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They didn't need to say the words. I already knew. My brothers had rejoined the mission track. Not only that, they did it behind my back. Rage burnt through my body in hot waves. After all the shit they gave me, here they are signing up for the very thing they wanted me to walk away from. I never thought my brothers would do this to me but clearly they don't value me enough to be up front with me. Cowards.

Mere minutes later, I watch on in disbelief as Archer stands with the veteran members of mission team seven. Michael, Nuri, and I stand by as hard embraces with back slaps and secret handshakes carry on right in front of us. It's never been more painfully obvious that the three of us still haven't been accepted by the old guard.

Marcus throws his head back and roars with laughter at something Archer has said. Until this moment, I would have sworn Marcus had been born without the ability to laugh. The three of us share a loaded look and cross our arms as a unit. This is bullshit.

"Archer will piss them off soon enough." Tara's soft voice comes from behind us. I look over my shoulder at her before turning around fully. Her blue eyes are clear and calm today. A sign that she's fully present. Apparently, precognition is more resistant to the barrier than the other skill sets, so she spends most of her time split between fighting to be in the present and constant sensory overload.

Nuri flips her braid over her shoulder. Agitation is written all over her face, "Oliver has barely said a word to me. His primary form of communication is grunting. So much so that I've started to recognize what the different grunts mean. But look at him now," she points a finger behind her where Oliver is talking animatedly to Archer, "acting like he actually possesses vocal chords."

Concern creeps across Tara's face. She looks back and forth between Oliver and Nuri several times before stepping closer to the three of us. "He needs more time."

"And I'm just supposed to put up with him until then?" Nuri huffs, "What kind of partnership is that?"

Tara tilts her head. An internal battle wages behind her eyes before she speaks again, "This isn't an excuse, but Emily, Oliver's last partner, was...well, he loved her, and he couldn't save her."

The words hover in the air between us. I try and fail to visualize what it would look like to see Oliver in love. He projected the image that he'd rather abstain from most human emotions as a general rule. Although Archer and Fin's reaction to our questions about Oliver's last partner make more sense now.

Nuri's arms fall to her sides, "I'm sorry for his loss. For all of it really, but we're here now to continue whatever you were trying to do. It would be easier to work together if we knew what happened that day. Or at least if we knew more than each other's names."

She's right, and she probably feels more on the outs than Michael and I do since we are paired up with each other. There's comfort in that when we train, but Nuri has had to face Oliver's stony silence for weeks now without a reprieve. Tara nods slowly, absorbing Nuri's words. Standing tall, she glides over to the four men as if they were as harmless as errant schoolboys.

We watch on as she places a hand on Ben's forearm. She looks fragile standing next to them, but I know better than that and so do they. All four of the world's most cantankerous men stop their reunion to listen to her. Whatever she says, it makes them stiffen and cast mildly guilty glances over at us. When they start walking toward us, we exchange wary looks with each other and brace ourselves for impact.

Tara speaks first, "Stand in a circle." Her tone brooks no argument even though Oliver has started to look like he'd rather chew glass. We form a rough circular shape. "We are going to share something personal about ourselves once a day. Nuri is right. We can't be a team if we are strangers. How can you trust someone with your life if you don't know them?"

She looks pointedly at Marcus who stands to her left. As our leader, he should be the one making sure we're a cohesive unit, but all he's worried about is getting back to their mystery task. Tara stares at him until he opens his mouth, "I hate bell peppers. They taste like dirt."

A snicker escapes me.

"Have you eaten dirt?" Michael asks, a small smile on his face.

Marcus turns that direct stare of his on him and tilts his head, "No." Only one word, but Michael's smile grows.

Tara clasps her hands together happily before turning her gaze on Ben, who admits that he hates chess. Archer keeps up the unofficial 'things I hate' category of this share fest by naming mind games with a pointed look at Nuri. She doesn't bat an eye before volleying back sweetly, "I hate passive aggressive comments." Archer's jaw tightens, but he doesn't say anything further.

Michael goes next, "I hate cardio." We all share a laugh at that one. Since being named as my partner, it became mandatory that he increase his training in that area to a grueling degree. I bump his shoulder with mine in solidarity.

"I hate shit like this." Oliver's voice is gruff, but he participated, so Tara is officially a saint.

She looks at me next. I think about all the simple, easy answers I could give for a moment like this, but I disregard them all. Locking eyes with Archer, I spit out, "I hate being blindsided." He has the decency to look shamed by my words, but that won't change anything for him.

I refused to talk to Archer or Fin after they confirmed that they had switched tracks this morning. Instead, I walked to breakfast with them trailing behind me while I tried to wrestle my anger down to something manageable. Nuri and Michael were just as shocked as I was when they saw Archer entering the room behind me. In fact, this might have been the nail in the coffin for any kind of relationship between Nuri and my brother based on the hurt that flashed across her face before she wiped her face clean of any emotion.

Tara's voice breaks me out of my thoughts, "I love getting my way." More laughter and a few exasperated looks ripple through us. Ben's eyes melt by a few degrees as I watch him study Tara. I tuck that interesting development away for another day as we all move to get on with training.

I didn't sit with my brothers at lunch, but now it's dinner, and I know if I sit somewhere else, they'll just drag me to our table anyway. Hargrove family rule. We eat dinner together without fail. Of course that rule meant nothing last night when Archer was off completing trials for the second time in his life.

Part of me wonders who they carved up in front of him or if they even did that to him, but I'm too aggravated to ask. Numbly, I push my food around my tray. "You need to eat." Fin cajoles.

My head snaps up, and I stare daggers at him until he looks away first. Good. Returning to my food, I begrudgingly take a bite. He's right even if I'm so mad that I can't even see straight. Silence stretches out between us heavily. "Sammy, we had to do something to protect you." Archer's words have me wanting to stab him with my knife.

"So you went behind my back, and you think I can't take care of myself. Thanks for sharing." I hope my words cut them to pieces. I go on, "It'd be one thing if you rejoined because you hated your other tracks and wanted to do what you loved. Or if you'd told me before pulling this stunt. But you did this because of me." I pin my gaze on Archer, "If you die out there, it will be my fault. That's all I'll be thinking about when we go out on a mission. Thanks for that, brother." I draw out the last word on purpose. His face falls, but I don't care.

"We feel the same way about you, Samantha." Fin interjects, "We won't sit here on our hands while you're out there. Family stands together."

I scoff, "Then you need to act like family and talk to me like I'm a part of it." I hold up my hand when Fin tries to speak, "I told you for years that I wanted to go on missions and was honest about my trial date. You went to the Elders behind my back," I point my finger at Fin, "and both of you changed tracks behind my back. Stop treating me like I'm a child."

Archer and Fin exchange a loaded look with each other. A muscle jumps in Archer's jaw while Fin's mouth flattens into a hard line. Finally, they look at me. "Fine." The word comes from both of them in tandem, and it's as if it was ripped out from their insides.

"Fine." I snap back at them. I'll believe it when I see it.