It was so early, the morning hadn't woken yet, and there was a knock on our window. Jess grunted and rolled over, pulling her covers tighter around herself. A second knock followed, not too much louder than the first but with an air of urgency.

"Who in their right mind?" I flung my blanket off and ripped the curtain aside, only to yelp and close it right away. Blindly pulling on the first item of clothing within reach, I peered back out, wondering if there were really boys out there who'd just seen me in my tiny sleepwear.

Balancing on the flower box window sill was Jackson; above him, looking into my room upside- down, was Kellen. He looked perplexed and irate. What were they doing hanging around outside my third floor window at 2 am?

It wasn't an entirely uncommon occurrence for them to rappel when they needed to avoid being caught by curfew enforcement and Hellhounds that might be in the hallways. Hell, I'd done it before. They claimed it was the easiest way to get in and out of rooms when executing a mission. But what they were doing outside my window; what did my bedroom have to do with their mission?

Jackson gestured at my outfit—a large sweater and fluffy slippers—much better in my opinion than the tank top I had been wearing seconds earlier. I pried the window open, "Yes?"

"Why aren't you ready?" I blinked at them in blank confusion. "Jess!" Jackson barked, exasperated. "What the hell? I told you to be ready!"

I rolled Jess out of bed as Jackson told us to hurry, tossed our harnesses in the window, then slid down the lines, leaving them for us to use. Rushing to get dressed, we harnessed ourselves quickly, clumsily bounced down the side of the building and ran for meeting point.

Slightly self-conscious under Kellen's gaze as he watched us approach, I slipped amid the group of Thunderbirds under the arches at the north end of the parking lot. Looking around I noticed only girls—fair, I guess, given what our materials were. "Good. You're all here...dressed and ready."

Heat crept onto my face; just how much undress did he see in those few seconds? 

Jackson snorted, looking mildly amused as he asked his sister, "You have the provisions?"

Jess pulled Katia's bag from the dark pillowcase we'd stuffed it into. With a very serious tone and completely straight face, Kellen addressed us. "Your mission is to decorate the common areas with the materials Private Kida and Private Kemper will provide."

While the others solemnly nodded acceptance of the mission, Jess giggled uncontrollably. Though I wanted to laugh with her, I bit my lip to hide my grin, and jabbed her side to shut her up.

"This is a stealth mission." Jackson glared at us. "It's why we chose you. There will be no giggling or laughing, or you might alert the Hellhounds. We trust you to complete your mission without incident. See you all tomorrow."

Some of the girls, despite being chosen for their ability to be discreet, echoed after them, "See you tomorrow." Giggle, giggle, hair twirl, eyelash flutter. Gag! The guys couldn't even see them anymore. 

"Alright, Privates! Fall in!" Our Sergeant, Camille barked. Having obtained everyone's attention, her voice dropped to a whisper, and she eyed Jess and I. "So what do we have, girls?"

Jess unzipped the bag and flipped it over, letting all of Katia's underwear flutter to the ground. The gathered girls all gasped, some with silly smiles and some with an awkward reverence that said they felt bad for what they were about to do. I kind of did too. If I had underwear this gorgeous—which I guess I did, somewhere in my room—I would probably die of embarrassment knowing everyone knew exactly what kind of scandalous undies I had. It was both genius as an opening move and disgusting.

-.-

"You have to see it!"

I peeked out from under my covers at Jess, laughing as she entered our room. I wondered how she could be so awake after only three hours of sleep. Me? I would be a tired, cranky, mess, carrying a heap of bitch that I would be all too happy to dole out to those around me.

I rolled out of bed, untangling my still boot clad foot from my sheets and stumbled to the bathroom. Jess giggled at my sluggishness.

"Did you just get in?" I asked as I got ready. Her straight bottle-blonde bob was pulled back into a neat ponytail, and she'd even applied makeup.

"I went to get Jacks and Kellen. They can't even breathe, they're laughing so hard!"

Get Jackson and Kellen! Were they going to come by our room? I quickly washed the thought from my head and finished getting ready. Whether or not they stopped by our room before going down, none of the Trifecta would ever miraculously notice fall madly in love with me. Not that I wanted them to! Plain and simply, I was Private Kemper to them—or Natalie when they deigned to use an actual name. I wondered as I tied back my long hair and glossed my lips, if it was so wrong that I didn't want to be noticed for looking a mess?

The hallways were full of pajama clad students from both sides, giggling about the scene in the quad and common room. I smiled to myself; secret pranks had always been my favorite. Like that June day the year before when we'd all woken up to snow in the quad and both sides had unknowingly walked out in flip flops. How the Hellhounds had done it, we still didn't know.

"You have to see the quad!" Jess dragged me down the stairs. In our haste to get back to our rooms without getting caught, none of us had had the time to admire our work.

As we stepped into the main floor common room, I cackled helplessly. A streamer of bras, connected end to end, hung from the school crest above the fireplace to the ends of the mantle.

Another obnoxious cackle, not Jess's, echoed mine, and I turned to see Jackson and Kellen, in tears as they laughed. Catching my eye, they composed themselves, and that rare moment of realness was gone. Like it was beneath them to cackle like the others, they were careful to show only mild amusement when they went out into the quad.

They strolled directly to the benches in the middle, and sat among the four elaborately decorated stone students. The statues were draped in brightly colored lingerie; one of them even wore a pair of girl boxers as a hat. The boys looked at them as if impressed, only furthering the confusion at who was responsible for the prank. I snickered when I noticed that some of the girls had even put makeup on the statues they'd dressed and stuffed the bras on the male statues.

Jess and I sat in the grass, not too far from the benches, with a few girls who'd been on our mission the night before. I watched, curious and amused, as Jess flirted with frizzy haired Ashley, who we'd known since freshman year.

I would have asked her about it, but the residence door slammed open with such force that we all jumped.

"KEL-LEN!"

"Oh shit!" chorused around the quad.

The Hellhounds Triad descended the stairs like modern day tv witches; arms linked, glowering, each step hitting the ground in practiced unison. It would have been an impressive scene if they weren't all wearing pajamas. Which was not a normal occurrence with the Triad.

The round-faced girl on the end, flipped a sheet of black hair over her shoulder, winked and waved at friends, with a noticeable bounce in her step. Like a veritable anime character. Lieutenant Colonel Vivienne Levinson. Daughter of a leading scientist in medicine. Hellhounds third in command.

It was clear the hold the tall blonde had on the one in the middle, was the only thing keeping Kellen from being flattened. She quietly regarded the Trifecta with disdain only a sister of boys could muster. Command Sergeant Major Hadley Freemont. Youngest child and only daughter of a political heavyweight. Hellhounds second in command.

With her curly auburn hair flinging wildly in all directions, their leader pulled her arm from her friends grips and stomped ahead of them. General Katia—Hellbitch—Morgan. Short, curvaceous, and fiery, she ran the Hellhounds army ruthlessly. Without ever taking her angry gaze off Kellen, she tore her things off the statues and threw them over her shoulder, where Hadley and Vivienne caught and shoved them into a bag.

"Yeees?" Kellen's innocent wide-eyed look only served to anger her more, but I'm sure he knew that. "What can I do for you, Katia-dear?"

Katia stared Kellen down for a long moment, her face almost pressed against his. "You will pay for this, Fitzpatrick!" she glowered and snatched her boxers off the statue that leaned on the bench behind Kellen. She spun around, whipping her hair into his face and marched back to the dorms. "You better hope that Headmaster Sorenson hasn't noticed this, because you may have just forfeited the year before it's even started!"

As Hurricane Katia blew back into residence, beeps and buzzes coursed through the quad. As we all peered at our phones, we were rewarded with the first official hijINKs announcement, a nod to the thrown gauntlet and opening of the war.