Fractured Mind Episode One (A Galactic Coalition Academy Series)
spy Sarah's
apartment block.
    As soon as he realized what he was doing, he
cursed under his breath and headed for the doors.
    ...
    Cadet Sarah Sinclair
    She felt like someone was walking over her
grave.
    She was walking, half in a daze, through the
halls of the main training building.
    She knew she had to get to class.
    She couldn't.
    Nothing could distract her from the unholy
sensation climbing her back as if spiders had somehow slipped
underneath her skin.
    She kept shivering, and had now wrapped her
arms around her middle so tightly she could barely breathe.
    Though she was clearly in a state, almost
everyone ignored her.
    Even Nora ignored her, glancing at her once,
dropping her gaze, and walking away with another group of
friends.
    Cadets darted around her, rushing to class,
staff marched back and forth, dutifully and quickly heading to
whatever tasks they had to do.
    And in the middle stood Sarah.
    She felt completely alone. She was in a
crowd of people, and yet her mind was telling her she was back in
the abandoned ice shaft.
    Her symptoms weren't usually as bad as this.
Most of the time she could discern reality from her dreamlike
state.
    But today... today it felt like someone was
walking over her grave.
    Reason told her to stop heading to class,
and rather turn around and seek out medical attention.
    Reason would be wrong.
    If she went to the med bay again, not only
would they bark at her that she was wasting their time, but it
would be yet another demerit point against her rapidly falling
record.
    So the smartest thing to do would be to turn
around and head back to her room. To wait this out, whatever it
was, to fall asleep until her dreams gave way to nothingness and
her mind finally rested.
    She'd been taking a few noncommittal steps
forward towards her class. But she stopped.
    She let her gaze slip forward.
    She considered the open doors to the
classroom once more.
    Then she turned from them.
    She began walking resolutely in the other
direction.
    With every step, it felt more and more
right.
    Until she turned around a corner and slammed
right into someone.
    Karax.
    Strangely, she almost knocked him off
balance, and he had to teeter back a few steps to regain his
footing.
    Their gazes met.
    You wouldn't need to be a genius to realize
Sarah was shirking class. Karax knew her classmates – he would know
she should be walking with them into the open classroom, not away
from it.
    Though she was sprung, and knew she should
mutter a quick sorry, turn, and duck into class, she didn't.
    She held Karax's gaze for a few more
seconds, dropped it, and shifted around him.
    He made a noncommittal move to get in her
way, but appeared to think better of it, turned, and shifted past
her.
    She inclined her neck to stare at him as
they walked past each other.
    ... He shot her a look. Not a judgmental
one. Not even a disappointed one.
    He—
    Sarah walked smack bang into Lieutenant
Morq.
    Lieutenant Morq was taking her next class.
And she knocked him flat on his ass.
    ...
    Lieutenant Karax
    Morq went down like a ton of bricks.
    He spluttered with surprise, but snapped up
to his feet.
    His race prided themselves on their
strength, and he'd just been knocked flat by a cadet.
    Morq looked mortified.
    “Sorry, sir,” Sarah said immediately.
    “What were you doing stalking through the
corridors, cadet?” Morq snapped.
    “I apologize, sir, but I wasn't stalking
through the corridors. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking where I was
going—”
    “What exactly were you doing walking away
from my class, anyway?” Morq challenged.
    All eyes were on Sarah.
    It would be relatively easy for her to come
up with an excuse, apologize again, and walk back to class.
    Sarah paused.
    Karax's stomach sank.
    Sure, he didn't know her that well, but he
sure as hell knew what she was going to do next.
    She'd been pushed too far today.
    Before he could clear his throat, distract
her, or pull Morq away, Sarah did it—
    “I was heading back to my room,

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