said hoarsely, turning back to the treadmill, "that if I push him, I'll snap his neck." Especially now, she thought, remembering her lust to kill Bryn. If it would have been easy to kill her best friend, what would stop her from killing Daniel?
"Huh. I like that." She glanced back at Cael and saw him smiling. Somehow the brilliance of his smile touched her way down deep, and she couldn't help grinning back.
He hopped up onto the treadmill at her right, leaning against the bar instead of using the machine. Alessa averted her eyes from his hard, lean body, trying not to stare. "You came just last night?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the screen of the treadmill. She upped the level to a brisk walk.
"Yeah," he said. "I don't even have the uniform yet. I'm just supposed to hang out and look around today."
He caught a glimmer of a smile on her face before she looked away.
"And are you looking around?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm seeing plenty of sights," he assured her. Alessa wasn't normally easily amused, but for some reason she could feel laughter bubbling up in her midsection.
"I'll warn you. . . they don't like to make your first day easy here," she said cautiously, hoping he would take her seriously. "They have to accept you first."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said dryly, looking faintly amused. He didn't believe her. From what he'd seen of the Institute, all he saw were calm, serious-faced people who didn't talk much. Well, he'd find out the difference soon enough.
"Where are you from?" she asked. She'd wanted to ask since the moment she saw him.
"Where am I not from, more like," he said. There was an edge to his voice under the amusement. "What about you? When did you join these merry ranks?"
"I was three," Alessa said softly.
She walked on in silence for a while. She didn't look up at him, but she felt his eyes on her. It made her almost nervous. Her. She could hardly wrap her mind around it, but there it was.
