Chapter 707

"And it was stupid of them to ever think we'd let you go across enemy lines alone as a spy," Luca says as a frown. Jackson nods in agreement. I hold my tongue on that one, not knowing how to respond.

"Wait, what else did you find out?" I ask, looking around at them.

"A lot," Rafe says, sitting on my other side and dropping his bookbag to the floor. As he begins to pull out maps and schematics, though, the door opens again and Ben comes in, Tony on his tail. We all call eager hellos to them - Luca quieter than the rest of us - but my head spins again when I see a flash of red at the door just before it swings shut.

"Room for one more?" Daphne calls, peeking in. "I don't want to interrupt."

"Of course, Daph," Jesse calls, immediately straightening, color in his cheeks as she slips into the room. Rafe turns his head to our cousin and frowns, watching him.

My stomach sinks further as I look between Rafe and Jesse as Daphne closes the door and crosses to us. She doesn't do anything special - just settles on the floor at Luca's side, but still...

The way that Rafe's looking at Jesse right now?

It's clear to me by the troubled expression on my brother's face, even if it isn't to my cousin, that Rafe is figuring things out. And he is feels deeply, deeply betrayed.

Daphne, however, seems completely oblivious to Rafe's tension. "I can't believe you all got called up," she says, staring all around at us as the three newcomers settle into new spots, Tony surprising me by squeezing in on the floor at my feet and glancing up at me with a little grimace. I reach out and pat his head, making him laugh.

"We're all shocked," Luca says, turning to Daphne with a nod. "Does it affect you?"

"Oh, I've been sewing my fingers off all day," Daphne says, holding up her hands to show us that - indeed - her fingertips are all red. "I came up for dinner break but I'll be sewing all night too - uniform adjustments, making sure that we're sending you boys to the front in prime condition."

"Well, I already did that," I say, gesturing proudly to the folded pile of ironing that I completed earlier.

Daphne does a double take at it, gasping and giving me a glare. "Ariel, what did you do?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask, offended as she gets up and scurries over to the pile, holding up each piece like it's a great tragedy. "Oh, Ari, these pants all need front pleats -"

"It's fine! No one will ever know!"

"Oh my goodness, Ariel," she murmurs, giving me a glare like I'm hopeless. "Where's your iron?"

I sigh and gesture towards it at the

base of Rafe's bed and Daphne gets to work, pulling it and the ironing board closer as Jesse smirks and Rafe turns back to the table, spreading out the maps as he was doing before everyone else came into the room.

"Are we getting insider information?" Ben asks, leaning closer with interest.

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"A little," Rafe murmurs. "It's not widespread knowledge but...worth knowing, for those of us who are going to be in our group. Which is not you, Ben, I'm sorry to say." Rafe turns to Ben with a grimace, but Ben just nods.

"No, it's cool," he says, looking Rafe in the eye. "They already told me that I'm going to be in the command center. I know they're sending you all elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" I ask, a little breathless, looking around at the collected warriors and assassin. "Where...where are we going?"noveldrama

"We," Rafe says, pointing around in a little circle that encompasses the rest of us, "are going here."

He points to what looks to me like a random point on the map, which gives the terrain details of the part of the Atalaxian front where the war effort is currently focused. I lean in close studying both the Moon Valley side which is all smooth plain and the jagged cliffside that climbs on the Atalaxian front, where they've cleverly entrenched.

“So,” I say, a little breathless in the quiet room as we all lean forward. “We really are going to the front tomorrow? We're going to see war?"

"Yes, Ariel," Rafe replies. "And if what the Captain says is right, we're going to be right in the middle of it."