“Mrs. Howard will take care of your belongings,” Edgars said.
I faced straight ahead, then allowed my feet to follow the path of my gaze. I didn't look left or right, didn't acknowledge the people staring at me, wondering. All too soon, I was standing in front of Edgars and the strangers. I'd fought the Sybilins and won; I wouldn't let this defeat me.
“She's being arrested again?” a student muttered behind me.
“Let's hope so,” someone answered.
Edgars nodded at me. There was pity in his dark eyes. “Good luck, kid.” He pivoted on his heel and stalked out of the room.
The strangers, however, waited for me. The man even motioned to the door with his chin.
I squared my shoulders. “If you wanted to see my ass, mister, you should have just said so.” I think his lips twitched, nearly spreading into a smile, but I didn't hang around to study him more closely. I sashayed into the hall as if I hadn't a care in the world.
I'd never been so miserable, but I wouldn't let them know how close I was to breaking down.
“To the front entrance,” he commanded, still behind me but closer than I'd realized. His voice was somehow familiar to me.
I didn't look back as I continued to walk, never slowing my pace. “Where's this special camp located, anyway?” That's what my mom had called it, a special camp for wayward teens. Ugh.
“Nowhere,” the man answered cryptically.
I snorted. “Hell?”
“Some would say so, yes.”
Oh, goody.
The hallways were deserted. That wasn't surprising. During class, rooms were put on lockdown. No one was allowed inside or out without a fingerprint scan and permission from the principal. “I don't belong at your camp, you know,” I said when we reached the glass doors that lead outside. They were shaded, so I couldn't see the parking lot.
“Maybe, maybe not. We'll soon find out.” In the next instant, he grabbed my upper arm and spun me around.
I didn't have time to protest. Didn't have time to curse or fight.
A cloth was shoved over my head, and the world around me went black. I was so startled, a moment passed before I realized what had happened. Then my heart kicked into gear, realization hit, and fury and fear pounded through me. “What are you doing? Let me go!”
“Don't worry,” the man said. “This is for your own protection.”
I struggled against his hold. “Let. Me. Go!”
“Calm down. It'll all be over soon, Phoenix.”
I stilled, gulped. Panicked. What would be over soon? My life? Dear God. What had my mom gotten me into?
4
It'll all be over soon… I tried to rip the hood from my head, but my hands were slapped away. I erupted once again, kicking and hitting with every ounce of my strength, striking blindly, sometimes connecting with my target.
He grunted.
No way was I going to be treated this way. No way was I going to be led—where? In front of a firing squad? Into a room filled with people who wanted me to be their piñata? All to punish me for a crime I hadn't committed.
“I did nothing wrong!” I growled. “For the first time I did everything right, damn it. I don't deserve this.”
“Be still, Phoenix, and be quiet.” The man was panting as he tried to subdue me, but his voice was surprisingly gentle.
“I've told you twice already. Let me go!”
“I'll gag you if I have to,” he said. In the next instant, my arms were banded behind my back, preventing me from reaching up. Laserbands bonded to skin, and would cut to the bone if I attempted to pull them off.
My teeth ground together as I continued to kick. I even tried to ram him with the back of my head, but I never made contact. The man—I needed a name for him—must have dodged my flailing limbs.
Finally he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. The scent of pine and…roses filled my nose. An odd smell for a man, especially a tough, hard one like this. Roses. I'd call him Roses.
“The others didn't act this way,” Roses said.
“She's going to be trouble,” a sweet female voice said.
“The good ones always are,” he responded.
“I told you, I didn't do anything wrong. I don't deserve this.”
Roses chuckled, deep and rich. “You're right. You don't deserve it, but if you try hard enough and apply yourself, you just might.”
Confused by his words, I paused. Then, suddenly, warm air was kissing my arms, my exposed midriff. We were outside, I realized. I could hear cars zooming past on a nearby road. I wanted to see, but couldn't make out anything through the black hood.
“Where are you taking me?” Straight to camp? Probably. They weren't going to let me pack my things, my holophotos. I'd be cut off from everything and everyone I knew and loved.
“We're taking you to a whole new world, sugar. Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” Sweet Voice said.
“Enjoy? Enjoy! You can stuff your ‘enjoy' right up your as—” My words jammed to a halt as I was chucked onto a hard, uncushioned seat. A door slammed, and then there was only silence. I wiggled and squirmed, trying to dislodge the hood without moving my arms and disturbing the laserbands.
“That won't do you any good,” someone said. A new voice. A girlish, almost purring voice. “The hood is bonded to your clothing just like the laserbands are bonded to your skin.”
I froze, tried to force my gaze past the black fibers of the hood to see something. Anything. Again, only darkness greeted me. “Who are you?”
“A recruit, like you,” she replied, and there was a blend of happiness and frustration in her tone. “My name's Kitten.”
Was Kitten hooded, too? I asked and she replied with an angry yes. The knowledge calmed me for some reason—perhaps because I was not alone in this. Still, I wished I could see who I was talking to. “Why'd they blindfold us like this?”
A pause. A rustle of clothing, as if she was shrugging. “If we aren't accepted, we'll be sent home. This way, we won't know the location of the camp.”
“Accepted?”
“Yeah. Into the program.”
“I'm still lost,” I said. “Why do we have to be accepted?”
“Only the strong survive and all that crap.”
Great. Visions of being locked in a room with other “delinquent” kids and forced to fight to the death filled my head. Although, I might willingly take a beating if it meant being considered weak and sent home.
“What's your name, new girl?” the purring voice demanded.