Chapter 40: Team Leader

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Team Leader

The briefing room was small and windowless, with a long oak table, a wall map, and a single bare bulb humming overhead.

Jared took a seat near the back. Zoey took one near the front. Neither of them looked at the other. Ten chairs were arranged in a rough half circle, and all of them were full, ten young faces tense with the same raw, wired energy.

Whispers rippled along the rows. Someone was jiggling a knee. Someone else was chewing a fingernail to the quick.

Karl leaned against the far wall with his arms folded, studying them like a man watching a pot he didn’t expect to boil.

"Ready yourselves," he said. "We’re going in."

The whispering stopped.

"This will be your first raid."

A ripple of shock passed through the room. Somebody whispered, "Already?" and somebody else hissed at them to shut up.

"It’ll be a joint raid," Karl continued. "Team B’s new members and Team C’s. All of you. Together." He scratched the back of his neck. "I’ll lead it. Julius is busy with a different raid, so you’re stuck with me."

A few nervous laughs. A few relieved sighs.

"After today, don’t expect so many joint raids. This is usually a one time thing. A kind of welcome." He shrugged. "Most days, you’ll be with your own teams. Today, you’re with me."

Jared kept his face still.

’Julius is busy.’

The words sat in his head like a splinter. Zoey was on Julius’s team. And Julius wasn’t here. For some reason that made his shoulders loosen, just a little, and he hated it.

[Suspicious,]

’Which part?’

[All of it.]

"Here are the ground rules," Karl said, pushing off the wall and starting to pace. "I’ll take anything I see you struggling with. If a beast is too big, I’ll handle it. If you get pinned, I’ll pull you out. But I won’t hold your hand. Don’t fall behind."

He stopped and looked around the room.

"I’m sure you’ve all got emergency vials in your pouches."

Silence came first then a few nods. One girl in the corner pulled out a small blue vial and held it up like a prize. A boy next to her patted his belt. Jared kept his hands in his lap. He had no emergency vials. He had one he hadn’t touched, still sitting on a shelf at home, the second one, blue and unlabeled.

’I should have grabbed it.’ He still has quite a bit of mana do maybe he wouldn’t need it just yet.

"Good," Karl said, to the wall of nodding heads. "By the way. How many of you have multiple beasts?"

The room went quiet.

Jared’s eyes narrowed.

’Multiple beasts.’

It was a casual question, tossed out like small talk. But he’d been in this world long enough to hear the hook inside it.

’So you can steal it.’

[That’s a bit paranoid.]

’Is it?’

[No. It’s very sensible. I’m just surprised you’re finally learning.]

A pair of hands went up. A tall girl with a braided ponytail, and a broad shouldered boy near the front. Just two. Karl nodded and scribbled something on his clipboard.

Jared’s hand stayed on his knee.

He had 9. Nine SSS rank beasts, tucked in a pouch at his belt. He could have raised his hand and been the best answer in the room. But he wasn’t about to tell them that. He wasn’t about to tell anyone. Not Karl, not the guild, not even Zoey. Not until he knew who he could trust.

Karl counted heads out loud. "That’s 10 of you. Plus me." He tapped his pen against the clipboard. "An 11 man raid team, including the leader."

"So you’re the leader," a girl said.

"No."

The girl blinked. "Sorry?"

"I’m not your leader." Karl’s voice was casual, almost bored. "Not in the way you’re thinking. I’m the captain. I’m the one who’ll haul you out of trouble. But I won’t give you orders. You won’t look to me for answers. I will save you, but I won’t spur you on."

A murmur rose.

"Then who’s leading?" someone asked.

"I’m glad you asked."

Karl lifted his clipboard and read from it.

"The person who will lead," he said, "will be Jared Rex."

The room fell silent.

One by one, ten heads swiveled around.

Jared sat very still.

A dozen eyes bored into him. Surprise. Doubt. Suspicion. A girl in the second row tilted her head and frowned as though she was trying to remember where she’d seen him. The broad shouldered boy let out a low whistle. In the front, Zoey twisted in her seat, her eyes wide and bright, her mouth slightly open.

’This is a setup.’

He couldn’t think of it any other way.

His mind raced. He had been in the guild for less than a day . He’d passed a test by sheer stubbornness. He was now a nobody, he’d lost the only SSS rank beast Karl knew he possessed. He was a rookie with a lost dragon and a dubious backstory. And now he was being handed command of ten people on a real raid?

’Karl and most especially Julius are trying to make a fool of me.’

It all fit. A fall guy. A public humiliation. Put the boy in charge, let him fail, and watch him crash.

[That’s one theory.]

’It’s not only a theory.’

[ It is but there are others.They’re less fun, but they exist.]

He took a slow breath.

’I’ll play along, I guess.’

He stood up, put on his blandest smile, and bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you so much for this opportunity," he said.

Karl’s eyebrow twitched.

’You don’t sound so grateful,’ Karl thought.

A low, hollow rumble cut through the silence.

Everyone turned.

Zoey went crimson. She clamped a hand over her stomach and stared at the floor.

"Sorry," she whispered. "Sorry. I didn’t eat this morning."

A few chuckles broke the tension. Karl grinned, a crooked, lazy thing.

"It seems like some of you haven’t had breakfast," he said. "Fair enough. We’ve got a long flight ahead. Eat something. Then we’ll reconvene." He glanced at the wall clock. "Don’t take more than 20 minutes. If you will, then just don’t go eat. Seriously. I’ll leave without you."

The room erupted. Chairs scraped. Bags rustled. A flood of young beast masters surged toward the door, jostling and chattering. Within a minute, most of them were gone.

The room emptied.

Only 3 people remained. Jared, still standing by his chair. Karl, leaning against the wall. And a small, nervous boy with big glasses, who was staring at his shoes and trying very hard to be invisible.

Karl pushed himself upright and strolled over.

"Make sure to handle yourself well out there," he said, patting Jared on the shoulder. "Team leader."

He grinned. He was joking. Or he wasn’t.

Jared didn’t smile.

"So you’re like Julius," he said, quietly. "Maybe worse."

Karl stopped.

He tilted his head. The grin faded, replaced by something flatter, quieter. He looked at Jared for a long, unreadable moment.

"I’m nothing like Julius," he said.

He walked out. The door clicked shut behind him.

Jared stood in the humming room.

[Well,] [That went well.]

’Shut up.’

[Congratulations on your first promotion, Rex. You’ve been a guild member for under an hour, and you’re already in charge of a 10 person raid. I think you might break a record.]

’It’s a trap.’

[Or an opportunity.]

’It’s a trap.’

[It can be both.]

* * *

20 minutes later, everyone filed back in.

They stood in a neat line along the wall while getting ready finally. Karl stood at the end of the line, arms folded, yawning.

"All present?"an inspection lady said.

"All present,"

"Good. Let’s go."

They filed out into the bright afternoon. And there, at the foot of the guild steps, gleaming in the sun, sat a small, sleek, silver jet.

It wasn’t large. Eleven seats. A narrow cabin. A pair of stubby wings and a bubble of dark glass. But it hummed with a deep, restless power, and the ramp at its belly was already lowered.

"Whoa," someone breathed.

"We’re flying?"

"Of course we’re flying," Karl said. "You think we’re walking or using the damn road?"

All 11 of them climbed aboard.

Karl took the front seat beside the pilot. The ten rookies squeezed into the rest, laughing nervously, buckling belts, fumbling with straps.

Jared walked all the way to the back.

He took the last seat on the left, by the window, and sat down heavily.

At the other end of the plane, in the front row on the right, Zoey slid into her own seat.

They were as far apart as the cabin would allow. Ten feet of aisle. Eight rows of seats. Neither looked at the other.

The ramp sealed shut with a hiss. The engines roared. The jet shuddered, rolled forward, and lifted off the ground in a long, smooth rush.

Jared pressed his forehead against the cool glass.

’Please let this go well.’

Across the aisle, Zoey pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders. She stared straight ahead, jaw set, hands clasped in her lap.

"Come on," she whispered, so quietly that no one could hear. "Just this once."

At the back of the plane, Jared closed his eyes.

"Let’s all make it back," he murmured.