by Lola StVil
She swings again and this time, her fist catches me in the shoulder and I really see red. I remember my training and I punch towards her, throwing my weight behind the punch. I catch her square in the jaw and her head snaps to the side and she crumples to the ground.
“I warned you, bitch,” I say as I step over her.
I can see Mel again now and I’m relieved to see that she and Aziza are no longer fighting each other. They seem to have teamed up to fight a group of girls I half recognize. I reach them and grab Aziza’s arm. She glares at me.
“What the fuck do you want, Sailor?” she snaps.
“To talk some sense into you,” I say. “Where are the others?”
“Fuck the others,” she says.
“Aziza, this isn’t you. It’s the effect of War. You have to get a grip and stop letting him affect you,” I say.
She continues to glare at me, but I see something change in her eyes, a self-awareness coming over her. She gives me a nod and I know she gets it. A fist flies towards her that she doesn’t see coming because she’s concentrating on me. I reach up and grab the wrist of the person who tried to punch her, stopping the shot, and then I pull the girl closer and punch her in the mouth. She falls to her ass, her hand pressed on her bleeding lips.
“Jeez, Sails, practice what you preach much?” Aziza grins.
“She was going to sucker punch you. I might not be affected by War’s influence, but I’m still affected by my friends getting hurt,” I say. “Now, where are the others?”
“Sunday and Jinx are down by the lockers. I don’t know where Rye or Ya-Ya are,” she says.
“Grab Mel and pull her into Nexus’s classroom. Explain what’s going on and hopefully she’ll calm down. I’ll go and find Jinx and Sunday and then we’ll find Rye and Ya-Ya.”
Aziza nods her head. She grabs Mel from behind and begins to literally drag her down the hallway. Mel is kicking and shouting, trying to get free from Aziza’s grip. It’s not quite what I meant when I said grab her and drag her into Nexus’s classroom, but I can see Aziza saying something to Mel and she seems to calm down a little. I shrug and push my way towards the lockers.
I spot Jinx and Sunday, both involved in different arguments. I decide to start with Sunday. If I’m right about Jinx, then he’s causing this and I think it’ll be easier to tackle him with Sunday as backup. I push my way through the crowd again and stand between Sunday and the guy he’s fighting with. Sunday glares at me.
“What do you want?” he demands.
“Sunday, listen to me,” I say. “Look around you. You know this isn’t normal, right?”
He glances around and looks back at me with a shrug.
“This dick started mouthing at me. I don’t care what everyone else is doing,” he says.
“No, you don’t get it. This isn’t you. Or any of them. War is here. This is his influence. You have to fight the anger,” I say.
He blinks a couple of times and looks around. The guy he was fighting with has already moved on.
“You’re right,” he says. “How do we stop it?”
By getting the whole team in a room together so War can’t affect anyone else, I think to myself.
“I don’t know,” I say. “But for now, we’re all meeting in Nexus’s classroom. We need to get Jinx.”
Sunday spins away from me and advances on Jinx. I feel bad that Sunday got there ahead of me. This could get really ugly. I push my way toward them, but within seconds Sunday has gotten through to Jinx.
“Come on,” he says, beckoning to me.
I follow a couple steps behind them thinking about what just happened. Jinx was too easy to talk down. He slipped up by not resisting Sunday more. He’s shown me for sure he’s War; he was always in control of himself, he was just acting the part of an angry student.
We reach Nexus’s classroom and go inside. Aziza and Mel look up as we enter.
“I’m going to go find Rye and Ya-Ya,” I say.
“No need to find me, I’m here,” Ya-Ya says, coming in behind me. “What the hell just happened? I feel like I’ve been in a trance or something. I sort of came back to myself and I was fighting with some girl I’ve never met. At the same time, she snapped out of it too and neither of us know why we were fighting.”
“It’s War. He’s here,” Mel says.
“So why did it stop?” Ya-Ya asks.
“He must have left the building,” Mel says.
Or because he got pulled in here and he’s holding back his powers now so we don’t figure out that he’s one of us.
“He must have,” I say.
Rye comes in with a cut on his forehead.
“Are you alright?” I ask.
“Yeah. Some fucker caught me before I realized what was happening. I take it that was War’s idea of fun,” he says.
“Seems that way,” Jinx says. “But admit it. You all kind of enjoyed it.”
I can’t help but think of myself punching Felicity even without War’s influence, and I have to admit it felt kind of good.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I say.
“Shouldn’t we go and try to help everyone sort out the mess out there?” Mel says.
“Yeah. We should be here in case War comes back,” Ya-Ya adds.
I look to Rye for help. He knows War is one of us. He has to come up with a reason for us bailing, but he looks as lost for words as I feel.
“No, Sailor’s right,” Aziza says. “War isn’t interested in a bunch of high school students. He came here looking for us. Everyone will be safer with us gone.”
I give her a grateful look. She came up with a logical explanation for leaving that no one can argue with. As much as I feel like I should have a few members of the team stay behind and help out, I know I can’t. I’ve been wrong about the Horseman’s identity before, and while I’d bet my last dollar it’s Jinx, if I’m wrong, I could be condemning everyone to more chaos by inadvertently leaving War behind here.
***
We manage to sneak out of the school easily enough. All the teachers are more than busy trying to help injured students and figure out what the hell happened. We leave the school grounds and head for the cabin. When we get there, I tell Rye I need to talk to him alone, which gets a round of kissing noises from the team. I ignore them and go through to the kitchen with Rye.
“He’s getting stronger,” I say. “I just about bought Jinx’s story of the chaos at the council meeting, but this was on another level. War is here, Rye, and he’s been biding his time, but it’s been three days since we found the spear and my instincts are telling me War will make a play for me tonight.”
Rye nods his head, a serious expression on his face.
“I think you’re right. This is definitely escalating. Maybe it’s taken War some time to wear down whoever he took over.”
“You mean you get it now? You believe Nexus that it’s a member of the team and that they’re not betraying us?”
He shrugs. “I guess I don’t have much choice but to believe her, do I?” he says.
I shake my head.
“Right. Call your dad and get his permission to stay here tonight. Tell him whatever you have to tell him to get him to agree to it. I am not letting you out of my sight tonight.”
I nod, grateful that he’s taking this seriously. I think for a moment and then I call my dad, telling him we have a group project that we forgot about that’s due tomorrow. He gives me a lecture about being more responsible with my homework, but he can hardly say no to me wanting to complete it now, so he rather reluctantly agrees that I can spend the night at the cabin. I thank him, end the call, and go through to the games room and nod to Rye, letting him know it’s done. Rye stands up and everyone turns their attention to him.
“War is getting stronger,” he says. “And he’s not going to wait forever before he comes for Sailor. She’ll be staying here tonight so we can help protect her. I want everyone
on their guard.”
“You think he’ll come here?” Mel asks.
“I don’t know,” Rye lies. “But we need to be prepared for the possibility. And I think we can all agree Sailor is better off here.”
“Oh definitely,” Sunday agrees. “Are we going to take turns keeping watch or something tonight?”
“No,” Rye says. “We don’t want to give him any warning that we’re expecting him.”
Another lie. Rye just knows it’s pointless because War is right here in this room with us.
“So what do we do?” Ya-Ya asks.
“We just go about our business as usual. And if he doesn’t show himself by the weekend, we go looking for him,” he says.
He sits back down, and for a moment, silence fills the room. Ya-Ya stands up.
“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my room,” she says.
“Is something wrong?” I ask her, instantly suspicious.
“No,” she says. “I have a new hair color I want to try out. Do you want to try it with me?”
I smile and shake my head. There’s no way she’s getting her hands on my hair.
“Your loss.” She grins as she leaves the room.
“Down to lose a game of pool?” Sunday asks Aziza, who nods.
“Well I’m bored already,” Jinx announces. He turns to me. “How about a training session, Sails? You still need more practice with that sword of yours.”
I glance at Rye, who gives me a barely perceptible nod. This is it. Jinx is getting me alone so he can make his move.
“What, you need your boyfriend’s permission now?” He laughs.
I kick myself inside. He saw the look we shared. It didn’t put him off any though. I stand up.
“The day I need anyone’s permission to kick your ass is a sad day,” I say, laughing.
“Ooh fighting talk. I like it,” Jinx says, following me out of the cabin.
We walk to the warehouse. I’m on my guard, my hand in my pocket on the spear, but I don’t think he’ll attack here. There’s still a chance a member of the team will see from the window if he does. No, he’ll wait until we’re sparring and then he’ll attack.
We reach the warehouse and go inside. Jinx grabs a sword and nods to me. I pull my own sword out and we stand facing each other for a moment. My heart is racing and I can feel a dribble of sweat running down my back.
“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Jinx says, frowning at me in concern.
His sudden concern throws me. Why does War have to be so good at impersonating Jinx? Why can’t he just drop the act and be all evil?
“Why wouldn’t I want to?” I ask cautiously.
“I don’t know. You look tense. Nervous,” he says.
“I’m just worried I’ll hurt you.” I grin.
It’s the right answer. It makes Jinx laugh and dart in with his sword. It’s also the truth. I am terrified I’ll get the timing of this thing wrong and hurt Jinx as well as War. It’s a chance I have to take though.
I dart forward myself and deflect Jinx’s swing.
“Nice,” he says. “But you’re leaving your flank vulnerable.”
I know he’s right. It was intentional. I wanted to give him an opening so he’d reveal his true colors, but it didn’t work. He’s playing with me, waiting until I drop my guard. Well he’s going to have a long wait. My guard is up.
I grip my sword in one hand, keeping the other one free to grab the spear when I need it. Jinx and I dance around each other, both making tentative shots, both keeping our guards up. After a few minutes, Jinx nods to my hand.
“You’re allowed to use both hands you know,” he says.
“I only need one for you, Jinxy.” I grin.
He shakes his head.
“Big mistake, Paradox. Huge mistake.” He grins back.
He darts closer to me and I jump away, but I’m not quick enough. Jinx flicks his blade underneath mine. He pulls it back and laughs.
“That’s how easy I could have disarmed you. Next time, I will. Concentrate. Don’t think of the sword as an external weapon. Think of it as an extension of yourself.”
I nod, finding the advice useful even now. When I have my dagger, I don’t think of it as a separate entity. It becomes a part of me, and I have to start thinking the same way about my sword.
I dart in again but Jinx blocks me and I back away, waiting for him to make this serious. He moves closer and I take a step back, but then I catch myself. Retreating will only make me vulnerable. As he steps towards me again, I step forward too, meeting his blade with mine.
“Better.” He grins.
Out of nowhere, Jinx spins around, and again he gets his blade beneath mine. True to his word, I get no second chances this time and he flicks my sword from my hand. My other hand starts towards my pocket, but I don’t get a chance to grab the spear before Jinx swings out with the sword and I duck. He kicks my feet out from underneath me and I land on my back on the mat. He laughs as I go down.
“We’ve still got some work to do, but you’ll get there.”
He comes closer to me and holds the point of his sword to my throat.
“But you’d be dead now if this was for real.”
He moves the tip of his sword away and reaches down to me with his free hand. I reach up to take it, but before I can, Rye bursts in on one side of him, Aziza on the other. Between them, they have Jinx on the ground in seconds. I scramble to my feet. Jinx looks genuinely shocked as to what the hell is going on, and I can’t help but wonder what game he’s playing here. He had a chance to kill me and he didn’t take it.
“What the hell, guys?” Jinx says, looking from the tip of Rye’s sword to Aziza’s raised palms.
If he was about to attack, his chance is gone and Rye and Aziza seem to reach that conclusion at the same time. Aziza lowers her palms and Rye reaches down to help Jinx to his feet.
“We thought we’d spring a surprise attack and keep Sailor on her toes,” Rye says.
“Yeah? Well you failed miserably because you went for me instead.” He turns to Aziza. “And since when do you even threaten to use your powers in training? Are you trying to kill Sailor or what?”
“Or what,” Aziza says. She starts to laugh. “I just thought it would be fun to take you down a peg or two. And it worked. God, Jinx, you should have seen your face just then.”
Jinx shakes his head, but he’s laughing, his earlier suspicion gone.
“You’re crazy,” he says.
“Oh you know it,” Aziza agrees.
I keep my eyes firmly on Jinx and Aziza because I can feel the death glare Rye is giving me and I don’t want to face what’s coming. He knows I told Aziza about the Horseman. Why else would she have burst in here when he did?
“Come on then. After you two made the trip down here, we might as well give Sailor a good fight,” Jinx says.
“I’m up for that,” I say quickly.
That will hopefully give Rye time to cool down a bit. We start to spar, and the three of them launch attack after attack on me. I fend them all off, my nerves gone for now.
Rye and Aziza have probably just saved my life. At least for now. And the threat from War has momentarily passed while the four of us are together. With the pressure off, I fight on instinct and none of them can get close to me. I realize why. It’s not that I feared death earlier; I am well aware that could happen to me at any time. My fear, the nerves, they come from a different place. It’s the fear that I get my timing wrong and subject Jinx to an eternity of misery.
When we’re all panting and my muscles are aching like hell, Aziza suggests we call it a night. With their direction, I’m definitely getting better with my sword, and I’m a little disappointed when Rye and Jinx both agree with her, and not just because I know I won’t be able to put off Rye’s lecture any longer.
We head back to the cabin and as we reach the door, Rye grabs my arm, stopping me.
“You two go on in,” he says.
“God, Rye, you have a bedroom inside if you want alone time with Sailor. Seriously, Sails, tell him no. You should be with someone who knows how to treat a girl.” Jinx laughs.
“Just go,” Rye says.
He waits until Aziza and Jinx step into the cabin and the door closes behind them and then he turns to face me.
“You told Aziza, didn’t you?” he says.
I nod my head defiantly.
“Yes,” I say.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demands.
“I was thinking I could trust her. And she proved me right, didn’t she? She thought the same as you and I did. That Jinx was getting me alone to kill me. And she came to help me, just like you did.”
Some of the anger goes out of Rye and I feel myself relaxing a little.
“You can trust Aziza,” he says after a few moments of silence. “But Sailor, please. You can’t tell any of the others. I know you have your mind set on Jinx being the Horseman, but if you’re wrong and you tell the actual Horseman about this…”
He trails off. He doesn’t need to finish. I know what the consequences of telling the Horseman we are onto him would be.
“I won’t,” I say quickly. “I promise.”
He reaches out and pulls me into his arms. I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his shoulder. He holds me so tightly it almost hurts but I don’t complain. I get it. His anger wasn’t really at me because I spilled a secret to Aziza. His anger is from fear: the fear of losing me and not being able to do anything to stop it. I know if the situation was reversed, I would feel exactly the same impotent anger inside of me.
Rye kisses the top of my head and then he gently releases me.
“Come on, let’s get inside before Jinx has everyone spying on us.” He smiles.
***
Everyone already went to bed and only Rye and I are still up. We just finished watching a movie. I try and fail to stifle a yawn and Rye grins.
“We should maybe be thinking about going to bed ourselves,” he says.
I open my mouth to say I’m okay, but when I look at Rye, I can see how tired he looks and I nod my head instead. I stand up from the couch and crack my back. Rye leans forward and picks up his mug of hot chocolate. I see mine untouched beside his and I reach for it. Rye drinks half of his and then puts it down, wincing.