Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  Even during warmups Jenny’s form didn’t look anything like Ava’s. Patrick’s instructions were still floating around in her head from yesterday, but she couldn’t remember which leg to keep straight and which one to bend or which foot stepped forward when she punched. Her only hope was that she could practice enough for her muscles to gain their own memory. That was a thing she had heard before, muscle memory. Ava’s seemed to have those memories built in. Jenny was envious.

  Ava was tired of the eyes that fell on her throughout the day. She could feel the heat from the stares. They wanted a show, she gave them a show. She took suggestions graciously. Warming up, she even did a few roundhouse kicks on the punching bag. What she really wanted was to spar. She looked around the room and wondered who would be first. Brecon got in her face and screamed for her to pay attention. A smirk came across her face and she took two steps to kiss him on the nose. She heard a stool slide across the floor. She never took her eyes off of Brecon. That stare she felt earlier forced her to turn her head when Brecon walked away to work with Jenny.

  Jenny and Brecon worked on two different fighting stances until Jenny’s legs and arms began to tremble. She nearly screamed in frustration, but instead explained, “It feels like my body is fighting everything I’m trying to do.”

  She thought Brecon would tell her to quit whining and get back to work, so it surprised her when he suggested something amazing. “Let’s get in the pool downstairs after lunch.”

  She could barely eat the sandwich, fruit salad, and carrots set out for her at lunch time because of her excitement. As soon as she finished, she darted up to her room to put on a suit. Most of the suits were two pieces, but she thought a one-piece would be more appropriate. When she pulled it off the hanger, she could see there was an alcove behind it. There was evidently more to her closet than she’d realized before. But she didn’t want to take the time to investigate now, she had a pool to get into.

  Brecon met her at the main entry of the guard house and they went downstairs to the pool. She didn’t even know there was a pool on the grounds and here she had practically been standing on top of it. She wasted no time getting in. As soon as her feet touched the water, she sighed. It felt so right. A song bubbled up out of her happiness and she hummed its tune happily while she floated a minute.

  It felt like slipping into silk pajamas when she submerged completely in the water. All of the aches and muscle cramps from earlier immediately vanished. She arched her back and began to float. She didn’t even hear Brecon talking to her until he lifted her upper body out of the water from beside her. She had almost forgotten they were going to have to train. This wasn’t a luxury soak for her, it was time to get back to work.

  As if by magic, everything was much easier for her in the water. After a few laps, he ran her through the fighting stances she had struggled with earlier. Then he watched her punches and kicks, which she completed in perfect form. Her body was listening to her or maybe even to Brecon, and didn’t seem to be fighting her anymore.

  Cian stood at the edge of the mat, arms folded and eyes intently on Ava. She chose to ignore him completely. Knowing why he and Deaglan were talking about her would be great, but she’d be damned before she asked.

  Ava walked to the table that had supplies and grabbed a water. One of the guys she remembered seeing at the bar walked up to her and she turned his direction. “Hey, how are ye doin’? Would you like a rumble?” The amount of stupidity that rolled off of every human who possessed a penis never stopped amazing her.

  Taking a deep breath, she batted her eyelashes. “Who me? Why would you want to fight little ol’ me?” Not being from the South, she wasn’t sure where that accent came from, but she went with it. He gave her a lopsided smile and she punched him in the face so fast he didn’t see it coming and so hard she almost spilled her water. Which annoyed her to no end. Asshole.

  Putting down her water, she looked to see the guy holding his nose and whining about it being broken or some shit she couldn’t care less about. She was looking around the room for the next contestant. As she whipped her head around, she made eye contact with Cian, who was standing in the same spot she last saw him. He smirked, told the bloody-nosed guy to hit the showers, and then motioned for someone behind her.

  Cian saw that she was in the mood to fight. He also knew that the someone she was looking for would not be him. The guardians already had a plan. They knew that she was strong and agile, what wasn’t known was if she could improvise as she fought. Could she make split-second decisions that could make or break the end result of a fight? Cian placed three males and one female on each corner of the mat that spanned half of the floor. On his command, they set out to throw her off. Cian was ready to make her think.

  Ava was also ready. She was born ready. So ready, she was sure they would write books about this epic training battle. She saw the slight movement of the first guy and adjusted her stance to the left, earning him a swift kick to the stomach for his trouble.

  “First man down, fellas, who’s next?” Her eyes circled the room to look at the other three. Yesterday, Patrick never paired Ava up with more than one guardian at a time. It was clear their learning curve for her was accelerated. The power was humming in her blood. Like a hurricane in the center of her stomach, she felt it stirring. This was a whole new feeling for her. Perhaps it was the smell of a battle, or it was being in the castle, but something was changing inside her. She liked the feeling, like little swirls of anticipation. She felt more alive than she ever had in her life. Better than any orgasm she’d ever had. She was power in human form.

  The way they all circled her, it didn’t matter how Ava positioned herself, someone was always behind her so she kept moving. Waiting for movement. As she turned around she saw Cian raise his hand from a folded position and brought two fingers up, then down. Such things happened in the movies she produced. All of the action films were a complete waste of effort to her, but they sold the most tickets. She went to premieres, she saw the crowds, but she didn’t understand the hype. Nothing on screen could compare to the feeling she had now. Things were about to go down, Ava just didn’t know from where.

  The girl on her right made the slightest hesitation before she pounced on Ava like a cat. She lifted her left foot and stepped back, shifting her weight to her right foot as she did a pivot. Her kick landed right above the knee and the big girl fell to the floor with a less-than-graceful motion. After a minute, she slowly got up and limped off the mat.

  The last two guys were diagonal from each other. Ava simply had to stand in the middle and wait for one of them to charge after her. The wait was on. She was calm as she stood with her feet shoulder-width apart in a fighter’s stance. Cian was standing in the same spot; she could see him clearly. Making eye contact, she didn’t say a word, just tilted her head slightly to the right to signal for him to get on with the next failed attempt. He never lifted a hand this time, just nodded, and both men sprang into action. Ava realized that the guy on the left would reach her first and as soon as he lifted his hands to hit she ducked down and swept his legs out from under him, then elbowed him on the back of his neck. The second guy reached her exactly at that moment and she gave him a punch right in the crotch for his efforts. He’d be icing that later.

  With both men down on the ground, her work was done. Her eyes locked on Cian’s and she gave a small smile while polishing the fingernails of her right hand on her shirt. He had seen every move she made and nothing could have made her happier at that moment. She noticed Cian’s eyes fall to her feet, where her high heels were still in place, and shook his head.

  Walking over to the table to retrieve the water she had opened earlier, her smile grew larger. If it was at all possible, she was even more of a badass at this castle than she was in the boardroom. At that moment, she knew that she had made up her mind to stay and see this through. Keeping that to herself until she was ready to let the rest of them know seemed like a good idea. Ava walked to the bac
k of the room and took a seat on the stool that Cian was in earlier. The Ava Show was over.

  Cian walked from the training room and instantly headed to the front door. He had to get some air. The walls were closing in on him. Holy shit. When he reached the outside, he gulped in a lungful then repeated the process a few more times to control the urge to go back in. Ava was a better warrior than any he’d ever trained, and she hadn’t even reached full power yet. Plus, the woman did it all in heels. His balls ached at the memories of her fighting and he was thrilled with the knowledge he would be the one to teach her everything else she needed to know. Much like his brother, Cian realized he had no control when it came to her. He was so fucked.

  16

  The Three

  Jenny was used to looking for the bright side. Training made her body ache and hurt in ways she hadn’t experienced before. The good part was that she knew she was getting stronger. Also, she had a lovely mini-pool to soak in to chase away her pain. She was probably hurting from trying to keep up with Ava, who was like a freaking ninja or something. It was only after Ava took down the four guardians at once that Jenny admitted she was setting her sights too high. That kind of training didn’t seem to be helping her excel in any way.

  Back in her room, after she soaked for a while, she decided to explore. There were doors and cupboards in her room that she hadn’t investigated before. One half-sized door opened to a small closet that was stuffed with linens, pillows, and blankets of differing thickness and weights. She wouldn’t have to wash sheets for months. Another door was a walk-in closet, which seemed to be stocked with clothes in her size, though not necessarily in her style. Also, one section was home to several swimsuits and bikinis hanging up. There was a large assortment of shoes lining the walls. It was like a small boutique just for her.

  Stepping out of the closet, she breathed a sigh of contentment. The setting sunlight dancing on the waves outside danced on her window and, for the first time ever, she saw a crack in the glass a couple feet from the wall. Walking over to investigate it, she saw something else she had missed before. A hinge in the corner connecting the glass and the window. Could it be she figured out how to open the window? She would love to fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

  The crack wasn’t a crack, it was the edge of a door. There was no handle, so she pushed on it. The door sprung back at her as it opened. She had a balcony? She had a balcony! The floor and railing were made of glass, so it was easy to miss. It started at that door and went around the castle away from her window so it didn’t cover her regular view. There was one lounge chair, which Jenny could imagine spending hours sitting in while she read books with the sea crashing against the rocks below.

  Out on the balcony, Jenny tried to control her excitement, but she failed. “Yahoo!”

  Her yell wasn’t meant for anybody to respond, but she heard an answer that sounded like her own echo. However, it came from behind her.

  She hadn’t paid much attention to the ivy-covered wall behind her. This balcony was large enough she could walk out over the water and look through the glass floor beneath her feet. Turning to see where her voice bounced back at her, she found another door. This one was made of stone and had a handle. She pulled on it and found herself at the top of a narrow stairwell. Honestly, it was the size of a normal stairwell, like in her parents’ house when she was growing up, but compared to the grand staircases of this castle, it seemed tiny. The door fell closed behind her and she was bathed in darkness.

  A brief thought crossed her mind, that she should be on that lounge chair where it was safe, writing a journal entry or starting a new children’s book. Looking inside herself, she realized there was no fear, she knew she was safe here. Holding on to the wall on either side, she slowly descended the steps, one by one. After what seemed like a mile, but was probably only thirty steps or so, she saw a light coming up from below. Her heart began to race with the excitement of what she might find. She sped up her pace and chased the light. She found the source, it was a crack of sunlight slipping in beneath a door.

  The door swung outward with little effort. She almost fell out, and it’s a good thing she didn’t. It was a solid drop to the sea below. The waves were crashing against a bunch of rocks mere yards beneath her position halfway down the cliff outside her bedroom window. What in the hell? Why would this be necessary? A particularly large splash happened below, and a bit of water sprayed her bare legs.

  Jenny felt an energy of fire course through her veins. Its pulse almost caused her to let go of the doorframe and dive in. Holding on, she tried to figure out why she had the sudden urge to jump. Before she could do anything stupid like that, she pulled the door closed, made her way back up the dark stairs, across her balcony, out of her room, and to the library. She had more information to look up.

  Sheridan was sitting in her chair at the fireplace with a drink in her hand. Jenny walked to the window to gauge whether she could see the door that opened in the cliff below. The sun was setting farther, casting shadows, proving it was a lost cause.

  “Something strange happened today.” Jenny was hoping to get some feedback on her finding.

  “You heard?” Sheridan asked in disbelief. She had hoped Deaglan would keep the existence of wings and her ability to fly to himself until she was ready to handle the situation as her new reality.

  “What do you mean?” Jenny’s mystery stairwell was momentarily forgotten.

  “Wait, what do you mean?” Sheridan was thoroughly confused now.

  “What are you two talking about?” Ava joined them at the fireplace and fell into her seat.

  “I don’t know. Sheridan, what are we talking about?” Jenny turned in her seat to give her full attention to the redhead.

  Sheridan took another drink while she gazed into the fire. The silence was deafening. Miraculously, Jenny was able to bite her tongue. Ava didn’t speak either. Sheridan swirled the amber liquid in her glass slowly. The other two women sat watching her with anticipation building.

  A few long minutes later, Sheridan blurted out, “I met the woods today.”

  Jenny let out the breath she’d been holding. “Is that all? We knew that was the plan.”

  “No.” Sheridan’s voice sounded meek. “No, that’s not all.”

  “Well, skip to the good stuff already. I mean, spit it out, for fuck’s sake.” Ava’s patience was wearing thin.

  Sheridan gave her a look. “You could work on your people skills.” She then turned to Jenny. “It’s kinda hard to say something out loud when you almost don’t believe it yourself. Ya know?”

  She downed what was left in her glass and took a deep breath. “I felt a fawn from one side of the woods, while I was on the other. It was hurt and needed me. I felt it, not heard or saw it. My body reacted before I had a moment to think. Deaglan ran and I flew, arriving within a minute.” Her words came out faster and faster as she told the story. “The fawn was happy to see me and let me heal him while his mother looked on. Then I took my shirt off and Deaglan gave me a massage. The end.”

  After spewing that ridiculous story, Sheridan got up and refilled her glass.

  “What the fuck?” Ava was looking between Jenny and Sheridan as if to ask if Jenny had heard the same thing. Ava looking confused and shocked almost made Sheridan feel better. It was kind of fun to see her frazzled.

  “You know what, Sheridan? I have questions.” Jenny first put her hand up. Her shock sent her back to middle school and the perpetual motion of her raising it to ask questions, lots of questions. Her voice was gentle and calming, the exact opposite of Ava’s.

  “You have questions. That’s all you have to say after hearing that?” Ava couldn’t believe she had to be the voice of reason in this group.

  “Quit being mean to her. While I’m at it, I should advise you to stop being mean to absolutely everyone for no good reason. You’re strong, we get that. You have control issues, we get that. But you’re so busy pushing people away, you don’t
even realize we are the ones on your side. So give that negative attitude a rest already.” Sheridan challenging Ava was new. Ava was shocked, but before she could think of a response, Sheridan spoke to Jenny. “What questions do you have?”

  Ava sat wide-eyed and steaming mad but stayed quiet because she wasn’t sure Sheridan was wrong and also, she wanted a chance to ask questions. Sheridan wanted to smile so badly at seeing Ava struggle to keep her mouth closed. It was a difficult task.

  “When you said you felt the fawn from the other side of the woods,” Jenny was careful to keep her voice soothing not doubtful, “what did you mean?”

  Sheridan refilled her glass, keeping her back turned. “I felt it call out for help and my leg twinged. I knew something needed me to help it and where I needed to go to do so.”

  Jenny knew nothing was impossible here, she had experienced her fair share of strange things since she’d arrived. “Okay, when you say you flew while Deaglan ran, were you in the helicopter?”

  “No, my wings sprouted out my back and I flew by my own power.” She took a drink from her freshened glass.

  “And you healed the deer?” Jenny’s tone was not disbelieving, just curiously seeking clarification.

  “Yes.” Sheridan sat in her chair again. “Somehow an energy left my fingers and healed the wound. I watched as its fur grew back into place.”

  Ava was done being the spectator. “That last part you said, about the massage, has me wondering if you’re telling us you fucked Deaglan in the woods. Not that there is anything wrong with that. What I mean to say is, you go, girl.”

  It wasn’t really a question, and Sheridan felt no need to reply. She shrugged instead. Then raised her eyebrows at the warm feeling she felt thinking about that possibility. When she started to giggle, she suddenly felt like she should answer instead of letting them assume her giggles meant something else. “No, I didn’t, haven’t, and don’t plan to. He just rubbed the new muscles that came with the wings.”