The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 54
But the Captain just smirks at me and turns his attention back to the group of us,
beginning his lecture.
“Espionage Track splits its chosen cadets further into specialties so that we can
have a
variety of agents trained for our nation’s particular needs. All of you will be trained
by Dr. Neumann so that you can each handle the chemical tools that you'll need
to perform your jobs on the battlefield, wherever that may be. Some of the cadets
in your track are spending their alternate days taking lessons with Ambassador—
track students, so that we can have agents trained to go into political situations.”
I dart my eyes towards the two young men standing next to me, wondering if
they, too, are relieved to be spared those classes. I had enough political training
as a Princess — I have no real urge to further study how to handle myself in
government negotiations.
No, I want to get to the good stuff.
“Other cadets,” the Captain continues, his voice snapping my eyes back to him,
“within Espionage track, are being trained in disciplines which are classified. Your
discipline is likewise classified, so I would urge you to be close-lipped with your
peers regarding what it is, precisely, that you learn in this class.”
My eyes go a little wide with excitement, because a classified discipline? This, I
think, is where it starts to get good.
“I chose the three of you,” the Captain says, folding his arms, “because of your
high marksmanship rankings combined with your excellent scores on the
intelligence examination. And I get first pick of cadets, so you should see your
position here as...elite.”
Alittle thrill of joy runs through me, because even if I was ninetieth through the
door into the Academy? Clearly, the Captain wanted me here.
“Come,” he says, turning sharply and marching towards the back of the room.
The other two cadets and I follow immediately. I take a moment to glance up at
them, noting the excitement on their faces as well. One of them, I'm surprised to
see, is a blonde that I noticed on the first day of candidacy — tall and quiet with a
jawline as sharp as a knife. The other is a dark-haired young man only a little
taller than me, his face serious, perhaps a little taciturn.
Though I've got no real reason to, I like them both immediately.
But before I can consider them further, the Captain presses a button on the back
wall. A metal partition begins to raise, tucking itself neatly against the ceiling
above us like a garage door. And beyond it
I gasp a little, unable to help it, at the incredible expanse of weapons that sit
beyond it.
“You three,” the Captain says, a distinct hint of pleasure in his voice, “are going to
be trained as marksmen. Snipers, specifically, if we can get you there. But
experts in long-rage projectiles of a variety of classes. You will each find your
specialty as the course progresses.”
I'm practically vibrating with excitement as I survey the collection of rifles, bows,
crossbows, and even shoulder-mounted missile launchers that range before me,
each of them top of the line and state—of-the-art. I mean, I'm not a gun nut or
anything, but even I have to admit that this is insanely cool.
“May I ask a question?” the blonde next to me asks, drawing my eyes to him
now.
“You're encouraged to, Cadet Baumann” the Captain says, nodding to him. “We
can be more casual here than we are elsewhere — I expect a distinct
camaraderie to build within this group, presuming that you can indeed make it
through the Examination.”
The blonde nods. “Is this...everything? All the weaponry at our disposal?” I smirk,
because he sounds a little disappointed.
The Captain laughs a little, clearly feeling as I do. “It is not,” he says, shaking his
head. “There is a great deal more — this is simply what has been made available
as preliminary weaponry for the course. Is there something in particular that
you'd like to see?”
“At home,” he says, folding his arms over his chest, “I trained a little in drone
strike technology. I would be...interested to continue those studies.”
“We'll see what we can do,” the Captain replies, his eyebrows raised, “provided
you prove adequate with this,” he nods now towards the weapons behind him.
weapons and
The cadet nods and the Captain moves on, going through each of the explaining
what it is, how it’s going to be used. And then he hands each of us a bow,
explaining that we’ll be moving from oldest to newest technologies, hoping to
master each
over the course of the next few months and, in doing so, revealing where our
particular aptitudes lay.
I'm grinning with excitement by the time that the Captain hands me my bow,
offering a quiver of arrows that I sling over my shoulder.
“Do any of you have experience with archery?” The Captain asks.
“I do!” I quip, cheerful, but I grimace a little when I realize that I'm the only one
who spoke. The other two glare at me a little, perhaps resenting my leg-up. The
marksmanship test we took as candidates, after all, only measured our expertise
with guns.
“Um,” I say, retracting my excitement just a bit. “Just...some target practice at
summer camp,” I lie. Because I have that, but also a few years of private tutoring.
Jesse and Rafe got hand-to-hand combat lessons which dad decided were too
rough for me, so mom? She hired a world-class archer to teach me this more
“delicate” sport.
The Captain smirks at me, clearly seeing through my lie, but he gestures towards
the range of targets at the far end of the room. Humans, I know, would struggle to
make out the details that far down the room, but our wolf eyesight has no trouble
making out the bullseye at the center of each.
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The three of us line up at the red line
painted across the floor, paying close
attention to the Captain as he gives
us all a brief introduction to the bow
and basic instructions on how to fire
: : o )
it. I listen closely even if I don't need
it, wanting to soak up every bit of
instruction available to me. The
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the latest chapter there!
Because I am quite determined to do well in this course, and I suspect that it —
like our Chemistry exam — has cuts at the end of term. Cuts which I'm going to do
everything in my power to avoid.
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We start shooting as the Captain
stands aside as watches us from
behind. My muscles sigh happily as I
step into the familiar stance and
draw the bow. The string pulls back
easily on the unfamiliar compound
weapon I trained on recurve, which
requires more strength. But I take
aim and let my first arrow fly,
following it up with three more as I
get used to the feel of the weapon.
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All four of my shots hit the target, though none of them come close to the
bullseye. I'm frowning, disappointed, until I glance over at the other targets and
see that...none of the
other two made any of their shots.
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« : ” .

Retrieve,” the Captain orders, calm,
and I sling my bow over my shoulder
before starting the long trek to the
target, even though there are more

¢ . STH

arrows already in my quiver. Still, it's
nice to have a clean target as well as
an opportunity to talk to my fellow
cadets. The content is on
bignovels.com! Read the latest
chapter there!
“I'm Ari,” I whisper as the three of us walk side-by-side.
“I'm jealous,” the small dark-haired cadet says, shooting me a little glare, though
I can tell by the way that his lips curl up that there’s not an ounce of malice
behind his words. “Tell the truth — did you grow up doing this?”