Easternport Vol. 1, First Edition

House of Cards - Part 1

Mikkel

We didn't go out gambling that night. I needed to be home and sober the next morning for when the workers would come help out at the house. Besides, Nate and I were running out of places to play without being accused of cheating and thrown out. I had started to work on a plan to solve that problem, but it'd take more money and man-power.

In all honesty, I was starting to feel bad about taking money from the townies. It was the Serpents and Jaggars that I really wanted to rob, but I couldn't afford starting another war this soon. Once war broke out between the Serpents and the Jaggars, I would be ready to snatch all I could carry without consequence. But before I could even think about that, I had to make sure that the war was set in our favor and that Cory would be safe.

Chances were, the snapping point for Miles would be the loss of Cory. And years of pacifism under pressure would probably make the worst kind of savage in the end—especially considering his family's predisposition to insanity.

Miles

"Predisposition to insanity?" I'm not predisposed to anything you ass-wipe! It was one man, three generations ago. That is not a predisposition, that's an isolated case!

Mikkel

Write your own story, Miles.

I spent the morning training with Cory.

She was surprised when I poked her awake at 7am. Miles was even more surprised that I had found my way past their locked bedroom door. "How the hell did you get in here?" He said as he sat up in bed, dressed in an undershirt and boxers. His eyes darted, not to the door, but to the closet across from their attached bathroom.

"I picked the lock," I said. "These old locks are easy to bypass." I walked over to the closet as Cory rolled away from Miles and crawled out of bed. I was actually a little surprised that they had spent the night in the same bed. "So, you found the secret passage ways, huh?" I opened the closet and started looking around for signs of the hidden door.

Behind me, I could hear Miles groan and slouch in bed. "I don't know what you're talking about." It was too early for him to lie effectively.

Cory walked up behind me. "Can you leave while I get dressed? I'll meet you downstairs in a bit. I'll need breakfast before we start."

"You look dressed to me," I said, looking her up and down.

"Get out!" Miles said.

"Sure thing," I said, "Let me just find the door."

"No!" Miles stood up and started coming toward me. "Get out!" He grabbed my shirt and yanked me toward the door. Now that surprised me more than anything. To have him come that close to touching my skin and to use such force against someone was something I had never seen in him before. I was too stunned to do anything but follow his shove. Before I could say another word, he slammed the door in my face.

That's when I learned that Miles was, in no way, a morning person.

Nate was having breakfast in the kitchen with Anna. He was smiling like a monkey, and had just about as much to say. Poor guy. He was desperate to move this relationship forward, but had no idea how. So the two of them stayed in this awkward state of childish flirting, just as Cory and Miles were stuck in a perpetual state of awkwardness. It gave me a headache.

Cory came down quickly, dressed in a tank top and shorts. She was barefoot, which meant she was ready to climb the walls. But today, I wanted her grounded. In the southern fields, where she was going to be fighting next, there were no walls to climb. Her tactics were going to have to change.