Permafrost Academy

Chapter Seven

Dapple ran the moment Miss Snowflake uttered those words. As she expected, shouts began to fill the room. It wasn't like the bullying act on the first day. This was vicious. They knew now that this was a battle for survival. Freedom was at the end of this long road. 

One kill was what Miss Snowflake said. Dapple couldn't play it safe anymore. She had to at least kill one person. It made her stomach churn just thinking about it. She didn't, though. She didn't need to think about kills right now. She needed to think about death. She would appear to be an easy target from afar, and running was the only thing she could think of doing at the moment. 

She caught screaming kids in her perepheral vision. One of them, she recognized. Wasp, the stocky kid who was initiating the most fight the day before. 

Dapple was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. It seemed friendly, but she whirled around anyway, aiming a punch. 

"Woah! Calm down!" The person held up his hands.

He had messy brown hair and light gray eyes. He had a familiar sharp chin and wore a basic T-shirt and jeans. He was quite shrimpy, but still looked to have some sort of strength. Dapple recognized him instantly.

"B...brother? Ben?"

He grinned. "Dapple! Surprise, surprise, I'm alive." He accepted her hug and then followed her up to her dorm, still talking. "I knew mom would send you here eventually. I had the feeling. The moment she realized I was gone, she wouldn't want any reminders."

"Reminders?" Dapple repeated. "No, that's not why she sent me here. She got in a fight with dad. She sent me away. She said...'You see what you've done? You never wanted him and you don't want her. I hope you think about this every time you go to sleep. She's gone, Max. Gone.'"

He blinked at her. "How did you remember that?"

She shrugged. "Because it was the last thing I'd hear my mother say. I wanted to remember it." 

When she twisted the knob on her door, Ben faltered. "What?" She asked him, rather rudely. Why was Ben being so hesitant?

"Dapple, everyone is going to want to kill you. No 12-year-old kids won last year. Not any seasons, and not the finale. They're going to target you." 

She shrugged. "Good thing I'm thirteen, and not twelve." 

"I forgot," he admitted sheepishly. "I really didn't think I'd ever see you again, and I doubted I would win any seasons." 

"I thought you just said you knew mom would send me here eventually?" She countered, sitting on her bed. Ben bit his lip and sat in the chair by the window. 

"False hope," he replied ruefully. "As the days went by, I didn't know what to do. I hid in my dorm for most of the day, and got my roommate to take food back for me. He died at the end of spring, and I had to spend the last season fighting for myself. I didn't get any kills, but I didn't die. Miss Snowflake didn't give me my reward as promised. She said I didn't contribute to the game, so I didn't win."

"The game?" Dapple repeated, astonished. "This isn't a game. This is war. Brutal, terrifying war." 

Dapple was sitting in the courtyard under the towering flowers. They glowed as usual, and Dapple was drawing them in a small notebook. She realized they were humming slightly, and when she tried to pluck one, the stem was so strong she couldn't even make a dent in it with her nails. Even the petals were radiating with strength. When she tried to touch them, her fingers burned. 

She would have been nervous about sitting out in the open, but the other kids weren't there. Perhaps they were all hiding, the mutual fear of death enough to keep them chained in their rooms. Ben certainly didn't want to leave. Dapple wondered if any of them realized that if they wanted to win, they had to kill someone. She guessed it would be easier to get a kill earlier on, when the weaker kids were out and about. 

Dapple instantly shoved that thought to the back of her mind. That wasn't a good thing to think about. Before she was at the academy, she knew killing was wrong, and wouldn't dream of doing it. Now, it seemed natural. One life contributed to her own wellbeing. 

It certainly didn't make anything easier. 

The flowers trembled against her hands. The thorns she was trying to so delicately avoid stabbed into her palms. She peeked out from between the petals. 

Pepper was poking around, trying to move the flowers. She was yelping with pain, yanking her hand back as her face reddened with obvious fury.

"You stinking plants! Stop stabbing me!" She yelled angrily, examining her palms. She glanced up. "Can you just come out, Dapple? What's up with you?" 

Dapple poked her head nervously out and squirmed away from the flowers. "Nothing," she lied, wiping her hands on her jeans. 

Pepper narrowed her eyes. "Don't lie. It's obvious you're unhappy about something. Come on, tell me!" She pushed Dapple gently in the chest.

Dapple sighed and opened her mouth to sleep, but then closed it. "What's that noise?" She asked nervously. Pepper folded her arms over her chest and glanced up, squinting at the sky. She frowned. 

"It sounds almost like...," 

"Water," Dapple finished for her.