Chapter Three

 

Pandora stood on the Academy training grounds with her friends, Choo-Choo and Navos. The concrete pad where they normally trained was overfull with warriors, both current and former members, along with dozens of Razors. Even though they were technically Drops now, she had a hard time thinking of them like that. She tried not to look at Kuma—she hadn't talked to him since they'd killed the Blue Daggers.

"I'm gonna rip his head off," said Choo-Choo, pacing behind her with sweat beaded up on his bald head as he kept glancing at Kuma, who stood with his friends.

"Emilio," said Navos with worry in his eyes.

"I don't care that he's my brother now. I'm sure he was the reason Vasy lost her hand, and his fucking uncle is the one that killed Valeria. I hate the Santos family. Every last one of them."

Blotches of red formed on his cheeks and his jaw pulsed. Pandora put a hand on his arm, but he flinched away.

"You can't," said Pandora, then seeing that didn't get past his wall of rage, she added, "You shouldn't. Think about Triana and Vasy. We need Razor to defend the Pajot, and that includes Kuma and Brazio, and every other Razor that swore allegiance to Daraja."

"Fuck," said Choo-Choo, squeezing his eyes shut. "I can't. I can't."

"You have to," she said, then glared at Navos to help.

"Emilio, you know she's right," said Navos, knocking a swoop of dirty blond hair out of his eyes.

"I'll try," said Choo-Choo with bloodshot eyes.

Pandora breathed relief that he'd calmed, for now, though she could see the rage simmering below the surface. She was fixing her uniform when she heard Navos mutter a curse under his breath. She turned to find Kuma approaching, heading right for her and completely ignorant of Choo-Choo's visible animosity.

"Hey," Kuma said, fidgeting with his hands.

She feared what he was going to say. There were so many secrets between them that anything could become a trigger for further problems. Pandora kept her lips clamped shut, silently willing him not to say anything damning.

Kuma hesitated, clearly sensing her apprehension. "I wanted to thank you..."

She furrowed her brow at him.

"For saving my uncle's life. He told me what happened."

"I didn't do that much," she said neutrally.

Kuma tilted his head as if he were only just picking up the undercurrents, but then Choo-Choo stepped around her and jutted his chest forward.

"You're not welcome here."

Kuma's mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. "I...but we're on the same side..."

Choo-Choo spoke low and mean. "Not as far as I'm concerned."

Pandora pulled him back. "Emilio."

"Don't call me that," he said, yanking his shoulder away. "And what's this bullshit about saving his uncle? You know, the one that killed my sister?"

A stone formed in her gut. She'd been told not to reveal what happened around the time of the Crows' betrayal. She'd been telling everyone that she was on message running errands for Duro during that critical time.

"It's an exaggeration," said Pandora as Choo-Choo turned on her. "I was the one that led him to Duro when he came to the gates. He was half-dead."

"You should have finished him off," snarled Choo-Choo. "After everything my family has done for you, welcoming you into our home, you'd betray us like that? Helping the guy who murdered my sister?"

Before Choo-Choo could reach for his weapons, Navos threw his lanky arms around him, hugging him tight from behind. Pandora shot a glare at Kuma, who was already backing away. It wasn't until he'd left that she remembered he'd just lost his father, which sent rage soaring through her.

She turned back to Choo-Choo as heat formed in her chest. "Don't say that. Don't you dare say that. After everything I've given up to protect them. And you."

Choo-Choo looked incredulous. "What have you done? Nothing."

Pandora jawed at the air. She couldn't tell him anything. Not about her mother or grandfather, or that she'd helped bring the two clans together, or that she'd really saved Brazio by killing Irina. Not only would he not understand, but she'd been told to keep her mouth shut about all of it. Only the leadership of the clan knew the truth about her, and they'd promised to keep it a secret because of what she'd done.

"Stay away from me," said Choo-Choo, marching away. Navos gave her a palms-up gesture then followed him.

She slumped against the wall as many eyes bore down on her. Choo-Choo and Navos were her only friends in Drops, and she couldn't go to Kuma without revealing more secrets. The focus on her evaporated when Duro and Brazio appeared in Academy uniforms, followed by the other instructors from both clans that had survived.

"Attention!" called Duro after he leapt upon a smooth rock near the training grounds.

The chaos of the two groups as they tried to form up in lines was fraught with pushing and angry words. Pandora tried to join Choo-Choo and Navos, but they took a spot without room for her. She gravitated to the end of a line, staying in back where no one would be looking at her, hoping that Choo-Choo would come to his senses later.

"Many of you know why you're here. Some do not. I cannot put it any other way. Our enemies outnumber us and have access to resources far beyond our capabilities. The only hope for survival we have as a clan is that we must be better, warrior for warrior, or they will wipe us from the Undercity.

"That means those of you that graduated are being returned to training. No one, including myself, Brazio, and the other instructors, is excused from these activities. Wherever you think you are as a waku or soldado, I want you to improve tenfold. Whatever you thought impossible before, must become commonplace. Your limitations must become your strengths."

Duro paused atop the rock, looking over the sea of faces. Pandora understood the necessity of his words, but she wondered if her fellow clanmates did. They didn't know how brutal her grandfather was, and that the little niceties and points of order between the clans wouldn't be honored like before. They would either survive or die, much as she'd had to during her training in the Eternal City, which if she was being truthful with herself, she'd failed. Only her mother's intervention had stayed his hand. She'd been allowed to leave because they'd needed her in the Undercity. At the time, she'd been desperate to prove herself.

"We will not be doing things as we did them in the past. The physical training will be similar, but we must unlock the stones, find ways of using them that have never been done before. Some of you understand this. But very few. The rest of you will need to learn quickly."

Duro nodded to Brazio, who stepped forward. "Starting with the end of the line, I want everyone to count to five in turn. Remember your number."

The count took a few minutes to wind its way through the lines. When everyone was finished, Brazio continued, "The ones will go with Duro, twos with myself, threes with Instructor Helena, fours with Kai, and fives with Nikolai. These are your groups for now. After we've sufficiently tested you, we'll reorganize by skill, stones, and potential."

Pandora had received the number five. She found Instructor Nikolai by the fountain furthest away from the training building. He was a long-time Drops member with dark hair and a scar through his eye that made it permanently squint. The injury had come from an Undercity critter that had surprised him when he was traveling alone. He was usually in charge of the younger kids, preparing them for the Academy. Despite his fearsome looks, Vasy spoke glowingly about him.

She was one of the first to Instructor Nikolai. The others were a mix of Drops and former Razor, the first group outnumbering the latter by three to one. She half hoped that Kuma would be in her group until she saw Choo-Choo headed her way with his head down, followed by the short-haired girl, Camina, who hadn't trusted her when they took down the Blue Daggers. The last one to join the group was Yara Santos, the daughter of Brazio. She headed straight at Pandora with fists at her side and the burdens of the world on her shoulders.

"You're Pandora, right?" asked Yara with a scowl.

"I am," she said, keeping light on her feet and a wary eye on Yara's fists.

The pain etched into her face ran deep. Yara said nothing as she chewed her words behind clamped lips.

"Thank you." Yara's expression broke. "For saving my father."

She marched away head down before Pandora could respond. She checked to Choo-Choo, who'd heard the exchange but looked away when she met his gaze.

"Fuck," she muttered.

"You're right about that," said Camina, who'd come up from behind, nostrils flaring. There was a brief standoff, but then Instructor Nikolai called them to attention.

"I hope you're warmed up because we're headed to the Deep Basin," said Instructor Nikolai.

He had a deep voice and only a slight Slavic accent. The other groups were heading in other directions. They formed up in two lines. Choo-Choo looked like he was about to take the position next to her when Camina claimed it.

The run started out slow, but then Nikolai increased the pace, which put strain on the others, but Pandora modulated her opal until she was running without effort. Camina glanced to her during the run, screwing up her face.

"Why do you look like you're barely running?" asked Camina between breaths.

The passages to the Deep Basin headed south out of the Pajot. The tunnels had been widened over the years, making stretching their legs easy.

"What stones?"

Camina looked like she wasn't going to answer until she said, "Amber and opal."

"The opal can do more than heal. It can be used to clean the toxins from our muscles as we run, making it easier to go longer, or goose them to move faster. I can show you later."

Camina nodded as sweat dripped from her nose though she still looked suspicious of her motives. The others were laboring, as Nikolai was increasing the pace until they were almost running full out. After twenty minutes, they reached their destination, which was a ledge leading down a ramp into a huge cavern. Lights flickered below, leaving the former Razor members to gawk at the sights.

"What is this place?" asked Camina.

"You'll see," said Pandora, even though it was only her second time visiting the Deep Basin.

Nikolai led them down the ramp, which gave the students a good view of the area. The air was moist and warm. As they descended, the rocky walls became covered in thick moss, or carpets of fungi. Wisps of plants grew from the nooks and vines clung to the cracks.

The floor of the cavern was thick with plants that grew onto the path. Rather than hard stone, they walked over chunky dirt speckled with rocks that hadn't quite finished breaking down. A patch of ghost-eye illuminated their passage as insects buzzed around them.

"This was one of the first places the Drops tried to grow food. They gave up after the early years because this cavern was much too difficult to defend, and creatures tended to find their way into it, but that early beginning took on a life of its own. Our gardeners sometimes introduce new plants here to help diversify the ecosystem. Be warned that creatures big and small make their home here. Some are benign, but others are quite dangerous."

He took them to a side cavern off the main area. The plants faded away, leaving more rock and walls that went straight up. Nikolai pulled small orbs from a backpack and shook them in turn, which made them glow from within. Then he turned dials on the side and released them into the air. The first few ascended five or ten feet, but later ones went higher, until there was a column of light alongside the rocky wall.

"Today you're going to free climb the Night Wall. It has that name because some of the stone is glassy obsidian, which makes it both beautiful and treacherous. It's a difficult climb, a five point eleven if you want the technical designation."

"Where are the ropes?" asked a first-year student in the back.

Nikolai threw two cloth bags onto the ground. "You'll find no wall spikes, only harnesses and connecting ropes. You won't be climbing alone, but as a group. The goal is for everyone to reach the top together."

The instructor's words were greeted with a mix of disbelief and concern.

"I'm not climbing with a Santos," said Choo-Choo, crossing his arms and glaring at Yara, who stared back ambivalently.

Nikolai spread his arms wide. "Fine. If you do not wish to climb, you can return to the Pajot and train with the kids."

Choo-Choo blinked heavily before hanging his head and returning to the group.

"Good. No other disagreements?" asked the instructor. "You may begin."

They stood around in a circle. There were around thirty of them. No one spoke at first. Pandora moved towards the rope bag at the same time as Yara and Camina. She gave them a welcoming smile, but neither returned it. Choo-Choo showed up a second after the others.

"I'm not letting a couple of Razors fuck this up," he said.

Camina rolled her eyes while Yara gave him a blank-eyed stare that would have made a serial killer proud.

"How do we want to do this?" asked Pandora, crouching by the bags.

Camina dumped the harnesses on the ground and started digging through them while the others stared at the wall, which went up so far it hurt the neck to see the top. The others clumped around them, but gave them space at the same time, signaling the leadership of the group.

"It doesn't look like there are enough harnesses for everyone," said Camina, frowning.

"Okay, some can free climb and some can stay harnessed," said Yara, crossing her arms. "I'm not afraid."

"That wall?" asked Choo-Choo incredulously. "It's over three hundred feet of high difficulty."

"I'm a topaz," said Yara defiantly.

Choo-Choo screwed up his mouth. "I am too, but only, like, last week."

"Then it should be no problem. Big shot Drops can show us how it's done since it's your wall," said Yara.

"Come on, we have to do this together," said Pandora.

Camina shook her head as she opened the rope bag. "It's a fucking snakes' nest. What's going on? Is the instructor trying to kill us?"

"You heard Duro," said Pandora, thinking about when he'd shot her to force her to rapidly attune to the opal. "They're going to make us push our limits. Not giving us all the tools forces us to come up with new solutions."

"Push our limits?" asked Camina, staring at the wall. "They're gonna get us killed."

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