He was thinking.
'The cruise incident started the moment they boarded — that much he'd figured out right before the floor gave way. But what were the actual conditions of this round? The cadets were scattered across an unfamiliar island with no instructors visible and no rules explained. Was this the point? Was the test about how they handled having no information and no structure? Was there something they were supposed to find, somewhere they were supposed to reach?'
He looked at the island around them — the treeline, the shore stretching away in both directions, the way the terrain rose inland like there was more to it than beach.
'Whatever it is, standing here isn't going to answer it.'
He was still looking at the treeline when he felt something.
A pressure on the side of his face, specific and directed, the kind you feel when someone is looking at you with some intention behind it.
He turned his head.
Sylvia was looking at him.
