The Truth Hunters (STAR Academy Book 2)

Chapter 1: Oh, Romeo

Yalena took a step back but it was in vain. She couldn't zoom out enough to make sense of her surroundings. The forest was too colorful; it blinded and dazzled her. It put her under a spell with that sweet scent and humid air, so heavy that her lungs heaved as she drew breaths.

Something like a bee buzzed around her but she couldn't see it. On instinct, she waved a hand around her face to chase it away. Still, the hollow hum filled her head. It felt too familiar, like a bits of the signal that replayed in her mind.

Her disdain doubled upon the realization that she'd seen this forest before, too. She'd been there, just as lost and confused—on Nova Fia.

But she wasn't alone in the colorful jungle. Hues in all shades swam in front of her, before arranging into a vision of Alec. He reached for Yalena's hand. Once his fingers closed around hers, he leaned in, closer and closer, as if for a kiss.

Sudden laughter caught Yalena off-guard. Alec's figure disappeared into thin air. It left her mouth agape.

When she turned around, she wasn't in the forest anymore.

White light pierced through the glass walls of the science center, but it couldn't distract her from seeing him. Felix laughed again, an army of mutated Fians at his side, their skin so thin that it looked purple, making their eyes and crooked white teeth stand out, like white spots on a colorful canvas. The group followed Felix zombie-like with slow but sturdy steps towards Yalena.

She choked, feeling the now familiar sickness taking over—the thing they called a vibe...

Yalena jerked up, sweaty and short-of-breath.

"Ouch!" Jen groaned next to her on the king-size bed. "You kicked me."

Yalena cupped her face in her hands and rubbed the sleepiness away. "Sorry," she said.

The bed bounced lightly when Jen pulled herself up to sit, too.

"Fian dreams again?"

"Fian nightmares," Yalena said. Although it felt like cheating to omit the part of the dream that had included Alec.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Yalena hugged in her knees, but the silhouette of Jen in the darkness didn't lie back down in the pause. "Not particularly."

Jen reached out to squeeze her shoulder. Having her around was the only lucky break for Yalena since the first-year mission.

"I'm fine...I just remembered..." Yalena hesitated, wanting to say "the vibe".

Jen's hand trembled in a shiver and she let it fall. "It must have been so scary—you and Alec alone with the Fians."

Yalena had to stop herself from replaying the events of her freshmen year at the Academy on a loop. "We'd best get some more sleep," she said. "Or we wouldn't hear the end of Natalia's complaints during the kickoff meeting."

She shook her head, but there was still noise in her ears, like the invisible bug from her dream was tangled in her hair. She'd lowered herself onto her pillow again when she realized the noise wasn't in her head. Not this time.

"Jen, do you hear this?"

"What?"

Body tensing, Yalena jumped out of the bed. She only hoped she was wrong. "This noise...there's something out there."

But Yalena couldn't come up with an explanation of what. Nothing should be able to get to them in Adeline's safe house in the Alps. Rocky hills spread out for kilometers in each direction. If someone was out there, it wasn't a coincidence.