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

"Alchemist, actually." Sam smiled as he backed away.

"Oh! Marvelous. The world needs more of those!"

"You've got that right."

As Sam backed away, Franklin kept talking as if he weren't leaving. His next instructor really would flay him for being late; verbally, anyway, and in several different languages. Finally, he was out of the room and shutting the door behind him, cutting Franklin's voice off.

He moved to trot down the mostly empty hallway, his book clutched under his arm. Language class wasn't far at all and he was already at the halfway point, he'd make it in time before Dent could have the chance to mark him tardy.

He stopped.

Franklin had called Sam's companion Code. Granted, Sam was only talking out of his ass, but he distinctly remembered saying his friend's name was 'Cody.' He didn't know anyone named Cody. But he used to know a Code.

Maybe it was a coincidence, a slip of the tongue, but the chance was far too uncanny not to be unsettling.

"There he is."

Sam whipped around and Delcan stalked from the shadows, Brie and June slinking behind him with matching smirks. He sure moved quietly for having such a large frame.

"Piss off, Delcan," Sam huffed, less than threatened. He wouldn't do anything right in the middle of the main corridor.

"Aw, don't be that way. We just wanted to make sure you were okay," Brie cooed. It was the first time she'd ever spoken directly to him. Or looked directly at him. Her skin was dark russet, like baked clay, her hair crimped, long, and golden brown. Both of her eyes were dark, but they were different hues.

"That was a nasty burn Delcan gave you," June said, her voice sticky and saccharine.

It didn't escape his notice that they were circling him like vultures on carrion.

"It was pretty bad." Delcan sucked air through his teeth as if he could see the dressed wound on Sam's back. "What did the nurse say? Is it going to leave a hideous scar?"

Sam didn't answer. He kept his eyes on June when she got too close for comfort. But Brie was at his back, pressing her hand into his bandages. Sam clenched his teeth and stilled his body from flinching.

"I like a man with a battle scar or two," June muttered, draping an arm around his shoulders, laying her head upon him like they were a couple.

"Me too," Brie said, her hand trailing up the base of his neck, her fingers threading in his hair. Sam kept his eyes on Delcan, waiting to see if he actually had the bravery to attack Sam so openly.

Suddenly, Brie's fingers twisted into his hair and yanked his head back, exposing his throat.

"I think he'd look so handsome with one on his face."

Sam's nostrils flared and he kept his eyes pinned to the blonde man, daring him to do it.

Delcan sneered, his arm lifting in what seemed like slow motion. "Who am I to deny a lady?"

He was mad, they all were. Delcan had to be bluffing. If he actually did what he was implying, Sam would scream in pain and people would come out of the classroom. The blonde would get immediately expelled.

Delcan's hand stretched and hovered in front of Sam's face, the air between them getting hotter by the second.

The door behind Delcan swung open and Franklin's startled eyes met Sam's over Delcan's shoulder.

"What is going on here? Unhand him!" The older man's voice wasn't warm and high like usual. Instead, it was bordering on angry.

Sam was released and Franklin rushed to him as his three tormenters ducked away. They would get demerits for sure, and that would be two for Delcan. Maybe he'd get expelled before the semester was over with.

"Are you alright, Samson?" Franklin held him by the shoulders, his eyes bouncing all over Sam's face.

"Yeah. They didn't do anything, they were just bluffing." I think.

Franklin glared at the empty hallway beyond Sam's shoulder and shook his head. He muttered, "Honestly, what is wrong with that boy?"

"Inferiority complex, I think." Sam shrugged. "Makes him feel bigger."

"Oh, I know the type. Come, I'll walk you to class."

The classroom door was only a few yards away. Sam tried to thank him and tell him that he could walk on his own, but Franklin was insistent. In the end, Sam supposed it was alright to let his teacher fret over him. He was a grown man, but sometimes it was nice...knowing somebody cared that much.

13

Sam showed the girls his prize after class. Right off the bat, Mattie assumed he was going to give it to Delcan. He wasn't. He was going to save it for the thief. No reason Delcan can't have just an itty bit as well, Drina said. She was right.

He liked to think he was above such childlike pettiness, but as he chewed on the idea throughout the day, some vindictive part of his brain challenged him to come up with a reason he shouldn't do it.

There was no reason. A quarter of the poison was potent enough to do the job, so a half was more than generous enough to use on two people. And Delcan deserved every bit of humiliation Sam could give him. He wished, more than anything, that Delcan would leave his sycophants somewhere and do something, walk somewhere, be somewhere outside of his room alone. Then Sam could corner him when he wasn't bolstered by the boldness of numbers and ask him what his damn problem was.

Was it truly only the comment about Delcan's mother? Sam found that hard to believe, given Delcan looked intent on committing acts of expulsion. The blonde wouldn't risk the ultimate punishment on somebody who had just insulted his dead mother. Or maybe he would, Sam couldn't possibly know. It could be that Delcan didn't even want to be here, that his family pressured him into attending. Perhaps the blonde wanted to go home, dishonored or not.

"I'll get Brie," Drina said casually, shoveling her dinner into her mouth.

"You