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

vessar hissed again, less menacing this time, as if he had an opinion on the matter.

Mode smiled at the huge creature, a little one, but a smile all the same. How somebody could smile at a beast like that was beyond Sam, but then again, Mode was petting the damn thing.

Mode’s smile disappeared and he focused on Sam again. “It took us several years to acquire it from Meera, and it will take them a few to inevitably steal it back from us.”

So they were…planning on Meera succeeding?

“I don't understand,” Sam said, looking from Mode to Apelles.

“No, you wouldn't,” Mode said, “but you will in time. I wouldn't normally tell a first-year student about this. In fact, most of the military is ignorant of the Codex. However, considering how involved you are already, and how involved you might be in the future, I see no harm in allowing you to learn. Starting with that book. This is, of course, with the understanding that if you tell a soul, I’ll cut out your tongue and dissolve it and whomever you tell a vat of vessar venom.”

Sam didn’t like where this was going.

“Don't worry about it now, Sam.” Mode waved him off. “You're still only a boy. And you have much more training ahead of you before your country asks anything of you. But know that there is much more going on than you or anybody else is aware of. Hopefully, the things going on above your head will soon end.”

It was clear that Mode was going to remain vague on the subject. Sam looked at the unmarked book in his hands. “Understood, sir.”

“Good, now,” Mode’s voice brightened to something slightly less severe. “Apelles has told me about the project he assigned you. I don't suppose he thought anything would come of it, but here we are. You went above and beyond expectations, Samson, you and your friends. I expect great things from you in the future.”

“Thank you,” Sam said. His stomach flooded with warmth. Gregory Mode expected great things from him. He wouldn’t let his headmaster down.

“That is, if you can stop fighting with that boy…what was his name?”

“Delcan Capelli,” Apelles said.

“Ah, yes. From the noble line of…something or other.” Mode shook his head, picked up his quill from the inkpot, and scrawled something on one of the many documents scattered across his desk. “I hardly pay attention to the higher ranks. Most of their children don't even make it past the first-year preliminary exams. I don’t usually bother with names until they make it into the fourth year.”

Mode seemed to be talking himself, but Sam knew it was for his benefit. For a moment, the enigma of Gregory Mode cleared away for the image of a normal man with unpopular opinions and a utilitarian spirit. Sam was being allowed a glimpse of Mode’s humanity, something that probably only a few people saw.

Apelles cleared his throat. “Delcan is the one with the fire talent.”

Mode frowned mildly, then it cleared before he penned something else. “Oh yes, I remember now. How ironic that he and Sam don’t seem to get along.”

Whatever context was going on behind this conversation was over Sam’s head. Silence followed Mode’s statement and hung around them. The scratching quill was the loudest thing in the room.

Without looking up from his work, Mode said, “That's all for now, Sam. Read the book. Come to me if you have any questions. And remember, this is classified. Not a word.”

“Yes, sir,” Sam said. He hated keeping things from his crew, but if his headmaster said he would dissolve them in a pit of vessar acid, then Sam had no issues with keeping this particular thing to himself.

“You’re dismissed as well, Apelles,” Mode said, “I have much more work that needs to be done. Starting with our little double-agent.”

“Yes, sir,” Apelles said. “Should you need me, you know where I will be.”

“Indeed.” Mode shooed him with a flick of his wrist.

Sam stood and walked wordlessly from the room, following Apelles. He gave a final glance to the vessar, who trained his slitted yellow eyes on Sam. Eerie. Sam trailed out of the room with the assumption that he would simply go back to his room and take the rest of the day off with the girls. It appeared that Apelles had other plans.

The spymaster suddenly halted and spun around. The movement was so quick that Sam almost couldn’t stop himself from walking right into the man.

“That won't be the last attempt on the Codex by the Meerans,” Apelles said. “The front lines are heating up again, which means that they're creating a national distraction. Once the front lines break out into heavy fighting, most of our resources will be redirected to support our troops and make sure the death toll is minimized as much as possible. The Academy needs to be on high alert. You need to stay alert. Because Franklin got away, he’ll report to his superiors and your name will come up. And if they get a chance, they'll come after you.” He clapped Sam on the shoulder and smiled. “Stay diligent. I have no doubt that you can handle it.”

He didn't even wait for a reply before he patted Sam like a child and turned away, walking leisurely down the hall with his hands stuffed into his pockets. Sam stood there and blinked at the wall for a few moments before he took a deep breath and continued on the journey to his dorm. He was intent on getting to his room so he could crack open the book in his hand and figure out what in the world the two men were talking about.

The Meerans would be after him. Never in his life did he think he would be important enough to be attacked by a foreign government. While it wasn't the sort of infamy he'd dreamed up as a child, he supposed it was something.

Sam smiled. The infamous Samson Croft, they would say in Meera. Somebody needs