With curfew checks just finishing, I slipped out of my room. The teacher conducting checks was still at the end of the hallways and I quickly scurried in the opposite direction and turned a corner so I wouldn't be seen. I tapped lightly on a door at the junction of the hallways and squeezed in when it was opened.

"Congratulations, Nic!" Jackson draped his arm over my shoulder and squeezed my face.

"Yes, yes, congratulations to you and the Aces," Katia snapped. "Now what's this all about?" 

I examined the dorm as I walked in. The living area was crowded with bodies that looked oddly out of place. The furniture and walls were standard, but the brightly colored fuzzy blankets, the sparkly embellished throw pillows and the unmistakable smell of scented candles, made it obvious this was a girl's room. Katia's dorm.

I settled down on the ridiculously large yellow bean bag puff as Hadley eyed me, "She called the meeting? Since when do we let the lowerclassmen call the shots?"

"Since the lowerclassmen are the ones who hear all the interesting things!" I sniped, shifting so I didn't look as if I was being swallowed whole by the bean bag.

"So?" Kellen's tone was tired and irritated. I supposed I could have waited till tomorrow but the headmaster's words had made it difficult for me to put it off till morning.

"I was outside Corbis' office during the game. He doesn't seem to like being headmaster very much which makes me wonder why he took this job in the first place."

"Is that all?" Vivienne yawned. "Everyone knows that already."

She was right, but I couldn't shake Corbis' tone from my mind, so I ignored the superior looks they were all giving me and pushed on. "I mean, he really hates us. He was talking to someone on the phone about having to babysit our sorry bratty asses. He saw someone out past curfew. He said he's tightening security and reinstating the dormitory guard so us 'asswipes' stay where we're supposed to." 

It was as if the room itself took in a sharp breath. Eyes darted around the room, catching the gazes of all the others in worry. "Are you sure?" Katia asked in a calm, measured tone.

"Of course she's sure!" Kellen hissed. "No! She's playing a game of let's scare the crap out of everyone for no reason!"

"Calm down!" Leon's hand slamming down on a small table caused a candle to shake and teeter, and all of our attentions to snap to him. "We're all reasonably smart individuals," he said softly, much more like himself. "I'm sure we all know how serious this could be."

"And we also know that she's not joking about it. Look at her, she's actually worried," Vivienne gestured at me.

"Also, no one in their right mind would risk pissing both of us off at once..." Katia attempted a joke. "Thank you, Nicole."

"Yeah. Thanks, Cole." Kellen caught my eye as he said it, nodding me to the door in some kind of dismissal. "You don't have to stay. We have a lot to discuss, you guys up for it tonight?"

"We have to be," Jackson said plainly, eyeing Hadley who looked like she might complain about losing sleep. He yanked me up from my seat and curled his arm around my neck in a headlock. "Thanks for the extra work, Nic! Be glad you get to leave." He whispered jokingly, and then furrowed his brow at me. "You good, Nic?"

"You mean other than smelling your pits, Goof?" I grimaced at him from under his arm, refraining myself from flipping him over.

"Vivienne, the Code," Katia said, sounding resolved to getting work done. She pursed her lips and Jackson and I. "Goodnight, Nicole."

-.-

The warning came early in the morning, serving as an alarm clock to many of us. Students weren't happy about it. Being commanded around was annoying, but Hijinks was our source of entertainment and merriment. It was how we got out our aggression and irritation , or what we used to distract ourselves from them. Without Hijinks, what would everyone do?

I'd spent the better part of the day fending off questions from people who thought I'd know something. Aside from being able to say that the ceasefire wasn't because Kellen and Katia were suddenly friends now, I didn't know anything else.

I supposed the summons I'd received had something to do with that. As I sat in the Thunderbirds lounge, waiting for Kellen's announcement, I was a lot less nervous than the last time. I already knew what Kellen was going to say, or at the very least the reason behind what he would say.

"Okay people, we got intel late last night that Corbis is tightening security around Waterbridge, including residence. He saw someone on the grounds after curfew."

"How do we know this is true?" Dev glanced at me; if the intel hadn't come from him, then it was from me.

"Katia and I verified the intel this morning. There was a completely new dormitory guard this morning."

"There's no—!" Dev protested. 

"Oh, yes there is!" Leon cut in, "They were gone by the time classes started, but there were guards posted at all exits this morning, and I bet they will be there this evening after curfew."

The silence after his words was absolute. Guards? But why? Surely one student out of bed didn't warrant a lock down. How were we supposed to do anything now?

"There was a meeting last night to re-evaluate the Code," Jackson said as if reading everyone's mind.

Kellen slapped a paper down in front of each of us, "From now on, there will be no attacks unless they are approved by the three of us. All activity will remain in residence itself. All s will approach their Sergeants first. If there's a chance that any part of the execution will catch the guard's attention, it is out of the question."

I looked down at the paper in front of me; it was basically what he'd just said but in more detail. My eyes scanned the part he hadn't spoken of yet, and I asked, "Capture the Flag?"

"The game they made us play on that team building retreat thing, first week of freshman year?" Lark looked unconvinced.

"The exact same." Kellen nodded. "Katia's little kidnapping stunt gave us an idea for a new game. Each side will set a flag—an item or a person—and notify hijINKs. The point is to figure out who or what the flag is, and capture it before they can get ours. Capture the correct flag and hold it for three days, our side gets a point and both flags are reset. If a flag is captured, we get three days to steal it back. If we do, we steal the point, like when we flip a prank"

"Sounds like fun." A few eyes swiveled to me and I shrugged; didn't these people have any exciting bones in their bodies? Ignoring their gazes I looked to the Trifecta, "How do flags get picked?"

"Flags are picked by Kellen or Jackson," Leon conveniently left his own name out. "They can be anything from a favorite book to a younger sister."

"Me?" Jess squealed in surprise.

"He didn't say it was you," Jackson pulled a face at Jess. "He said it could be you, or a girl I'm seeing, or my favorite pair of shoes, or—"

"Or your Blinky?" Jess grinned as everyone snickered.

Jackson rolled his eyes, taking her jab in stride. "Yes. It just has to mean something to us."

"Human flags will be notified," Leon looked at Jess, the only person in the room likely to be chosen as a flag. "You can refuse, but remember you'll most likely be asked again. People near the flags will be notified, so they can either throw off suspicion, or defend the flag."

"What about everyone else?" Camille asked, scanning the sheet of rules in front of her for an answer.

"Only those necessary will be notified, including you guys. Everyone else is free to speculate, but do so covertly because Hellhounds will be listening—"

"If you guys figure it out and feel like dropping wrong hints, there's no problem with that." Jackson quipped, cutting Kellen off.

"Is there a time limit on a flag?" Lark asked.

"Huh!" Leon grunted. "We didn't think of that. I say we leave that up to hijINKs—they can decide when it's been too long without a capture and we'll reset the flags and start over."

Kellen nodded and tapped out a message on his phone. Absently, without looking up from the device in his hands, he dismissed us. "Alright, go tell your people now."