Tolen called up a wall of dirt in the middle of the floor, and her stomach did a somersault. It looked so cool!
Tolen lifted his hand and the wall collapsed under his touch. The little warriors patted him on the back. Tolen looked over at her and she gave him thumbs up. Heat trickled down her arms and her fingers tingled. Her face burned with the reaction of her Kuna and she looked away.
“Little one?” Kiad walked up beside her. Though it was obvious he’d spent more time among humans by his clearer speech, he obviously hadn’t picked up on addressing people the right way. He had been calling her “little one” since they arrived. She thought it was a bit much considering she was still taller than most of the Doogar, including him. Bastian said it wasn’t an insult; they were referring to the fact that she was so much smaller than Bastian or Tolen. This didn’t stop it from being annoying.
She pulled the sucker from her mouth. “Yeah?”
“Are you feeling well enough to join us?”
She grinned. “Really?”
Kiad nodded. “Bastian wants you to practice. Your healers have given it the okay as long as we take it easy on you.” His eyes glittered with suppressed humor.
Macy clenched her teeth and stood up from the floor, ignoring the pain in her leg, and tried not to limp to the center of the room. She stuffed her sucker back in her mouth.
Tolen looked over, raised his eyebrows, and smiled.
Her pulse rose. His smile was really nice. His pale blue eye, something that at first had wigged her out, was actually a perfect contrast to his dark brown eye. Gold from the light of the Binithan streaked his wavy chocolate hair where it touched his collar. Pretty soon he’d need a ponytail like Bastian. She chuckled at the thought.
Tolen’s smile turned quizzical and she stopped laughing. She’d totally been staring! She cleared her throat and looked away.
Kiad passed around wooden bows, arrows, and small curved wooden daggers. “A Doogar blade is extremely sharp. As Tolen has never used one before, we have been practicing with these.” He handed Macy the piece of wood.
It looked like a toy.
Kiad turned to Tolen. “We will try to improve your accuracy later with the bow and arrow. For now, we will continue with the dagger. By the time you leave you shall know enough of the basics to aid yourself in battle, should the need arise before you reach the camp.”
“Why do I need weapons? Wouldn’t it be better to use my abilities?” Tolen twisted the wooden dagger in his hands.
Macy snorted. “Dude, haven’t you felt what happens to you when you use your gifts? You’re exhausted, right?”
Tolen raised his eyebrows. “It does drain me a little bit.”
“Well if you’re using only your gifts in a fight, it’s going to drain you a lot. Remember how long you slept after we got here?”
His jaw flexed and he nodded.
She was being rude again but what else could she say? She bit hard on her sucker. It’s the truth.
“Well, you don’t have to be so obnoxious about it,” Tolen snapped.
Macy’s sucker fell out of her mouth. She hadn’t said the last comment aloud.
Kiad looked between them with a curious expression. “Little one is right. Your gifts should be your last resort. As we have discussed in your shield lessons, it is almost impossible to keep your life force shielded from the Dark when you are exerting your power. The Balance is affected the most when you are at your peak, which draws more creatures to you. You are much better off trying to deflect, or kill, as many creatures as you can before you resort to your gifts.”
Tolen shifted his feet. “Sometimes the trees act without my asking. Does that mean I’m using my ability without realizing it?”
Kiad cocked his head to the side and eyed Tolen shrewdly. “Maybe. It is possible that your connection with nature is strong enough that it is aware of your emotions and needs and reacts of its own free will. For now, I would suggest you try to pay attention to your thoughts as you fight and make sure you are not asking for help from any outside force.”
Macy remembered Ardia. Some trees were definitely helping Tolen by their own choice.
“Okay.” Tolen ran his hand through his hair and tugged on his collar.
Kiad paired them up. Elryn stood on a table to spar with Tolen. Macy paired up with Deegan. Kiad walked between them giving pointers, showing them specific moves and counter attacks.
Macy was sweating twenty minutes into the mock fight. Her weak body made her angry. Deegan moved in and she tried to slide under his arm, but her knee gave out and she ended up barely rolling out of the way of his strike. Heart pounding, anger building at her weakness, she knew she had one shot to win this fight before she collapsed.
She pushed what remaining strength she had down to her lower body, jumped up off the floor, ran up the wall, and pushed off to come down on Deegan with a kill stroke. Deegan fell to his back and raised his palm in defeat. She stumbled past him, dropped her knife to the dirt, and leaned over with her hands on her knees. Her ribs throbbed with each deep gulp of air.
“You have done too much,” Deegan panted. “Rest now. You are very skilled.” He bowed and walked away.
She leaned her back against the wall and slid down to the ground. Her left arm and leg were burning and shaking. She looked over to see Tolen still fighting. Sweat soaked every inch of his light blue t-shirt, making it cling to his body. He was more muscled than she’d realized.
He had changed so much since Green River where he tried so hard to be invisible. It was strange to see him standing tall and fighting. It created a whole new picture of him, a picture of him as the real Ninth of legend. Goosebumps rose on her arms and a strange tingling rose from her toes until it filled her entire body. She was a Chosen for crying out loud. She didn’t have time for silly things like relationships—besides he was the Ninth!
An hour later, they finally stopped when Kiad determined that Tolen had gotten the hang of blocks and parries. Kiad collected the wooden daggers and paused in the center of the room. “Tomorrow we will focus on jabs and kill shots. Deegan will also teach you grappling, in case something gets close enough to grab hold of you.” He grinned at Tolen’s horrified look, bowed, and the three Doogar left the room laughing.
Tolen walked over to the water drum beside the entrance and dumped a cup of water over his head.
Macy couldn’t stop staring as he walked over and sat down beside her.
“Sorry about earlier,” she mumbled. “You know . . . being obnoxious. It’s kinda the way I am.”
“Just kinda?” He smiled and shook the water from his hair with his fingers. It splattered her face and she slugged his arm.
He chuckled. “It’s okay. I’m starting to get used to it.”
She considered slugging him again but smirked instead.
He laughed again softly. “How are you feeling? That was a hard workout for someone healing from broken bones.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m great.”
The corner of his mouth lifted and he met her eyes with a playful grin. “You’re absolutely sure you don’t want me to heal you the rest of the way?”
“Yep.”
He chuckled again and she pushed her shoulder into him, enjoying the contact more than she knew she should. “You’re still not that cool.”
He shrugged. “Not yet. I’ve got plenty of time though.” He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “I must admit the competition isn’t going to be easy. Even injured you’re lethal.”
“Just you remember that.” She bit back a grin, trying to ignore the tingle of pleasure she felt at his compliment. “You’re not doing too bad yourself.”
“It’s a lot to remember.”
Macy traced her finger in the dirt to avoid being distracted by his strange eyes and the feeling in her stomach. “Bastian tol
d me when I was first learning not to focus so much on the ‘how’ as the ‘when’. The how is already stored in your brain from your training sessions. The when is based on the actions of the enemy you are up against. If you’re concentrating on when to act, your brain and your life force work out the how for you.”
“Like instinct?”
“Exactly.”
He nodded slowly. “When everything happened with the Phantom tree, I think that’s what I did. Everything worked the way I needed it to even though I’ve never been trained to use Nature Speak.”
“And you’ll never be trained how to use your Nature Speak.” Macy lifted her good leg and rested her arm on her knee, her heart fluttering as she remembered the Phantom. She’d never been in so much pain.
“Isn’t that what the Doogar have been teaching me?” Tolen waved his hand around the room.
“No, they’ve just been teaching you a few key Hidden words so you can connect to your gifts. How your life force speaks to Nature was born with you. The language itself is ingrained in every neuron of your brain, body, and life force—you just can’t remember. What the Doogar are teaching you is how to connect with what is already there. That’s why you were able to do what you did in the Lava Beds. Deep within the reaches of that thick head of yours, your brain already knew what had to be done. It worked with the strength of your freakishly strong life force. It pulled out what was embedded in your brain at birth and combined it with your power, sending out what you couldn’t because you were focused on the when and what you wanted to happen.”
“Was that a compliment?” Tolen gave her a sideways look.
Macy shrugged. “Take it however you want to, dude.”
He gave a thoughtful half smile. “It sounds crazy impossible.”
“Tell me about it. The first time I created fire in my hands, I thought Bastian had slipped me some illicit drugs or something. I totally freaked.”
“You didn’t know what you could do when you were chosen?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“My gift didn’t show itself until about a month after Bastian found me. Sometimes a Chosen’s shard gives them their power right away. But with dangerous gifts like fire, it comes on slowly—a six year old suddenly creating fire—ever seen the movie Fire Starter?” She grinned. “The Light wanted me to learn a little bit more about the new world I was in before I had the responsibility of my gift.”
“Sort of what Bastian’s doing to me, not telling me everything until he thinks I can take it?”
Macy tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Um, yeah.” If you had any idea buddy, you’d totally freak.
“I might not freak out. I’m not a total pansy. I can handle more than he thinks I can.”
Macy jumped. Huh. He clearly didn’t realize he was answering comments straight out of her head—well she wasn’t about to enlighten him. He was sensing her thoughts more and more, but only the thoughts that directly related to him. He was also obviously sensing her physical well-being. She frowned. She didn’t really like it, even if he had no idea what he was doing. “Bastian can be pretty overprotective. Keep practicing and maybe it won’t be much longer before he feels like you’re ready.”
Tolen crossed his long legs beneath him. “I guess I am still having a hard time taking everything in. Half the time when I’m alone, I’m pinching myself to see if I’m dreaming.”
Macy couldn’t stop herself from reaching over and squeezing his hand. “I pinched myself for three years straight after I was Chosen—I still haven’t woken up.” Her Kuna surged to her fingertips and her stomach flipped, but she didn’t want to let his hand go. “I could tell you, Tolen, but honestly, I won’t do that to you. Bastian is right. Learn everything you can about your new life. I think you’ll know when you really are ready to accept it all.”
She made to pull her hand away before her Kuna got too strong, but Tolen held on. He laced his fingers through hers and started rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. His eyes met hers and the look she saw there made her hands start to shake.
It was like seeing fire.
The smell of eucalyptus and roses swirled in the air and Tolen dropped her hand.
“Ouch.” He rubbed his hand on his jeans.
Macy’s face burned. She focused on calling the heat away from her smoking palms.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. What was it with this kid? How did he do that?
His head shot up and he met her eyes with a curious expression. “The next time you want me to stop holding your hand you just have to ask.” He chuckled softly, ran his fingers from her elbow to her wrist, and lightly tapped her palm. “Thank you Macy, for talking to me and spending time with me since we’ve been here, for being my . . . friend . . . ” He stood up and waved. “See you later.”
The fire rolled back to Macy’s palms. She closed her eyes and held her breath trying to keep the heat inside. She heard him leave but she couldn’t move. Never before had she had to try so hard to hold in her Kuna.
Why? Why did he touch her like that? Maybe that was how they were in his family— really affectionate . . . really weird. It wasn’t because he actually liked her, like romantically or anything. No, he was nice, like Bastian kept saying. Weird, but nice.
Her heart resumed a normal pace and her Kuna eased to only the slight burn she felt deep in her chest all the time.
Yes, that was definitely it. Tolen was just nice. She’d have to keep him from showing his niceness anymore or she was bound to do something really embarrassing.
She pulled herself off the floor and fervently hoped Bastian had been too preoccupied with his planning to pay attention to what his Chosen wards were doing.
With a shake of her head, she hobbled off in the direction of the kitchens, ignoring the flutter in her stomach at the thought of Tolen’s touch.
o o o
Tolen hurried out the door and shook his tingling hand, berating himself with each step. He should have helped her up. He should have offered to walk with her to dinner. She probably would have said no, but it’s what a gentleman would have done. He was such an idiot. She had a way of muddling his brain.
Worse was the fact that he had to admit to himself that he’d wanted to touch her for a while. The more time they spent together, the more drawn he was to her, and he was beginning to doubt it had anything to do with the fact that they were both Chosen.
No, it was more just Macy herself that drew him. When the arrogance was off her face, it left a childlike vulnerability in her eyes. When Tolen looked into them, he could see a tiny glimmer of the young girl whose human life had been stolen from her and he felt overwhelming compassion for her loss.
His heart had been broken by what happened in the canyon, Macy’s had been shattered ten years ago. She’d learned to put the pieces back together in her own way. How could he begrudge her that, even if she could be annoying sometimes?
She had more depth to her than any girl he’d had the slightest interest in at school. He found himself constantly trying to get her to smile or laugh, just so he could watch her. She was beautiful, but it was more than skin deep. She was good, and fascinating, and so much more than he could ever deserve.
She was human.
And he wasn’t.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked past the cafeteria toward the bathing area. Suddenly he didn’t feel like eating.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nightmares
The next week at the Binithan passed much like the first few days. Tolen trained twice a day. They ate. They slept. The monotony was predictable, safe, and he liked it. He’d learned a lot in a short amount of time and was beginning to feel more confident with his abilities. In fact, the only thing he seemed to be really struggling with was Macy.
They still ate together and talked, but ever since he’d held h
er hand, she’d been more distant. Careful.
He hadn’t meant to scare her off, but maybe it had been for the best, even if he didn’t like it. They weren’t the same. He was Hidden kind. She was human. They were only meant to be together as Chosen fighters.
So why did it bother him so much?
It had become such a distraction that he’d been having a harder time accessing his abilities. It was ten times as hard to call the warmth than it had been when he’d first healed his hand and discovered his signal. He tried thinking of his empathy for others to bring it out, but it wasn’t working as well as he knew it should be.
He didn’t want to blame her for it. He knew it wasn’t her fault, but he couldn’t help but feel a little resentful toward her. Did she feel nothing for him at all?
Sometimes, he would catch her looking at him. Sometimes when he was near her, he thought he could smell the strange scent she gave off whenever she was about to use her gift, and he wondered if she also felt that pleasant energy when they were together.
He wanted to talk to her about it, but he felt too stupid. What if he was wrong, and she didn’t feel anything for him, and he just embarrassed her with his questions? Instead, he continued the game, talked about simple things, and didn’t touch her again.
He shook his head and turned his attention back to the doorway as Macy limped by. She was pacing the hall outside the room the Doogar had set up for the three of them. It was more of a large area, not necessarily a room, with two arched open doorways leading to the other living quarters and the training rooms. Bastian had left again “to council” after breakfast and still hadn’t returned. It was driving Macy crazy.
Tolen checked his watch. It was 10:30 p.m.
Obviously, they wouldn’t be leaving tonight. Bastian had had them pack up and get ready to leave three nights ago, but they still hadn’t left. The Doogar were getting anxious. More and more Dark servants were scouring the Lava Beds, patrolling the known exits and on the lookout for secret ones. Tolen suspected their postponed departure had less to do with Macy’s healing, and more with his faulty shield. He just couldn’t maintain it for more than a few hours, less if he was practicing with his abilities.
A Chosen Life Page 24