The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 593

“Numbers are…fucking off.” Rafe growls. “And not a single person from Wright and Blythe’s team has made an appearance, except those few across the river that the other team took out.”

“What are you thinking?” Jacks murmurs.

“I think they’re trying to lure us forward,” Rafe sighs. “And that if we don’t do it, we’re going to be out here for hours. They’re waiting for night – when Ari’s sight and accuracy are going to be way down.”

“Wait, seriously?” I ask, going a bit stiff. “We stay out here all night if someone doesn’t win?”

“We stay out here until it’s done,” Jackson informs me, cold.

“Shit,” I whisper. But then movement catches my eye, down by the river, and I curse again, going stiff. “Shit, shit!”

“What?” Rafe asks, his voice tense. “Report, Cadet.”

“It’s fucking Luca,” I breathe, refocusing the binoculars and watching as my mate comes to the edge of the river and then – nimble as a leaf on the wind – begins to dodge across it, his feet barely touching rocks and logs before he leaps, about halfway across, into the river itself and begins to wade the rest of the way across.

“Can you get him!?” Rafe barks out.

“I can’t shoot Luca!”

“It’s a fucking game!”

I snarl but grab my gun, whipping it around so that I peer through the sight, taking aim as fast as I can – but by the time I focus on the area of river that he crossed, all I see is his boot disappearing back between the trees – on our side.

“No, I’m sorry,” I say, guilt running through me. “He crossed the river and I lost him in the trees. But he’s on our side now.”

“All right,” Rafe murmurs. “It’s something. We’ll go and hunt him down. Can you give us a more precise location, Ari?”

I do my best, using the coordinates on the map to report the place where I think Luca went through the trees. Rafe switches back to the main channel and more voices come on as the boys all concentrate on Luca, taking Rafe’s advance team down towards the river.

But as they do, something shifts behind me.

I snap up from my position, turning, noting the little rock that’s rolling across the ground towards me, perfectly innocent.

I stare at it for a long moment, trying to figure out how it got here.