“What do you mean, you’re staying?”

Alec and I were leaning against the cafeteria wall, avoiding the majority of others. We’d all been called into the cafeteria for our final day and choice. We were waiting for the sergeants to come in and have a word with us. Now that breakfast was over, everyone was milling around, talking, and discussing their decision. Alec had pulled me aside and just dropped that bomb on me.

He shrugged, in that affected, casual way he dismissed just about everything as being beneath him. “I Changed.”

“What? When?”

“Couple of nights ago. I’m a Seer.”

“Really? Just like Rebecca,” I said. “I didn’t know.”

He looked down at me. “Well, I’ve not seen you since then. I would have told you.”

I put my back to the wall and gazed out at the others as they frittered about each other. After Rebecca, I figured for certain Alec would follow me out of this place. Now that was fading away.

“But come on, you aren’t into the military right?”

He shrugged again. “No, not really.”

“And no offense, but I don’t think you are doing it from a sense of civic duty either.”

Laughing, he shook his head.

“So why?”

He looked away from me and started staring at the milling crowd. “If I’ve got powers, I want to know how to use them, how to get the most out of them. I figure this is my best chance at doing that. Besides, I don’t really think they would let me leave if I wanted to.”

Well, he had a point.

“And hey, if I stay, then we can hang out, right?”

For several moments, I didn’t say anything. After the pause, I muttered, “I was thinking of leaving.”

Alec ran his hand through his spiky, black hair, and whistled. “Damn, Peri, I knew you were ballsy, but still…”

I rounded on him. “What do you mean? You weren’t planning on staying last week either.”

“Sure, after that little meeting with Jessica,” he said her name like he wanted to spit it out of his mouth.

“What did she say to you anyway?”

His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he spun towards me. We locked eyes and his anger burned out at me. The weight of them was oppressive; a hot pressure pushed against me. For a moment, heat and frost surged through my veins and my leg lifted as I started to back away. Some Seer bullshit, it had to be. I wasn’t about to let his emotions dictate what I should do. Gritting my teeth, I snapped my fingers in his face. “Hey, dipshit, cut that out.”

Cheeks burning in embarrassment, he turned away from me. “Shit, sorry, sorry Peri. I don’t know all of what I can do yet.”

Heart hammering in my chest, I clenched and unclenched my hands. “You better be. What the fuck even was that?”

He threw up his hands. “I don’t know. There’s all this...emotional stuff, connected to my powers. Like, when I feel stuff strongly, it just bubbles out and I can’t...I don’t have a handle on it yet.” Rubbing his head, he growled, “I’m sorry. I really need to get this shit together.”

“Yeah, you do,” I said, holding myself. Fuck, what was it about Seers? Why did they always get under your skin?

“This is part of why I’m staying, as I said. I need...I need help.” The last word was barely a breath. I understood though. We didn’t know each other that well, but I knew he was like me in that regard. We didn’t like admitting we needed help.

A rustle went through the room as Stone and several other soldiers entered. Alec looked at them and then back at me. He reached out towards my shoulder but stopped and withdrew his fingers. “Peri, don’t leave. We are all going to need help. Even you.”

Sergeant Lorenzo strode in, an angry lion looking for weakness in the herd. “All right everyone, listen up. Today is the last day. You all know what we are up against. We’ve made you better versions of yourself. Now’s the time to step up and do your part. Now’s the time to join. But before you make your final choice, there is someone who wants to meet you.”

I saw a lot of nodding and even some smiles.

Behind Lorenzo, a wiry older man with salt and pepper buzzed hair and two stars on his shoulder walked into the room.

Stone yelled out, “Attention!” We all fell into step, even Sergeant Lorenzo. Good job, army, you have trained me like a pet.

We stood like that while the general walked up and down the line, staring at us. Even though it was late December and freezing, this guy was wearing short sleeves. What the hell?

“At ease,” he said in a hard voice. We all dropped back into parade rest. He continued to walk up and down the line, staring through us, like he could see our souls.

“I’m General Castle. You’ve probably not heard of me yet, but I’m the one who is in charge of Camp Matthews and Project Aegis. I’m the architect of your last two weeks in hell,” he said. It was certainly endearing. “All right recruits, you know what this is about,” he said, his eyes never leaving us, never blinking. “We’ve trained you, we’ve uncovered what you are and that’s just the beginning. There are so many possibilities in store for you if you decide to stay here with us. So this is it.”

One last glower at all of us. “Well, people, I’ve only one question to ask you? Are you going to stand by and watch them burn everything you love? Or are you going to stand up and fight?”

A skeletal arm with a melted bracelet reached up from the wreckage of my old life, taunted me, blamed me, begged me.

A cheer ripped through the room as people pumped their fists in the air.

God help me, one of them was mine.