Singh is waiting at transport to see us off. She stands with two people, one man and one woman. They're both nodding as she speaks with them.

I tense.

The man is the Hunter. He's older than me. Perfect. This is just great. He spots me looking and his eyes narrow into a glare. You'd think as a hunter with powers and the youngest Headmistress of the largest Academy to date... Singh would realize how much older Hunters hate taking orders from us. Or how much they hate us in general.

Maybe this is a test. Or this is the only Hunter on Academy grounds who agreed not to kill me on sight.

He gets on the helicopter without waiting for introductions.

The woman, the Protector, introduces both of them instead. She offers her hand with a frown. "I'm Tae. That's Tomas. It's nice to meet you. We've heard a lot about you."

"You have?" I ask, taking her hand with only a second of hesitance.

She finally smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. She says nothing, and joins Tomas in the helicopter.

"You sure they're cool taking orders from me?" I ask, in what is probably a too casual way to address the Headmistress.

She nods. "They'll listen if they know what's good for them."

I don't like the implication, but I know better than to ask questions.

"I hope to see you all back before the graduation ceremony tomorrow, but take your time. Do this right. Make sure the spread is contained." She offers me a gun. "You know what to do if any of your team gets infected."

I suppress a gulp and shudder as I take the gun. I holster it and give her a stiff nod. "We'll be back."

She watches Sasha climb into the helicopter with a glare. "Mm," is all she says. Then, she turns on her heel and marches off.

Tarak tries to walk towards me, but Singh grabs his arm as she passes and pulls him away from the landing pad.

I clamber into the helicopter and settle onto the bench beside Amari, across from Tae and Tomas.

Sasha sits on the other side of Amari, glaring out over the ocean as the helicopter blades speed up and we lift off.

Amari leans in close to me. "I know those two," she says, just loud enough for me to hear her over the helicopter.

I glance at her, then back at them.

She shakes her head and pulls out her phone. She taps quickly, then nudges me.

I pull my phone out.

A – they graduated a few years ago but got demoted last year

M – Why?

A –🤷

I roll my eyes and pocket the phone, despite Amari nudging me again. I hate communicating through emojis and Amari knows this. Besides, if she doesn't know what they got demoted for, there's no point continuing the conversation. I'm not here to gossip about the team Singh gave us. I'm here to do my damn job and get back to the Academy.

Or maybe to get back to Tarak, specifically.

He's right.

I've been acting weird around him for months. I think I liked him before that. But a few months ago, we'd snuck up to the roof of the dorms for a meteor shower and everything fell into place that night. I tried to shrug it off.

He's the Headmistress's son and my Protector.

It's not like we'd be the first Protector/Hunter couple. Hell, we wouldn't even be the first Protector/Hunter couple in our tiny friend group. But we're both expected to do great things. Without our personal relationships distracting us.

I'm focused on trying to earn peoples' respect instead of letting it be handed to me because of my powers... or my parents.

He's focused on trying to not be a disappointment to his family. I'm not sure he'll ever achieve that goal with the way his family is. There's no point complicating our delicate balance with my feelings.

Besides, if he hasn't realized I'm crushing on him by now, he's either more oblivious than I thought, or he's intentionally ignoring it. And if he is intentionally ignoring it, that means he doesn't like me back... or he realizes how us being in a relationship is the worst idea ever. Like I have. Either way, it's best to just leave things alone.

That doesn't stop me from wanting to be around him as much as possible. Even though as a Hunter/Protector duo we'll spend nearly every day together for our jobs, I still want to be around him all the time.

I'm pathetic.

By the time Amari rouses me from my thoughts, we're reaching the landing pad on the mainland.

We're greeted by a low-level officer who gives us an office. He says it's just to regroup after the mission if needed before we head back to the Academy. "Don't get comfortable." He doesn't offer much else. Not even advice for those of us in the field for the first time.

But it doesn't matter.

Tomas checks a vehicle out and drives us to the site of the last Infected.

The Hunters caught up with him over a week ago, and there hadn't been another case like the first five since then. But usually, the Hunters caught the next Infected a few days after, give or take. So, either the Hunters in this area are slacking off, or whatever was infecting people and moving on has stopped.

It's past midnight, so this area of the city is mostly dead. Luckily, the area we're investigating has been sealed off until it's confirmed as uncontaminated. So, we've got the area to ourselves.

We do a quick read through of the lab techs' notes from the event. Then we do a brief sweep of the area for anything they may have missed.

After a few hours, we meet back in the center of the area.

Tomas crosses his arms and sneers at me. "Well, genius? What now?"

Tae closes her eyes and shakes her head.

I raise an eyebrow. "Listen, man, I'm not the one that put me in charge. Singh is. I'm just looking to get this done and over with, not looking to argue with you. If you wanna be in charge, just tell us what to do."

Tomas rolls his jaw, then sighs, "nah. Singh put you in charge. Tae and I aren't here to play games. Let's just get this over with."

Sasha nudges me. "C'mon. I know you've had your theories. What about that last string on your map?"

I turn East.

There's more traffic down that way, but past it, I know lies one of the city's sewage treatment plants.

I scan my surroundings. "Can someone pull up the feed from the event?"

Tomas sighs, "you've already watched it a dozen times. What are you going to see this time that you didn't last time?"

"I guess we'll see." I take the tablet Tae offers me and play the video. It's taken from a nearby street camera, so it doesn't have the best angle.

Sasha and Amari stand on either side of me to watch over my shoulders.

The Infected man sprints into view, followed by several Hunters. More Hunters melt out of the crowd on the other side, blocking him in. The man is smacking himself on the head and screaming at himself. That isn't usually a symptom of the disease, but has been for these five.

My eyes scan the crowd behind the Hunters, searching uniforms and faces. Finally, they settle on a man nearby, standing next to an open manhole cover. He seems to have been heading inside, considering the rubber boots, waterproof gloves, and overalls, but has stopped to watch the chaos.

The Hunter's stun gun goes off and the Infected man collapses, eyes rolling up into his head. The paleness of his skin immediately fades. The Hunters close in around him, but I keep my eyes on the man in the overalls.

After a moment, his spine straightens and his lips tighten. His eyes seem to glow.

If I wasn't paying attention, it would look like a camera flare. But I know better. The video ends as the man is turning back to the open manhole.

"I didn't see anything new," Amari admits.

"I did." I power the tablet off and offer it back to Tae.

She blinks and takes it. "What? What did you see?"

I point to the manhole cover and start for it. I have to duck under the quarantine warning tape to get to it.

"You want us to go into the sewers?" Tomas asks, his sneer marred with disgust.

"No," I scoff, "of course not." Not yet, at least. But I'm hoping I've figured out this phenomenon's end goal.

"Then what?"

"I think whatever is doing this escaped into a man who works in the sewers. But there's not that much breathable air down in the sewers. He wouldn't be able to survive very long, even with the effects of the infection." He would've had to leave before he died. Or...

"Then, again, I ask, 'what'?" Tomas crosses his arms, narrowing dark eyes at me.

"I need the city's sewer maps."

Tomas throws his arms up. "This is a waste of time."

"Got them," Sasha offers her phone.

I follow the current sewer and find the best path to the sewage treatment plant. My heart sinks.

"So, your entire theory is this guy walked his happy ass through the sewers all the way to the sewage treatment plant?"

"I think this guy is dead," I say, meeting Tomas's gaze.

Tomas pauses. "What?"

"I think you're right." Tae had walked away from the group, but returns with a flyer in hand. The man from the video is on it with the words Missing and Reward emblazoned across it. "He's been gone since that video. If he's been down there the whole time..." Tae shakes her head.

Tomas clears his throat. "You thought he was dead before she found that. How did you know?"

I nod to the maps I have pulled up. "There are no maintenance pipes that go all the way to the sewage plant. Yet, that man still wasn't caught as an Infected, nor was another Infected found in the city anywhere else. All signs lead to him still being down there."

"So, what's the plan?" Amari asks, patting her curls down and shifting from foot to foot.

I zoom Sasha's screen in. "We need to find his body. Whatever's been jumping from person to person could be trapped in him. We need to decontaminate him and... send his body back to his family."

"I'll get the truck ready," Tae says. She smacks Tomas's arm and guides him towards it.

As they walk off, I hear her growl at him, "treat the kid with some respect. Do you want to keep being a disgrace to the Hunters or do you want our damn jobs back?"

Tomas snaps back, but they've gone too far for me to hear.

"Why wouldn't he have backtracked?"

I look to Sasha. "What?"

She's studying her phone. "When he realized there were no maintenance tunnels that go there, why wouldn't he have come back here?"

"Maybe they'd already closed the manhole cover," Amari suggests.

"Or maybe he got lost," I theorize, my mind whirling.

Sasha's phone dips as she looks me over. "You have a new theory, don't you?"

"Well, this guy worked in the sewers, didn't he? Shouldn't he have at least had an idea of where they led? And why didn't he put his mask on before going in? What if something is taking over these people's bodies? It just controls them for short bursts until they're caught. But it has no access to their memories while inside them."

"That would be unheard of," Amari says.

"Maybe not," Sasha says, wiggling her fingers at me. "I have heard of something like that before."

Amari raises her eyebrows. "Color me surprised. You have?"

"Granted, they were bedtime stories. But yes. There used to be a myth about how the disease started. Hundreds of years ago, some people started to feel a presence in their minds. Some of them gained powers of healing and foresight, and became known as the Protectors. While others gained incredible strength and enhanced senses. They became known as the Hunters. But there was a smaller group of people who just became sick. They started to die. And when they died, the presence faded, but passed onto someone else, whose only mission before they died was to pass on the sickness."

"But this thing didn't seem to want to pass on the sickness," Amari says. "It was running away."

"Or was it running to something?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Sasha asks, eyebrows pulling in.

"The sewage plant."

"Why would it-?"

"Hey, kiddos! You coming? We've got work to do!"

Amari grits her teeth. "I'm really not liking that guy."

"Let's just get this over with," Sasha grumbles.

I figure she'll ask me to elaborate my theory when we get into the truck, but she stays quiet, glaring at the back of Tomas's head. I didn't expect Singh to do me any favors, but a team that doesn't want to murder each other would've been nice. I don't blame Sasha for wanting to come along, or for disliking the rough around the edges Tomas, but she's usually the calmer of her and Amari.

Tonight, she just seems worried and angry.

Which makes me worried for her. But I – no, all of us – need to focus on the mission first.

Once Tae parks the truck where the maintenance man would've hit the dead end, we all get into clean suits. They're mostly meant to protect us from the infection, but will also help keep us safe from any waste.

"Every time," I growl, trying to pull my suit on.

"What's wrong?" Amari asks.

"These suits are specialized for Hunters, right? Because of how often we deal with the Infected?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Every time I get a new suit from the Academy, it's always too small! Look! I barely fit!"

Amari giggles as I try to force my arm into the suit, which is much too small. "Here. They must've mixed ours up. Mine's too big."

"Our last names aren't even close to similar. How would they mix them up?"

She shrugs, but offers the suit to me.

When I pull it on, it fits perfectly.

"How many times have you had an oversized suit before?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.

"Couple times," she admits.

Sasha snorts and shakes her head as she puts her helmet on. "C'mon. Enough chit chat. We've got a man to find."

"You're eager to climb into the sewers?" Tomas grumbles.

Sasha doesn't answer. She shoots Tomas a glare. "Can you just open the damn cover?"

Tomas sneers, but hooks his fingers into the manhole cover and hoists it up.

I try to suppress the scowl on my face. Despite my powers, my super strength is much weaker than other Hunters. I would've preferred normal Hunter enhanced abilities rather than the powers I was given.

"You first, princess." Tomas nods to Sasha.

Sasha rolls her eyes, but starts clambering down the ladder into the sewers.

I hear her light flick on and see the beam sweep around the tunnel below us.

"It's clear."

I nod to Amari and follow Sasha down the ladder.

Sasha turns to me when my feet hit the ground.

I reach up to turn the light on my helmet on. The tunnels split left, right, and forward. "Let's split up. Tomas and Tae, go left. Sasha and Amari, go right. I'll go forward. Stay within shouting range and alert everyone as soon as you find something."

Tomas huffs and marches off to the left.

Tae gives me a curt nod before following after him.

I catch Amari's arm. "Hey, I know you're taking this seriously, but just be sure not to get distracted."

She nods. "I'm holding out hope this guy somehow survived. I'm taking this as serious as I can."

I release her arm and watch them disappear down the dark tunnel. I continue forward, following the small, cement pathway set into the side of the tunnel. The sludgy water laps at the side of my path. I stay close to the tunnel wall, my gloved hand reaching for the wall to my right. I'll need a decontamination shower from dealing with the infection anyway, but I don't want to deal with the smell of the sewer setting into my suit.

If I remember correctly from the sewer maps, this path will go straight forward for a while, following the electrical cables above my head, then come to a dead end about two miles later. But it would be the most likely path for the worker to have taken to get to the sewage plant.

I keep my light sweeping throughout the tunnel, just in case his body slipped into the sewage at any point. I hesitate where I know Amari won't be able to hear me anymore.

Her hearing is better than most Hunters', but we're on diverging paths and I'm going further than I should. But I want to find this man and put an end to this. I keep going.

As I'm getting nearer the dead end, I still haven't found anything. I sigh. Maybe my theory was wrong from the beginning. Maybe the man wasn't down here at all. Maybe-.

I freeze, my light blazing on the man's body.

His brown skin is ashy and his chin is dropped to his chest. His hands are relaxed open at his sides. His veins appear to be black.

My breath freezes in my throat. I move to his side slowly, dropping to one knee. I reach for his throat to find his pulse.

Just as my glove brushes his skin, his eyes blaze open. They glow green. They snap to my face and an inhuman voice hisses out, "I must find-."

I scream before he can finish and yank backwards. I trip and go flailing back, towards the river of sewage.