Out of Darkness

by Cheree Alsop

  Ava took my arm and we stepped through the door. Inside, the gymnasium had been transformed into a ballroom. The prom committee had chosen red and gold as the colors. Streamers, balloons, and paper flowers hung everywhere, but there wasn’t time to enjoy it.

  Galdoni from the Center guided Mr. Bennett along with the students up the stairs to the balcony that surrounded the top level of bleachers. The students waited silently behind the bleachers where they wouldn’t be seen. Galdoni with long trench coats to hide their wings lined the floor. A few of the female Galdoni who had volunteered wore dresses with Velcro backs and lots of layers to hide any questionable lumps. Ava and I walked onto the gymnasium floor and Galdoni couples followed, acting the parts they had practiced.

  A song started. I let out a slow breath and began the waltz steps all the students had been taught in prom rehearsal. Ava danced so gracefully I felt like an oaf compared to her. She was the embodiment of beauty. I found myself watching her with the hope that the moment would go on forever. I almost forgot why we were there surrounded by fake couples dressed like humans, and why the students and teachers were hiding behind the bleachers on the upper level.

  The door to the gymnasium flew open, reminding me without a doubt. Ava and I slowed our dance.

  “Stay calm,” I whispered. “It’ll be alright.”

  “Give us the girl,” a Galdoni with hulking gray wings demanded.

  Ava and I backed away toward the far corner like we had planned. There were six Galdoni this time. Apparently going up by twos with every attack seemed like a good strategy to someone.

  “Give us the girl and no one gets hurt,” the Galdoni repeated, pursuing us across the gymnasium floor with the other Galdoni right behind.

  “Good,” Kale said into my earpiece. “Keep them moving.”

  When we reached the corner, I positioned Ava behind me. “Touch her and I’ll break your neck,” I said.

  “Do you have to antagonize them?” Kale asked exasperatedly in my ear.

  The leader stepped closer. “I’d like to see you try, kid.” He glanced at my wings and his eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who broke Steel’s arm.”

  “He had it coming,” I replied.

  “Reece,” Kale warned in the earpiece.

  “He said he was outnumbered,” the Galdoni argued.

  I shrugged. “Or it could be because he chose a stupid name like Steel.”

  The leader’s eyes narrowed. “He happens to be my friend.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Perhaps your friends need to learn not to mess with me. Their limbs might stay intact longer.”

  The Galdoni’s hands clenched into fists. His weight shifted onto his front foot. He was about to lunge. My muscles tensed in response.

  The door to the gymnasium slammed open once more. All the Galdoni looked back in time to see Officer Donaldson lead his team into the room. The Galdoni in disguise around us threw off their coats.

  The leader glared at me. A vein bulged in his neck as he fought to remain calm. “You set us up,” he said in a dangerous growl.

  I took the earpiece out in a casual gesture to hide how tense my muscles were at his proximity to Ava. “We set a trap and you were kind to oblige,” I answered.

  A roar tore from him and he attacked with fists swinging. I ducked under the first swing as a tranquilizer dart hit him in the back. I slugged him in the left kidney, then spun back and elbowed him in the jaw. Unfortunately, with the wounds in my shoulder, there wasn’t as much strength behind the elbow as there should have been.

  He grabbed me in a bear hug as he fell backwards from the effects off the tranquilizer dart. The motion sent pain tearing through my side. I turned so that my weight rested behind the same elbow. It drove into his stomach when we hit the floor. I rolled to the left and came up in a crouch, ready to take him out. His head lolled to the side.

  “Easy tiger,” Officer Donaldson said. He stood a few steps away, his tranquilizer gun pointed at the fallen Galdoni. “He’s out.”

  I nodded, but kept my attention on him in case he wasn’t as unconscious as he looked. Officer Donaldson put handcuffs on him. I rubbed my shoulder and glanced around the room. The rest of the attacking Galdoni were being handcuffed and led out the door. There were a few protests, but they were sorely outnumbered. Nobody wanted to be shot with a tranquilizer like their leader.

  “That worked out better than I could have hoped,” Officer Donaldson said. He motioned for his men to drag the Galdoni away. “Good work, Reece.”

  Ava hurried to my side. “Are you alright?” she asked, concern thick in her voice.

  I nodded with a relieved smile. “Just fine.” She threw her arms around me in a tight hug.

  Kale and Saro came out of the crowd who led the Galdoni away. “Good plan,” Kale said. “Though you probably could have watched what you said a bit more carefully.”

  I handed the earpiece back to him. “Then they would have known it was a trap.”

  Saro laughed. “That’s what I told him.” He smiled at Ava. “Kale’s always giving me a hard time for my mouth, but it’s gotten me out of more than one bad situation.”

  “And into quite a few more,” Kale concluded.

  Saro grinned and nodded toward Officer Donaldson’s gun. “You found stronger tranquilizers.”

  The police officer smiled. “I told you I’d keep searching. These are experimental, but they seem to do the job.”

  Principal Kelley appeared at the top of the second level. “Is it over?”

  “We’re done here,” Officer Donaldson called up. “We’ll clear the area and your students are free to begin their prom.”

  Cheers and the sound of footsteps answered his words as students hurriedly left their shelter behind the bleachers and ran for the windows to see the arrested Galdoni be loaded into the waiting police vehicles. The DJ started a pop song. A smile spread across Kale’s face. “You guys have fun.”

  “You could always stay,” I suggested. “You’ve never been to a school dance.”

  “Wouldn’t that be like having your father at the prom?” Kale asked.

  Ave and I laughed. “You’re three years older than me,” I pointed out. “You would have graduated a year ago, and Saro would be graduating this year if you were students.”

  “Exactly,” Kale said with a nod. “We’re too old for this stuff.”

  “Yeah,” Saro concluded, grinning at us both. “We’ll leave it for the youngsters to enjoy. Besides, Skylar and Brie are waiting for us back at the Center. We promised them a date.”

  “Thanks for trusting me,” I told them both.

  “If you graduate with top grades, we may be able to get the police academy to reconsider their denial of Galdoni,” Officer Donaldson said. He smiled at Saro. “I doubt they’d deny you a second time given all you’ve done since your first submission.”

  Saro returned the smile with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “Let’s see where this integration program takes us. Give it time.”

  “Deal,” Officer Donaldson agreed.

  ***

  Students were taking their places on the dance floor. Ava and I joined them. I watched Kale and Saro shake hands with Officer Donaldson and Principal Kelley before they left. Warmth flooded through me. The night had gone well. Everyone was safe, and we finally had a lead on Ava’s attackers.

  “You look extremely pleased with yourself,” Ava said. She leaned against my chest. “As you should be.”

  “You did a good job pretending like you were terrified,” I replied.

  She looked up at me. “I was terrified.”

  I cupped her cheek in my hand. She smiled and tipped her head into my touch and closed her eyes. “I would never let anything happen to you,” I said softly.

  “I know,” she replied. She opened her eyes and looked up at me again. “But I never want to be at someone’s mercy again. They were too close. It scared me.”

  I nodded and wrapped my arms around her to help her feel safe
. She ducked her head under my chin, her arms pulling me closer. I realized she was trembling. I hated that she was so afraid. I searched for a way to soothe her. “What if I teach you to fight?” I whispered into her hair. “What if you could defend yourself if something unexpected happens?”

  She looked up at me in surprise. “You would do that?”

  “Of course,” I replied, smiling down at her. “Fear comes from the unknown. If you know you can defend yourself, you won’t be so afraid.”

  She smiled, looking relieved. “I like that idea.” We danced for several minutes before she looked up at me again. “Were you afraid?”

  I grinned. “Terrified, but only because I was worried about you.” I shrugged self-consciously. “I ran my mouth to keep his attention on me. I didn’t want him to try anything.”

  She hugged me tight. “It worked, Reece. They’ll get to the bottom of this because of your plan. You protected me just like you promised.”

  I hugged her back and whispered in her ear, “I’ll always protect you, Ava.”

  We eventually took a seat at one of the decorated tables around the room. I eased down onto a chair, grateful for the rest. Seth and Sam joined us.

  “What a night!” Sam exclaimed. “That was amazing!”

  Seth nodded. “I can’t believe you took that Galdoni down.”

  “It was the tranquilizer,” I pointed out. “I really had nothing to do with it.”

  “Yeah,” he pressed. “But you were ready to pulverize him. I saw it in your eyes. If he so much as looked at Ava, he was dead.”

  Ava’s hand slipped into mine. I smiled at her. “I promised Ava nobody would hurt her.”

  Seth reached across the table and patted my shoulder. “Nobody will hurt you while I’m around.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Where were you during all of that?”

  “Cowering, like the rest of the students,” he admitted off-handedly. “But if my job wasn’t to cower, I would have been there.” He paused, then concluded, “I was a very good cowerer. Very convincing.”

  “Me, too,” Sam said with a little laugh. “You should have seen us. Seth even tried to steal a kiss, telling me it was the last time we might ever have the chance before the Galdoni killed us all.”

  “Comforting,” I mumbled. I glanced at Seth. “Did it work?”

  He grinned. “She said I could kiss her anytime; I didn’t have to wait for a death-threat by Galdoni attackers to do so.” As if he had just realized what he said, he leaned over and kissed her. Sam kissed him back passionately.

  Ava and I glanced at each other. Her smile matched mine, though I doubted the red blush across her cheeks looked the same on me.

  “Want another dance?” I asked.

  Her smile deepened. “Let’s dance the night away.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Learning to fight efficiently is all about using the most force while exerting the least amount of effort. You conserve your energy and can last much longer that way,” I instructed. “Show me a fist.”

  Ava clenched her hands. She looked so cute in training pants that were far too big on her and a red tee-shirt with a bluebird on the front. It was her favorite shirt.

  I checked her fist. “A bit looser. You don’t want all your strength to go into your fist. More natural. That’s right.” I picked up on one of the training gloves that had a practice pad on the front. “Okay, now hit it.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” Ava protested.

  I grinned at the thought. “You won’t. It’s padded. You can hit it as hard as you want.”

  “Alright,” she said uncertainly. She pulled her fist back and hit the middle of the pad with the strength required to swat a fly.

  “What was that?” I asked. “Where’s all your ferocious energy?”

  She laughed. “Ferocious, huh?” She punched the pad with more strength.

  “Better,” I nodded. “Much better.” I pointed to the hanging bag. “Let’s work on the bag. It’ll help you direct your punch where you want it to land, and also see the results of your force. You can channel it better that way.”

  Ava punched the bag. Its chain rattled a bit. She gave me a pleased smile.

  I nodded. “Nice. Now, turn with the punch, rotate so that all of your momentum is propelled to your contact point. It should start at your back foot so that when you turn, all of your strength is channeled into one smooth motion, like this.” My right foot pivoted as I turned, shooting my arm out with the force of the rotation. The bag jumped on its chain and swung. I caught it on its way back to us.

  “My turn,” Ava said excitedly. She turned into the punch and managed to get the bag to swing slightly. She jumped up and down. “I got this!”

  “You’re a regular killing machine,” I replied, laughing at her enthusiasm.

  “How about kicks?” she asked. “You always throw in kicks when they’re least expected.”

  I smiled. “I didn’t know you were paying so much attention.”

  “I always pay attention to you,” she replied. At my surprised look, she ducked her head. “That was cheesy.” She looked up at me through lowered eyelashes.

  The look banished my self-control. I pulled her close and kissed her. She let out a squeak of surprise, then returned my kiss, wrapping her arms gently around my shoulders. I stepped back with a sigh. “I think we just violated every principle of this room.”

  She laughed. “Kissing, fighting, it’s the same, right?”

  I put a hand to my racing heart. “Feels the same.”

  She smiled up at me with such love I could barely remember why we were there. I wanted to kiss her again, to hold her close and feel her pressed against me. I cleared my throat. “Well, uh, we’d better focus on those kicks.”

  I kicked the bag so hard it swung to the ceiling before coming back down. The pain that tore through my wounded side at the movement made me gasp. I was barely able to catch the bag before it bowled me over.

  “That’s my cue to sit this one out.”

  “Did you rip your stitches?” Ava asked worriedly as I eased down by the wall. “Dr. Ray said he would put you in a body cast.”

  I chuckled. “I know. It’s the only way he thinks he can get me to hold still.”

  “I’m starting to agree with him,” Ava said with her hands on her hips. She gave me a sweet, worried frown. “I don’t know what to do with you, Reece.”

  “Keep smiling like that,” I told her. “I don’t feel a thing.”

  She laughed and hit my good shoulder. “I’m supposed to be the one training. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.” At my raised eyebrows, she grinned. “In training, Reece. Focus.”

  I reluctantly turned my attention back to her training regimen. There was so much to teach her, it was hard to figure out where to start, especially since I had begun my training at age three. “Try the kick,” I instructed. My plan was to help her get the basics down, and then recruit Lem who had turned into a far better teacher than I ever could have hoped. Between the two of us, Ava would get the best training she could ask for.

  ***

  That night, I couldn’t sleep. I was about to give up and head to the roof when a slight tapping sounded on the floor. A smile spread across my face. With Ava’s room directly beneath mine, we had come up with a tapping system for communicating. Four taps meant do you want company. I crouched on the floor and pounded two taps back with my knuckles. The carpet was thick so I had to hit a little harder, but the three taps that quickly responded made me smile. A few minutes later, her shadow was at the door. I turned on the lamp.

  “What is this?” she exclaimed softly.

  The fact that I actually had a lamp was a big step, but it was the rest of the room she talked about.

  “Brie and Skylar helped me. I told them I was tired of living in a cell.”

  Ava’s smile said more than words as she looked around the room. She studied the scenery pictures on the walls, one of a sunrise over a beautiful lake, t
he dock lit by the early morning glow as if welcoming the viewer to take a stroll, and the other of the sun rising behind a beautiful delicate red arch with sandstone all around. Brie said they spoke of new beginnings.

  Ava’s hand trailed along the blue cloth couch complete with soft gray pillows that matched her wings. She smiled at the fact that there were curtains hanging to the sides of the window. “It’s wonderful, Reece.” She paused at the sight of the picture frame by the lamp. She picked it up. “Where did you get this?”

  I smiled at her hushed tone. “I bribed Koden to sneak around with a camera. Turns out he’s a fair hand at photography.”

  “What did you bribe him with?” Ava asked, studying the picture.

  “Wood for whittling. I cut some branches from a tree by the back doors. Don’t tell anyone,” I replied, watching her.

  Ava’s eyebrows were pulled together, her expression as if she didn’t know whether to smile or cry. I held up my hand and she handed me the frame before sitting next to me on the bed.

  “I didn’t know if you would wake up,” she said softly.

  I nodded, a lump in my throat. Koden had taken the picture after we made it home from the party and I collapsed on the medical level. Dr. Ray did the best he could, but the days I slept, the doctor said Ava refused to leave the floor. The picture was of her staring into the window, one hand on the glass and a look of such worry on her face it ate at my heart every time I looked at it.

  “It reminds me that someone cares,” I told her quietly. “It’s the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing before I go to bed. I feel like I’m a better person because of it.” I met her gaze. “Because if someone cares about you that much, you’ve got to be the best you can to deserve it.”

  She leaned over and kissed me. I closed my eyes and wrapped her in my arms. “I love you, Ava.”

  “I love you, Reece,” she replied.

  “There’s more,” I said, forcing myself to break away. I bent over gingerly. The action pulled at my stitches, but I didn’t let the pain show. I pulled a book from beneath the bed. “Here.”