Free Belligerent (Vicara) by B.N. Mauldin

loft area on your own.” It took a moment for Ryan to realize she was addressing him again. “I'll be somewhere in the villa if you need me.”
    She nodded once, though Ryan wasn’t sure if it was to him or simply a gesture for herself. Then, she left him alone in the room.
    Ryan glanced around the bottom part of the bedroom for a few moments longer. He couldn't remember ever having a room to himself before. He had been content having his own mattress in a corner of the Darton apartment. It became luxurious when Alex had shoved her mattress a few feet away from his and hung old curtains from the ceiling to separate their space from the other teenagers who had claimed spots in the room. Of course, she had also hung a curtain between his mattress and hers, but she had left that one tied back most of the time.
    Prior to the apartment, he had lived with his older sister, Wendy, on her lumpy couch. Well, that was before she had married the jerk and produced three children that had crowded the space. Sometimes, on the rare occasions when Wendy waxed nostalgic, she would tell him about the house they had lived in with their parents and an older brother. She would tell him about how it was outside the city and how they had a swing set in the back yard. She would tell him about her bedroom which had painted ponies racing across the walls and how his nursery had rocket ships on the ceiling, even though he was still little enough that he had slept in a crib in their parents' room. His only memories of that house and the three missing family members were the stories his sister had told him, and sometimes he thought maybe it would have been better if she had never told him that their lives had once been ideal.
    Ryan climbed the ladder up to the loft area where he found an old fashioned arcade racing game, one that had been invented well before the Vicara games. Another corner held a workstation with models of various vehicles lining its surface. More models were arranged on shelves circling around the room. Ryan took a closer look at a few of them and realized they were completely accurate models down to the wires and the parts of the engines. Though he had never spent a lot of time working on models, he could see the benefits of them for his studies. He gently lifted a hover-car model and took a better look at it.
    “I swear that man's a complete idiot sometimes!” The voice came from down in the courtyard. Ryan shifted over to his window and peeked down. Mackenzie was storming across the courtyard to the bathrooms. Clarisse and Aria were following behind her. “Does he think Riley-”
    “Ryan,” Clarisse corrected, though she knew the mistake had been intentional.
    “Does he think Ryan ,” Mackenzie said, emphasizing his name, “is going to be a permanent member of our team? What about...?” she trailed off slightly. “We're still not certain after all.”
    “Whether this is temporary or permanent, we all have to work together,” Aria interrupted. Ryan didn't hear the rest as the three girls disappeared into the bathroom.
    A branded criminal and unwanted in his new life, things had certainly started on a downward spiral since eyeing that Zeus in the parking garage. He lied to himself and thought he believed that he was strong enough for anything thrown his way. This was just another situation he’d need to maneuver, avoid or defeat. No problem. Easy as that funnel cake Alex adored so completely.
    As soon as each thought was complete, he knew the falseness of his bravado. His heart thumped in trepidation, shame and perhaps a measure of fear.
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    Mackenzie left the shower area and moved over to the large bath. She slipped into the pool of hot water and breathed a sigh of relief as the ache in her muscles began to fade away. Physical training was her least favorite activity when it came to academy life. She much preferred honing her mind rather than her body, and she doubted she would ever change her