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Closing the door to Cleon’s office
behind me, I began walking, when one of my escorts spoke.
    “ Time for your two
o’clock.”
    “ Not today,” I
replied.
    “ The Supreme Magistrate’s
orders.”
    I stiffened and bit back my retort, instead
deciding I’d rather attend my afternoon session with Niko than be
tranquilized and locked in my bedroom until it was time for the
event this evening.
    Armed escorts led me from the House and into
the bright sunlight. I released a breath, my mind racing with wild
speculations about what Cleon intended to do this evening during
his demonstration. Crushing office supplies in front of the elite
seemed beneath him, but I didn’t understand the depths of his
capabilities anymore than I did mine.
    Maybe that’s the
problem, I thought. Maybe by denying my
power, I was setting myself back in the hope I could prevent what
was coming, while Cleon was spending hours a day devoted to trying
to use my power. But didn’t growing my abilities mean he, too,
potentially had access to more weapons to use against innocent
people?
    Pensive, I barely noticed the long walk
across the compound at the heart of DC until we reached the gym
where Niko and I trained daily.
    My escorts left me at the door to the gym,
and I walked in alone. The sight of the muscular, tattooed
mercenary-turned-army commander left me in a less pleasant mood. He
stood in the center of a boxing ring where we sparred daily. Since
Cleon dictated my daily exercise, I naturally resisted. But the
truth was more complicated. I liked physical activity. I needed the
release after my angst-filled days, even if I were forced to deal
with Niko, who selectively didn’t pull his punches, instead of my
sweet Herakles.
    Not that I would ever give Cleon the credit
for forcing me to do something I enjoyed.
    “ Drop the attitude,” Niko
snapped. “You know I make it worse for you when you walk in here
with one.”
    He did. Always. If there was one thing about
Niko I could always depend upon, it was his uncanny ability to read
people – especially me. I hadn’t even looked at him yet, and he
knew I was pissy.
    “ I’m not having a good
day,” I told him.
    “ I don’t care.”
    I rolled my eyes and sighed. After my brief
interactions with Lantos and Cleon, I didn’t feel up to having my
ass kicked, but maybe that was what I needed to help calm my mind.
I stripped down to my sports bra then tugged off my shoes and socks
and pulled my hair up into a bun.
    Climbing into the ring, I studied him. The
solid man was bare-chested and already sweating, a sign he’d been
lifting weights up until my appointed arrival at two. Normally, I
looked forward to sparring with him, even if he was much rougher
than Adonis and Herakles. Niko was easier to understand than Cleon,
Lantos, and everyone else currently parked in my life. The former
mercenary possessed absolutely no sense of honor. He cheated when
we sparred. If he had to choose between saving my life and his,
he’d probably put a bullet in me to save himself the trouble of
deciding.
    Knowing what he was, and where I stood with
him, somehow made him easier to tolerate. He was at least
predictable with no hidden agenda.
    “ You know I’m the most
powerful person in the world, right?” I asked.
    “ I know you’re supposed to be,” he
replied with a snort.
    “ And you still won’t help
me escape from Cleon.”
    “ Kid, when you’re the most powerful person
in the world, I’ll do whatever you want me to. Until then, I’ll
side with the man who’s in charge.”
    “ You think I’d keep you
around at that point, if you refuse to help me get
there?”
    “ Hands up.”
    I lifted them and lowered my stance. We
began circling one another.
    “ You know what I can and
will do for you, and you know my price,” he replied.
    The reminder we were both here for reasons
beyond ourselves put me on even footing with the one person I
should probably never, ever, ever, trust, because he would sell