Chosen_Book One

by Rebecca Thomas

  Will nudged her. “I’m no coward.”

  “Not when it comes to fighting for what’s right. But what about fighting for what’s important to you?”

  She had a point. Hallie was very important to him. But this was too.

  “How about I make you a deal? When this is all over, I’ll go find her.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  They pinky swore to make sure that he would keep his word. And he would. His only worry was whether he would live long enough to fulfill it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Hey, eyes on me. If I’d known that Hallie being here was going to be so distracting, I would have said no,” Caleb said.

  Kiara looked a little embarrassed. Hallie had wanted to tag along with them because Alastair had cancelled her lesson for today and she didn’t want to be stuck at home, bored. What she hadn’t realised was that Hallie would end up sitting in the corner of the room, pulling faces behind Caleb’s back.

  “My bad, my bad!” Hallie said, rightfully taking the blame. “I’ll stop, so long as you stop to have a five-minute break and drink some refreshing water with me. Ehhhh?”

  Caleb looked at Kiara, who shrugged her shoulders.

  “I am a little thirsty.”

  “Fine,” he sighed.

  Kiara ran over to Hallie and was immediately greeted by a big bottle of water and a grin. Caleb followed at a much slower place, eventually coming to a stop near the treadmill so he could lean against it.

  “Soooooo, how did things go last night when you dropped Lily off at her house?” Hallie asked Caleb innocently.

  “What do you mean?” he narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Just that it looked like you and Lily were getting pretty close last night before that rude interruption.”

  Caleb shook his head. “We’re just friends.”

  “But whhhhhhhyyyyyy?”

  Kiara couldn’t help but giggle quietly. It was like Caleb was suddenly having to deal with a two-year-old.

  “Because of the rules. Do you remember what happened the last time I didn’t follow the rules?”

  “I broke practically every bone in my body, but that’s not the point.”

  “What’s the point?”

  “You like her. That’s all that should matter.”

  Caleb rubbed his forehead and groaned.

  “Would you please help me here?” he asked Kiara.

  “I’m on her side with this one,” Kiara told him. “What’s the harm in trying? It’s not like you’re getting married tomorrow, it might not even come to anything.”

  “It might ruin a perfectly good friendship.”

  “You’re both mature adults, you won’t let that happen,” Hallie said.

  Caleb looked between the pair of them, only seeing their stubborn determination to make something happen.

  “You’re going to keep bugging me about this until I relent, aren’t you?”

  “He’s learning,” Hallie stage whispered to Kiara, who snorted.

  “One date, that’s all I’m guaranteeing.”

  “That’s all we’re asking,” Kiara replied. “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

  Hallie pulled Caleb’s phone out his bag and thrust it towards him.

  “Here you go. Call her.”

  “All right, but not in front of you two,” he said wisely.

  Taking the phone from Hallie, he strode off to the kitchen to do his thing. Hallie offered Kiara a high five, which she met with enthusiasm.

  “He’ll thank us someday,” Kiara said.

  “Shall we go listen at the door?” Hallie asked cheekily.

  Kiara nodded, the pair of them having to stifle giggles as they scampered to their feet and sprinted across the room to the kitchen. Caleb had left the door open just a crack, so they could see him pacing, waiting for Lily to pick up.

  “Please don’t answer, please don’t answer, please don’t answer…” he muttered over and over to himself until… “Oh, hey, it’s me. By me, I mean Caleb.”

  There was the obvious pause where Lily spoke, then Caleb let out a goofy laugh.

  “Yeah, should have realised you can probably recognise my voice by now. Anywho, about the other night-- … Yeah, I really enjoyed myself too. … I was, uh, wondering if you wanted to go out again, but just the two of us. … Yeah, sort of. … It’ll be a surprise. … Okay, I’ll come by and pick you up later. … Bye.”

  As Caleb put his phone away, he smiled softly to himself. Despite what he had said to both of them, he looked like he was excited for his date, which was sweet.

  Sweet enough to make Hallie “aww” out loud.

  Kiara shot her a look as she covered her mouth, realising her mistake.

  “Were you two spying on me?”

  “No,” Kiara tried, but it wasn’t going to work.

  “Run,” he warned them. “Run now.”

  Both of them screamed as he whipped the door open, lunging for Kiara who was just about able to dodge his hands. As she got away, he went for Hallie instead, managing to wrap an arm around her waist as she tried to go for cover behind a nearby rowing machine. He lifted her up, which made her squeal and then cackle when he made a fart noise in her ear.

  “Laugh all you like, but you’re next,” he told Kiara.

  Kiara grinned.

  “Only if you can catch me!”

  ~

  Caleb wasn’t 100% sure why he had agreed to do this. The concerns he had voiced to the girls were valid. However, what truly scared him was when he and Lily inevitably ended up having a great time, they would want to do it again, and things would start to get complicated. Everything between them was so simple and good that he didn’t want to mess it up.

  His only solution to this was to make sure that the night was going to be fun and easy going, nothing overly romantic, in the hopes that they wouldn't go too far. There were plenty of things to do in London, from clubs and bars to bowling and skating, all of which could have worked. But he had something else in mind.

  “Namco Funscape, really?” Lily laughed.

  “Yeah. The cool kids tell me it’s a hip place to hang out.”

  Caleb grinned as she continued to giggle, struggling to form a witty comeback.

  “‘Hip’? I didn’t realise I was on a date with an old man.”

  “You’ve seen me in my glasses. Hadn’t those given me away?”

  “They are pretty thick. Like you’re looking out through a fish tank.”

  “Ohhhh, low blow.”

  “You were the one who started it,” she smacked him in the arm.

  “Now she’s turned violent!”

  Lily absolutely creased up.

  “Stop!”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “Why don’t we go inside, continue laughing in there?”

  “I would love that.”

  Caleb had been to arcades as a kid, but this place was absolutely massive. They had all sorts, from retro games to more recent releases, air hockey and even bumper cars. This had been a great idea.

  “Where do you want to start?” he asked. “We can race each other in the Batmobile or see who can whack the most moles?”

  “I actually really love air hockey. When my Dad and I used to go to the local bowling alley, we used to spend more time playing it than bowling.”

  “Are you trying to intimidate me?”

  “No…”

  Lily looked too innocent for that to be true.

  “All right. I’ll try not to let my pride be too badly wounded when you kick my ass.”

  Putting a pound coin in the machine, Caleb pushed her striker towards her and grabbed the puck.

  “Guess I get to start.”

  Caleb licked his lips in concentration, focusing on his aim, making her wait. Just when it looked like he was about to pull off an amazing first move, he slipped and hit the side of the puck by accident. It ricocheted from side to side across the table, where Lily caught it and smacked it straight
back, scoring immediately.

  “Ah, damn it,” he said.

  “Rookie mistake, you’ll do better next time,” she said.

  Except that he didn’t. Her next three goals were all flawless, with him flailing about all over the place to hit the puck back.

  “This is embarrassing,” he said.

  “I want to tell you that it’s not…” She didn’t actually finish her sentence because she was too amused.

  “Maybe I should just give up now and call you the winner?”

  “Nooo, that would be a waste of money. Let’s keep going. You might make a comeback, you never know.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Caleb lined up the shot again, although this time he looked defeated. With a sigh, he flicked his wrist and hit the puck straight into her goal. It was like he put no effort into it at all.

  Lily’s mouth fell open.

  “What was that?”

  “I believe that was what people used to call my signature move.”

  “Have you been hustling me this whole time?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Yoouuuuu!”

  She shook her striker at him menacingly but ended up looking ridiculously cute.

  “That’s adorable.”

  “It’s not supposed to be adorable! You fiend!”

  “Seriously, I can’t even right now.”

  Lily looked like she was struggling to decide whether to laugh or growl.

  “You’re going down, Lau,” she told him.

  “Right back atcha, Shaw.”

  The next five minutes made up the most furious game of air hockey he had ever played. They were batting the puck back and forth so violently and making so much noise that they actually drew a crowd.

  It came down to one last point, which could go either way. Caleb was psyching himself up for the win and he could see Lily doing the same across the other end of the table. He hadn’t realised this was going to get so competitive so fast. How this ended could set the tone for the rest of the evening.

  “Ready?” she asked him, placing the puck on the table.

  “Hit me,” he replied.

  Lily used the old false start to try and throw him off before she put the puck into play, but it didn’t work. Each time one of them was able to bounce the puck back, the crowd went ‘oooh’ or ‘aaah’. They were having to do some spectacular leaps and reaches in order to keep it going, until eventually, one last slip up meant…

  “YES!”

  Lily threw her arms in the air to raucous cheers and did a small victory dance, bouncing and twirling on the spot.

  “Your trick didn’t work! I still won!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, waving her off.

  Lily took a victory lap of the crowd, giving and receiving high fives, before coming to a stop beside him.

  “You’re not going to be a sore loser, are you?”

  Caleb gave her his best pout, sticking his bottom lip out as far as it would go.

  “Aww,” she said, reaching across to kiss him on the cheek. “There there.”

  A smile spread across his face, unbidden, the touch of her lips making his skin warm. Or maybe it was the blushing.

  “I think I’ll survive,” he decided.

  “Good,” she said.

  “Should we do something that maybe we’re both bad at next?” he suggested.

  “If it’ll make you feel better.”

  The rest of their evening was a ton of fun. They moved from game to game, whatever they felt like doing when they were done with the last one, until they got too hungry to keep going. They shared a couple of meals between them at one of the big fast food restaurants outside, then decided to walk home through the city, enjoying the cool night air.

  “This was nice,” Lily said when they stopped outside her apartment door.

  “Yeah, I think… that was probably the best night out that I’ve had in a long time.”

  “Better than the club?”

  “Oh, miles better than the club.”

  “Great, because I happen to agree.”

  “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

  The two of them smiled at each other. Everything had been so wonderful up until this part. If this was a normal date between two normal people, Caleb would have leaned in to try to kiss her. But this wasn’t a normal date, and they weren’t normal people.

  “I should, uh, probably go,” he said.

  “Yeah, right. I should, uh…” she pointed upstairs.

  God, this got so awkward so fast.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at Hallie’s, okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

  “Goodnight, Lily.”

  “Night Caleb.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  When Kiara had realised that Caleb wasn’t going to be arriving any time soon, marking the first time he had ever been late to one of their training sessions, she had laid down in the middle of the mats and closed her eyes. Thanks to Caleb’s training, she found it very easy to quiet her mind these days. It helped when she was trying to get to sleep because it shut down all the thoughts of the day and allowed her to nod off with little trouble. In this case, it was nice to just catch her breath before another several-hour-long session of exercises.

  Kiara was able to drift so far away from the room that she didn’t notice that there was anyone else there, so the ‘hello’ came as a surprise.

  Her eyes flew open to find Master Mahmid standing over her, a small smile tugging at his features. His hair was more gray than black, but he still had a thick head of it. The stubble on his face wasn’t what she expected from someone who headed up such an important organisation, but then she hadn’t known what to expect really considering how little Caleb actually spoke about his mentor. She had seen him once before, yes, but she had been drugged to the gills and very confused.

  “Hi,” she said, remembering her manners somewhere in the middle of her thoughts. “Caleb didn’t mention you were coming.”

  “To be fair to him, he didn’t know.”

  Master Mahmid offered her a hand up, which she gladly accepted.

  “I wasn’t expecting you to…” he trailed off, suddenly looking unsure of himself.

  “Be lounging around on the floor when I should be training? Noooo, It’s not usually like this. Usually it’s all go-go Chosen-ness,” she said, making a punching motion with both of her hands one after the other.

  Master Mahmid let out a soft laugh. “I was going to say that I wasn’t expecting you to look so much like your father.”

  “Oh. Um, yeah, that would have made more sense.”

  “It’s the hair, more than anything.”

  Kiara ran her fingers through her red locks, looking at it with a smile.

  “I didn’t find that out until recently, when Lily showed me her old pictures. I have his smile too, big and goofy.”

  “Joyful,” Master Mahmid said as an alternative.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes. No matter how bad things got, Peter could always see the positive side in everything. He didn’t experience life in half measures, he made every second count.”

  Kiara was grateful every time Lily talked about him, because she got another glimpse into the man who could have been her Dad from a little sister’s perspective. Master Mahmid had a completely different one, that of a student and maybe a friend?

  “I’m trying to do the same. Training makes it hard at times, but I fit in fun wherever I can.”

  “With Caleb?”

  Kiara wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Caleb felt like he was on a very tight leash after hers and Hallie’s near-death experience. The ominous silence from the Citadel hadn’t been helping. Kiara didn’t want to get him into trouble. But then, her silence might give it away.

  “You can say yes,” he told her.

  “I just… he works so hard, I don’t want you to think that he doesn’t. He’s such a good teacher, I can’t imagine going through this with anyone
else.”

  “I’ve known Caleb a long time. I know he puts everything into what he does, you don’t have to worry.”

  “Good,” Kiara sighed with relief.

  “And all of his reports have been promising, I just wanted to make him squirm a little after the stunt he pulled.”

  Apparently Master Mahmid had a bit of a crafty side.

  “Is it different mentoring other Guardians to Chosen?” she asked, curious. She wondered how his methods differed watching over someone like Caleb compared to someone like her Dad.

  “Chosen are much more likely to listen, because they know that their life hangs in the balance. Guardians in training can be harder to handle. It depends on their temperament.”

  “What was Caleb like when he first turned up looking for training?”

  Master Mahmid pursed his lips in thought. “Enthusiastic. Quite a lot of recruits that we see know or have known a Guardian, whereas Caleb came armed with his research and a lot of questions. I haven’t mentored anyone else who is as eager to learn and to be the best they can be.”

  “You see, it’s funny, because even when I’m not getting things, he’s always so calm and patient with me.”

  “That’s because he’s trying to be the best teacher for you. Sometimes others need a different style. His second Chosen, Eduardo, was full of fire and could barely sit still. It took a lot more management to get him to do as he was told. Caleb learned the hard way with that one, but it made him a better mentor in the long run.”

  “Hallie can be a bit like that sometimes. No wonder he takes her in his stride in class,” Kiara smiled.

  “Your girlfriend was how you and Caleb met?” Master Mahmid asked.

  “Yeah, the class overran because Hallie would not stop asking questions. I snuck into the room, so I could watch them going back and forth, it was great. Hallie wasn’t very focused throughout her first year of classes, so to see her grilling him like that was as cool as it was funny. It was like a game of verbal tennis. She introduced me after the rest of the class managed to escape. I think Caleb and I have quite a lot in common, we just didn’t realise that until all of this happened.”

  “Hmmmm. Caleb has always been more involved with Chosen than he should be, but knowing about your history, I can see why you connected. I don’t begrudge him the friendships he makes, but the closer you get the harder it is to let that person go when the time comes.”