Alpha Kael

~Jada

Waking up the morning of the new week left me queasy.

There is no way today can go well. Already, someone else I didn’t know so well has been eliminated from the competition last week. I had convinced myself it would be me, considering what I had revealed last week between Baylee and Niko. When I wasn’t sent home, I was left up late at night wondering why it wasn’t me.

Baylee has been ignoring me. In fact, she’s been ignoring everyone, going cold and distant to even her closest friends. But none of them had glares sent their way when passing her in the hall…

Something is up. And I have a feeling it will go down this morning, at the next meeting in the gym.

I was right.

Trailing behind everyone, I wander into the gym, head hung low. At this point, I couldn’t care less what the next part of the competition is. I have a dark feeling Niko kept me in to terrorise me. To give me the hardest time until I leave the competition on my own merit, leaving him with no suspicion.

All my reasonable thoughts didn’t seem so when we lined up, and the Silent ready to give us our next objective walked out to join us. And it wasn’t Niko.

I’m not sure what is more shocking. Who the Silent is, or the fact that it isn’t Niko.

The Silent’s eyes immediately find me. As he strides in, eerily confident, his gaze never strays anywhere but me. Those eyes are unmistakable. In case I forgot who walked into my room and rummaged through all my things, this was my reminder. Those eyes, the brightest blue that I’ve ever seen. It’s what has been haunting me at night.

What is he doing here? Why is he here instead of Niko? I want to look around and see if it’s a practical joke, or if there are cameras to capture this moment. No. This is real.

Everyone’s seems surprised, but not as much as I am. I’m unsure whether this is real fear or not. What does he want with me? I should have told Kael he snuck into my room, and there is something seriously wrong with him.

Silence follows before he speaks.

“Hello everyone. I’ll be taking over Niko’s position as your main trainer and advisor. You can call me Blue, if you like. Actually, you don’t have much of a choice. I gave up my real name many years ago,” he tells us, leaving not just me speechless.

Of course, Shana is the first out of us all to speak. “Where’s Niko?”

I glance at Baylee, who stares at her feet, as if her shoelaces are more interesting than this conversation. She knows. She knows something happened to Niko and now he is gone, and not looking as though he is going to come back. She also knows it’s my fault. I did this.

“Niko had to leave urgently,” Blue tells us, no longer seeing me as the main focus of his attention. I’m grateful for that. It gives me a chance to study him.

Yes, his name fits him perfectly with the intensity of his gaze. They are the eyes I saw during my interrogation, and they are the eyes I saw when I walked into my room and saw him there. But within me they trigger something else. Like a memory…

The rest of him fits the descriptions of a Silent. Well built, lean and strong. Not overwhelmingly eye catching, seeming very impassive and blank. Someone you might admire for a fleeting moment as you pass, but no one you would approach for your affections.

Shana interrupts my thoughts with her skepticism. “Okay, but why? Why would we get another trainer when he was doing just fine?”

“Family issues,” Blue replies. Liar.

No one questions that. To them, it makes sense, but to myself and Baylee, we know better. Luckily for me, I doubt she will say anything to me about it. It wouldn’t benefit her if all the other competitors know the truth. Kael must have pitied her when he fired Niko, and kept her in the competition. That, or Niko refused to tell the Alpha who he was fraternizing with.

“Regardless, I’m here to give you your next objective,” Blue says, clapping his hands together. He seems less creepy and imposing now, seeming like he is here to do a job and that’s it. “Everything will continue on as per normal.”

Hearing that doesn’t make me feel any better. Are all of Kael’s hired Silent’s strange, untrustworthy room invaders and competitor kissers?

“Now, three of your fellow competitors have been sent home, which leaves only seven of you. As you know, you’re not only competing against each other, but other sects,” Blue explains, putting everything into a much worse perspective. “So, it might help you out if you find out some information about someone from another sect. Of your choice, of course.”

A few of us exchange glances, unsure of what this means. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be involved with any of the others until later in the competition. Our sect has enough dramas of its own.

“Silent’s best tactic can at times be intimidation. You cannot use physical force to harm them in any way. If you so much as leave a scratch on them, you’re eliminated,” Blue says firmly.

I hear Parker scoff. “That sounds useless.”

Blue’s glare is scolding, taking a turn from blank and impassive, to dark and brooding. “If you can’t assert your dominance in a situation with words alone, you might as well walk out and leave this competition right now. This takes skill and precision, not stupid brute force, kid.”

Parker didn’t like that, which is clear. His jaw clenches, but he is smart enough not to talk back. Not when he is so desperate to win this competition.

“Intimidate them, and find something out about their sect. If it’s not good enough, I’ll send you home,” Blue says, no softness in his tone. Clearly he already has no patience for any of us, suggesting another motive. I’m hoping it has nothing to do with me.

With no more to say, Blue turns on his heels and saunters off.

Shana folds her arms over her chest, making a sound of distaste. “I hate him already. Someone should tell Niko he’s a jerk for leaving us with that freak. Something about him gives me the creeps.

I didn’t tell Shana I agreed with her, I just nodded in response. Parker also had words for him, speaking of how he is going to break into Blue’s room and intimidate him. None of us believe him. We all know he is going to find a pretty girl from another sect, sneak into her room at night and hope she isn’t wearing much.

Shamefully, my plan is to use the cover of night and vulnerability to spill information from someone’s mouth from another sect. If that means tracking them back to their room then so be it. I’m not about to be eliminated.

So a few nights later, I would do just that.

My target would be a boy I spotted at the communal library. He intrigues me simply because he always has his nose in a book, lurking between the shelves like he’s always watching, waiting. I think I’m about to find out what that is.

Tonight, however, I have other plans. A letter, to write to Kael to thank him for dealing with Niko. I’m not sure how I’m going to get it to him, but he needs to know. If he hadn’t done that, Niko might have had me eliminated, or perhaps terrorised until I did so myself.

Sitting down at my desk, I pull a piece of paper and a pen under my lamp, preparing what I’m going to say.

~Kael

Taking the note from my assistant, I nod at her to leave.

This note, unlike many others, had been specially requested for me to read. Apparently it came from one of the competitors. Usually, I wouldn’t think twice about opening this. It could be persuasion or perhaps even abuse. However, when I catch sight of the name scrawled quickly across the envelope surface, I don’t hesitate in tearing it open.

Jada.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I can’t tell if she has been a right pain, or has become a curious interest. Part of me feels the need to reprimand her, to put her in her place. While the other feels guilty for keeping from her what I do. As if I owe her something…

Regardless, I read her letter.

Alpha,

I doubt you’ll want to hear from me. I promise I’m not stalking you, I didn’t mean to get so caught up in following you out there. It was none of my business and I intruded. I’m sorry.

If you don’t want me to be in this competition I would understand, but yet still, you had Niko taken away.

Thank you for that. Surely it was protocol but you could have covered for him and had me sent away. So thank you.

From now on, I will concentrate on the competition and will disturb you no more.

Jada

Sighing deeply, I put it back down on the desk, thinking.

Good, I’m glad I no longer have to deal with her. Right?