Page 1604 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

11 Are you flirting with me?" She said it with as much disdain as she could muster. Those words usually worked to shut down a boy who was being smug. But he only laughed.
"I don't flirt," he said.
"I forgot," said Petra. "You shoot first, and then flirting isn't necessary."
That got to him a little-made him pause a moment, brought the slightest hint of a quickening of breath. It occurred to Petra that her mouth was indeed going to get her killed. She had never actually seen someone get shot before, except in movies and vids. Just because she thought of herself as the protagonist of this biographical vid she was trapped in didn't mean she was safe. For all she knew, Achilles meant to kill her, too.
Or did he? Could he have really meant that she was the only one of the team he was keeping? Vlad would be so disappointed.
"How did you happen to choose me?" she asked, changing the
"Like I said, you're the best."
"That is such kuso," said Petra. "The exercises I did for you weren't any better than anyone else's."
"Oh, those battle plans, those were just to keep you busy while the real tests were going on. Or rather, to make you think you were keeping us busy."
"What was this real test, then, since I supposedly succeeded at it better than anyone else?"
"Your little dragon drawing," said Achilles.
She could feel the blood drain from her face. He saw it and laughed.
"Don't worry," said Achilles. "You won't be punished. That was the test, to see which of you would succeed in getting a message outside."
"And my prize is staying with you?" She said it with all the disgust she could put in her voice.
"Your prize," said Achilles, "is staying alive."
She felt sick at heart. "Even you wouldn't kill all the others, for no reason."
"If they're killed, there's a reason. If there's a reason, they'll be killed. No, we suspected that your dragon drawing would have some meaning to someone. But we couldn't find a code in it."
"There wasn't a code in it," said Petra.