Sam woke with a headache that grew more fierce as she looked outside. Her first summer rain on the mountain. The only problem was, it wasn’t the kind of summer rain one liked to walk through with a boyfriend. Nor was it the kind of summer rain that was warm with remembrances of childhood. This was a hard downpour, and, according to the thermometer by the front door, it was only sixty-five degrees outside.

Sam brushed her teeth and gulped four Advil before she showered and dressed. Today was her first physical-training test, and she was dreading it. She wondered if Hawkins felt the same way she did. The rest of the team had aced the training segment they’d taken part in during the week. She hadn’t. Neither had Hawkins.

Sam reached for her AFJ-issued poncho and headed for the dining hall. She knew from her days at the Academy that she should eat lightly. Fruit and toast. She probably should forgo the coffee but knew she wouldn’t. The headache was lessening a little. She prayed it would be gone before it was her time to perform. That’s how she thought of it. She would be performing.

Sam’s mood was dark when she blasted through the door to the dining hall. She was stunned to see Hawkins sitting at their table eating breakfast. She hadn’t even noticed that he wasn’t in his bed in the barracks.

The coffee smelled wonderful. The toast was warm and had already been buttered just the way she liked it. She spread strawberry jam on it and carried her plate to the table. She eyed the slice of melon. Potassium. One of these days she was going to ask who the dietitian was who made out the menus. Not only was the food wonderful, it was nutritious. Vitamins, Centrum to be precise, were always served with breakfast. Since arriving, she’d taken one in the morning and one at night. She didn’t know if that was good or bad, and she didn’t care. She knew Hawkins did the same thing because she saw him popping the vitamins.

Hawkins stopped eating long enough to mutter, “Morning, Sam. You ready for this?”

“I guess so. I could do without the rain, though. The rope is going to be slippery.”

“Yeah,” Hawkins said morosely.

The other members of Team Three trooped into the dining hall. None of them looked cheery. Rain can do that to a person, Sam thought.