My grin spread. They liked, too. They liked a lot. There was something so powerful about holding a weapon like this. Something so safe. No one could hurt me. I was invincible.

“Aim,” Kadar said.

I did without hesitation. I closed one eye and extended my arms, the fake Sybilin in sight. I pointed the barrel straight ahead, holding steady. Would I be able to hit my target on the first try? Only one way to find out.

“Squeeze the trigger.”

My finger curled around it, and I squeezed. I expected a click, a ray of light, but heard nothing. No sound. No light, either. What I didn't expect was something solid to actually fly out of the barrel, but it did. I gasped, and I heard several other girls do the same.

Had I hit my target? My gaze narrowed on the fake Sybilin, searching…searching…I grinned when I spotted a red protrusion on its right shoulder. I'd been aiming for its heart, but, hey, I'd managed to hit it on the first try!

Go me!

“I think my gun is broken. It didn't make a sound,” Jenn said, twisting the weapon in every direction. Even her own. “And there was no light.”

Kadar leapt toward her and whisked the gun from her grip. “Watch where you point this. You could have shot your own face. I lied about the light to relax you. Today we're using darts, but even those can hurt you.”

She paled. “Sorry. My bad.”

“The pyre-gun was designed for silence.” He handed it back to her, the barrel facing the floor. “Sometimes you have to dial and fire with an enemy nearby and you don't want that enemy to know your location.”

Ah. That made total sense.

“Your pyre-gun also has a stun setting. All you have to do is twist the dial to the left until it can't twist anymore. But stun only works on other-worlders. Repeat after me: Stun will not work on humans.”

Silence. What was with all the repeating? We weren't children.

He frowned. “Have I been too nice? Do you think it's okay to ignore my orders? Repeat what I said!”

“Stun will not work on humans,” we said in unison.

“Only aliens,” he said.

“Only aliens,” we repeated.

Kadar nodded with satisfaction. “Something about the alignment of human skin cells causes the stun to bounce off rather than absorb. We're currently testing a device that will work on humans. Sometimes they're worse than the other-worlders you're chasing.” His disgust rang out loud and clear. “Sympathizers will try and hurt you, rather than allow you to hurt an alien, no matter its crimes.”

“They suck,” Cara muttered.

“Maybe we need a how-to-take-down-a-sympathizer class,” Dani suggested.

Kadar continued as if they hadn't spoken. “The fire settings, however, will work on both humans and aliens. Make sure you want to injure or kill your target before you fire.”

Jenn raised her hand. Her brown eyes were wide, and she looked upset. “But…what if we don't want to stun or kill?”

He answered her question with a question of his own. “Your targets will be predatory aliens and the humans who help them. Why would you not want to stun or kill them?”

She nibbled on her bottom lip. Poor thing. It was so obvious she didn't want to be here, didn't want to learn how to fight. Or kill. She was being forced to learn by her mom, by the superfreaky Boss and what they wanted for her life.

At least they cared about her, you know? They wanted the best for her. No jealousy, missy.

“Let's get back to work,” Kadar said. “Hold the gun at your side.” There were two heartbeats of silence as he waited for us to comply. “Good. Now aim and fire, as quickly as possible.”

We did. I missed the target this time. So did a lot of the girls, judging by the numerous moans I heard. I'd been tense, determined, rather than relaxed like before. Crap.

“Again,” Kadar said.

Quickly I aimed and fired. Missed. The dart sailed over my target's wrinkled shoulder.

“Again.”

Relax. Just relax. Once again, I aimed and fired. This time, I nailed the Sybilin in the stomach. I'd aimed at its heart, so hitting his stomach wasn't optimal. It was a success, though, and I grinned.

Kadar leveled a pointed stare at me. “Keep firing until you're consistently hitting what you aim at or until your gun runs out of darts. And by the way, there are one hundred of the little suckers in the clip.”

“No way,” Jenn said, holding her gun up for inspection.

“One hundred,” Lindsay moaned. She hooked several strands of red hair behind her ears. “So far I haven't hit anything.”

“For real?” Dani said, incredulous. “We have to keep at this until we run out?”

I peered at the gun. “You're kidding, right? Nothing this small can hold so many darts.”

“Uh, yes it can. The darts expand upon release,” he explained. “Did any of you read your manual? You're supposed to forget everything you think you know. Open your minds. Nothing is impossible here.”

“Except stunning humans with a pyre-gun,” I muttered.

“I heard that,” Kadar said, but he didn't sound angry. He sounded amused. “Now get to work.”

Over and over I repeated the process, not stopping until I was able to aim and fire in one fluid motion—and actually achieve success more often than not. Unfortunately, I wasn't the first (and my competitive spirit didn't like that fact). Johanna was, followed by Dani, then me.

“All right.” Kadar clapped his hands. “Our time is up for today.”

Emma was the only one who hadn't hit the target. I glanced over and studied what she'd been aiming at. It was a bright blue creature I didn't recognize, with shiny skin, a lithe body, and webbed hands and feet. Her darts were spread all around it. Her expression was blank as she lowered her gun onto the counter, and her hand was shaking. There were lines of tension bracketing her eyes.

“I'm so proud of you girls I'm going to do you a favor.” Kadar leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Tomorrow I'm going to let you fire your guns with the detonation crystals inside rather than the dart clips.”

The moisture in my mouth dried as excitement and apprehension fought for dominance inside me. “Are you sure we're ready?”

“No,” he said with a grin. “That's the beauty of it.”

One wrong move, and I could fry any one of my new friends. One wrong move, and any one of my new friends could fry me. I'd probably have nightmares. And yet, it gave me an even greater sense of power than before, the thought of firing an actual weapon. Of being tough and lethal. Of facing down my enemy—fake target though it was.




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