Free EXALTED (An Exalted Novel) by Tara Elizabeth Page B

has questions burning on her tongue, questions she didn’t get to ask me earlier. I shovel my bland food into my mouth and keep my head down.
    Across the aisle, Ethan looks back and forth between the two of us. He’s sitting with the male trainees as is expected of him. I wish we could sit where we want. Is that really such a dangerous choice for us to make on our own?
    Something nags at me when I look at them and think about the fact that they should be off the Pump like me. Val and Ethan should get to feel the things that I’m feeling. I need some answers of my own.
    I focus on the door, on the way out. Evade , I think. It’s the easiest thing to do, but it’s not the right thing to do. I do it anyway . . . The Pump is securely hidden in my sock when I stand to leave both the cafeteria and my curious friends.
    Ethan jumps up from his seat and follows me out of the room, trailing several feet behind me. Finally, I turn and stop. “Come on then,” I wave my hand in a reluctant invitation for him to join me.
    “I know what you’re doing.” He leans over and whispers, his sweet breath filling the air between us.
    What’s he talking about? As I push the door open to the building, I casually say, “You mean walking to the East Gate?”
    Ethan grabs my arm and detours me around the back of our weapons training building. My heart starts to pound. He knows. I cringe when he pushes me up against the hard surface of the building’s concrete wall. He blocks me in by putting his hands against the wall, one on each side of me. Then he brings his face close to mine. Wait. What’s happening? I’m momentarily excited by the closeness, thinking he is going to kiss me. Then I notice the sweat dripping from his forehead and upper lip.
    Ethan haggardly tells me, “I know about the Pump. I know you stopped taking it. I saw you in weapons training. You put something in the sand. Before the next class, when no one was looking, I dug it out.” He takes a deep breath and then continues by saying, “I’ve been watching you since then. Every morning, you hide your pill in your sock.”
    I’m surprised when Ethan bends his head down, closer toward me. I once again think he may kiss me, but instead he wipes the side of his face on his shirt sleeve. It leaves a damp spot on the black fabric.
    My face flushes when he looks back up at me. He wants answers not a kiss. He asks, “I want to know why you stopped . . . and I want to know why I feel so sick.”
    “You stopped taking it? Why? ” Suddenly feeling frantic, I push his chest away with my hands to put some distance between us.
    “I noticed you changing ever since that first patrol,” he says. “At first you seemed weak, but now . . . now you seem stronger and faster. You’re more accurate in training. You’re more aggressive in hand-to-hand combat. It’s like something else is fueling you.” He comes back toward me, getting close again. He softens his tone, “You even seem different around Val and me. It was like you wanted to sit and talk. That’s not like you . . . so I tried it.”
    Admitting all of this to me seems to have relieved him of some heavy burden. He turns away from me, putting his back against the building, and then he slides down the wall. He sits on the ground next to my feet.
    Without looking up, he admits with great determination, “I have to finish first, Mena. I have to. My parents are putting a lot of pressure on me. They want the recognition so they can get better patrols.” Ethan confides in me something that is pretty common among Exalted. I can’t help but feel bad for him though. He’s cracking now that he’s stopped taking the Pump.
    “I…” What do I say? Think, Mena, think. I decide to tell him the truth . . . well, part of the truth. “Someone told me that we’re being controlled by the Pump, and that I would be stronger without it. They told me to quit taking it, but I couldn’t let anyone see me change. And I have changed. I