Sacrifices Read Free

know what would have happened to me without Loch and Burke and Addie …
    And Muirin.
    She just hoped Muirin was still her friend.
    I’d better get going. She looked down at herself. Trinity was right: she was ripped. If I live to graduate, the only job I’d qualify for is superhero, she thought bitterly. Or maybe government assassin. I sure don’t know how to do anything else.
    *   *   *
    The class was Systema. It was a kind of Russian martial art that focused on controlling the joints of one’s opponent. What it meant in practice was that they were all supposed to try to kill each other. When Anastus Ovcharenko started teaching the course, they’d worked out on mats. Now they worked out on the bare wood floor. Spirit and Trinity stood at the back of the group of students (not that something like that would save you). Muirin should have been here, too, but these days Muirin didn’t spend a lot of time in her classes—and she saw plenty of Ovcharenko out of them.
    He was already there, of course, smiling cheerfully as he waited for the last of them to arrive. Ovcharenko was always cheerful—especially when he was about to hurt somebody. He always picked someone to spar with while the rest of them paired off against each other. He said it was to demonstrate the proper techniques. Spirit was pretty sure it was more about punishment. Dylan Williams (the official ringleader of the rebellion back in February) had been his favorite chew-toy for weeks, but he’d managed to put Dylan in the infirmary yesterday, and Dylan wasn’t here.
    I don’t care who he picks today as long as it isn’t me, Spirit thought fervently.
    “Now,” Ovcharenko said, clapping his hands together and smiling. “Who wants to dance with Anastus today? Ah! I know! You! Come here—we will have fun together, eh?”
    He smiled and nodded encouragingly. Everyone shifted uneasily, until they were all spread out in a ragged line. For one horrified moment Spirit thought Ovcharenko had chosen her after all.
    But he was pointing at Trinity.
    “You! Little girl! It is Trinity Brown, yes? You will come and dance with Anastus, yes? Come, come. I promise you I will be gentle.”
    Nobody laughed.
    “No,” Trinity said. She looked terrified—but utterly determined. Spirit glanced at her in shock. “I won’t let you hurt me.”
    Ovcharenko smiled and began to walk toward Trinity. “Ah, but pain makes us strong, dorogoi, and we must all do many things we—”
    Before Ovcharenko reached her, Trinity turned and ran. For an instant the sound of her bare feet against the wood floor was the loudest sound in the gym.
    Then Ovcharenko began to laugh.
    *   *   *
    At least Ovcharenko was so amused by Trinity bailing that he hadn’t picked out a new sparring partner, but the session had still been rough. Even my bruises have bruises, Spirit thought tiredly.
    “Hey.”
    Burke was leaning against the wall as she walked out of the gym. Spirit looked around quickly, but there wasn’t anybody in sight. Not that she expected there to be: Burke Hallows was a Combat Mage, and Combat Mages noticed everything.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked. The five of them spent as little time together in public as possible. If Oakhurst had been a place where real friendship was discouraged in favor of competition before, well, now it was actually dangerous to show that you liked someone.
    “The last class of the day is magic practice,” Burke said, as if Spirit needed reminding.
    “And I’m still the only student at Hogwarts West without any.”
    “You’re lucky,” Burke said gloomily. Then he smiled. “But the real reason I’m here is to grab a minute with my girl.”
    He reached out a hand, and Spirit moved gratefully into his arms. The only bright spot in the last two months was Burke. They’d started out playing boy-and-girlfriend as a ruse to keep Breakthrough’s suspicion away. But Burke hadn’t been playing, and neither had she.
    Burke hugged