Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (23 page)

He explained that since the games lasted six hours, only one game would be played each day. That’d also give the faculty time to reset the game floor and the many obstacles. He continued with uniforms, which would be handed out at the conclusion of the meeting. Food and water was permitted during game play, but the teams were required to carry it in themselves, which meant taking backpacks. However, all bags would be searched, to make sure the students were only bringing legal food and water. Whit had wondered about getting hungry and thirsty, and was relieved to hear that they could carry food and water in. For goodness sake, six hours was a long time, especially if she was running around the whole time.

Mr. Tolman also
stressed that students did get injured occasionally during Dark Conquest, and told them to be aware of their surroundings at all times. Though it would be mostly dark, with only torches placed randomly throughout the warehouse, everyone needed to keep their guard up at all times. Whit started to feel a little scared at that. In her visions, she knew that at some point she might get hit on the head or trapped in a small area. She might also spontaneously figure out how to mindbend.

The questi
on was, would any of that actually happen? Had those been visions, or just dreams?

Once they were dismissed, the teams had an hour to plan and discuss before they had to report back to class. Rory hustled the Venomous Vixens into one of the back corners of the auditorium, where she passed out the uniforms. These consisted of a long-sleeved shirts and pants. Whit held hers out for a long look. They were all black except for a stripe of red going down the middle of the shirt. She immediately looked around and noticed that all the uniforms were the same, except for the stripe color.

Of course
, while she was looking around the room, she noticed Nolan’s team gathered near the stage. He was sitting on the front of the stage, facing her, with his eyes shut. Whit looked at him for a second. He looked normal, like nothing had happened. She, on the other hand, probably looked like something the cat dragged in. She hadn’t taken the time to really fix her hair, just throwing it up into a short ponytail. Her jeans and sweatshirt were wrinkled, and she knew that her face was splotchy from crying. If he looked in her direction at all, he would know how much he’d hurt her. Why hadn’t she spent a little bit more time getting ready? She decided that as soon as the teams were dismissed back to class, she would slip away to the restroom and try to fix herself up a bit.

At
the end of the hour, all the teams left the auditorium and headed to class. Rory and Ellie walked in the opposite direction toward Technology and Home Ec, while Whit slipped into the nearest restroom. She quickly splashed her face with some cold water and brushed her hair back into a more stylish ponytail. Since she didn’t have her makeup, that was the best she could do. She surveyed herself in the mirror and felt a little better about how she looked. As she walked down the hall toward the art room, she kept her eyes down, trying to avoid all interaction. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone.

Her plan was working fine until someone stepped in her way, blocking her path. Glancing up, Whit wished she hadn’t.
It was Darby. Whit tried to edge around her, but Darby moved, forcing her to stop again.

“Whitni, so sorry to hear about you and Nolan. Of course, to be perfectly honest, I’m surprised you two lasted that long
,” Darby said with a smirk, which Whit noticed took nothing away from her beauty. It just wasn’t fair that she could look so pretty while being such a bitch.

Whit rolled her eyes and pretended to be indifferent
. “Yeah, me too. But I mean, how could I possibly compete with someone like you, who’s so giving when it comes to guys?” She smiled, hoping her smile looked as mean as Darby’s smirk.

Da
rby snarled. “Bitch,” she muttered as she stormed away in a huff. Whit couldn’t help grinning; being an ass to Darby had actually made her feel better. And she was quite proud of herself for finally insulting her without stumbling over her words.

Now if she could just deal with Nolan
the same way, she thought as she made her way to Art.

Chapter 26

Dinner that night was eventful to say the least. Whit’s team ate together and went over their strategy as best they could. They knew the Black Frogs had two casters, a stalker, and two vampires. The team had two guys and three girls, which meant they’d probably be stronger and maybe faster than the Vixens. But their strategy seemed like a good one, so they stuck with it. It hadn’t changed much over the weeks of practice. The plan was still for Misty to track the enemy, Whit to lure them out into the open, then Lindsey or Ellie would use their skills to trap them before Rory would cart them off to the hold. With the cafeteria so crowded and amped up about the competition, Whit’s team had to whisper so no one would overhear their strategy.

Whit couldn’t help glancing around the cafeteria
as they talked, trying to spot Nolan. Did he miss her at all, or had he really already moved on to Darby? She just couldn’t believe that he’d fooled her so completely, and wondered how long it had been going on with Darby. And why hadn’t anyone else told her? Had they known? She couldn’t believe that they had; they would have told her if they’d heard anything.

Not that it made it hurt any less.

At least dinner didn’t last long.
With their first game starting at 8 in the morning, her team agreed that everyone should go to bed early. Whit threw away her trash and listened as Rory talked about Jason, a guy from her English class, who was super hot and had lips she’d been dreaming about. Whit and Ellie laughed and teased Rory about her boy craziness as they exited the cafeteria.

They
had just started down the path towards the dorms when someone tugged on Whit’s elbow. Turning around, she came face to face with the big lying flirt himself. Ellie and Rory looked at Whit, clearly wanting some direction on what to do. Whit nodded at them and they hurried away, obviously trying to give them some privacy.

“What do you want?”she
asked as she pulled her arm away from his touch.

“We need to talk.”

“Nope, we don’t.” Whit turned and tried to walk away without stomping in anger, but felt his fingers on her arm again. “Don’t touch me!” she snarled, whirling around to face him.

He raised both his hands.
“Look, it’s not what you think. Darby’s just on the team, nothing’s going on between us. There hasn’t been anyone but you since the party.”

“Sure
looked like something was going on in the library yesterday when she kissed you. And what about you lying to me about her being on your team? Is that supposed to make me believe you?” She was so angry and disappointed in him. But she wanted to hear what he had to say, so she waited.

“I didn’t lie to
–”

“Omission is a lie
,” she snapped, cutting him off.

“I knew you’d be pi
ssed so I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry about that, I should’ve told you. But I didn’t want us to fight,” he finished, covering his face with his hands.

Whit
was confused. When she listened to him, he sounded so sad and sincere, but was that just part of his act to keep girls interested? Or was he being real? Could she trust him at all, or believe what he was saying? Since she didn’t know what to say, she just stood there.

“
Look, as far as Darby goes, the team needed someone and she wasn’t on a team. I would’ve asked you, but you were already with Rory. I know what I did was shitty, and all I can do is ask for forgiveness and another chance,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t want to lose you. You’re one of my best friends.”

S
uddenly Whit felt exhausted, both emotionally and physically. “I’ve got to go. We have our first game tomorrow, so … Well, I guess I just don’t know right now,” she said. She turned and started walking back to the dorms.

“I already miss you
,” he said to her back. As she walked away, she heard his footsteps fade in the opposite direction.

Chapter 27

Whit was wishing her team wasn’t in the first game as they waited to enter the release room. If they’d played tomorrow instead of today, they might’ve gotten information about what the playing area was like. But being first meant they were going in blind except for what Whit remembered from her dreams.

She’d tried to dream about the game last night, but had ended up tossing and turning.
Her thoughts and nerves had kept her awake long into the night. Thoughts that questioned every aspect of her relationship with Nolan had plagued her. She recalled many of their conversations and wondered if she had just been a distraction like all the others. But she couldn’t make herself believe that. They were friends. They had talked about their families, shared their problems, their worries. She knew all about his parents’ divorce and had watched him struggle with his mom’s depression. But that didn’t explain why he had lied about Darby? Why hadn’t he just told her? She could admit to herself that she would’ve gotten mad. Could she be overreacting? She just didn’t know and those thoughts had kept her awake.

Whit yawned as her team crossed the threshold into the release room.
They would stay there until the horn sounded and the game began. A digital clock in front of them counted down to the start time: 11:14, 11:13, 11:12 …

This morning, before they started, her
team had looked into the members of the Black Frogs and formulated a plan. They had kept it pretty loose, considering they only knew what Whit remembered from her dreams about the playing area. The Black Frogs were made up of two casters – one fire and one ice – two vampires, and a stalker. They were all seniors, and since no one on Whit’s team was close friends with any of them, that’s all they’d been able to find out.

The Venomous Vixens’
plan was pretty basic. At the start of the game, everyone would work together to find their opponents and capture them. Once they had their prisoners in the hold, someone would have to stay back guard them. They had decided to wait until that happened to figure out who would be the best guard. Whit thought Misty would be ideal because she could detect anyone close by with her super senses, but then again if anyone got close to the hold Lindsey could use her ice magic to keep them away or freeze them. If that happened, they might even be able to capture someone else. Rory had suggested that Ellie and Whit could take turns acting as bait to draw out opposing team members and then somehow the team would nab them, probably using Rory’s super physical abilities or Lindsey’s ice. Whit hoped there’d be props inside the game area so that she could use telekinetically to help her team. There was a lot they didn’t know, so their plans were pretty flexible.

As they waited in
the release room, Whit felt the nervousness coming off her teammates. They had been waiting for about eight minutes, while the clock continued to count down: 3:20, 3:19, 3:18. Ellie had talked nonstop from the moment they entered the room, obviously hoping to keep everyone’s minds off the countdown, but even her peppiness had its limits. Rory, on the other hand, was the only calm person in the room. She sat in the corner, smiling coolly. Finally, with only two minutes left on the clock, she got up and moved toward the game door. She turned around and grinned.

“Okay, you guys know the plan.
But we’ll change it if we have to once we get in there. Remember to look around the area, so you know what’s going on. Don’t let anyone sneak up on you, and don’t get separated. You should be able to see at least one of us at all times. First, we need to check out our safe zone, and look to see if there’s anything around we can use. We can’t restrain them at all once they’re captured, but if there’s rope or something, we might be able to make a trap. So everyone keep your eyes open. Stay close until we know for sure that our plan’s a good one.”

Everyone looked at the clock
, feeling a bit calmer. The countdown was at ten seconds, and quickly ticked down to zero. Then she heard the horn blast. Her team surged through the door into the playing area, breathless with excitement.

The
y stopped in a huddle right inside the door. Whit glanced around, but it was dark. She noticed a torch a few feet away and moved to grab it. Once she had it in her hand, she felt a little bit better. The darkness scared the shit out of her. She waved the torch around, cutting through the blackness. She could make out shapes, but couldn’t actually identify anything until she was right up next to it.

“Whit, bring that torch over here.
We need to see the safe zone,” Rory called.

Whit
walked over, handed the torch to Rory, and followed her around the safe zone area, which was marked with a red box. This box meant they couldn’t be captured, but also meant they couldn’t capture anyone here. Rory led the group over to the holding room, which was exactly as described – an empty room with chairs. At least it had a small light, Whit thought. It would be absolutely terrifying to be captured and then held in the pitch black. She didn’t want to think about being captured herself, but if she was, she’d be thanking whoever had put that light in there.

Rory handed the torch back to Whit
then, having found one of her own. After some discussion, they agreed to split into two groups and search close by for anything usable. Whit and Lindsey went to the left, while the other three searched the right side.

They’d only been walking for a moment when
Lindsey grabbed Whit’s hand. Whit jumped and whirled around, assuming something was wrong.

“
Nothing’s wrong, just didn’t want to lose you,” Lindsey said, giggling nervously. “This dark is really freaking me out. I don’t know if I can do this for six hours.” Her voice quivered.

Whit felt scar
ed too, but knew saying so wouldn’t help. “We’ll get used to it. Our eyes just need to adjust, then we’ll be able to see.” At least she hoped so.

They looked around
, and noticed ropes hanging from the ceiling and large crates stacked up randomly in stacks of twos and threes. Just as she had seen in her vision. Tolman had told the teams that objects of use would be hidden around the game floor, so Whit wanted to see into the shadows and dark. Maybe there was something else there. Something they could use.

All of a sudden
, Lindsey darted toward a stack of crates. Before Whit could follow her, she was climbing the stack. Whit held up the torch, trying to see what she was doing, and noticed something draped over the top of the crates. It looked like rope. Lindsey got to the top, grabbed whatever it was, and threw it down to Whit. When she caught it, Whit realized it was better than just rope – it was a net about the size of a small car. This was definitely a good find.

After they had searched around for another ten minutes, they headed back toward the safe zone to rendezvous with Misty, Rory, and Ellie.
The other three hadn’t found anything, but were excited about the net.

“Okay, what now?” Ellie prompted
.

“I say we need to know more about this place
. Like what’s straight ahead?” Rory questioned. “I mean, we need to know what’s out there, so we can move around. Maybe we’ll find something else.”

“We better be careful. The other team could be anywhere,” Misty whispered
, looking around.

Whit watched Misty and knew she was listening closely for any noises that would alert her to someone’s presence.
She must not have heard anything, though, because she nodded for them to move forward.

The group edged around several stacks of crates
, with Misty taking the lead and Rory watching their butts. Whit glanced around and saw a forest of crates. They went on for at least 100 yards before abruptly ending at a wall. The wall was made of some sort of rock, which meant there were lots of handholds and footholds. Easy to climb, she thought, remembering a rock climbing trip she had gone on with her parents.

The pain was unexpected and instantaneous. Just flashing back to that small memory felt like someone had taken a sledge hammer to her chest.
She didn’t realize she had stopped walking until Ellie nudged her forward. Whit shook herself, trying to force the sadness back into the box she kept it in. She was thankful it was dark since she knew her face was wet with tears. She rubbed her hand across her face and focused on the game, trying to forget the piercing pain that still throbbed with her.

“Whit, you okay?” Misty whispered over her shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she answered, knowing Misty must have picked up on her distress with her senses.

The team continued to walk along the
path until it opened up to a small pond. There was a row boat turned over next to the edge. Whit moved to the edge of the pond and noticed it was more like a pool, filled with dark water. She couldn’t tell how big it was, because the dark obscured that particular detail. Surely it couldn’t be
that
big, she thought. It was a new obstacle, though; the pool and wall hadn’t been in her visions, so she didn’t know anything about them or what was on the other side.

Suddenly
Misty held up a hand, signaling silence. Whit froze, knowing Misty must’ve heard something or someone. She watched as Misty glanced around slowly. She didn’t know if Misty’s eyes were equipped to see in the darkness, but she knew they were better than hers. Everyone stayed still for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a couple of minutes. Then the stalker waved everyone forward. The group huddled together, keeping their eyes on the surrounding area. After a whispered discussion, they decided to split up and look around for twenty minutes, hoping to find another useful object or even come across some of the other team. Whit and Lindsey broke off to the right, moving away from the wall, while Ellie, Rory and Misty searched around the wall, hoping to get a look on the other side.

As the split up,
Whit caught a glimpse of the huge clock on the wall over her head, it wasn’t really that bright, but if you knew where to look, it was easy to find. Time remaining was 4:47:26. She couldn’t believe it had already been over an hour, without any action whatsoever. No one had been captured yet. Heck, they hadn’t even
seen
the other team. Of course, for all she knew, the other team could be watching her at this very moment. She glanced around nervously, suddenly feeling hunted. This game certainly wasn’t for the faint of heart.

As her eyes roamed across the room, she
spotted what looked like a wooden doorway, and nudged Lindsey to get her attention. She pointed toward the door and Lindsey nodded, agreeing that they needed to check it out. As they peeked through the doorway, Whit immediately recognized the hallway. This place had been in the vision where she made herself invisible. They walked down the long hallway, which split off several times, seeing that it became a sort of maze. There were a few closed doors, but they checked and found them all locked. Lindsey tapped her watch then, indicating that it was time to meet up with the rest of the team.