The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,73

with the flick of their hands, they deflected the occasional snowball that got by.

The horn blasts began to slow, a sign that the field had cleared a bit, leaving only the most capable, or the luckiest students, on either side. Landon peeked around the wall, looking to get a gauge on the current lay of the land. From where they were stationed, Landon saw twelve members of his team scattered around the field.

In the minute he watched, a single red team member, Parker, ran by at an unbelievable speed and blasted two from the blue team with snowballs, which hit them with such force that they both fell backward into the snow. The blue horn blarred two more times.

“Landon!” Katie Leigh yelled as she pulled him back and stopped a snowball that was going to blast him right in the face. “Pay attention!”

“I think it’s time we figure out our new strategy,” Landon said. “Our team is getting taken out one by one. We’re all gonna have to work together if we want to win.” Then, without even consulting Riley or Katie Leigh, Landon turned around the edge of the partition and yelled out to his teammates, “Blue team! Come back here! We need to regroup!”

Landon watched as seven blue team members who were still in view turned and looked at him with an expression that said Ha, I don’t think so.

“All right,” Landon said after turning back to Katie Leigh and Riley, “looks like it’s just Athos, Porthos and Aramis left to win the day, as usual. So, our strategy—”

Before he could finish, someone bolted around the partition wall and crashed into Katie Leigh, throwing the group into a state of confusion. Preparing to take down the intruder as quickly as possible, Riley formed a snowball in front of him, but just as he prepared to launched it, Landon put his arm across Riley’s chest. It caused him to hesitate just long enough to realize what Landon and Katie Leigh had already; the person who’d joined them was short with cropped blonde hair and pale skin. It was Peregrine Mortimer, and on her shoulder was a strip of blue fabric.

“Riley,” Peregrine said as she gasped for air. She was crouched over with one of her arms pressed against the wall, holding herself up while she caught her breath. “Turn around . . . and . . . throw that . . . that way . . . now.” With her other arm she pointed in the direction behind Riley and looked forcefully up at him. He just stared at her as a snowball floating a few inches above his hands. “Now, Riley!”

Riley turned around and shot the snowball to where Peregrine had pointed. It seemed pointless. No one was there, and now he’d wasted the snowball by launching it off into nothingness, but just as it reached the large crate in the distance, Parker emerged and the snowball collided with her chest. She had no chance, and as the horn for the red team sounded, Parker stepped off the field. She never took her eyes off Riley. She looked at him the same way she had the first time Landon saw her during his orientation—angry and vengeful.

“Whoa, I believe we’ve found our D’Artagnan,” Landon said, excited and impressed. “And I think I have an idea. Peregrine, that night in the Atrium, you told me you used your powers to see, right?”

“That’s right,” Peregrine answered.

“That’s how you knew Parker was going to come around that crate. Can you tell how many of the red team is left?”

“Seventeen,” she replied without even breathing first.

“And how many of the blue team?”

“Nine.” A horn sounded. “Eight.”

“Landon, you can’t seriously be taking Peregrine’s word on that!” Riley interjected. “This is Peregrine Mortimer you’re asking! She can barely lift a pen! How could she know that?”

“Riley, please!” Landon replied before turning back to Peregrine. “That night when we met in the Atrium, you said something to me that, if I’m remembering correctly, could give us a fighting change. Peregrine, you said you could sense everyone in the Gymnasium and knew exactly where they were, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And could you direct us to exactly where everyone is on the red team?”

“Easily.”

“Perfect. Okay, here’s what I’m thinking. We protect Peregrine.”

“What?” Riley asked.

“We protect Peregrine,” Landon repeated sternly. “She can tell us everyone that’s coming and where they’re coming from. We’ll have the advantage, and with the three of us, we can protect each other while eliminating the other team