By SynchroClaire

Kota's POV

My gaze trailed along the far wall, across the sleeping bodies in front of me, and over to the window for the one hundred and sixty-seventh time in a row. It was a loop that had been going on for hours. Wall, bodies, window. Wall, bodies, window. I stifled a yawn. The monotony was mind numbing, but I couldn't think about anything else in case I distracted myself. Keeping watch was boring work.

A finger poked my rib. "Kota," Nathan whispered.

I broke my pattern and turned to face him. My stiff muscles protested the movement. "Don't wake them," I murmured, my words barely even audible. Our seven other brothers were fast asleep on the floor of Nathan's living room. We had spent the last week outfitting the house to be our base of operations for today. March 27th—Academy Founding Day. The Academy decided to celebrate its founding with a friendly competition between the teams. Whichever team found a mystery object first won ten favors per person. Naturally, every team tried their hardest to win the favors and prove they were the best for that year.

Nathan rolled his eyes. The tired smudges surrounding them proved we had been keeping watch since midnight. I checked my phone. Almost three in the morning—soon it would be North and Silas's turn to keep watch. "Do you think we should check on Sang?" he asked.

"She'll be fine at my house. You know any sabotages have to target the teams directly." Ten favors per person was a lot, and teams would do anything to make sure they came out on top. The only rule in today's game was no physical harm. Everything else was fair game. Since we came in third last year, it was highly likely teams would target us to try and take us out of the running.

I resumed my watch pattern. Wall, bodies, window. Wall, bodies, win—a soft popping sound came from the window. I stiffened and nudged Nathan. The window shifted upward just a hair.

I lunged out of my chair and started waking people up. "We have to move," I whispered. My frayed nerves were screaming for me to move faster, but secrecy was key. I didn't want whoever was outside to know we were on to them. Nathan followed my lead, and in less than a minute everyone was up, even if they were a bit dazed looking.

The window continued to creep open. When it was about three inches above the window sill, a tiny gray sphere flew through the gap and landed in the middle of the room. My eyes widened. A glowing red dot on the sphere flickered. There was a sharp hiss, then white gas started to pour out of the sphere. I froze mid-inhalation.

Gabriel was standing closest to the door. He yanked it open and ran through. I waited until everyone else was out to go, closing the door behind me. Mr. Blackbourne was standing ready with a towel. He shoved it against the space between the door and the floor, blocking off the room as much as possible.

We moved into the bathroom, which didn't have any windows. It was cramped, but we wouldn't be here for long. I took a head count and sighed with relief when I hit nine, including myself. The adrenaline from our escape must have done the trick making people more awake, because eight pairs of alert eyes fell on me for direction. I glanced briefly at Mr. Blackbourne, who despite being woken from a dead sleep, still managed to appear perfect.  He gave a miniscule shake of his head. Today, I was the leader. 

"What the fuck happened to no physical harm?" North asked. The stubble on his chin, combined with his angry dark eyes, made him look even more threatening than normal.

I ran a hand through my already-ruffled hair. "I'm betting it was some sort of knockout gas. If we sleep all day, we can't find the object. We need to leave ASAP. I'm not sure if the team behind this is going to stick around to make sure it worked, but we need to keep a lookout for them when we're leaving."

As if on cue, creaking sounded from outside. I froze for a second before reaching a decision. "Mr. Blackbourne, Gabriel, and Victor—leave from the front door and go to the car parked on Waterline. Dr. Green, North, and Nathan—go from the back door and head to the car on Snow Circle. Silas and Luke are with me."

Everyone moved at once. We had parked several cars around the neighborhood in case the house was compromised. Each one had a bag of supplies and some food and water. I fought to keep the grimace from my face. I should have anticipated that a team would try something like this. I thought they would wait a bit later at least before trying anything. I was surprised they managed to avoid setting off the proximity alarms set up around the house and catch us unaware.

The two other groups sprinted out in opposite directions. "What are we doing, Kota?" Luke asked. Despite the gravity of the situation, his eyes were alight with excitement. This was a good time of the year for him with Academy Founding Day and April Fool's almost back to back.

"What about the other team? Don't we need to leave right now?" Silas added. Urgency laced his tone.

"I want to get a better look at the sphere to try and see who's after us." I paused to think for a moment. "It should only take me a few seconds to retrieve it. Wait here until I get back."

They both nodded. I took one more breath before running out of the bathroom and pushing open the door to the living room. The entire room was filled with the opaque white gas, making it almost impossible to see. An ache began to form in my lungs, and I pressed my lips tightly together. A red light flickered on the ground. I grabbed the sphere and turned to leave when through the haze, I made out the shape of a person. A gas mask obscured their features. My eyes narrowed. Only the ever-present threat of the knockout gas kept me from confronting them.

I ran back to Silas and Luke, and together we sprinted into the front yard. Once it was clear no more gas was coming out of the sphere, I violently exhaled and took a ragged breath in.  "There was someone in the room," I panted. "We need to go. Now. Forest Grove."

Silas led the charge. I chucked my keys at him, which he caught effortlessly. He had the car up and running by the time Luke and I caught up with him. I slid into the passenger seat, while Luke took the back. Before I even had time to buckle my seatbelt, Silas was speeding down the quiet neighborhood road.

I whipped out my phone and sent a text confirming our backup meeting place—a 24-hour diner close to downtown. Victor quickly responded, but no one from the other car did. They must not have seen it yet. I dropped the phone into my lap, placing my head in my hands. "How did I already manage to screw up?" I murmured softly.

"No one was expecting a hit this early," Silas said. "Beside, the Academy hasn't even released the starter clue yet. You know it's the tradition to wait for the first clue before doing anything."

"Tradition, but not a rule." My tired brain fought to come up with a plan. By the time we got to the restaurant, I needed to be ready. The others were counting on me.

Luke shifted in the backseat. "You didn't screw up, anyway. You did what you were supposed to—you kept watch and kept us safe from the knockout gas. The other team must have been scouting for hours to know where we were. You couldn't have anticipated that."

His words reminded me of the tiny sphere sitting in my lap. I picked it up and turned it around. It was roughly the size of a lemon, but weighed around five pounds. The red light continued to flicker. Below it was a tiny circle with a four-pointed star inscribed in it. I frowned. I'd seen that symbol at Academy events before, but where?

Silas entered the empty highway. "Do you think they can track the sphere?" he asked.

A bolt of worry shot through me. Were they tracking us right now? The red flicker became an ominous portent. I hit Victor's app. My hand shook slightly as I held the phone to my ear. "Is it possible they could be tracking the sphere?" I asked as soon as he picked up.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't do them much good since it's at Nathan's house," he replied.

"It's with me."

Muffled cursing sounded in the background. "You need to get rid of it before we get to the meeting point," Victor ordered. "Why in the world would you take it?"

"To see who made it. There's a circle with a four-pointed star inscribed in it."

There was a long pause. I clutched the sphere in my hand. I'd have to throw it out of the car. We were rapidly approaching the diner with absolutely no traffic to slow us down. As it was, it probably wouldn't be hard for them to find all the 24-hour places in our general area. "Mr. Blackbourne says that's the insignia for the Porter team," Victor said finally.

Recognition dawned in me. "They're the people who got second last year. They barely beat us." They were undoubtedly trying to subdue their main competition.

Our exit was coming up. I hung up and took a few photos of the sphere. Noise filled the car when I rolled the window down. I tossed the sphere into the night air and it promptly smashed into the ground far behind us.

"It's odd they haven't sent out the first clue yet," Luke said.

"It's not unheard of, though. Apparently one year they waited until eight. People were sweating bullets over that one." His words still made me frown, though. Did we miss a clue? The other teams would never let us live it down if we wasted all day waiting for a clue that had already come.

"We'll figure it out," Silas said confidently.

We slowed down and pulled into a shopping center. There were a few cars in the parking lot, including the car Victor was in. The car with Dr. Green, North, and Nathan was missing. I tried not to worry. They didn't have that much of a head start on us, and they could have had bad luck with the lights.

I took the black bag full of supplies with us into the diner. Mr. Blackbourne, Victor, and Gabriel were already seated at a large round table. It was clearly meant for eight people, but a ninth chair was squeezed in. I took a seat next to Mr. Blackbourne.

"Have you heard from the other car?" I asked.

His mouth tightened. "Not yet."

Victor pulled out his laptop and set it on the table. Luke watched what he was doing over his shoulder. Victor grimaced. It made him uncomfortable when people took an active interest in what he was doing. I made pointed eye contact with Luke, who settled back into his chair.

A tired-looking waitress came over to take our drink orders. My eyes unfocused after I asked for a coffee. Where were the others? There's no way they got lost. Did the other team at Nathan's house take them? Was that even allowed?

"Mr. Lee," Mr. Blackbourne said. I snapped to attention and turned to look at him. "I believe Mr. Morgan was trying to get your attention."

"You stole my signature move," Luke joked.

Victor sighed. "I said your name like five times. Anyway, someone must be jamming their cellphones. I can't get a signal from any of them. I could, however, access the tracker in the car. They're in a parking lot about ten minutes away. Their car is, at least."

My mind raced at this new information. Why didn't they come here? Who was blocking their signal? Victor recently upgraded the security on all our phones, making them almost impossible to hack without direct access. The only person who could manage that was... "Corey," I spat out. The Toma team came in first last year, much to our frustration.

Gabriel groaned. "Cheeky fuckers. It took me ages to get that blue paint Raven sprayed at us last year out of my hair."

My phone dinged, as did everyone else's. I opened up the notification and smiled when I saw the one word text message: 'apples'. I quickly replied with 'shirt'.

"I bet the clue will come any moment now," Silas said.

I was torn between waiting to see what the clue was and going to get the others. I shook my head. What was I thinking? Family first. "Victor, come with me to get the other car. The rest of you, try to decipher the clue when it comes in. We should be back in less than half an hour."

Victor's eyes blazed as we walked out to the car. "Don't worry, Kota," he said. "If the other teams are fighting dirty, then we'll fight back." He laughed. "Besides, it's more fun this way. Playing it safe was a good plan, but we can improvise."

The car ride over to the parking lot was silent except for the clicking of keys as Victor typed furiously on his computer. I focused on the road, trying to squish down my worries. What if they weren't there? We'd been worrying about Academy teams this whole time, but what if they were in actual trouble?

"Done," Victor said, pulling me from my thoughts. "I sent a virus that'll freeze the Toma team's phones until midnight. I'm sure Corey will be able to fix it in an hour or two, but it'll let them know we won't let them walk all over us."

"Good thinking."

I pulled into the parking lot, relieved when I saw Dr. Green, North, and Nathan standing around their car looking awfully confused. The second the car was off, Victor and I lept out and ran over to them.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked. Adrenaline surged through me, making my breath come out in shaky gasps. I fired off a text to Mr. Blackbourne letting him know we found them.

Dr. Green frowned. "Yeah, but why wouldn't we be? What took you guys so long? And where is everyone else?" He looked around, as if expecting them to pop out at any moment. He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his sweatshirt and pressed a few buttons, grimacing. "And why in the world did you call Luke Lucian?"

Corey must have been sending out false orders. I scowled. He should know Luke doesn't go by Lucian. After explaining the situation, I checked my phone again. An alert flashed that my message to Mr. B didn't send. At the same time, my phone, along with everyone else's, beeped again. Clearly, the reception wasn't the problem. Someone was specifically blocking our communications with our team. Everything worked fine when I called Victor earlier, though. What was happening?

"They have the worst timing," Nathan muttered.

North beat me to opening up the message. "A painting often has an object in the foreground," he read. "That object may be the center of the piece, or it may be a diversion from something more important in the background. Don't lose perspective."

I repressed a groan. Could that be any more vague? It didn't mention a location or anything. We obviously needed to find a painting, but which one?

"Having Gabriel would be useful right now," Dr. Green said wistfully.

"Can anyone contact them? My text to Mr. B didn't work." At my question, everyone tried, and failed, to text or call one of our brothers. Victor punched away on his phone with no results. He even tried popping out the battery and restarting the phone, but nothing changed.

North growled in frustration. "Let's just go back to the diner," he said. "Any time we spend now trying to figure out what's wrong with our phones gives the other teams an advantage."

We all agreed to the plan. "Don't go anywhere else," I warned. "We'll see each other again in ten minutes."

In the frantic rush to get back to the rest of our team, Dr. Green ended up in the passenger seat next to me. Victor went with North and Nathan. Forgoing my normal insistence for following road rules, I sped out of the parking lot and barely even tapped the breaks at an empty stop sign.

"Five a.m. Kota's such a rebel," Dr. Green said with a chuckle. With his hands pulled into his purple sweatshirt and his eyes oddly bright for the early hour, he seemed much more relaxed than I thought he would be.

"Aren't you worried about being separated from everyone?"

He shook his head. "If we win, that's great. If we don't, well then at least we still had a fun challenge. None of the teams would do anything actually dangerous."

A thought occurred to me. "Didn't Dr. Roberts make the challenge this year?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"What if the clue is talking about a painting at the hospital?"

There was a long pause. Just when I thought Dr. Green wasn't going to answer, he let out a muffled curse. "There's a new painting in one of the waiting rooms. It was just added last week. I can't remember what it looked like exactly, but I bet that's what we need to look for." He tried to relay this information to the others with no luck. "Stupid phone."

The phone vibrated to life in his hand. He eyed the number and frowned. "Corey?"

I tried to eavesdrop on the other end of the conversation, but to no avail. All I had for clues was a couple of 'uh huh's from Dr. Green and a good-natured "thanks for the heads up" to go on.

"What did Corey want?" I asked once he hung up, curiosity burning through me. He must have gotten his phone unfrozen from the virus Victor sent him.

Dr. Green grimaced. "Corey said he didn't do anything. The Toma team is on a mission right now and apparently isn't even participating in the challenge. Victor must have left some sort of signature on the virus, and when Corey couldn't get ahold of him or Owen, he called me."

So many parts of that sentence worried me. I started with the most pressing concern. "What do you mean he couldn't reach Victor or Mr. B? Maybe Victor's driving and didn't answer his phone, but Mr. B should still be at the diner."

"I don't know what to tell you, Kota," Dr. Green said with a sigh. "We're almost there. We can update the others on the Corey situation and our suspicions about the painting then."

When we got back to the diner, however, two cars were conspicuously absent from the parking lot. We went inside just to check, but sure enough, our team was gone. When we asked the waitress what happened to them, she said that "the guy in the suit and six of his friends all left a few minutes ago."

I thanked her for the information and made eye contact with Dr. Green. The second we made it outside, Dr. Green started pacing. He stripped off his sweatshirt and placed it on the curb. "They couldn't wait five minutes?" he asked. A frown tugged at his lips. "How did North, Nathan, and Victor get here so fast? It's not like you were driving slowly, and we didn't miss any lights."

"Maybe North was driving."

Dr. Green nodded sagely. "That would explain it."

We both tried the others one more time. I didn't dare get my hopes up that something would go through, but my heart still panged when the error message popped up. With no other ideas on how to reach them, Dr. Green and I decided to go to the hospital on our own. With any luck, the others would have reached the same conclusion from the clue.

It wasn't until Dr. Green complained about the AC blowing too hard and I realized he never grabbed his sweatshirt from the ground. "You should have brought a jacket," I joked.

Dr. Green looked down at his bare arms and started. "Damn, that was my favorite sweater. Even though I've washed it a thousand times, it still bleeds a little, so I like to wash it with Owen's socks to annoy him. They're dyed just a little purple—you don't notice unless you're looking for it."

He winced and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "It's Owen," he said with shock. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. This time, I had no trouble hearing the other end of the conversation.

"Where are you?" Mr. B practically yelled. "Mr. Lee said to meet at Mr. Morgan's house, but the tracker on