Spycraft Academy

wanted to count the ones on her shoulders, but he was sure that she wouldn't appreciate it.
Sam followed Mattie out the door in a rush. They darted through the halls and up the stairs before emerging on deck, the sunlight washing over them.
The ship was docked at a grass port, which was to say that there was a tiny stretch of earth far from the mainland and that the ship was tied to a tree. The other passengers were standing on the grass and, once again, Mattie and Sam were the singular point of their collective focus.
So much for being inconspicuous.
Sam cleared his throat and marched past Mattie with his chin high despite his mind screaming at him to keep his eyes down and hurry off the boat. Fake it till you make it—if it worked for Tegan, it would work for him too.
He took confident, measured steps down the undocking plank and stared straight ahead without looking at anybody. Mattie's small feet padded behind him as he lead them to the tail end of the group.
Nobody made a single snide comment, though he did get a few nasty looks. After a moment, the group focused their attention on Lebert instead.
He was standing at the front of the group, closer to the mainland than the sea. Another man stood beside him, smaller and dark-featured. It was the man with the crossbow.
Lebert pursed his lips. "Now that we're all here, I'm going to give you a brief overview of the travel schedule before we head out."
Mattie moved close to his side and pressed her arm into his. He could feel somebody staring at him, and as Lebert continued to drone on about where they were going and what they were doing, the feeling didn't let up. Sam scratched at the stubble on his jaw and slowly rotated his head.
Two girls were looking right at him, well-dressed and fresh-faced despite the long voyage. One smirked when he caught them looking and whispered something to the other girl, who darted her eyes at Sam and gave him a venomous scowl. He made a mental note to stay well away from them.
"—we get to the campus, you will keep your eyes on the ground and speak to nobody unless spoken to. It'll take us at least a day to get there if we don't dawdle, two if we do. I don't like being late, so be sure to keep up. Any questions?"
A nobleman raised his hand and Lebert looked pointedly at him.
"Will we be using carriages, or . . ."
"We will be using our feet," said the man beside Lebert.
A collective groan went through the small crowd and Lebert smiled, big and wide. Nobles didn't usually walk miles and miles at a time, so it stood to reason that they would be quite irritated at the labor.
Lebert's associate spoke loud enough to overpower the swell of complaints. "Which is why we would suggest you make the journey barefoot. No doubt some of you ladies will be blistered and bleeding if you keep to your . . . elaborate footwear."
Sam hid a smile when the girls started clucking about that. Lebert's friend was right, and they'd thank him tomorrow, but it was still funny. The noblewomen in the capital had a fashion about them, and it was the height of impropriety for Varin women to be undressed at all in public, which meant that every article of clothing had to be accounted for. To go without shoes in the streets was as bad as going without a skirt.
Mattie rolled her eyes at them, but nobody noticed.
"Don't worry ladies," Lebert grinned, "you'll soon learn that having naked feet will be the least of your troubles."
"What is that supposed to mean?!" One of the girls put her hands on her hips.
Lebert's friend shrugged, "Avoiding certain death is much more troublesome, at least in my opinion."
Sam's expression dropped and Mattie stiffened behind him. The other prospective students threw out a few complaints and talked amongst each other like he'd been kidding. Lebert and his friend, however, weren't smiling.
They were almost to the school by the time night fell, and Lebert's associate—Synjon was his name—said they'd reach their destination by the fourth hour after dawn. They'd already walked thirty-two miles from their docking point, and it took them from noon to dark to get to the hillside that they collapsed on.
They were only six miles from the coastal town of Pell, but everybody was too tired to complain that they were being made to sleep on the ground instead of taking a bed at an inn.
Sam sat a little away from the fire that the others were huddled around and stared out at the valley below. He could see the school. It looked so close, but the space between the valley floor and the hillside was almost twenty miles, and nobody wanted to walk another four hours tonight.
He and Mattie were almost to their new life. It was within reach, huge and looming like a cursed castle over the green lands. The campus looked as wide as the valley itself, caged in by grey stone ramparts and thin, towering spires with sharp, pointed roofs. The huge main building sat in the middle of a small collection of other buildings, white stoned and elaborate in their design.
"Here." Mattie stepped up beside him and held out a brown wrapped ration. Sam took it and tore in, his stomach snarling when he put the bread in his mouth. It was flaky on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and it tasted exactly how he always imagined good bread would taste.
Mattie folded her legs and dropped down beside him. "What are you thinking?" She took a bite of her own ration and chewed quietly.
That was a good question. Everything and nothing, he supposed, but she hated it when he was vague. "I'm thinking of a warm bed and supper every night. I'm thinking that after graduation, we will never need