Rooming with the Wicked

22 | team-building exercise

Barely a day later, I already regretted my decision to join the team. Not because I feared for my life or anything, no, but more so because a certain demon wouldn't stop being a gigantic pain in my ass every chance he got. And today was no different.

"Are you even tall enough to play?" Haze asked after I struggled to reach a book and Kenas ended up grabbing it for me.

It took everything in me to ignore him and take a seat next to Jaydis once more instead of pointing out that not everyone could be a giant or some oversized spawn of hell.

The four of us—Syn had a crystallography field trip today—occupied a round table near the large window front in the library, a pile of books as well as multiple hand-drawn maps between us. According to Jaydis, they switched locations for the Capture the Flag tournaments between Silvarden, Flumerra, and Ardua every year, and he'd dug up maps for each field. If he was right, we'd be playing in Flumerra this year.

"What about Infernis?" I asked.

Jaydis threw me a pointed look. "Are you kidding? Have you been to Infernis?"

"Well, no..."

"Figures," Haze sighed. "Too hot down there for—"

"Let's just say," Jaydis interrupted, once again trying to keep the peace between us, "unless you wanna play a little hide and seek behind smoldering rocks and burnt shrubs in lovely high seventy-degree weather with ashes raining into your hair and eyes, you probably won't have a lot of fun."

Fair point.

"Okay, so the wastelands are a no-go..." I bit my lip. "But what about that mountain range near the center? I've only seen pictures, but it looks pretty cool, and it should be far enough away from Furnace Peak."

Jaydis blinked at me. "I see someone did their research."

"Are you surprised?" I vaguely gestured toward the alchemy section. "I practically live here."

"You clearly need to hang out with us more often. Your social life is questionable."

"What social life?" Haze muttered.

I was about to throw all of my self-control out the window and give him a piece of my mind when Jaydis said, "Those mountains are too close to Pyrarcis. No way they'd let us run around there."

"Besides," Haze interjected, a lazy smile on his face, "some of us wouldn't last ten minutes down there."

"And some of us should watch it," I countered, smiling right back at him. "Are you sure you're not a demon of pride? 'Cause your ego is even bigger than you are. And that's saying something, Too Tall."

"It must be tough to be so vertically challenged."

Dang it, why did I have to make it about his height?

When his grin widened and he tilted his head at my lack of comeback, I ground my teeth and turned to Jaydis again. "What about Earth?"

Jaydis shrugged. "No games here so far."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Haze said.

Enough of his crap. If he was intent on starting a fight right here in the library, I'd give him one.

"Oh, yeah?" I leaned across the table. "And why is that?"

"How long you got?" He mirrored my pose, eyes narrowed. "I'll make you a list."

"Why are you still here then, huh?" I pushed myself even further toward him. "If this united earth is such a terrible, horrible place to be in, why don't you just go back home? I hear it's nice and cozy there year-round."