Shadows and Steel | ✓

chapter nineteen

-19-

When Mather roused Section 6 the next morning DETRA was silent. No one spoke as they dressed and scoffed down some toast, the hallways void of the usual chatter as they were led through passages she hadn't ventured into. The layout was imprinted on her mind, but Mather led them up and up until her mental map was no use.

He halted in a large room, waiting for the fifty agents to file inside. Elle glanced around, noticing the other agents were doing the same. Stone walls and ceiling, nothing out of the ordinary. Plain, aside for an ominous double door a few steps ahead of them.

Its baleful glare made the hairs stand on her arm. A simple knocker bore a symbol of a drooping flower, with long tendrils curling from the stem. Those flowers—her mouth opened slightly. Flashes from her memory, of Seren, the pair burning heaps of those flowers used as an offering to the coven's dark master.

Seren. The assassin reached for Ravaryn, but her fingers gripped around nothing but air. They were told to leave all weapons behind for the first elimination.

She sidled away from the carved image, not looking at it again. Focus was key, and she couldn't afford to lose. If the exercise went well, she could prove to Cerid that she was perfectly capable of training and acting of her own accord. Elle glimpsed Tan's curls peeking out over the rest, but no other Sections were present.

Mather grunted as he opened the leaden doors, she squinted as a crack of light shone through the gap. Were they at the surface? Catching Tan's eye, their expressions mirrored both trepidation and excitement. A gust of cold wind entered the room like an icy kiss. Their Section Leader strode through the doors, indicating the group to follow.

Then, they were outside.

Her boots sunk in a fresh blanket of snow. Darkness cloaked the agents as she found they were in the middle of the mounds, the city's lights shone in the distance.

"Recruits, this is your first trial of training. You will be split into various groups, and you will have to fight to retrieve this," Mather draws a golden disk, the size of a dinner plate out of his satchel. "The group who has it when the cry sounds will win." Immediately, Elle looks to the other trainees, her competition. To Rand, who stood with a cocky smile planted on his face. She wanted to slap that arrogance out of him.

The trees had wasted away to mere skeletons, some standing alone on the knolls. Elle touched her cheeks, cold already from the wind, her lashes already catching snowflakes. She really wasn't dressed for such cold temperatures.

Efficiently, Mather separated agents into random groups of three or four. Much to her dismay, Rand and Tan were shoved in a team together. He looked pleased with himself.

Crossing her arms and shifting on her feet, the assassin looked over to the agents she would be working with. A pallid boy stood, shivering, his limp hair slicked to his head. The final member of their trio was a broad-shouldered guy, whose navy trousers really didn't fit him. His long hair fell in front of his eyes. Facing forwards again, Elle sighed sharply. Seems it'll be a solo mission.

Had Mather screwed her over on purpose?

"You are allowed to maim or to kill with whatever you find in the zone. The disk is hidden within these 10 miles. Do not enter the city, that is forbidden. Once you have the disk, hold onto it until the whistle sounds and ends the first trial. You won't know when the whistle will sound, just get the disk." He grunts, putting the disk away. "We will be watching."