"A Game of Chance" by Launa Sorensen

[Jennifer]

Nice evolution here, Launa. By the time the second anthology is ready, you'll have a whole novella! (meaning, you're writing so much not that the anthology will take so long!) Great twists. Very befitting of the material and theme.

[Launa]

Thank you, Jennifer I don't think I'll have a novella, but I've been thinking alot about these characters and where they fit in to my corner of the MG3K universe, and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of them in future stories. (Those that survive, at least 80! LOL) Thank you, though, for following. This is my first piece of dark fiction ever. I'm glad its being well received.

[Launa]

Sweat dripped off Kaleigh’s nose and down her arms. Her hair stuck to the nape of her neck. She looked up. Dhole was doing chin ups nearby. She was never the idle teacher. She trained when Kaleigh trained, taking a break only to teach new techniques.

Kaleigh clenched her jaw. Her human muscles jumped and burned. She could feel herself reaching her limit. Only time. Only time.

“Figured I’d find you here.”

Kaleigh glanced up but didn’t stop her push ups. Coyote stepped into the room. Dhole dropped to the ground and wiped her forehead with a towel.

“This is my space.”

“Haydn wants to talk to you. You have a bid.”

Dhole paused a moment and ran the towel over the back of her neck. “Tell Haydn that I have a new recruit to train and I handle my own bids. Perhaps when he isn’t recruiting children to watch them shoot themselves he can look over my files again.”

Coyote crossed her arms, her dark eyes flashing beneath her blonde bangs. “He’s insistent. It’s a special client.”

Dhole’s eyes narrowed. Coyote took a subconscious step backward. “I don’t associate, work for or fight with ‘special clients.’ Ever.”

“Dhole… They need Ca de Bou. You’re the only one who knows.”

“Not the only one.”

“They know what happened. They won’t take her. Only you.”

Dhole looked over her shoulder and Kaleigh glanced away. Dhole’s eyes burned. Kaleigh could hear her step closer to Coyote, her breathing rough and deep. “Tough.”

Coyote’s eyes flashed. Kaleigh could see the unspoken messages, but she clenched her jaw. “Fine. I don’t suppose I have to warn you that Haydn could take away your title?”

“Then I’ll meet him in the ring.”

Coyote looked down at Kaleigh once and left. Kaleigh watched her go.

“You’re done.” Dhole’s voice was tense. Her back was turned.

Kaleigh pushed herself onto her feet.

“Ma’am?”

“Go. Come back tomorrow.”

Kaleigh didn’t hesitate. As she closed the door to the training room, she heard a feral growl and a sharp crash.

Kaleigh glanced over her shoulder. Coyote was gone. She stepped into the shadows and let her human form shift and fall away. Her True form rippled gold, crimson and thousands of shades of green. Her deep purples eyes flashed. The light nearest her flickered and went out. And less than a second after changing, she had disappeared.

She could feel that she was alone as she journeyed further down the hallway and deeper under the ground. She paused before a door with a crucifix mounted at eye level. She glanced inside. It was a small bedroom. She spotted a shrine to the Virgin Mary and a rosary on the bedside table. A postcard from Boston was pinned just above the headboard. There were no other decorations. Fox’s sweater was draped over the bed.

She continued down the hall. Another door. She could feel Hyena in the wood. She didn’t stop.

She passed storage rooms and training rooms. Coyote and Dhole’s rooms.

She hesitated. She could feel her nearby. She crept forward. The steady pounding of fists on canvas filled the hallway. Lycan. Kaleigh glanced into the training room as Lycan delivered a fierce left hook to her training bag. Her silver hair didn’t move with her. Hard and fake.

Kaleigh clenched her hands into fists. She could feel the tension between them. Their connection, outside of time and space. The vibrant waves of death. She could feel Lycan’s skin beneath her hands, the sharp snap of her bones.

But it wasn’t the time. Not yet. Kaleigh backed away and continued down that hallway. There was only one more room. Jackal’s. Leader of the Alsatians. Investigators. Keepers of intelligence.

She stepped inside. It was small. Seemingly empty. A thin laptop computer sat on the desk. Three external hardrives sat next to it. She didn’t dare touch them, but she knew the information she was looking for wouldn’t be so accessible. And it wouldn’t be stored in a computer.

She locked the door behind her back and walked toward the bed. She ran her fingers over the mattress and then turned it over. No marks or openings. She pulled open the drawers on the bedside table. Three pencils, a sharpener and a spare cell phone battery. She went through the trunk under the bed but found only clothes and personal items.

She stood and glanced around the room. She smiled. She hadn’t noticed before. Near the corner of the room, hidden by a slide-away door in the floor, was a small opening. Inside was a locked box. But three-dimensional locks never stopped her.

She reached into the box without moving the door, using her four-dimensional awareness to move without disrupting its structure. She pulled out a folded piece of paper and laid it out along the bed. It was an extensive map. She ran her finger over the symbol for Jackal’s room. Then she moved her finger to the above-ground entrance.

:::Only time.:::