“Any idea who we’ll be up against?” I asked as we turned to the screen, receiving only a shrug from Jo and nothing at all from J/O. I was starting to wonder if he had a problem with me again. We’d mostly gotten over our enmity months ago, as far as I was concerned, but now he was acting all aloof.
“I imagine we’ll find out for certain upon reading the notice; there’s little point in conjecture.”
“What he said,” agreed Josef as he ambled over. Jakon was with him.
So we were all together again, and none the worse for wear. “How’d your reports go?” I asked, keeping one eye on the screen as it listed team assignments.
They all made general nods or noises of the “fine” variation, except J/O. I was all set to get irritated at him for being sullen when he spoke up.
“I didn’t have to make a report, since they just recorded from my memory banks.” He sounded smug. I was definitely going to have to watch my temper with him right now.
“Well, good on you,” Jakon commented, and I could tell she was a little miffed by his attitude, too. Josef glanced at me.
“Heard you got in trouble with Jernan.”
I made a face. “Yeah. He was pretty pissed at me for losing a disk.” I glanced at Jo. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell him I was trying to save your life?”
Jo shook her head. “You’re on your own,” she said, though she was smiling.
“You’re all very supportive,” I told my team.
“There we are.” Josef pointed to the screen, which had all of our names down one column and six names listed opposite us. I perked up a little; it was Jerzy’s team. The quick-witted bird boy had been one of the first people I’d actually gotten along with here, before we’d officially been assigned to teams.
“We’re against Joliette.” Jakon glanced at Jo, who looked annoyed. Joliette, while not an actual vampire, was nevertheless the closest thing most of us had ever encountered. She had pointed canines and pale skin, and while she didn’t bite necks or have an aversion to crosses, blood was a healthy part of her diet. As vampires had actually existed in the world Jo came from, Jo and Joliette had a mostly friendly rivalry going. The rest of us were amused at the dichotomy: Jo’s white wings made her look angelic, while Joliette had a darker persona, and we liked to pit them against each other whenever possible.
“And Jenoh,” Jo retorted. Jakon bared her teeth excitedly. Jenoh was more catlike than wolfish, but the two had a friendly rivalry, as well. I wondered if the Old Man had set us against this team on purpose; I wouldn’t have put it past him.
I looked back to the screen. It was us versus Jerzy, Joliette, Jaya, Jenoh, Jorensen, and—
“Afternoon, rivals-to-be.” Joaquim gave us a small smile as he wandered over, Joliette beside him. “Anything in particular I should know about this?”
“You’re gonna lose,” I teased him.
“We’ll see,” said Joliette, before Joaquim could say anything. “Hey, Jo. How’s the wing?”
“Fine, except I can’t fly and it hurts.”
“Guess we’re all on even ground, then.”
I glanced at Jo. Despite her quick retorts, she seemed…off. Her tone was a little duller, her wings drooping, her skin a shade paler. I worried for about half a second, then realized they wouldn’t have let her out of the infirmary if she wasn’t up to this. And speaking of being up to this…
“They’re sending you out already?” I asked Joaquim. “I was in training for weeks before I even left Base.”
“I was sitting in that room for hours before you guys found me. Gave me some time to get used to the whole thing, and, believe me, I’d rather be here than there. I want to get started,” he said, looking uncomfortable but determined. “I want to start helping.”
“I know the feeling,” said Jerzy, who’d just woven through the crowd to stand beside us. “I couldn’t wait to get out on my first mission after I was picked up by InterWorld.”
Jorensen nodded at Jai, who gave his own nod of greeting back. They were the two senior Walkers on this mission, which struck me as somewhat funny; Jorensen was as taciturn as Jai was verbose.
“Where’s Hue?”
I turned to see Jenoh, who was smiling at me in a manner both cute and feral. While most of the Walkers viewed Hue with uncertainty or suspicion, some had made friends with him. Jenoh was one of them, though I suspected it was mostly due to her catlike nature and Hue’s occasional resemblance to a ball of string.
“Dunno,” I said. “He pops in and out. Haven’t seen him since last night.”
Jenoh pouted cutely and made a noncommittal sound of acceptance. We were almost to the port room now, and more of Jorensen’s group was falling in with us. Soon the only one missing was Jaya, who showed up right as we reached the door.
“Hey,” I greeted her. She gave a sweet smile in return, her red-gold hair falling over her shoulders in waves.