The next morning I was up bright and early and back to training. We spent the morning in the usual way, working on our mental connection. By lunchtime, I was exhausted but felt good about our progress. I’d successfully maintained the connection the whole morning, and my physical strength had barely waned. Thankfully, our afternoon schedule included a session with the Brains.

Erik and Henri had both been trained extensively in the use of the portable electronic devices, so the training was just a refresher for them. I spent the first half of the afternoon just learning how to use a portable computer. An older Crypto named Bhen demonstrated, no less than five times, the sequence I needed to follow just to login. Next, he showed me the appropriate technique for typing on the keyboard. I thought he was treating me like a moron, until I tried it myself and realized that only every fourth letter or number I hit actually registered. He showed me again.

Sometimes on missions, Hunters were compromised, necessitating a hasty retreat. In rare cases, leaving behind belongings, like Crypto gadgets, couldn’t be avoided. The tools held so much vital data that it would be disastrous to TOXIC if it fell into enemy hands. The only way to prevent this was to put biometric fail-safes on all of the devices. Prior to departing for a hunt, Cryptos would program scans of each team member into the gadgets so that we were the only people who could access them.

“What am I doing wrong?” I begged Bhen, frustrated when I still couldn’t understand it.

“You need to be sure that your whole finger hits the key, so the tiny sensor has enough time to register your fingerprint. If the computer can’t register your print, it won’t type the letter,” he explained. “It’s hard at first, but you’ll get used to it.”

I looked at him doubtfully but kept at it, refusing to admit defeat.

Next, we moved on to heat scanners. Bhen walked me around Headquarters, letting me scan buildings to observe the images on the screen, outlining the people inside. I’d never actually used a heat scanner before, but it was far more simple than typing. Much to my dismay, we didn’t spend too long with it.

For any other pledge, the day would’ve ended with Bhen teaching me to use the earpieces that most Hunters employed to communicate while on a mission. Since that was not necessary, on account of our built-in telecommunication system, he taught me to use a medical body scanner instead.

The body scanner allowed us to see a person’s organs and innards through clothing and skin. That way, if one of us were injured, we’d be able to assess the internal damage. Bhen let me run the scanner over his mid-section so I could see his organs, and over his legs and arms to see bones. It was oddly fascinating.

By the end of the afternoon, my brain was buzzing with all the newly-acquired knowledge. The new technologies I’d been acquainted with unnerved me. As if all the other things I had to remember weren’t enough, now I had to learn to use all of these new contraptions, too? Maybe I’d ask Penny for help with the portable computer. The one she used every day had the same fingerprint-scan technology.

That evening, Henri, Erik, and I sat on the wooden floor of our cabin, pouring over floor plans and intel that the Cryptos had accumulated for our upcoming mission. Henri spent a lot of the time explaining to me how to read the intel documents, since they mostly looked like gibberish to the untrained eye—mine. When I finally crawled into bed, long past midnight, my eyes were red-rimmed and dry from all of the laborious staring. My muscles were knotted from sitting in the same, hunched-over position for so long.

Donavon hadn’t attempted to talk to me all day. I didn’t reach out to him, either. I felt that I was owed an apology, and my stubborn nature demanded that I not be the first one to crack. Right before I drifted off to sleep, I opened my mind to take a peek in to his, to see if he was thinking about me and feeling sorry about the way he’d acted. Unfortunately, he was asleep.

The rest of the week progressed in the same manner: mental communication training, practicing with the gadgets, studying intel, repeat. By the end of the week, I felt pretty comfortable in all three areas.

Several days before we left, I visited medical, where Erik’s friend Zach taught me very basic first-aid. Mostly, it was simple stuff: stitching up a cut, making a tourniquet, splinting a broken bone. The thought of inflicting injuries that drew blood didn’t actually bother me; that was what I’d been training for. But dealing with the aftermath? That made me queasy, as if eels were swimming in my stomach. I was positive that even if push came to shove, I’d never be able to perform any of these acts without losing my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Donavon and I didn’t speak all week. It was the longest I’d ever gone without seeing him, talking to him, touching him. I felt lost without the comfortable mental connection that I had grown accustomed to. Sure, he left me a couple of messages on my Communicator, but they were brief and none contained an apology. I kept promising myself that I would wait for him to come to me, heart-in-hand, to say he was sorry. But, without fail, every night before bed my resolve weakened, and I opened my mind to search for him. Since my team and I were up so late going over intel, Donavon was always asleep by the time I climbed into bed.

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At the end of the week, we were scheduled two days off to relax and catch up on our sleep before we set off on our mission. Perhaps Donavon and I could speak and patch things up then, before I left for who knows how long.

After we had finished the last day of training for the week, both Henri and Erik left immediately for the city. Henri, I presumed, was going to spend the night with Frederick. Erik, I assumed, was going to see if he could find a nice warm bed with a nice looking city girl. I planned on spending the night hanging out with Penny and her friends. I hoped that Laris wasn’t there—I didn’t need any reminders that Donavon still wasn’t talking to me. I also didn’t want any tattletales reporting my every cough and sneeze to him.

I decided to eat alone in my cabin, since Penny had a training exercise that would run through dinnertime. I was sitting at the small table in the corner, eating my meal and reading a book, when I heard a soft knock on my door. I figured it must be Penny, so I called for her to come in. Instead of opening the door, Penny knocked again. I opened my mind as I walked to the door and abruptly froze. It wasn’t Penny on the other side of the door—it was Donavon. I was suddenly nervous. This was what I’d wanted, him coming to beg me for forgiveness, admitting he’d been jealous and irrational, conceding that he’d overreacted just a tad, right? But what if that wasn’t what he wanted? What if he were here for Round Two of a fight? Would he really wait an entire week before coming to yell at me again?

“Talia, I know you’re in there. I can feel you,” Donavon called through the door, sounding impatient.

I sighed. There’s no time like the present to get this over with, I thought. I willed the door to open, keeping my feet firmly on the floor. The door swung open, but Donavon didn’t enter.

“Can I come in?” he asked tentatively.

“I suppose,” I replied tersely.

Donavon shuffled in, his eyes preoccupied with his sneakers, and sat at the table I’d just vacated. I turned around to face him but made no move to sit down. After a long moment, he raised his head and met my eyes. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but I didn’t want to be the one to break the silence.

“Tal, I’m so sorry,” Donavon finally said, his voice wavering slightly.

“I don’t know how you could accuse me of… well, I don’t even know what exactly you were accusing me of!” I yelled. So much for calm and collected.

“I just freaked out, Tal. Erik has such a reputation and no girl seems immune to him. I know I was wrong. I’m so sorry. You have to believe me.” His blue eyes were pleading with me.

I purposely kept my mind blocked, refusing any mental communication. I didn’t want to feel his emotions. But the look in his eyes broke my resistance, and I dropped my guard. I could feel how much he cared about me, how sorry he was. His emotions were so strong they nearly overwhelmed me. Before I’d made a conscious decision, my feet were already moving me towards him. Our lips met, his arms wrapped around my waist, and I lost my fingers in his hair. He stood up, careful not to break contact with me, and lifted me up by the waist. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he walked us to my bed. He carefully sat me on the edge and gently pushed me flat on my back, leaning completely over me. I disentangled my fingers from his hair and ran my hands up under his shirt, over the smooth skin of his back. He broke away just long enough to yank his shirt over his head. Donavon leaned back down, placing one hand next to my head as he dropped his lips back to mine. His other hand toyed with the edge of my tank top. He slowly ran his thumb across my stomach. My muscles tightened and trembled in response. I looped my legs around his waist again and he laughed as he collapsed on top of me. He pushed my tank top higher until there was no clothing separating our stomachs.

“Skin to skin,” I whispered.

“Skin to skin,” he whispered back.

I loved the way his skin felt against mine, warm and reassuring.

He worked my tank top up and over my head. I started shaking harder. Donavon’s lips found mine again, and I relaxed against him. He reluctantly pulled back from me and stared hard into my eyes. He smoothed loose pieces of hair back from my face. He leaned down again, but instead of kissing me, he laid his cheek on mine and fluttered his eyelashes against my cheekbone. My whole body tingled, every synapse firing. I giggled, partially because his eyelashes tickled and partially out of nerves. He replaced his eyelashes with his lips on my cheek. He planted kisses from my jawbone, down my neck, and onto my collarbone.

“Hey, Talia, are you—” Penny stopped mid-sentence. She’d opened the door without knocking. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” Penny’s face flamed to match the color of her hair. Donavon used his chest to cover me while I scrambled to find my tank top.

“It’s okay, Penny,” I called around Donavon. “Just give me a minute.”

“I’ll wait outside. I’m sorry,” she apologized again.

I burst out laughing as she closed the door, a little relieved at the interruption.

“Oops.” I smirked.

“Get dressed before she barges back in here,” Donavon said, handing me my tank top. At least he was smiling.

We spent the evening with Penny and the other pledges. We sat by the lake again, but this time I refrained from drinking. I enjoyed myself and was pleased to see that Donavon did, too. He walked me back to my cabin at curfew and kissed me goodnight. I wasn’t surprised to find my cabin empty when I went inside. I got ready for bed and crawled under the covers, then opened my mind.

“Wanna come cuddle?” I asked Donavon.

“Are you cabinmate-less?”

“Sure am.”

“Be there in ten.”

I smiled to myself and counted to ten in my head. When I reached ten, I mentally pushed the door open. Right on cue, Donavon hurried through. He wore blue and white plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt stretched tight over his broad chest and biceps. His blond hair was slightly mussed. He must have been in the middle of changing when I called out to him. I held the covers up invitingly and Donavon kicked his shoes off before climbing in next to me. He smelled like soap and the spearmint mouthwash that Gretchen bought. I snuggled close to him, embracing the familiar, comfortable contours of his stretched-out body and closed my eyes.

“’Night, Donavon.”

“’Night, love.”