by Lysa Daley
I’m so startled that I stop. There weren’t any tracks when we came this way a few minutes ago. The ground had been totally smooth and pristine.
Someone was following us.
My blood runs cold. Who would follow me? Who could keep up?
I instantly have the creepiest feeling that someone is watching me. Sparky must sense something too because he trots up and nervously sits right next to me.
“Come on, buddy. Let's get out of here.”
Feeling like a fool for leaving the compound and desperate to get back to the stables, I start to jog again, picking up speed as I go.
Together, we run as fast as we can. If someone wants to hurt me, they’re going to have to catch me first.
Relief floods through me when I finally spot the two towering oaks and the yellow metal gates that mark the threshold to the school compound.
Getting closer, I notice something tacked to the old oak on the left. A piece of paper flutters in the wind.
Sparky and I stop. He sniffs the air and growls. I can hear the whistle and the voices of the little soccer players in the distance.
Was that piece of paper there when I passed by the first time? No. I’m almost certain it wasn’t.
As I slowly approach the tree, I realize this note looks identical to the peach fabric-like note I found folded on the windshield of the truck.
Breathing hard with my hands on my hips, I hesitate for a moment then pull it down.
Chapter 23
My hands are shaking as I open the folded paper and read the neat block letters.
If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
Shakespeare?
I can’t remember if that’s from MacBeth or The Merchant of Venice. Not that it’s important right now.
Does someone know that I don’t bleed? If you prick me, I will not bleed. Is this some cryptic message or just a weird coincidence?
Sparky growls again, then slowly trots a wide circle around me, looking out into the forest of thick trees. Weird claw-like spikes on his back rise. I hadn't noticed these before.
That’s probably not a good sign.
For a moment, I consider crumpling the paper up and tossing it into the brush. I just want to get rid of it. Pretend I never saw it.
Instead, I fold the note and tuck it into my back pocket.
I know I can't bother my uncle with this right now, and I should probably show it to Jax or maybe Brother Carlyle.
But something inside of me doesn't want to.
What if they decide to move me again? To take me away from my uncle. I really can't bear the thought of being separated from him.
And what about Ruby? Will they separate me from her too?
“C’mon Sparky,” I say, yanking his leash a little harder than I meant to and jogging back toward the stables. “Let’s get out of here.”
As we’re running back, I decide that I'll show it to Ruby. She saw the first note. She’ll know what to do.
Returning to the stables, we’re met by Bella. “Whoa! Looks like you two just set the new world record for the 50-yard dash.”
“You said he needed exercise, so I gave him a good workout.”
“Great,” she smiles. “But don't feel like you have to run the half marathon every time you take one of them for a walk.”
I laugh and force a smile like everything is just fine.
It’s funny how good I’m getting at pretending everything is a-okay.
When I get back to the dorm room, I find Ruby furiously typing on a brand new laptop. “Hey, look what they just brought us.” She gestures to the laptop, then points to an identical one sitting on my desk.
“This place may be 200 years old, but at least they’re all state-of-the-art when it comes to gadgets and gizmos,” I say, trying to swallow the bad feeling that finding the second note gave me.
“How was the barn?” she asks.
“Good.” My hand instinctively goes to my pocket where I can feel the fabric-like note. “It was really more of a stable than a barn.”
“Oh la la. Stable sounds way posher than barn.”
Maybe I shouldn’t mention it to Ruby, after all. It’ll just worry her. If it comes up later, I’ll tell her about it.
“What’s wrong?” she asks as if reading my mind. “Did something happen?”
“No.”
“Yes, it did. Tell me.”
So much for that strategy.
I hesitate, then move closer in order to keep my voice just above a whisper. “I got another one.”
“Another what?” she replies, her face creased with concern.
Slowly, I pull the peach-colored note from my pocket. “One of these.”
Her eyes widen in recognition, and she gasps. “Where? When?”
“Just now. Behind the school…” I explain how I felt like someone was watching me when I took Sparky out and found it attached to one of the trees.
“You have to tell someone,” she says.
“Who?”
She thinks. “Tell Jax. He’ll know what to do, and if he doesn’t, he’ll know who else to tell.”
“But what if they make me move? What if they take me away from you and my uncle?”
Her face darkens. She hadn’t considered this. “They wouldn’t do that, would they?”
“They might.”
“I think you have to tell someone. For your own safety.”
“I know.” I nod, but I want to buy some time. “You’re right. Let me think about the best way to do it.”
After dinner, I head over to the hospital ward to check on my uncle. On my way, I make a quick pitstop.
As I sit down, his eyes flutter open. “Hazelnut?” my uncle murmurs quietly. He’s back to his familiar cloaked human form.
“Yep, made it myself,” I say.
“Uh oh…“ He pretends to look worried. Must be a good sign if he still has a sense of humor.
“The nurses told me you were awake and giving them trouble.”
He smiles proudly and nods. “Someone’s got to keep them on their toes.”
“And I see you have your own personal bodyguard,” I say looking down at Tom, back to being a cat, curled up at the bottom of the hospital bed sound asleep.
“Bah. He just wants to sleep someplace warm,” my uncle says dismissively, but he gently strokes the cat’s head as he speaks.
“I’m so glad you’re doing better,” I say. “I’ve been really worried.”
“Don’t worry about me. It’s almost impossible to kill a Moon-Eyed Blue.” He looks tired. Even talking to me seems to be difficult.
“I thought you might like me to read to you,” I suggest.
He nods and smiles. “As long as it’s not one of those crazy YA paranormal novels you’re always reading.”
“I wouldn’t make you suffer through one of those.” I pull a book out of my bag. My uncle is a lover of the classics. “I found one of your old favorites.”
When he sees the cover of “Call of the Wild” by Jack London he grins.
I open the book and begin. “Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair…”
As I read, Tom gracefully hops off the bed, spins a circle turning himself into a dog that closely resembles Buck. Except, of course, for the ever-present red collar.
I give him a little wink. “Thanks for the visual aid, buddy.”
We get through about twenty pages before I look over to see my uncle has nodded off and is softly snoring. Quietly, I pack up my stuff and tip-toe away.
As I pass the last bed on the left, I see that Ray the farmer - the guy who told me he has a bug in his head - isn’t there.
But when I pass the nurses’ station near the entrance, I see two of the attending nurses are eating chocolate turtles. I stop. “Are thos
e Ray’s?”
The nurses exchange looks as the one nearest to me says, “They were.”
“Were?”
“He didn’t make it,” the other nurse says sadly. “The surgery was unsuccessful. His family gave the candy to us when they came to get his belongings.”
Chapter 24
“Oh shoot!” I say aloud to no one as I leave the hospital ward.
I totally forgot that I’m supposed to start my training with Jax tonight.
With everything that happened today — and finding a second freaky note — it slipped my mind.
I dash back up to my empty dorm room and grab BrightSky, still cloaked as a red umbrella.
I pass Bella as I come blustering out of the elevator in the dorm lobby. “Hey there. Where are you headed?” She looks at BrightSky in my hand. “Expecting rain?”
“Um, yeah, I though it always rains in Oregon?”
She smiles politely, pretending that I don’t sound stupid. “I think you’re thinking of Seattle. Washington state and all that. I mean, we do have rain, but not all the time.”
“Oh,” I nod like this is news to me. “Good to know. Okay, I’ll see you later.”
I only know where to go because I passed the tall glass gymnasium structure when I got lost on my way to the barn this morning.
The sun has dipped beneath the horizon revealing a dark starless evening. But the mostly glass gymnasium glows like a warm beacon in the night.
You might think this modern architecture wouldn't fit in with everything else in the village of St. Benedict’s, but somehow it blends almost seamlessly. The gym’s tall arching windows harken back to those of the nearby cathedral windows, as does the angle and pitch of the roof.
Climbing the wide concrete steps of the gym, I see movement out of the corner of my eye near the far edge of the trees. A small gathering of white tail deer peacefully grazes on the large patches of clover growing in the shade of the pines.
One deer, in particular, a gorgeous buck with a huge antler rack, lifts his head up and watches me pass. I see the red collar.
“You’re late,” a familiar voice says before I’m even through the door.
“Fitz!” I say, happy to see him again.
“How you doing, kid?” he asks with a big smile, leaning back in a chair at a reception desk with his feet up.
“I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
He tosses a magazine on the counter and stands, “I was starting to think you were going to stand me up.”
“It was a crazy day. I’m still trying to get my bearings around here.”
Fitz comes around and ushers me into the gym. “Welcome to our little training center,” he says puffed up with pride.
Little is meant to be ironic because this place is ginormous. I can see why he's proud. It’s like American Ninja Warrior meets the Navy Seals.
A big blue floor mat, like gymnasts use, takes up one entire corner. A full-size basketball court sits right across from it. A padded running track rings the entire area. I see a massive weight lifting area, complete with every sort of workout equipment that you can imagine.
A group of high school kids are in the middle of a yoga class on a loft platform that rises above a narrow lap pool.
“What do you think?” Fitz asks.
“Jeez, where’s the football field and the batting cages?”
“We did manage to save a couple of things to put outside,” he laughs. “The Oregon winters can be long so we want to make sure we can make good use of our time. It's important that our students and agents are trained in multiple disciplines.”
As he’s speaking, a pair of super handsome, clean-cut guys, just a little older than me, with short haircuts and big biceps appear. They look like they just stepped out of the pages of a hot firefighter calendar.
“Astrid, meet Tyler and Jake. They're both former Navy SEALS, and they run things around here.”
“Nice to meet you, Astrid,” he holds out a hand for me to shake. “I’m Tyler.”
“If you need anything, you just let us know,” says the one who must be Jake. “We’re excited to see your Sword of Stardust in action.”
If training means working with these two gorgeous hunks, then I’m all in. I glance back-and-forth between the two and can't decide which one is better looking. After much deliberation, I decide that Jake is hotter, but Tyler is more handsome.
I pull out my best pretty girl smile and ask them, “You heard about my sword? Who told you?”
“I did,” says a familiar voice from behind me.
I turned to see Jax.
“Oh hey,” I reply, really wishing he would go away right now. “What are you doing here?”
“I'm here to start your training. Remember? Or did you forget I’m the one you’re working with.”
I sniff. “What? Of course I didn’t forget.”
“Maybe you were hoping for one of these two lunkheads to run you through your paces?”
Tyler and Jake look embarrassed and shake their heads. “Oh no, we could never train you at the level that Jax can,” Tyler says.
“No way,” Jake adds. “We may be good with guns and knives, but the art of wielding a sword has gone out of fashion in today's modern military training.”
Jax grabs the red umbrella out of my hands as he passes me. After a couple of steps, he lofts it back at me. “Alright Princess, let's get started.”
I grab it as it sails through the air and swing the umbrella around in a big circle. This motion somehow shakes off the cloaking, revealing the beautiful sword of stardust.
“Please stop calling me Princess,” I say, leveling a steady gaze at Jax.
Every eyeball in the gym focuses on BrightSky and me. You can hear a pin drop. What can I say? Every now and then, a girl’s got to show off a little.
“I’ll never call you that again,” Jax nods. Then adds, “Okay, your highness?”
Agent Simmons, the red-headed beauty that helped us rescue my uncle, hurries toward Fitz. “Sir, we need you in the Eye. Radar picked up two more sightings.”
Chapter 25
“Everything okay, boss?” Jax asks. I’m quietly hoping Fitz will explain what “sightings” means.
“Everything’s fine,” Fitz replies, following Simmons toward the front entrance. He turns to Jax and me. “Alright you two, play nice. I’ll check in with you later.”
After Fitz leaves, Tyler and Jake saunter back to the nearby weight room where I suspect they both spend a great deal of time.
Jax slides an athletic bag off his shoulder and sets it on the ground. “Alrighty then. Let’s get started. I have plans for later.”
As I’m wondering what type of martial arts or combat gear could be stored in the bag, he pulls out a shiny blue tennis racket and pair of yellow-green tennis balls.
“I hope you’re not looking for a mixed-doubles partner,” I frown. “Cause, just FYI, I’ve never played before.”
“No need to worry, I already have a pretty solid mixed-doubles partner,” he smiles slyly.
I decide to ignore that. “I see a whole lot of sports stuff around here, but the one thing I do not see is a tennis court.”
“Don’t need a court to hit the ball,” he winks then walks towards what looks like the obstacle course from Greatest Ninja Star that TV show where contestants battle their way across these crazy hamster-cage courses by running, jumping, climbing, swinging and dodging their way past different obstacles, while things shoot out, swing at their head and try to take out their knees.
“Welcome to the Leap of Faith.” Jax grandly points to the obstacle course.
“You named the human habitrail?”
“For your information, this happens to be one of the toughest indoor obstacle courses you will ever attempt.”
“It’s likely the only one I’ll ever attempt,” I counter.
“Well, get ready either way…” He walks over to the starting platform. “Cause, like it or not, you’re about to tak
e a leap of faith.”
I have a bad feeling about this.
Ten minutes later, I’m standing ten feet off the ground on the starting platform to this crazy course holding BrightSky.
“Okay, so let’s see how you do,” Jax says.
I nervously look over the edge of the platform. “It’s a long way down if I fall.”
“You'll be okay. People fall all the time. There’s plenty of padding,” he says, dismissing my fear. “Or, you could just not fall.”
I roll my eyes. Obviously, the solution is not to fall off the course. But that seems easier said than done considering all the things that are flying at your head and trying to take your feet out.
“Hold BrightSky for me.” I hand him my sword.
Jax holds up his right hand. “On your mark… get set…”
I take off down the platform.
“Go!”
The first obstacle is a trapeze bar across a ten-foot expanse, followed by a tunnel, a narrow balance beam, then over a foam wall.
So far, not so difficult.
I belly-crawl under mock razor wire, and hopscotch across fake rocks and all sorts of other crazy obstacles.
Crossing the finish line, I proudly twirl a couple of victory circles. “Yes!”
I’m not going to admit it to Jax, but it was actually sort of fun.
Meanwhile, Jax stands at the finish line, giving me the sarcastic slow clap.
I’m confused. “Wait. What’s wrong? I made it through all the obstacles without falling?”
“Yes,” he says, glancing dramatically at his watch. “But I’m pretty sure you just broke the record for the course’s slowest time ever.”
“You didn’t say I was being timed?” I argue.
“You were being timed.”
This guy is never happy. “Fine. I’ll do it again.”
“Great!” he says with a big wide grin. “But we’re going to do it a little differently this time.”
“What, like, blindfolded or something?” I say sarcastically.
“Oh! That’s a good idea.” His eyes go wide at the thought of making some poor soul complete this course blindfolded. “Maybe we’ll try that tomorrow.”