Chapter 84: Not My Team

Chapter 84 — Not My Team

The competitors gathered in the arena at dawn, and the officials explained that today’s challenge was a team survival course. Four-person teams would be assigned completely at random, with no regard for pack or friendship. Roxanne looked toward the Moonstones at once, and Liam mouthed across the crowd, "Don’t worry. It’ll be me."

The names began appearing on the board one by one. Liam Moonstone, Team Three. Kai Moonstone, Team Six. Roshan Moonstone, Team Two. Lucien Moonstone, Team Five. Roxanne waited, and her own name finally appeared beside three competitors she had never spoken to. Team Eight.

Liam pointed dramatically at the board. "This is discrimination," he announced to no one in particular. Roxanne laughed, and Kai gave her a quiet nod from across the arena. "You’ll be fine," he said, and she believed him more than she expected to.

Her new team gathered near a marked flag post. Mira Ashbourne stood with her arms crossed, clearly a combat specialist and clearly unimpressed. Derek Vale shifted on his feet, fast and confident in the way of someone used to winning. Nolan Reed hung back a little, quiet and steady, the kind of person who noticed things without saying much. None of them looked the least bit interested in her connection to the Moonstones.

Mira studied her for a long moment. "Are you actually good, or are you just famous?" she asked. Roxanne didn’t take offense. "You’ll find out," she said, and Mira’s eyebrow rose slightly at the answer.

Their objective was to cross the valley, retrieve a pack flag, protect a weighted dummy standing in for an injured teammate, and return before the other teams. The terrain shifted constantly, rocky ground giving way to a river crossing, then dense forest, then a marked combat zone. The obvious instinct was to move as fast as possible, and Roxanne noticed within minutes that her team was burning energy that way.

She stopped them at the edge of the rocks. "We’re going to lose if we keep doing this," she said. Derek turned on her immediately. "And your plan?" he asked. She pointed toward the terrain ahead. "They’re trying to make us think speed matters most," she said. "It doesn’t. Let’s use what we’re actually good at."

She didn’t try to command everyone the way she once might have. Instead she asked each of them what they did best. Mira was strongest in close combat, Derek was the fastest runner any of them had, and Nolan could carry the dummy without slowing much at all. Roxanne took navigation and tracking for herself, and they began moving as a real team rather than four separate competitors.

Mira stopped arguing with every decision after the second checkpoint. At one point she muttered, half to herself, "You’re annoyingly good at this." Roxanne smiled without looking up from the trail. "I’ve heard worse," she said.

The river crossing nearly broke their rhythm. Derek wanted to leap across using the exposed rocks jutting from the current, but Roxanne noticed the water ran faster downstream than it appeared, strong enough to sweep someone off their feet. She suggested using fallen branches to build a temporary crossing instead, which took longer and let another team pass them while they worked.

Mira grew frustrated as the other team disappeared ahead. "We’re falling behind," she snapped. Roxanne kept her voice level. "Let them," she said. A few minutes later they came upon that same team trapped at a blocked ravine, arguing over a route that didn’t exist, and Team Eight slipped past them with ease. Mira said nothing, but something in her expression shifted.

Somewhere else on the course, Lucien’s team was struggling in a different way, with two members locked in an argument over direction. Lucien didn’t simply take control and bark orders. He listened to each of them, worked out what they were actually good at, and quietly rebuilt the plan around their strengths. When his team crossed paths with Roxanne’s near a bend in the trail, he caught her eye for a moment. Neither of them said anything. They didn’t need to, because each recognized exactly what the other was doing.

Team Eight reached the final obstacle by midafternoon, a raised platform holding the flag while two opposing team members guarded the ground below it. Mira wanted to climb straight up, and Derek wanted to create a distraction, and Roxanne realized there was no reason they couldn’t do both at once.

Derek drew the guards’ attention toward the open field, Mira scaled the platform while they were looking the wrong way, and Nolan kept the dummy safe at the base. Roxanne found a narrow route around the side and reached the flag just as Mira dropped down beside her. They crossed the finish line together.

Afterward, Mira found her near the water station. "I owe you an apology," she said. Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "For what?" she asked. "For thinking the Moonstones were carrying you," Mira said. Roxanne glanced toward the brothers across the field. "They don’t," she said simply. Mira nodded. "I know that now," she said, and that was the whole conversation, which felt more honest than any grand declaration of friendship would have.

The results appeared on the scoreboard that evening. Team Eight, second place. Beneath it, a second line appeared: Individual Leadership Score, Roxanne Silver, highest of the day. Liam’s voice rang out across the arena almost instantly. "That’s my girl!" he shouted, and half the crowd turned to look. Roxanne turned bright red. "Liam!" she hissed, though she couldn’t stop smiling.

Across the crowd, Lucien caught her eye and gave her a small, steady nod, full of pride and needing no words at all. Then the announcer’s voice carried over the arena. "Tomorrow’s final trial will combine individual combat with team survival." The crowd erupted into noise, and Roxanne looked toward the four brothers scattered among the celebrating students. Tomorrow, for the first time, they might finally be competing against each other.