"Sunny?"
"Yeah?" I watched several emotions flick across Ben's face, but then he just gave a shake of his head, smiled at me and said, "Goodnight. Thanks for coming with me." Then he turned to go back to his car. I watched him get in and drive away. For just a moment, I wished I could be what Ben wanted. It would have been so much easier to just be normal. Some of my joy left with Ben.
I went inside. I stopped in to talk with my mom, who of course waited up for me. I told her about the dance. I even told her about Leif stopping in. She didn't seem too surprised. She just said to be careful of my heart. Something about it being easy to break. Too bad I already learned that lesson.
Chapter Eleven
Training
Once I reached my room, I took a quick shower and put on my comfy pj's then I waited. I waited some more. Finally, after being bored out of my mind for almost two hours, I gave up and went to sleep. I was annoyed and hurt that Leif hadn't come. What was the point of asking me to unlock the window if he wasn't going to use the dumb thing?
Dawn was creeping in over the horizon when I felt Leif snuggle my body into his. Without a word of complaint, I rolled over into him and tossed my arms around him then went back to sleep, happy with the knowledge he had finally come. It was the most restful sleep I'd had in a week.
When I was finally ready to wake up, Leif was gone. He left me a note on the pillow, telling me to meet him at the cross around lunchtime. He would bring something to eat.
As it was almost lunchtime and it took at least twenty minutes to walk to the cross, I needed to get moving. I jumped out of bed, pulled my hair up into a ponytail, washed up, and dressed quickly in a pair of old jeans then layered a blue tank top with a low red v-neck cotton shirt. On my way out, I threw on a navy blue zip hoodie, and I was out the door with a yell in the general direction of the house that I would be back in a while. I didn't wait to see if anyone replied.
I made good time up the hill to the cross and actually ended up beating Leif there. I circled the cross and read the memorial posted by Mr. Schwarz in memory of his wife.
Leif broke out of the woods and into the clearing. My heart tripped over itself for a moment and sped up at the sight of him. In a pair of worn blue jeans and long sleeve white shirt, he looked really good.
"Hey, where's lunch?" I asked, noticing he was empty handed. I had left the house so quickly I hadn't had anything to eat yet. I was hungry.
"Look we don't have much time before the others get here. I wanted to talk to you first. We need to talk."
I gave him a frown. The others were coming? Great. "'Kay." He was right, though. We did need to talk. I had my own issues that needed answering. Before I could open my mouth to speak, he put his hand gently over my mouth, surprising me into silence.
"First," he said then he pulled me to him in a tight embrace and proceeded to kiss the daylights out of me. "God, I missed you." Hoo, the boy could kiss. Holy Moly.
"Okay," he said after he sat down on the ground at my feet, his long legs stretched out in front of him, "I'm ready, start yelling." I took a moment to collect myself as I sat down next to him. I pulled one of his hands into mine and sat quietly, thinking about what to say.
I looked at him. I was inches away from his face. I looked directly into his eyes and asked, "Was I just a job? Didn't you mean any of it?" I probably should have been more specific, but I knew he would understand. My heart was feeling heavy already, and he hadn't even begun to answer.
"Honestly, it was supposed to be just a job, just a mission. Inquire into whether you were the lost princess, recruit you to the rebel cause and retri…uh, bring you home to Acadia. That was the job. That was how it was supposed to be. But that all changed the moment I saw you. I didn't want you to be anything more than a nameless person. I didn't want to become attached. Sunny, you don't understand how it has been for me. I have been dead inside for a long time. You made me feel alive, and I was afraid. You can't understand how I have lived. You can't understand what my life has been like." His earnest face gave truth to his words.
He was right, I didn't know any of it. He never said anything. That was not my fault though.
His eyes I remember being cold and dead like the others, Leigha, and Austin, and Gavin. Now they were warm silver, and sparkled with life. I had noticed the change in him. I just hadn't realized I was the cause of it.
"Then the first time I touched you, held you, do you remember that night?"
I did, that was the night my life had changed too.
"That moment, everything changed. I knew I was never going to let you go. I had to, had to spend every moment I could with you. To protect you, keep you safe, keep any others that would find you away."
"I was afraid to let you out of my sight, even for school. The Shadow Guards then the others came in a few weeks ago. I wanted to tell you then. I was afraid to. Afraid you would hate me. The look on your face, in your eyes, that night after what happened at Dee's, when you realized all the lies I had told you, I don't think I can ever erase it from my mind. It haunts me."
He pulled me into his lap, running his hand absently up and down my arm. I don't know if it was to comfort me or him. I guess it was for both of us. I relaxed back against his chest and thought about the last few weeks. Everything had been so fast. If I was smart, I would have stepped back. Settled my life a bit. That wasn't going to happen though. I loved him. I couldn't see my life without him. Especially now.
"What about Acadia and the King?" I asked.
"Sunny, I wish you weren't the lost princess. I wish you were just a lost Shadow Walker like me. It would all be so much simpler for us. But you aren't. You're the one we all have been searching for. I know you are. I only entered the quest a few years ago, but it is what we have all been hoping for and praying for. We need you to be what we have been searching for. Acadia needs you. Our people need you. You have no idea how much."
He leaned in and looked at me as I had him moments before and said softly, "And…I need you. Not because of who I believe you to be, but because of who you are. You really are like the sun. You bring light everywhere you go. I love you, Sunny."
I caught my breath at his words. He loved me, and I believed him. I could see it in his face, in his eyes that he meant it. "Leif, you know I love you too. But now what? Leif, I can't just leave my parents."
"We'll figure something out. We'll make it work." He gave me a quick squeeze, then stood up, pulled me to my feet and said, "Company's coming."
I turned my head toward the path and watched as Leigha, Austin, and Gavin came into view. I felt instantly on-guard and edgy. I didn't want to care what they thought of me, but I did. It would have been easier for all of us if we could have found some common ground. I felt a warm flush move through my body. I so hoped that I remembered to use deodorant.
Even though Leif towered over me, I never really felt short in his company. It was a different kind of small feeling, it was more like cherished. However, being around the others who were all at least six foot tall, I felt short, and somehow weak in my smallness.
Leigha came directly over to me, knelt down on one knee, and said stiffly, "It is a pleasure to officially meet you, your highness."
I frowned at her then said with sarcasm and annoyance, "Please don't ever, ever say that to me again. Get up." She gave me a perplexed look then glanced over at Leif, who I noted was trying without success to hold back his smile as well as the rumbling laughter that followed.
Leigha rose to her feet and took a step back. "I don't understand. You are the lost one, rightful heir to our throne?"
I was unhappy to realize she was quite serious. If she had any feelings, I think I may have hurt them. That gave me something to think about. It made the others seem more real to me, more human. Maybe they were all as Leif had been, just hiding behind masks of their own making. "I don't feel like royalty. I'm just a teenager from Ohio." Leigha was still looking unsure so I said, "Just don't bow and 'your highness' me, it
gives me the willies, okay?"
I looked over at Austin and Gavin. They were also watching me intently. I wasn't about to sprout horns or anything, at least not that I knew of anyway. The way my life was going, it wouldn't have really surprised me at that point. "Don't even start," I said in their direction.
I turned my attention to Leif and asked, "Aren't you going to say something?" This was his group, his meeting. I was feeling like a slide under a microscope. Everyone was staring at me. I gave them a huge toothy smile, to try and reassure them, but that didn't help. They looked at each other in question then at Leif who thankfully, finally deemed he was ready to talk.
"Okay, everyone, we have to decide where to go from here. Sunny," he said looking directly at me, "you know everyone, right?" Of course I did, he had introduced us. I nodded my head once.
"First, I think Sunny needs training." He held his hands up to forestall any angry retort I may have been thinking, which I was of course, as that was a bit rude.
"Sunny, you have no real fighting skills." I actually couldn't argue with that. I was not a fighter. I have always been a bit mouthy and sarcastic when needed, but I was not very strong, so physical defense was so not my thing.
"Austin is a great warrior in hand-to-hand stuff. He can teach you how to fight up close and personal with anyone. Gavin is a specialist in weapons. Leigha is fast and efficient and will help you learn how to use your weaknesses to your advantage."
"What about you? What will you be teaching me?" I interrupted.
"I will help tune your Shadow Walker abilities. You have gifts that we have never seen before. I want to see and learn what I can from you as well as help you learn to use them."
It was decided that we would train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Gavin, Leigha, and Austin would get one hour with me on each day starting after school. Leif would spend time working on my shadow gifts on the weekends. That all sounded good to me. How hard could it be?
~ * ~
Monday began what I like to call the "Life and Times of Sunny in Hell." It all started out nice enough. Leif, of course, met me after school and together we walked up to "our" clearing. The others were already there waiting for us. "Austin is going to start with you today," Leif instructed. "Kind of see where you are. See what strengths and weaknesses you have."
Austin and I hadn't had much of a chance to get to know each other, so I was a bit nervous. How do you train with someone that intimidated the heck out of you? I sauntered over to him with my hands tucked into the back pockets of my jeans and tried to lighten the mood. "So, you pulled the short straw, huh?" Apparently he hadn't ever heard that saying before because he just looked at me without answering. Oh, lovely, this should be fun.
"Try to strike me," he said. That was all he said. He just stood there looking at me with his empty brown eyes. Well, since he said so. I curled my hand into a fist and hauled back. Before I could press forward to attack, I heard him sigh. A big, huge, enormous sigh. I dropped my arm back down to my side and said in my own grouchy voice, "What?"
"You don't even know how to hit? Good Lord. We have such a long way to go. Look, you don't hit with your fist like that, all bunched up, knuckles out. All that is going to accomplish is breaking your hand. You hit with this part." He grabbed my hand and curled my fingers down over themselves, leaving the palm of my hand open. He was tapping and indicating the bottom part of my hand.
"Aim for my nose, throat, my eyes. Don't just go for the face. People have strong jaws and cheeks, you will need to aim for the softer parts. Try again." He dropped his hands down to his sides again and waited. Now that I was a bit embarrassed, I was ready to wallop him one.
Too bad for me, because the moment I pulled back to strike, he reached out, grabbed my wrist, and twisted hard which allowed him to easily turn me around and jerk my arm up behind me. This caused my knees to bend which dropped me down to the ground. Then with just a little more pressure from Austin, my face slammed into the cold frozen dirt. Just to make matters worse, he asked, "Did you see what I just did?"
He was such a cheater. He didn't say he was going to try to attack me back. I assumed he would just defend himself or something, not drop me down to eat dirt. Through clenched teeth, I demanded, "Let. Me. Up." He immediately let me loose. I gracefully rose to my feet and brushed myself off with as much dignity as was possible under the circumstances. Without looking at anyone else to see their response to my lovely introduction to hand to hand combat, I said, "Let's try that again."
He had the nerve to smile at me. That's alright, I was ready that time with my own tricks. I prepared, hauled back, and when I was about to press forward, I phased into the shadows, jumped behind him, and kicked the back of his knees. I watched him drop down to the ground then I pounced. I grabbed his head with both of my hands and pushed his face down into the dirt. I jumped off him immediately and let the shadows fall away, stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, and waited to see how he would react. I didn't look at the others, but I did notice the absolute silence behind us.
I was beginning to get concerned. My stomach was getting a bit jumpy when Austin rolled over onto his back, his arms flung out at his sides, and let loose with a loud, jubilant laugh. A huge belly laugh. His shoulders were shaking and everything. I was then the confused one. He wasn't mad? Why not?
I looked over at Leif and the others for some indication as to how to proceed, but Leif was standing with Leigha and Gavin, with their own looks of astonishment on their faces. Whether their astonishment was at me for my sneaky behavior or at Austin, I couldn't tell.
Finally, Austin rose to his feet, wiped the dirt from his smiling face and said, "Thank God! You aren't hopeless after all." It was easy to smile back at him, as his face had lost the dead look and he now looked human. I needed to learn that trick. It could come in handy.
We worked together much more easily for the next hour. Both of us ended up down in the dirt time and again as we learned to counter each other. I admit, I usually ended up with my butt on the ground, but I was able to occasionally surprise Austin and take him down once or twice.
The others seemed to enjoy the show. Every once in a while someone would yell out encouragement or some advice to us, but otherwise I didn't notice they were there. The hour ended before I realized it. Austin helped me to my feet from where I had ended up again on the ground after our last attack and said, "Not too bad. Nope, not too bad at all."
I wanted to say something snappy back at him, but I was a bit embarrassed by the compliment, backhanded as it was. All I said was, "Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself." I know it was lame. What can I say?
"Gavin's up next. Enjoy." Then he walked away and grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler I hadn't realized they had brought up. He sat down in the shade and gave me a salute with his water bottle. I marched over to the cooler, grabbed myself a bottle, and said smartly, "Yeah, a cool drink would be fabulous, thanks for asking." I zipped off the cap and drained it halfway before coming up for air. I was suddenly wishing for a bologna sandwich or something. I looked at Austin again for a moment. "You do that on purpose don't you? Just to get a rise out me."
Austin shrugged, and with a shake of his head and a toothy smile, said, "You make it too easy. Who would have thought that such a small package would have such a huge temper."
My mouthy reply was, "It's a gift. What can I say?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw Gavin setting up a small target of hay, and in his hand he held…Good Lord! It was a bow. You have got to be kidding me. "Here." I shoved my water bottle at Austin and rushed over to Gavin.
"You have got to be kidding! You can't be serious. Don't you guys have, like, Uzi's or automatic weapons, or ray guns for Pete's sake? A bow and arrows, seriously?"
Gavin was apparently the serious one. He didn't break a smile or anything. He just cocked an eyebrow up at me in question and looked at me until I squirmed then he said, "No."
Just no. That's it. I sighed internally
, crossed my arms over my chest, and waited for him to finish fooling around with his toys. Finally, he turned to me and handed me a small bow. It was made of wood that was shiny and worn in some places.
I held it out in front of me, waiting for further instruction. Just because I had watched the movie Robin Hood a time or two, didn't mean I knew what the heck to do with the thing.
"What hand are you?" he all but shouted at me. I know I mentioned before that he had a military look to him. Well, his voice completed the look.
"Ahh…left?"
"Don't you know?"
"Hey."
He ignored me. He grabbed my right hand, and when I say grabbed, I mean yanked it just about out of its socket, and wrapped my hand around the handle, placing the stringy thing toward my body. Then he thrust an arrow into my left hand and said, "Nock it."
I, of course, looked at him blankly. He growled at me. He actually growled. I tried not to smile, but I felt the corners of my mouth quirk up anyway. He bared his teeth at me. The smile left my face.
He stepped behind me, grabbed my left hand which held the arrow, remember what I said about grabbing, and placed the string between a tab at the back of the arrow. I assumed this meant nocking. Then he balanced the front of the arrow on my right hand thumb. "Now, we are going to pull back together, don't let go until I tell you to," he ordered quite loudly in my ear. I might have been deaf by the time the lesson was over. He was all but draped over me. I wished that it was Leif teaching me this weapon. I was sure it would be hot. "Pay attention," he growled. Yikes, I immediately tossed my thoughts of Leif from my brain and paid attention as ordered.
Gavin proceeded to talk about aiming. Like, how to aim high for this, or low for this, and frankly, I was thinking about how my arms were tired, and the muscles of my neck were starting to get tight. Then he let go of me and said, "Now let go when you are ready."
Well, when he let go, I realized I had not been holding the arrow back, but that Gavin had. The moment he let go, my arm jerked forward, the arrow came un-notched, and I looked like an idiot. I grumbled under my breath, "You could warn me next time." I didn't expect an answer, so I was not surprised when I didn't get one.
Shadow Dancer Boxed Set Page 11