The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



"Hey, Blythe," I say as I approach. He looks up at me with a bit of surprise.

“Hey, Clark,” he says, breaking into a smile. “Didn't think I'd get you here without a bit of kicking and screaming.”

"Well, I'm here,” I say, giving a little shrug. "Any chance you want to make a last minute trade?"

He just raises his eyebrows and stands.

"I have it on good authority," I say quietly, "that both Rafe and McClintock will work together to trade you their best guys if you just give me to one of them. You don't even have to give me my gun to go with me." I give a little kick to the familiar case that I now know holds my paintball sniper rifle. Blythe twists his mouth to the side and gives a shrug. "My plan is to still work with you, Clark. I'm...kind of sorry to hear that you hate it so much that you don't even want to try working with me. I didn't do all of this to be a dick. I was looking forward to getting to know you. Building a team.”

"I already have a team," I say quietly, looking off to the side. "So, is that a no on the trade?"

"It's a no, kid."

I clench my teeth a bit, but shrug, letting it pass. "Okay." I look around at the rest of the pile of supplies. "Is any of the rest of this for me?" "Sure," Blythe says, giving me a small smile. "A lot of it, actually. Since I only requisitioned one Cadet, we got a lot of really good supplies."

"Cool,” I say, crouching down and looking around at it all. "Should we get it on the chopper?"

"Yeah," he says, laughing a little, cheerful to see me cooperating instead of continuing to fight. "Let's get going."

In the helicopter, Blythe explains the majority of the supplies that he requisitioned and I listen carefully, noting it all. Then even before we land we start to strap on what we can, knowing that the game starts as soon as the helicopter takes off and that at least one of the other teams will be coming for us fast, wanting at least to take out me and my rifle.

I sling that onto my back and then begin to strap on the hip and thigh holster that Blythe ordered for me, which is small and precisely measured enough for me to guess that Daphne had a hand in making it. I smile, silently thanking her for it as I fasten the last buckle.

Then, to my distinct pleasure, Blythe starts to hand me guns.

"What are all these?" I ask, laughing a little.

"Compact revolves at your hips," he says, nodding to me as I start to strap them on too. "Larger pistols and extra magazine at your thighs."

I grin as I finish strapping it all to my body and then drape my bandolier of sniper bullets across my chest. "Cool. I like your style, Blythe."

He laughs, nodding to me. "See? I knew we'd get along, once we had the chance to try it."

I nod back to him but don't say

anything else, just peering out the window of the helicopter as he begins to lay out his strategy for me, which involves attacking Rafe first and going from there. I don't really pay attention, though.

I have other plans, after all.

The helicopter lands and Blythe and I climb out at our assigned base. The field today is very different than before gently rolling hills covered in trees, much less advantage for a sniper than the previous cliff faces. I wonder if the Captain thought about that when he chose it.

"Okay," Blythe says, waving off the helicopter and tooking down at the map as he lifts a canteen of water over his shoulder. We have very little to offload from the chopper since it's just the two of us and Blythe

plans to abandon the balconnoveldrama

immediately. "We've just got to figure out which of these bases belongs to Sinclair -"

“Is it started?” I ask, peering up after the helicopter, curious.

"What?" Blythe asks, looking up at me.

"The Games," I say quietly. "Has it started?"

He looks up after the helicopter too, which pulls away.

“Um, yeah," he says, frowning after it. "Soon as the helicopter's gone, we're in."

“Okay,” I say with a sigh, taking a step away from Blythe and casually unholstering the pistol at my hip. "Sorry about this."

I aim the pistol directly at Blythe's chest and pull the trigger.

A satisfying burst of pink paint blooms on his vest.