The Erebus pool deck was already a battlefield, and the lines had been drawn in sun-bleached, chlorine-scented concrete. Non-students and most of the Diamonds ruled the cabanas: clusters of white and navy fabric, latticed for privacy, with digital screens flickering between world news and muted soccer games. Golds colonized the tiered loungers closer to the water, putting on synchronized shows of “effortless” good times for anyone watching. Silvers and Steels were banished to the outer rim, the shaded overhang near the glassed-in gym or the spots just above the mechanical hatch doors marked “SERVICE ONLY.”

Apart from a few children splashing in the shallow end, Bri had the pool to herself.

The water cut the sound of the deck—blunted the voices and laughter and speaker-spilled music until all that was left was a hum, a kind of blue noise Bri could float inside. Her hair drifted behind her, a red banner fanning out over the surface.

She drifted, face up, arms wide, eyes half-closed. She didn’t have to look at anyone, didn’t have to think about what her body was doing, what angles it made. Underwater, she could feel her heartbeat even out, the tangle in her chest starting to unravel.

A shadow broke over her—then a sharp, cold splash as someone dove in directly beside her.

Noah. His head broke the surface a few feet away, hair streaming back, his eyes clear and strange without the white mask. He looked younger in the water, the sharpness of his face blurred into something almost—she wouldn’t say soft, but less brittle than usual. He paddled closer, treading water with an effortless athleticism that surprised her.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t see you there.” His lips twitched in a half-apology.

Bri snorted. “Uh huh. You aimed right at me.”

He shrugged. “Figured if you didn’t want to get wet you wouldn’t have gotten in the pool.”

She almost smiled, then remembered herself. She stage whispered. “You know you aren’t supposed to dive in here.”

Noah countered, “What are they going to do to me?”

She was flustered, without a good comeback. “Rules are rules. They are there for a reason.”

Bri stared at him. “What?” she finally asked.

“You’re cataloging me,” Noah said, his tone matter-of-fact. “It’s fine. I just hope my file is accurate.”

Bri blushed. “You look different without the mask.” He considered this.

“Is it for germs?” Bri asked. She was genuinely curious.

“Yes and no. I get sick a lot, so it helps. And I prefer to breathe my own air.” He paused. “Let’s just say I’m careful about what I eat, too. Things that can’t be tampered with are better.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Bri stared at him incredulously. “Are you afraid of being poisoned?”

“It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you,” he said, his tone flat. “My family… we learned to be cautious. The hard way.”

Before Bri could ask what he meant, his gaze flicked to the edge of the pool. Asune seemed over her funk and had started moving towards them.

Noah rolled onto his back, bobbing beside her. “It’s weird. Most people are afraid to swim with their head underwater, but you look like you’d rather be here than anywhere else.”

Bri let her arms drift out again. “Have you ever noticed how everything is quieter underwater?”

“What are you escaping?” Noah asked.

She squinted at him. “Life. Besides, isn’t that why people book these things? To pretend they don’t have one for a week?”

He made a low noise of agreement. “Yes, true. But I guess I didn’t peg you for a water baby.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said, a small smile playing on her lips. Then, before he could respond, she took a breath and slipped beneath the surface.

As Bri swam back, Asune intercepted Noah with two leafy, green drinks. “A peace offering,” she said, holding one out to him.

“I’m good. Bottled water is more my style.”

“Your loss,” Asune said, passing the second glass to Bri before downing Noah’s rejected drink herself. A comfortable silence settled over them. The pool, though large enough for thirty, was still mostly empty save for a few families in the shallows and two VIA students failing at synchronized laps.

Bri eyed the drink. “What is this? It looks… healthy.”

“It’s a mojito,” Asune said. “It’s refreshing.”

Instead of arguing, Bri just took it. She decided to take this one slow. She was still light-headed from the previous drinks even though the water had sobered her up quite a bit.

Noah’s face went neutral. He drifted closer, arms stretching wide, the picture of relaxed indifference. But his eyes tracked everything—her, the other swimmers, the cluster of Diamonds up on the deck with their eyes fixed on their phones.

“You know,” he said quietly, “they talk about you a lot.”

Bri kicked gently, treading to stay level. “Who’s ‘they’?”

He nodded toward the cabanas. “The ones who matter. And a few who are paid to pretend they don’t.”

She felt herself stiffen, water suddenly cold against her neck. Why was he bringing this up? “What do they say?”

Noah’s mouth quirked, almost a smile. “Nothing you need to worry about. Just that you’re interesting. Hard to classify. Some of them started a rumor that you’re a corporate spy.”

That got a laugh out of her, brittle but real. “A spy. Wow. Yeah, sure, that’s me. Living in this apartment, driving that car, absolutely a spy.”

He shrugged again, but this time it felt practiced, not careless. “People love a good story. You’re an unknown quantity. You get into VIA and then refuse to play the game. It’s compelling.”

“If I was a spy, wouldn’t I be playing the game?” Bri shook her head, droplets arcing from her hair. “I just want to get out of here in one piece.”

From somewhere overhead, a service bot whirred by, trundling a tray of bright red and white blended cocktails to the Diamond cabanas.

Noah broke the silence. “You know you’re bleeding, right?”

She looked down, startled. The chlorine stung a cut on her thumb—she must have scraped it somehow. A red spiral bloomed in the water, quickly fading.

“Nice catch,” she said.

Noah drifted closer, offered his hand. “Let me see.”

She hesitated, then held out her thumb. He took it gently, turned it to the light, and nodded approval. “You’ll live.”

Bri pulled back, feeling weirdly exposed. “Do you want to be a doctor too?”

He didn’t answer directly. “I just like to know things. You never know when someone’s going to need help.”

There was a flicker of something there—something Bri wanted to ask about, but before she could, a new noise cut through the air.

Bri hadn’t even seen Asune leave the pool, but a loud scrape of plastic on tile announced her return. She burst from the sliding glass doors, all neon bikini and purple hair, a new drink in one hand, a giant pool float on her arm, and a bottle of water in the other. She made a beeline for Bri and dropped her haul with a showy clatter on the pool’s edge.

“Bri!” Asune shouted. “I got the gayest drink in Australia. Look at the colorful layers. It’s literally called ‘Taste of the Rainbow.’ Try it.”

“Dude, I am going to have to cut you off. Or you aren’t going to make it to dinner.” At Asune’s puppy dog expression, Bri gave up. She was having fun. “Fine, I’ll try it.”

It was sweet, cloying, but cold enough to numb the taste buds. She immediately liked it.

Asune backstroked over, sliding in beside Bri with zero respect for personal space. Her skin was already sun-flushed, and her eyes sparkled behind a set of designer sunglasses.

Asune tossed Noah the water. “Thanks.”

“Okay. Here is the skinny. Good news,” Asune said, “Victoria got her fake lashes wet and now she’s crying in the spa. Bad news. Eve is on the warpath. So stay away from her.”

Bri raised an eyebrow. “Warning received. Any particular reason she’s declared war, or is it just her default setting?”

“Asune looked frustrated. “I’ll explain later. Just stay away from her.”

Noah said nothing, but his expression clearly said, “I told you so.” Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.

Bri just nodded. “I have it on good authority I am a corporate spy trying to leech on to rich kids. I can take her out with a pencil. Or bubble gum or something.”

Asune beamed, raising her glass to toast Noah’s water bottle. “That’s the spirit. Now, tell me everything Noah said. I bet it’s more interesting than anything I heard on deck.”

Noah shrugged, floating on his back. “We just talked. Nothing classified. I have my own secrets to keep; I’m not interested in borrowing anyone else’s.”

Asune eyed him, something sharp and unreadable in her gaze, “Well, okay then!”

The three of them—her, Asune, Noah—occupied their own weird island in the pool, a bubble of suspended drama, at least for a few minutes.

Bri’s brief float of peace snapped the instant Eve hit the pool deck, her presence as subtle as a tornado touchdown.

Eve never traveled alone. She stormed the deck flanked by Zara, whose platinum spikes caught the sun like little daggers, and Dogun, who looked more like he wanted to be anywhere else but had already committed to the role of silent muscle.

Together, they moved with the certainty of people who had never once failed to get what they wanted.

Bri saw Eve clock them instantly—her, Asune, and Noah. Eve’s gaze slid past Noah, softened for a half-second on Asune, then landed on Bri with the sharp focus of a predator. There was no smile, no acknowledgment. “Just a fixed, cold stare that promised a confrontation was not just possible, but inevitable.”

Eve’s attack was calculated. She set her bag on the ground, stripped off her shirt in one motion, and dove—headfirst, but she angled her body so that the wave hit Bri dead in the face. Chlorine shot up Bri’s nose and her drink dropped in the pool. She gasped, barely catching herself before she went under, shoulder scraping the tile as she flailed for the edge.

Her drink was gone, vanishing in a brief, chaotic cloud of mint and lime that the chlorine immediately swallowed.

Eve surfaced directly in front of Bri, water sluicing from her hair, her expression utterly flat. “Problem?” she asked, her voice low and even.

Bri managed, “Umm. Hi.” A spike of adrenaline sharpened her senses. Her body instinctively found its balance in the water, a low center of gravity that was pure muscle memory. Where was the lifeguard? Any fight in the water could be deadly, but she wouldn’t be the first to go under.

Eve didn’t give her time to recover. “You know, you’ve taken something of mine, and I want it back.” The words dripped with anger.