Alexandra turned in a slow circle. Sweat streaked her face and her chest rose and fell with quick breaths. She’d been chasing Lee for the better part of three hours, and she hadn’t even stopped once.

And, for all the effort she’d put in, her reward had been a fat nothing. In fact, she was confident that Lee was screwing with her. Every time Alexandra started to close any ground and catch up with the short girl, Lee would just turn around, grin, and then vanish in a blur of sudden speed.

She’s definitely toying with me. How does she have so much energy and speed? I’d understand her being this fast if she also had low stamina, but she somehow has both. What kind of Runes does she have?

Alexandra’s only consolation was that nobody else was doing much better. She was well ahead of pace of the other students, and even though Todd’s use of explosions to propel himself forward actually let him move in slightly faster bursts than she did for short periods of time, he – unlike Lee – actually had a limited amount of energy to work with.

He’d fallen behind over an hour ago, unable to keep up with their speed. She’d been pretty sure that she wouldn’t see him again during the exercise, but Alexandra slowed as she realized that Todd was heading straight toward her.

She glanced around her surroundings, then cursed under her breath. Lee had turned around and led her straight back to the other students.

“Yeah, we’re definitely getting screwed with,” Alexandra muttered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alexandra spotted Emily jogging in their direction. The silver-haired girl slowed, likely coming to the exact same conclusion that Alexandra just had. The three of them walked up to each other, all taking a moment to catch their breath.

“This is pathetic,” Emily complained, wiping her forehead with the back of a sleeve. “I wanted to come back and show off how strong I’d gotten.”

“Tell me about it,” Todd said with a sigh. “But it’s not like any of us can actually catch Lee. At least she isn’t making us stretch.”

“What’s wrong with stretching?” Alexandra asked.

Emily and Todd both sent a harrowing look in her direction.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Todd flopped to the ground and stretched out on the grass with a groan. “Damn, I’m sore. I don’t know why I even bothered trying to chase after Lee. It’s not like any of us can catch her.”

“Tell me about it.” Emily sat down beside him and tugged at her hair. “I don’t even want the damn Rune.”

“You don’t?” Alexandra looked at Emily in surprise. “Why not?”

“It’s useless for me,” Emily replied. “My fighting style is all about range and mobility. I don’t have the stamina or desire to suddenly start hunkering down and taking hits.”

“You could sell it, though.”

Emily frowned. “I could, but why would I? Todd and Isabel can both actually use it. It would be better if they got it.”

You say that, but you weren’t exactly standing to the side so Todd or Isabel could win. Is this some tactic to get us to drop our guard?

“Then why are you chasing Lee?”

Emily looked over her shoulder, then craned her neck back to stare up at the sky. “I wanted to show Moxie how much stronger I got over the summer. The problem is, everyone else got stronger too, so I–”

“Kind of just feel like you’re in the same spot as when you left.” Todd sat up. “Same here. Not the impressing Moxie part – she’s not my type.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Emily punched Todd in the shoulder and he cackled.

“Sorry, sorry. You’re more into the sleepy looking ones, then?”

Emily’s face went red. “What are you talking about?”

“You spent all summer with James,” Todd teased. “And you seemed pretty close when we got back. I guess he’s got all that trauma from dealing with Revin. Trying to fix him?”

“Oh, shut up.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“You aren’t denying anything.”

“Get your head out of the gutter, or Isabel is going to show you up and get the point for herself.”

“If she does, then she deserves it,” Todd said, his eyes drifting off into the distance as his smile turned more thoughtful. “I bet she’d look really badass if she had an Earth Master Rune. I’d like to see that.”

What’s wrong with these people? Why are they completely okay with giving up something as valuable as a Master Rune?

“I don’t think Isabel would be happy if you just sat around and she won because there was no competition,” Emily said. “She’d probably be pretty pissed, and she did tell you not to go easy.”If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Shit,” Todd said. He stood and held a hand out to Emily, pulling her up to her feet. “You’re right. She’d chew me out for an hour. Okay, I’m pumped up again.”

“I don’t understand this at all,” Alexandra said. “Aren’t we supposed to be competing? Why are you being so friendly with each other while we’re all at odds? Do you not care about winning at all?”

“Of course I care,” Todd said. “But we’re going to be seeing each other a good bit no matter who gets the Master Rune, so what’s the point of being rude? Besides, you heard Emily. She doesn’t want the Rune.”

“And you just believe her?”

“Why not?” Todd shrugged. “Are you lying, Emily?”

“Nope.”

“See?” Todd shrugged. “I trust her. Speaking of which – Emily, want to partner up? There’s no way either of us are going to catch Lee on our own.”

“I was about to suggest the same thing.” Emily held her hand out and Todd clasped it. Then, to Alexandra’s surprise, Todd turned to her.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You want to work with us? A Rank 3 would make this a lot easier.”

“You realize that I also want the Master Rune, right?”

“Yeah, I figured. A Master Rune like that would probably work pretty well for a close-range fighter like you.”

“Then why would we work with each other? You heard Vermil. Only one of us can win this exercise.”

“Well, this isn’t the only way to get points. He said that there would be several exercises, so all that matters is having the most points at the end. Either way, I’d rather actually get something from this instead of chasing Lee around pointlessly around until we lose. And, to do that, I need help.”

Alexandra studied Todd. He was so different from everyone she’d met working for Gentil that every single one of her senses screamed at her to be cautious. Nobody made deals like this. Helping your enemies made no sense.

He’s right, though. There’s no way I’m going to catch Lee on my own.

“If we work together, how’s it meant to pan out?” Alexandra asked. “Only one of us can get the point.”

“As long as I actually get to do something, I don’t care,” Emily said.

“Flip a coin?” Todd offered.

Alexandra nearly choked. “What?”

“Winner gets the point, but that’s assuming we manage to get close enough to catch Lee in the first place. We might be getting a bit ahead of ourselves.”

He’s screwing with me. There’s no way Todd actually wants to settle something like this with a coin flip.

“Are you coming or not? We’re losing time.” Todd shook his hand in the air. “I won’t force you if you don’t want to.”

Another second passed. Then she took Todd’s hand, shaking it. “How are we going to catch Lee? None of us are fast enough to get near her.”

Todd grinned, exchanging a glance with Emily. “There’s a secret to getting her into a location.”

“There is? What is it?”

“Food,” Todd and Emily said in unison.

***

Isabel was no closer to finding Lee than when she’d first set out. She hadn’t bothered wasting her energy when it became clear that Lee was actually going all out to avoid them, so she’d slowed to a walk so she could try to formulate a plan.

The most obvious way to get Lee within touching range was food. She’d tried setting some jerky out to catch Lee’s attention, but after sitting in place for nearly three hours with a pile of food before her, Isabel hadn’t made any progress.

And, of course, in the brief second it took Isabel to start to stand, Lee flashed by her, grabbing the entire pile and disappearing before Isabel could so much as say a word.

“Damned Plains,” Isabel cursed. “My food!”

A laugh rose up from beside Isabel. The air rippled and James appeared standing beside her. “Sorry. That was pretty funny.”

“Were you standing here the whole time?” Isabel asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No. Just for about thirty minutes or so. I figured you’d probably know a better way to get Lee than just chasing after her pointlessly. It became clear pretty quickly that we weren’t going to catch her.”

“Fat load of good that did,” Isabel complained. “I thought I was being clever.”

“Well, it almost worked. You just weren’t fast enough to do anything when Lee got here.”

“I hadn’t figured that out,” Isabel said dryly. “Are you hoping to sell the Master Rune if you get it?”

“I don’t really want it.” James scratched the back of his neck. “And even if I did, it would be a little weird if I won. I’m not even really part of your class. I’m just taking cover from Revin.”

A pang of sympathy ran through Isabel, and she nodded her understanding. “I don’t think any of us would hold it against you if you won it. We’ve all seen Revin.”

“He’s not terrible, but he’s definitely got more than a few problems up here.” James tapped his head, then glanced over his shoulder – probably to make sure Revin wasn’t going to pop up behind him. “But no, I don’t want the Master Rune at all. Emily wants to win, though.”

“So you’re planning to help her?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because Emily wouldn’t want me to help her directly.” James’ cheeks reddened and he cleared his throat. “I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t think she can do it herself, but she’s been talking about showing Moxie how much stronger she’s gotten for practically all our vacation. This is a great way to do that.”

“So you want to help her but don’t want her to know you’re helping,” Isabel concluded, hiding a grin. “Cute. What’s that got to do with me, though?”

“Emily is partnering up with Todd and Alexandra, so they might actually have a chance of catching up to Lee.”

Isabel’s brow furrowed in confusion. “If that’s the case, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be waiting invisible somewhere to try to help from the sidelines?”

“I think you misunderstood me.” James adjusted his shirt and tugged at his collar. “I don’t want to help Emily catch Lee. I want to help her show how far she’s come – and that means giving her good opponents to face so she can really prove herself. The best story is a comeback, not someone who keeps the lead the whole way.”

“You mean–”

“I want to make sure she loses the round,” James said with a nod. “Which means I want to help you win.”

Isabel burst into laughter. “You’re more like Revin than you think.”

“Egh.” James shuddered. “Never say that again. Do you want my help or not?”

“Sure,” Isabel replied. “How are we going to do this, though? I’m out of food.”

“By getting something that takes Lee a little more time to eat,” James replied, rubbing his hands together as a cold wind howled past them. He turned his gaze toward a plateau below them, where several Fluffants grazed. “Why don’t we start with those?”