The Energy Crusades by Valerie Noble Page A

us found ourselves looking down at the three of them.
    "Hello," I greeted them. "Do you all know Atticus?"
    By the looks on their faces it seemed they not only knew him, they also disliked him. Balor and Tory grumbled hellos at Caden and me, but Ajax said nothing. He looked directly at me, his steady gaze unreadable.
    What is the problem with Atticus ? I asked the question in Ajax ' s head, but he didn ' t respond to it; he simply gazed at me an d gave no reaction. It made me uneasy — the way he looked at me as if he understood exactly what I was communicating, but chose to ignore me. I tried to get a sense of his feelings, but he let nothing show. When had we become two strangers? I didn ' t unders tand it, and I was torn between feeling hurt over his rejection, while at the same time wanting desperately to please him. I didn ' t want to have either of those emotions; I wanted to be completely indifferent, as he was to me.
    I kept an easy smile on my face and continued to the counter to order my breakfast alongside Atticus and Caden. Waves of anger radiated from Atticus, as he fought to control the emotion.
    "Calm down," I touched his arm and tried to project whatever calm feelings I could muster on to him. He said nothing while our wrists were scanned. The chef looked over our readouts, and then went to prepare our breakfasts. We sat down at a table adjacent to where Ajax, Tory and Balor sat. Atticus and I sat together on one side of the table. Caden sat across from me.
    "They are not our friends. You remember that, Kaia. I am your friend," Atticus voice was filled with fury.
    "We ' re not your friends, Atticus!" Balor looked about ready to jump out of his seat. Atticus didn ' t react to him; he just sat there, fuming, while our breakfasts were set before us. The chef had prepared a meal of berries, yogurt, and oatmeal, and I dug in immediately. It looked beautiful, and I was famished. I didn ' t want to think about who my friends were and who wasn ' t. Of them all, it was Ajax who had any sort of history with me, and it was Ajax who wanted to keep his distance from me. I guessed he wasn ' t my friend.
    As a fellow Athlete, I could count on Atticus; he would be my friend, no matter what. There was a code among Athletes and we were loyal to each other. I ' d spent some time bonding with Tory, and felt I could consider her a friend. Balor and Caden felt hopeful we ' d form a friendship. They did not resent me or have unkind feelings toward me. If I was being truthful, Atticus seemed unjustified in his resentment toward them. I was unaware of what had transpired before my arrival, but he was the one who appeared out of line and unwilling to give anyone a chance.
    I swiveled my head toward him and kept my voice low as I asked, "What have you done?" His disdain for the Students was purposeful. He did not want their friendships, nor did he seek out any alliances. Instead, he seemed to live by what had been fed to Athletes at every academy on Earth: we were superior humans, we had superior genes, we should always stick together, and we should only mate with other Athletes.
    But Tiergan and I had parents who taught us to remain humble and to be grateful for the opportunities we were given. Anyone could become an Athlete, they believed, if given the proper chance and training, and my brother and I shouldn ' t feel superior when other children were simply not offered or allowed the same opportunity. How then, did circumstance make our genes superior? I ' d witnessed Ajax on the tennis court and knew he was good enough to play on the tour. He ' d been good enough to play the number one tennis player, and could probably beat me if given enough chances. It was hard to feel superior over someone who simply hadn ' t been allowed to leave home.
    "What have I done?" Atticus was furious. "Why don ' t you ask that filthy Unviable what he ' s done. And tell him to keep his eyes off of you. She ' s mine!" He challenged Ajax, while my skin