I shrugged. “Yeah, I wanted to give you a break today.”
He laughed, and it made his brown eyes twinkle. “How considerate of you.” His face went thoughtful for a moment. “Where did you train before you came here?”
That was unexpected. I took a deep breath before answering. This was still a sore subject for me. “At home. My mother trained me.”
He looked impressed. “Really? Who is your mother, if you don’t mind me asking.”
I looked down at my hands. “Diana Montgomery.”
He went silent, and I glanced back up at him, his face was full of wonder. “You knew her?”
He nodded slowly, a smile spreading across his face. “Yes, I did. She’s one of the best. We trained together when we were children.”
I stood there, gaping. The way he had said this made me think that they may have done more than just train together. Still, talking about my mother was difficult for me.
“How is she?” he asked in a quiet voice.
I swallowed hard. “She’s… she died when the Lamia attacked our house.”
His face fell, and his expression gave him away; he had cared about her. It actually made me like him more. Anyone who genuinely cared for her couldn’t be so bad.
Along with his grief, his expression was also a little surprised. “I’m so sorry to hear that. But I guess that explains why you’re here, she would’ve never—”
Students were entering the class room by now, and he snapped his mouth shut. I was tempted to press for whatever else he was going to say. She would have never what? As we began stretching and warming up, I made a mental note to be sure to continue this conversation later.
Tommy came in and greeted me with a small bow. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey, Tommy.”
“Sorry about what happened the other night,” he said. “My dad doesn’t mind if I have parties, but he always makes sure Warriors are on hand in case things get violent. I should’ve warned you.”
I shrugged. “It’s cool. Actually, I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed about getting thrown out like that.”
He laughed. “Are you kidding? I would’ve paid to see Victoria knocked on her face like that. It was classic.”
I smiled. “Yeah, she kind of asked for it.”
He nodded. “She did. Besides, my father said that anyone stupid enough to taunt a Warrior deserves to get beat up.”
I was shocked. “You told your dad? That’s so… embarrassing.”
“No, it’s not. He likes you anyway, so don’t worry.”
I furrowed my brow. “How does he like me? We’ve never met.”
He smiled. “Yes you have. He’s on the Council. Lord Caslon. You met him the first day you came here.”
I thought back to my meeting with the Council. There had been three women and two men. One of the men had been blond with blue eyes, like Tommy. I assumed that was his father.
Patterson called the class to attention, and we all lined up. He began pairing us up. I was paired with Tommy, since we were standing right next to each other.
Patterson gave each group an area that was marked off by tape on the floor. The whole gym floor was marked off in large squares. We were told that we must stay within our square. Whoever got tossed out, lost. My mother had done something similar to this, so I figured it wouldn’t be so bad.
Tommy smiled as we stood opposite each other. “You ready,
Warrior?”
I snorted. “Are you ready, Brocken?”
We fought, and I learned that Tommy was a better fighter than he let on. By the end of the class, I had been tossed out of our square four times, and I managed to push him out six times. I considered this a victory.
When the bell finally rang, we were both grateful. Tommy smiled. “I won.”
I scoffed. “No you didn’t. I pushed you out more times than you did me.”
He laughed. “Doesn’t matter. I still won four out of ten times. You’re a Warrior, so that means that each time I pushed you out is equals two of yours. So, really, I won.”
I laughed at his stupid logic. “Whatever makes you feel better.”
I wanted to stay and talk to Patterson some more about my mother, but I still had to change clothes, and I didn’t want to be late to my next class. Tommy waited for me outside of the locker room, and we walked to our next class together.
“Are you going to the fight this weekend?” Tommy asked as we sat down in History class.
“What fight?”
“There’s a fight at the end of each month. Between the Warriors. I always go. It’s good to see what we will be doing once we graduate.
You want to go with me?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I’m not sure if I want to see that.”
He gave me a charming smile. “Please?”
I smiled back, even though the idea made me sick. “We’ll see.”
Always optimistic, Tommy grinned. “Great.”
The teacher came in and began the class. I listened and took notes, trying to think about anything other than fighting. I’d always thought I’d enjoyed fighting, but that was when it was for a purpose. It just wasn’t as appealing as a sport.
Chapter Forty-Two
By lunch time, I was ready to annihilate some food. Nelly had a plate waiting for me like always, and I sat down beside Jack. A smile lit up his face when he saw me, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, darling.”
In front of me, Nelly’s and Daniel’s eyes widened. I had just enough time to frown in confusion before I felt a cold liquid spill all over me. I was soaked.
Victoria.
I turned around slowly. Victoria was holding an empty soda bottle over my head, shaking out the remaining drops. One landed on my already dripping nose. My left eye twitched. I brought my gaze up to Victoria’s. A satisfied smirk sat on her lips for the briefest of moments. When her eyes met mine, whatever she saw there made her smug switch swiftly to uncertainty, and immediately following that, fear.
My eyes were searing, I’m sure, right along with my blood. One side of my mouth pulled up. It was a crazed expression—some part of me knew this. Some part of me didn’t care.
Before she could react, I was up, out of the chair, gripping Victoria’s throat in my right hand and slamming her into a nearby soda machine. It rocked on its hinges.
The movement from my chair to my current position had been so swift that I hadn’t had time to contemplate it. My body just acted. Now, as I stood constricting Victoria’s vocals, realization slowly caught up to me.
Victoria’s feet weren’t touching the ground. Her face was starting to drain of color. This wasn’t in the least displeasing. Her pulse grew slower under my fingers. I watched her eyes.
Her eyes spoke volumes. Windows to the soul, that much is true. Victoria’s eyes betrayed her in the worst of ways. Fear had seized them in a careless embrace. Her pulse grew slower still. I leaned forward, placing quirked lips by her ear.
“You have no idea how easily I could kill you right now.” My lips pulled back in a toothy smile. Victoria’s eyelids fluttered. “You have no idea how bad I want to.”
I paused, the thought much too enticing to ignore. If I just closed my fist I would crush her esophagus. The urge had me tightening my grip.
“I’m not going to,” I whispered, more to convince myself than reassure her. “But,” I twisted my wrist the side, forcing her to look directly at Nelly. “If you so much as look at her wrong, I’ll kill you.” I snapped her face back to mine. “And, if you fuck with me again, I’ll make sure I leak the life out of you slowly, so I can savor each one of your last, tortured breaths.”
I shoved her back against the machine and let her drop to the ground. When I turned around, I was facing a cafeteria that had gone completely silent. No one met my eyes as I spun on my heels and walked out. My earlier hunger was forgotten, a much different hunger taking its place.
Chapter Forty-Three
I just kept walking, half-expecting
every teacher or administrator I passed to haul my ass off to the office. But they didn’t. No one stopped me as I exited school grounds and continued walking.
I had no idea where I was going, but soon, when I came to a line of trees, I picked up my pace into a fast run. I have no idea why, but I just felt like I needed to run. I guess I had too much adrenaline coursing through me, and I had to let it out somehow. So I just ran. I ran, weaving by and around the trees as fast as I could go, scraping my face and arms on branches. The pain didn’t even register with me. I kept on going.
I’m not sure how long I ran. It felt like both seconds and hours. It must have been a while though, because my clothes and hair had long since dried. My sole thought was that I needed to run as fast and as far as I could. I ran until I came to a small lake. I was pretty deep in the forest by now, because there were no sounds or signs of civilization anywhere.
It was the dry-heaving that had finally stopped me. I felt like collapsing. I sat down by the edge of the lake and concentrated on the scene around me, trying to control my breathing, calm myself. The scent of pine and fresh water engulfed me. The ground where I sat was a mixture of sand and dirt. The trees loomed over me like gargoyles on an old building. They seemed to stare at me, and I stared back. The only sounds were insects swarming near the water and the shuffling of small creatures carrying out their daily tasks.
The world around me had kept moving, but my world had gone completely still. I had totally lost it back there. I’d come dangerously close to choking the life out of Victoria. Even thinking about her now made the monster inside me rear its ugly head. I always worked so hard for control, to keep the monster leashed so I wouldn’t do something I would regret later. But I’d almost lost control. I’d almost killed someone because she’d poured a drink on me. And the worst part was, I felt like it was only going to get worse.
A twig snapped off to my left, and I jerked my head in that direction. I had to be careful. It was foolish of me to just take off into the trees like I had; there were all sorts of dangers out here. Fear coiled in my stomach as I considered all the possibilities of the source of the noise. I realized now that I had been really stupid. The Pine Barrens were no place to get lost.
I stood up slowly. “Who’s there?”
My question was met with silence. I would have started laughing at my own dumb-girl-in-a-horror-movie question had I not been so scared. I’d wanted to break the silence somehow, but amazingly, hearing my own voice in the solitude of the forest seemed to freak me out even more.
I turned back in the direction from where I had come, and headed back toward the city. At least, I hoped I was heading toward the city. Then, something hit me hard in the back of the head. I spun around quickly, my body tensing for an attack.
I stood still for several moments, afraid to let my guard down. I couldn’t see anyone, but I knew someone was watching me. I could just feel the eyes on me, and I was wishing I hadn’t come this far from civilization.
When nothing made its presence known, I turned around slowly, pretending to let my guard down and head toward home. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on my other senses. A second later, I heard it, the whoosh of an arm throwing something through the air. I spun around fast and caught the rock that had been launched at me. My eyes immediately followed the direction it had come from.
I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Chapter Forty-Four
What I saw was a little girl.
She was wearing torn clothes that were too small for her, and her face and hands were streaked with dirt. She was barefoot too, and I wondered if this was some kind of feral child; she couldn’t be much older than Akira. Though she had a harelip, her face was still very beautiful, with eyes that were a bright gold and framed by thick, dark lashes. She had curly brown hair that was so dark it almost looked black, and a skin color that suggested she spent a lot of time in the sun.
Whatever impression her appearance had on me was subdued, however, by her fierce expression, and the crudely made weapon she was holding. I took a slow step forward, and she raised the sharpened stick she was carrying.
“Don’t move,” she said in a strong voice.
I held my hands up in front of me and came to a stop. She narrowed her eyes. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“My name’s Alexa. I’m lost. I’m trying to get back to Two Rivers.” Her eyes dropped down to my right arm. “What are you?” “I’m a Warrior,” I told her.
Her eyes widened and she slowly lowered her stick. “Kayden’s Warrior?” she asked.
The mention of Kayden’s name gave me pause. Who the hell was this girl? And how did she know Kayden?
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I’m his exactly, but yes, I know him.”
In fact, I should say that I’m Jackson’s, but that was irrelevant right now.
Her tiny face scrunched up as she considered this. “If you’re a Warrior, then you are Kayden’s because there is only one Warrior, and she’s his.”
She said this with absolute certainty, and I was beginning to wonder if she was some kind of apparition. How else could some child in the woods know about Kayden and me? Either that, or I had really lost my mind this time.
She approached me slowly, cautiously, and I made sure to remain very still. I didn’t consider her a threat exactly, but who knows who else could be with her. She may have an army of cannibals waiting in the trees for her signal to attack.
When she reached me, she gripped my right arm in her tiny hand and ran a rough finger over the lily on my wrist. I stared at her adorable little face and tried not to smile at her confidence.
“Alexa, right?” she asked, releasing my arm.
“That’s right.”
She held out her hand. “I’m Soraya. It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard great things.”
I raised my eyebrows. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Soraya, but”—I glanced all around us—“Who told you about me?”
She took my hand and led me to a tree that had fallen near the bank of the lake. It made for a decent bench, and she sat down and patted the seat beside her. I did as I was told and sat down.
She stared up at me with those gleaming, golden eyes. “What has brought you all the way out here, Alexa?”
I shook my head, still very confused by this weird turn of events. “I just got lost.”
She shook her head in return, and it made her curly hair bob around her face. “Don’t lie. A Warrior should be truthful with those she trusts.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Who said I trust you?”
She shrugged. “You trust Kayden.” She said this as a statement, not a question, and I found my curiosity growing.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m Soraya,” she answered simply.
I blew out a frustrated breath, and she laughed. She had a rich laugh, and the sound of it reminded me so much of… Oh, no.
I was afraid to ask, but I had to. “You’re… you’re his daughter, aren’t you?”
She was quiet a moment as she studied me, and I felt my heart beating like a drum in my chest. At last, she broke out into laughter. “No,” she said, between laughs. “I’m not his daughter. But you should have seen your face just now.”
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Oh.”
“I’m his niece.”
I looked into her golden eyes, Kayden’s golden eyes. Then, I thought of something that made me a little angry.
“What are you doing out here all alone? Where are your parents?”
She smiled. “I live out here, with my mommy. Our village is just on the other side of the lake. You want to see? I’ll show you.”
She slid off the log and held her hand out to me. I took it, and she led me around to where a rickety bridge hung over the lake. We crossed it, making it rock as we moved along.
“Is this safe?” I asked when we were about halfway across.
She giggled. “Of course, Unc
le Kayden built it so that it would be easier for him to come visit me.” She looked back at me, her voice taking on a serious tone. “But don’t tell anyone, okay? He’ll get in trouble if they find out.”
I furrowed my brow, but nodded. “I promise.” This was getting stranger by the second.
Once we were across the bridge, she led me down a dirt path that wound through the trees, and after about a mile, we stopped, standing on top of a large hill.
“That’s my village. You can see my house over there. See?” she asked.
I nodded slowly, not believing what I was seeing.
The hill looked down on what was quite literally a village, and the house she had pointed out was little more than a hut. People in ragged clothing mulled around, carrying buckets and baskets. The ground was dusty brown, hard-packed earth. All of the houses were huts, and there seemed to be hundreds of them. They appeared to be made of mud and had hand-made blankets covering openings that I supposed served as windows. Some of the people lead around goats and donkeys, and a small breeze brought their fecund, animal smell to the top of the hill where we stood. It looked like something you would see on the National Geographic channel, like in some third-world country. It was a sharp contrast to the luxury of the city I had just run from. It must have still been within the walls, though, because I would have noticed if we would have had to climb over it.
Soraya sat down on the ground and pulled my hand for me to join her. I plopped down beside her, not taking my eyes off the scene in front of me. I hadn’t known places like this even existed in America.
The more I studied the place in front of me, the more my disbelief grew. None of the people had shoes on, and from what I could see, most of them had some sort of disability. But some of them seemed perfectly normal, albeit the fact that they were hideously ugly and maybe a little malnourished. These were outcasts, I realized, and the thoughts that entered my head were so horrible I found myself trembling.
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