Cassandra Wrenwarn, that’s me. I was abandoned as a child because I was born different. My body is frailer than everyone else’s. If someone bumped their knee really hard they would probably get a good bruise, if I did I would end up with a fracture knee. My parents decided they didn’t want me because of my condition and cast me out of the house at the age of nine.

For the past five years I have been cooped up in this abandoned orphanage creating chemical weapons to sell on the black market. I make a good amount of money doing this, but I would be more likely to get caught if I moved into an actual house. So I save my money.

People ask for plenty of different things; smoke bombs, laughing gas, tiny nuclear bombs (I don’t make the latter often). I don’t ask questions as long as they give me the money.

I continue to work on my latest order for tear gas when there is a knock at the basement door. I put down the gas canister and wipe my hands on my lab coat before making my way up the stairs to the door.

I open the door to see, Tricky, my bodyguard for when I do deals. He is leaning against the door frame wearing a lopsided grin, green eyes sparkling in the dim light.

“Happy fourteenth birthday you genius!” he exclaims ruffling my hair, “I remember when I was fourteen three years ago!”

Yes, Tricky is seventeen, which is probably weird for me to have such a young bodyguard, but he is really strong and proficient in three different types of martial arts.

“Thanks Tricky,” I say moving to let him in, “the client should be here in the next ten minutes.”

He walks down the stairs to my lab I throw my long strawberry blonde hair over my shoulder and adjust my giant round glasses, getting back to work.

Tricky begins pacing around the room, his combat boots thumping heavily on the floor with every step he takes. He pulls his jean jacket tighter around his body.

“How are you not freezing?” he remarks, “I thought you were frail?”

I pour the tear gas into the canister and screw on the lid, sliding the pin into place.

“I wear lots of warm layers,” I answer blankly.

“Cassie, you could always move in with me, I have an empty bedroom,” Tricky states, a concerned look plastered on his face, “I could set your stuff up in the living room.”

I contemplate the offer, he has offered this before and I turned him down before. With winter coming, I almost didn’t survive the last one.

“Thanks Tricky,” I pause braiding and unbraiding my hair, “I might take you up on that offer.”

Tricky’s face brightens and he is just about to say something when there is a pounding on the door.

Before I even say anything Tricky bounds you the stairs and opens the door. There is a muffled exchange and a moment Tricky is leading a short man down the stairs.

“Are you Cassandra Wrenwarn?” he asks in a gravelly voice.

“Yes, and you must be Evans Morver, the Family in War representative,” I say gesturing an awestruck Tricky over to my side.

“That would be me,” he nods, “do you have what I asked for?”

I point at a box under the table and Tricky heaves it onto the table.

I pick up one and examine it, “70 untraceable canisters of tear gas,” I state dropping the canister I was holding back into the box.

A look of surprise briefly flashes on Mr. Morver’s face before he schools it back into neutrality. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a black leather check book.

“How much do I owe you?” he asks.

“$3000 for all 70 canisters,” I say smiling.

He writes on a check and rips it out. I grab it feeling the soft paper between my fingers, and look down. He had written $5000. I’m just about to make a remark when there is a loud bang of the door being bust open.

Tricky jumps up from his perch on a counter along the back wall and stands in front of me like a shield. I grip the back of his jacket and peek out from behind him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, down the stairs streamed men and women all dressed in matching navy blue suits.

I watch as they begin lining up around the room facing us. I look over to Mr. Morver to see him standing at the base of the stairs, an apologetic look on his face.

There is a soft clicking noise and I look from Mr. Morver to the stairs where I see a small gorgeous woman walking down the stairs.

Her shining sliver hair, was a waterfall of quicksilver that cascaded halfway down her back, her blue deep set eyes scanning the room.

“Cassandra Wrenwarn, my name is Ayanna LaRose-Stelcarve” her commanding voice echoed through the basement, “you have to choices, either come with us to start a better life, or go to prison for your crimes against Section Zero.”

Tricky and I stood there dumbfounded. It was Trick who spoke first.

“Where would you be taking her?” he asked cautiously, “Ayanna LaRose-Stelcarve.”

“Victory Highschool, you would both be enrolled in the Victory School Military Academy,” she said pridefully.

I had only heard rumours of that program, I dismissed it for a fairy tale. I hug around Tricky’s waist.

“I’m not going anywhere without Tricky,” I say calmly, “if he can’t go then I won’t either.”

I feel his arm wrap reassuringly around my shoulders, hugging me tightly to his side.

Ayanna’s ocean eyes move from me to Tricky.

“We have had our eyes on you as well Trevor Carlin,” she gives a sideways smirk, “very well you can bring him too, if he agrees.”

I look up at Tricky and he looks back down at me and his eyebrows furrow together and something like realization sinks in.

“Wait!” he exclaims, “Cassie can’t fight! She has a condition-”

“Yes, we are well aware of Miss Wrenwarn’s condition,” she sighs, “we want to recruit her for her science expertise.”

Tricky and I look at eachother, we exchange looks and I nod in confirmation.

“So what will it be?” Ayanna asks clearly impatient, “Prison or school?”

Next thing I know my science stuff is being packed up and Tricky and I are in a car on our way to Victory High.

“Leah, I’m in deep trouble!” my twin brother yelled slamming my bedroom door open.

“Oh yeah, what’s new Morgan?” I swirl around in my chair to face him, “Please knock next time, I could’ve been changing.”

Living with three brothers is a nightmare, especially when you’re the only girl and the youngest by three minutes. My bedroom is my only private space.

“Leah I’m serious this time!” he looked over his shoulder and closed the door, “The cops caught me for vandalism again and I need my record wiped.”

I give my male counterpart a disapproving look. We stare into each others eyes until the silvery blue iris seems to swirl. He breaks contact first and goes to sit on my bed.

“You know, instead of making me do something highly illegal,” I cross my arms over my chest, “you could just stop vandalizing.”

He rolls his eyes, “Can you do it or not?”

“Of course I can,” I spin around to face my computer, “I just need to break through a few tough firewalls, retrieve an officer’s account info, clear your record, and erase the user data.”

I open my VPN and set it to Australia, and begin the process. Morgan watches from my bed knowing full well I like my space when I work. His eyes wide and jaw almost hitting the floor.

“You’ve got to teach me how to do this,” Morgan announces.

“No way!” I say quickly, “If I teach you how you’ll mess something up and get us all arrested, or you’ll be irresponsible about it.”

Suddenly an alert pops up on the computer. The VPN was disconnected. I shoot up in my chair.

“Shit!” I exclaim tapping the keyboard ferociously.

“What? What happened?” Morgan yells over my shoulder, staring at the screen.

After five minutes I override the command and turn my VPN back on. I look at the screen, shaking viciously and reaching for my backpack.

“We have to leave, get Aaron and Lukas tell them to pack up everything into the car,” I say packing my laptop into my backpack.

“What? Leah, what happened?” Morgan asks as I move to my closet and pull out my suitcase.

“They police have our location,” I say as I throw all my clothes into the suitcase.

I hear my door open and close and Morgan’s heavy footsteps thump down the hall of our two bedroom apartment.

No one in the family can get caught by the police. Lukas and Aaron are both currently wanted by the police for drug trafficking, and auto theft and Morgan just got off parole. Child services doesn’t need another reason to split up this family.

The entire family is in a frenzy running up and down the hallway and making trips to the car with handfuls of luggage. Just as we are wiping off all the surfaces and vacuuming the floors there is a knock at the door. Aaron, being the oldest slowly moves towards the door, smoothing down his dark brown hair, and straightening his shirt.

He grabs the doorknob and opens the door slightly blocking the visitor from seeing the barren apartment.

“Hello?” he asks politely, “How can I help you?”

“Aaron Sullivan?” a feminine voice chimes in the hallway, “My name is Ayanna LaRose-Stelcarve, and unless you want to go to prison along with your other brothers and sister I suggest you let me in.”

My brother stand there for a moment before stepping aside. Everything about this woman was small, her stature, face, and nose. Her eyes were big and blue; her hair was as silver as moonlight on the water. She was stunning.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I snarl.

“We want you four to come move to Victory High and become part of the VMSA,” she demands her chin high, “or we will turn you over to the police who should be here in about thirty seconds.”

I grab Morgan’s hand and press close to him for comfort.

“Why do you want us?” Lukas asks walking out of his bedroom with a duffel bag, “Why should we trust you at all?”

“Honestly the one we really want is Leah,” Ayanna gestures towards me, “but we understand the importance of family.”

“Top notch education, a place to live, and a pardon of all your past crimes, in exchange all you have to do is join our academy,” she extends her hand towards Aaron, “do we have a deal?”

Aaron looks over at Lukas and then Morgan and finally me. I play with the turquoise ends of my black hair. I watch intently as Aaron reaches out and shakes Ayanna’s hand.

As he does I feel my right leg lock up then crumple underneath me.

“Shit!” I yell as I fall to the floor with a thump.

Luckily I was on carpet, a dull ache washes over my right side from my waist to my shoulder.

“Leah!” Morgan exclaims, “Are you okay?”

I feel Morgan’s hands wrap under my arms and pull me into a sitting position. I wince and look up to see everyone staring at me with concern etched on their faces. My cheeks heat up and I roll up the pant leg on my sweatpants to reveal a robotic leg brace.

I tap the thin tight fit panel on the outside of my thigh and a no battery symbol shows up on the small screen.

“My brace died,” I sigh, defeated.

“Hey don’t worry about it,” I hear Lukas say as he hands off his bag to Morgan, “I’ll give you a lift little sis!”

Lukas wraps one arm around my back and the other under my knees and grunts as he lifts me from the floor. I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my head in his neck, absolutely embarrassed.

“Lukas and Leah can ride in the car downstairs,” Ayanna states as she leads us out the door of the apartment, “Aaron and Morgan will take the car with all of your belongings and follow us to the school.”

Lukas set me down inside a sleek black car, that looked like something straight out of a spy movie, and sat down beside me.

“Lukas, I’m kind of, totally freaking out over here!” I say to him.

“You and me both sister,” he replied wrapping his arm around my shoulders, “you and me both.”

I looked back behind us to see the place we called home fade into the distance, and all I could think was, we are never going to see it again.

The car ride was... awkward to say the least. The car had those seats that faced each other, and it was Tricky and I on the backwards side facing Ayanna and two bodyguards.

“So, can you give us the rundown of what’s going to happen to us?” Tricky asked sarcastically.

“Of course,” Ayanna said smiling, “the guards will lead the two of you to your dorm with all your luggage and someone will come by shortly after to give you a tour.”

“W-what will it cost?” Cassandra asked shivering.

Ayanna looked at her and answered softly, “you won’t have to pay for education or boarding, but you will have to pay for food, toiletries, clothing (except the school given clothes), and any other luxuries.”

Ayanna gestures to one of the guards and he reaches over and turns up the heater.

I lean my head against Tricky’s shoulder my eyes getting heavy. When was the last time I slept? Two days? Maybe three?

I begin to drift off until the car lurches to a stop, almost rocketing me off my seat. Luckily Tricky caught me before that happened with an arm around my shoulders.

“This is it,” Ayanna says stepping out of the car.

Tricky and I follow her.

I step out of the car squinting, using my hand to shield the warm golden light. I turn and my hand immediately drops and I can’t form words.

There were two giant buildings, one looked more like an expensive private school building, the white exterior with all the silver and gold accents. The other looked like a modern day palace, there must be atleast three floors and hundreds of rooms.

“Teo will take you to your dorm,” Ayanna gestured to the younger looking bodyguard, “someone will be waiting there to give you a tour, and someone will bring your luggage to your dorm later.”

I nod and wrap my arm around Tricky’s as we follow Teo. Teo looked maybe a year or two older than me, soft fluffy black hair, parted on the right side so that it was covering half his forehead. What was truly breathtaking were the emerald green eyes.

One look from those cool unfeeling eyes would make almost any girl melt. He knew it too, the way he acted made that obvious.

I look up at Tricky gestured towards Teo and rolled my eyes, making a face! Tricky understood exactly what that meant and burst out laughing.

Teo looked back at us his, dark, perfectly shaped, eyebrows furrowed. I start laughing and Tricky laughs harder.

“Hey Teo, how long have you been here?” I ask as he turns back around.

He looks over at me cautiously before answering, “I have been here since I was nine,” he says slowly, “I’ve been here for six years.”

So he’s fifteen. A year older than me.

“So what’s up with this place anyways?” Tricky asks as Teo leads us towards the massive mansion, which I could only assume are the dorms.

“It’s a school, as well as a military training institution,” Teo answers without looking back, “about ninety percent of the military students train as virtual soldiers.”

He pauses and keys in a security code into a panel attached to the massive iron gate. The gate rolls open and he continues his explanation.

“The other ten percent are trained as assassins and specialized soldiers who participate in various tasks outside of the virtual plain,” he says as we reach massive wooden double doors.

He pushes them open and I suddenly can’t speak. I walk into a massive entry way, the first thing I see are two massive dark oak staircases leading up to a balcony that branches off to both sides, turning into hallways.

There are also two rooms to the left and right, the East room and West Room. I peek into the East room and see the plushest leather chairs sitting around the coffee table and a roaring fire on the wall beside them.

The walls are lined with books and board games, and there is a cushiony bench built into the massive window.

“Follow me to your dorm,” Teo says putting his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

He leads us through the West Room, which looks like the opposite of the East Room, with desks of computers and a TV suspended over the unused fireplace. There was also a billiards table and a poker table. There were also some bean bags set aside in a corner and some leather recliners.

Just off the West Room is a hallway that leads to a bigger hallway. He takes a right down the hallway.

“There are multiple entrances into this hallway,” he states, “under the stairs, through the training room, and the West Room entrance.”

He keeps walking and I take a side glance at Tricky who hasn’t said a single thing this entire time.

I nudge him with my elbow, “you always told me about how good you were at pool,” I pause and smirk, “maybe now you can finally prove it to me!”

He chuckles and looks me up and down, “you’re on Cassie!”

After a minute of walking down the hallway we come to a door with the number 106 engraved on it.

“Here we are,” Teo says opening the door and handing Tricky a silver key, “this yours.”

Teo walks in then Tricky and I follow after. The dorm was more like an entire apartment. We walked into a furnished living room with an open kitchen across from it. There were three doors which I assume would be the the bathroom and two bedrooms.

I take a couple steps inside and my heart leaps out of my chest when a head pops up from the couch.

“Hello!” It exclaims.

I shriek and run behind Tricky. Teo tries and fails to mask his laugh in a poor excuse for a cough.

I look back to see a girl a couple inches shorter than me come around the couch giggling.

“What are you doing here?” Teo asked smiling slightly.

The girl looks over at him with a massive smile on her face. Her sky blue eyes crinkled at the corners.

She flipped a long black strand of hair over her shoulder. Her long black hair and blue eyes contrasted her pale skin which made them all the more prominent.

“I’m here to give these lovely newbies a tour and the run down,” she said brightly.

“I already gave them a brief explanation of the program,” Teo said smirking.

“Teo! That’s my job,” She pouts and crosses her arms.

“Well I’ll leave the rest to you,” he says and turns to exit the apartment.

“Not so fast you a**hat!” She screams jumping on Teos back pinning his arms to his sides.

There is a grunt and Teo bends down at the waist using his momentum causing the girl to slip right off him. She somersaults and lands in a crouching position in front of him.

They stare at eachother for a moment, “fine you can go,” she says confidently.

He walks out and leaves us with this girl, who is probably crazy. She stands up and brushes off her blue, oversized hoodie and her tight black leggings.

“Sorry for that guys,” she says looking up at us, “my name is Angelynne, but you can just call me Angel, and that brick of ice was my partner Teo.”

“Nice to meet you Angel,” I say moving beside Tricky, “I’m Cassandra, this is my guard Trevor.”

“You can call me Tricky,” he said clearly awestruck by Angel, “I just want to say that your form was fantastic.”

Angel smiles and I interject, “You can call me Cassie.”

Angel shakes both our hands and claps, “Shall we take a look around campus?”