Free Legion Lost by K.C. Finn

soon?”
    It’s
the first time Goddie has said something that piques my interest. As I lift my
head a little to look at Stirling, the lanky redhead rubs his hands together and
gets to his feet.
    “That’s
enough of your rubbish,” he tells Goddie. “You’ve damn near put Raja in a coma
with your nattering, and Lucrece here looks like she might leap out of the
window any moment.”
    Stirling
crosses the room, looking up into my bunk. He leans his long arms across the
bed’s edge, searching my face in a way that makes me shuffle back into a
sitting position. My cosy ceiling corner feels suddenly enclosed with his eyes
on me.
    “You’ve
got questions,” he tells me.
    My
mouth runs dry. Is he suspicious of me already, or just curious? I shake my
head nervously. Stirling lets loose a small, whispery chuckle.
    “Really?”
he replies. “You don’t have a single question for me? There isn’t anything
you’re even slightly curious about?”
    He’s
getting at something, but I don’t know what. Stirling won’t drop the subject,
and I get that painfully familiar sensation of having a big, obvious gap in my
knowledge again. I push past his arms to leap down from the bunk. He backs off
a little, but only a few paces. He’s still lingering, still watching me with
that irritating gleam in his laughing eyes.
    Lucrece
is not asleep—she’s not even resting. The bruised girl sits on her bunk with
her knees up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them. She’s glaring at
Stirling in a way that sends a tremble through me. There’s bitterness in her
eyes, the same kind she displays when she’s looking at Briggs, and I really
don’t understand her instant dislike of him. Stirling spares her a flicker of a
glance now and then, but his eyes keep locking back onto mine. Incensed by his
relentless stare, I step up to him, craning my head to meet his eye.
    “You
know what?” I say. “I do have a question.”
    Stirling
pushes his cheek out with his tongue, starting to nod.
    “I
knew it,” he replies. “Go on, let’s get it over with.”
    “How
is it that anyone can stand having a smarmy git like you live here for seven
years?”
    Goddie
guffaws instantly and I watch as Stirling’s face falls, a chink emerging in his
armour of confidence at last. It’s clearly not the question he expected from
me, and the redhead’s eyes finally lose their gleam as he backs away slowly.
    “Oh!
She got you der boy!” Goddie shrieks gleefully. “We’re all stumped on dat one,
Raja. Dat’s what you get for pushing people around, boss! Dis boy isn’t for
turning!”
    Fingertips
brush against my sleeve, and I find that Lucrece is reaching out for me.
Stirling and I break from our mutual glares and I retreat, letting the bruised
girl pull me back to sit on her bunk beside her. The distaste in her eyes has
turned to fear at the sight of Stirling’s shock and anger. If she’s afraid of
conflict, then she’s really come to the wrong place, yet I can’t blame her for
wanting things to be peaceful. The South Tower Crew aren’t exactly my kind of
people. I think I’m going to have trouble living with a pair of such outspoken
souls.
    “Heads
up!” A voice shouts from the direction of the spiralling stairs. “Thunderball,
coming at y’all!”
    A
flick of short, blonde hair coming into view jolts my memory. The big girl from
the dining room has arrived.
    “Well
if isn’t Apryl May June,” Goddie says with a chuckle. “You’re missing something
here, honey. We got us a new boy, and he’s got attitude .”
    Goddie
looks at me with the sort of admiration that a child has for a dessert, just
before they devour it. I focus deliberately on Apryl instead, who is carrying a
tray of little silver packets in her arms. In the dining hall, with her head
cowed and her words clipped, she looked like a totally different girl than the
one I’m seeing now. Her bright smile lifts the tension of the room as she
strides purposefully toward