Spycraft Academy by B. Miles (little readers .txt) 📕

and I don't generally go out of my way to make nice unless I need to."

Sam nodded, his face serious. "I see. And do you need to now?"

"Well, boredom is quite dangerous, so yes." She waved her arm at him, her wrist wrapped tightly and kept straight in a small splint.

"Ah. Well, if you ever feel the need to have a few friends to make sure you don't go breaking your arms from climbing trees, I have a spot open in my crew."

Rosin narrowed her eyes at him, one corner of her mouth lifted. "You're offering me a spot in your crew, but you don't even know if I'm any good."

"I figure you'd have to be good to get into the Academy to begin with."

"Well, when you put it like that, I suppose I won't be suspicious that you're eager to lure me into a false sense of security in order to sabotage me in the near future."

"Quite. If I'm going to sabotage you, it would be in the extremely near future."

They shared a matching grin and when the door opened, Rosin grasped his palm with her good hand and gave it a firm shake.

"You got yourself a deal."

Mattie and Drina came not long after Miss Cher, the round elderly nurse, checked his wounds and mended the little she could with her healing talents.

"You're fully awake this time!" Mattie tossed her satchel on an empty bed, her tone put-upon but her face relieved. Drina sat on the bed beside her satchel. She winced when Mattie peeled back his bandages to have a look.

"Spirits below, that's bad." Mattie stroked her fingers through his hair and slid onto the bed beside him.

"Yeah. It's not as bad as it was, Miss Cher cleared up the edges. She said she couldn't heal something that big, so it might scar."

Mattie kissed his temple, her nails gently scrubbing into his scalp. "Another battle scar. Be careful getting those, or I might swoon."

Sam laughed and kissed her properly. Mattie was an odd girl. She never really went after men, not that he ever saw, and he's sure he would have noticed. However, of the few he saw her looking at in the past, they tended to come off the docks flying foreign flags, tall and lanky and rough-looking. He might have seen her drool over a couple of men with eyepatches, maybe a few with long-healed talon marks crossing their jaws.

"I'll try to avoid it next time." He got lost in her warmth and her soothing touch and once again, he forgot about the rest of the room. At least he caught himself before he got carried away this time. Sam cleared his throat and gestured to Rosin, who was sitting with one dainty leg crossed over the other, waiting for an introduction no doubt.

"This is Rosin. She's agreed to be in the crew. Rosin, this is—"

"Mattie," Rosin said. She smiled and tilted her head. It was a cute little habit, like she was remarkably curious about who or what she was looking at. "And Drina."

"Nice to meet you. How's your wrist?" Mattie smiled and extended her hand, which Rosin shook.

"It hurts, but mainly I'm just milking it so I don't have to go back to my dorm room. The people beside me are supposed to be having another party tonight. They never quit; I swear."

"Ah. They wouldn't happen to be part of Delcan's crew?"

"The very same, yes."

"We should fuck him up," Drina growled.

Drina's sudden words were enough to make Sam's head swivel. She was staring at him intently, her arched eyebrows pinched into a mean scowl he'd never seen her wear before. Despite her words, Sam had to wonder: Did she know Delcan and his cronies were right behind them when she left them to fend for themselves?

She was a wildcard right now, and Sam hated not trusting his own crew, but he hadn't known her long enough to know her intentions or natural reactions. He didn't know if she was the type of person to lash out at the smallest perceived insults or not. He had to set aside time to talk to her, to figure her out, to figure out if keeping her in the crew was a danger to him, Mattie, and now Rosin too.

"I agree." Mattie clapped her hands and the same mean, slashing scowl came over her face before it turned into a smirk. "Maybe we can get him to drink some birdroot tea. Drina can pretend like she wants to go to his crew, then get him to his room alone and offer him a sip of her drink, then—"

"Woah." Rosin laughed nervously. "That's a bit overboard. Sam here just got a demerit, we wouldn't want him getting another for, you know, causing somebody's appendix to rupture. We could just play a nasty prank on him."

Mattie opened her mouth and Sam could see she was gearing up to argue, but then her expression turned thoughtful and she nodded. "Good point. What did you have in mind?"

Rosin's smile was bright and chipper. "Quite a few things, actually . . ."

9

Miss Cher released him late at night after a final healing session, apologizing that she couldn't do more. Sam assured her she'd done all she could and thanked her for her trouble before leaving, glad to be out of the sick room. Rosin had gone to her dorm hours before, and both Mattie and Drina had gone to bed before she left, so he'd been doing nothing but sitting around and occasionally dozing off.

As he pulled open his door, he was thinking about how to approach Drina the following morning when a sound halted him dead in his tracks. It sounded like a voice, barely audible and soft as a breeze. When he heard nothing else, he shook his head and made to slip into his room when the voice came again. This time, he was sure he didn't imagine it when his own name echoed like a soft