The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,28

with the tan and shaggy dark hair who’s not really paying attention to Brock—is Cortland Cartwright. He’s from California, so he’s really chill. His abilities got him into the group, and he seems to get along with them okay, but for some reason I don’t think he feels like he completely belongs there.

“Those other two on either side of him that look like carbon copies of one another, though. They’re the Crane twins, Joshua and Jeremiah. They’re Brock’s two right hands. They can’t move as much as Brock,”—it wasn’t hard for Landon to hone in on the two identical-looking guys flanking Cortland. Compared to the two Riley had already introduced, the Cranes both looked rather out of place. Brock and Cortland were tall, buff and tan. The Cranes on the other hand were short, pale and bony—“but they’ve got some serious skill. They freak me out though, because they’re always looking really strangely at one another.”

As Riley educated Landon on the members of the facility’s elite, Landon’s staring caught the attention of Cortland, who turned away from his conversation and locked eyes with him. Landon watched as Cortland proceeded to signal his comrades, who all turned in unison to get a good look at the new member of the Gymnasium. When he realized he was still staring back at them, Landon jerked his head forward and focused on the back of Riley’s head as they continued down the aisle. He hoped to not draw any unwanted attention.

“ . . . and if I had managed to win that bet earlier, I would be sitting with those guys right now,” Riley continued. He stopped at an opening in the table and slid onto the bench, completely oblivious to Landon’s stare-down with the popular kids.

“Seriously, Riley?”

Landon turned to see who owned the loud, high-pitched voice that interrupted Riley’s monologue. She was a tiny girl, no older than twelve, with straight brown hair, almond-shaped eyes, and freckled skin.

“Yeah, I would be,” Riley replied confidently.

“No matter what you do, you are never going to be allowed to sit with them. Even if you lift the gates off their hinges, they’ll still think of you as the guy who embarrassed Brock last year during the Qualifiers.” Landon realized by Riley’s reaction that the girl’s words were like daggers, killing his hopes and dreams with every jab of the knife. She then turned to Landon and introduced herself.

“I’m Kathryn . . . Kathryn Leigh Chapman. You can call me Katie Leigh. And I accept my place as an average citizen of the Gymnasium,”—she gave Riley a pointed glance—“never mind the fact that I was brought here two years younger than any other student in the history of this place.”

Kathryn stood up and shook Landon’s hand. She couldn’t have been but five feet tall.

“I’m Landon.”

“Nice to meet you. So what’s your story? How’d you debut?” she asked as she hijacked the conversation.

“Yeah, why haven’t I asked you yet? . . . How did you debut?” Riley added.

Somewhat taken aback by the gumption of this tiny girl sitting across from him, Landon asked, “Debut?”

“D-E-B-U-T. Develop extra-skeletal behavior and unusual talents . . . debut.” She answered as if she were competing in a school spelling bee. “I made it up, but everyone uses it now. Never mind I don’t get any of the credit,” Katie Leigh explained in a huff. “The scientists, they call it your apocratusis, but I thought that sounded way too clinical.”

“Sorry about her. She’s obnoxious.”

“Oh, be quiet, Riley,” she snidely returned.

Adopting the shorthand of reluctant friends, Riley and Katie Leigh began to bicker. While they fought, Landon tuned them out and started to scan the room.

“How long do people stay here?” he asked when he noticed a few people sitting around that looked noticeably older than high school age. “Does the training ever end?”

“Yes, it ends, and I think the age when people complete the training regime averages around twenty years old,” Katie Leigh answered eagerly after breaking from her argument with Riley. “The majority of the graduates never leave, though. They tend to work in the labs, serve as tutors, or even get employed by the Harpers personally. I’m not entirely sure what happens to the one’s that truly leave. They probably just go off and have normal lives.”

Twenty? At hearing this, Landon couldn’t believe he might spend the next five years of his life at the Gymnasium, but once he thought on it, he realized he didn’t have anywhere else to go,