After he’d left, Eleanor spun around and gaped at me. “Woman, get a grip. Judd’s a dick, but there was no reason to attack him.”
“What are you talking about?” I strapped my holster back onto my leg. “I was never going to attack him, just make him think I was.”
“The probability of you attacking him was rapidly approaching. That would’ve set off so many possibilities, there wasn’t much I could do.” She narrowed her eyes. “Listen to me. People here don’t like you. I can’t imagine why. Since I can’t make people like you, you have to start trying to make friends. Be less you, more the girl you pretended to be when we met.”
My mouth fell open. “I may have pretended to be a civilian, but I didn’t… I didn’t…”
Was this why Eleanor was unhappy with me? She thought I’d lied to her about what I was like? That was ridiculous, and though I was reeling from my fight with Benjamin and the incident with Judd, I was determined to smooth things over with Eleanor, with whom I had no argument.
Before I could ask her to step outside, so we could speak in private, the door opened with a cold blast of air and Benjamin walked in.
I couldn’t help a small smile, though his pained expression made me swallow a new lump in my throat.
He looked at me for a fraction of a second, and then to Eleanor. “Can I talk to you?”
Eleanor’s face softened. “What’s wrong?”
Benjamin’s eyes flickered to me again. “I just need to talk to you.”
Eleanor nodded and hurried out with him, leaving me alone at the range with a weapon in my hands and no idea what had just happened.
Marco, Reid, and I kicked the snow off our boots and walked into our house, which was warm and cheery from the fire Ember had built. After eight hours at the range, our hands ached and our ears rang, but we were happy. I was a natural, as I’d predicted. Marco and Reid, on the other hand, were going to just use their powers tomorrow.
Ember sat on the old couch in front of the fire. Eleanor was sitting next to her, her eyes red-rimmed and damp.
“Hello,” I said stiffly.
Reid and Ember exchanged furious looks. Ember jumped up and stormed into her room. Reid watched her leave with a hard stare, then disappeared into the kitchen.
Eleanor stood, her eyes almost sparking with fury.
“What’s up, Eleanor?” I asked coolly.
“Bleeding Heart Benjamin. You cow.”
“Oh boy,” I grumbled, shrugging out of my coat. “This is going to be fun.”
“How dare you treat him like that after—”
I whirled around. “Who the hell are you to tell me how to speak to Benjamin?”
“I’m his sister!”
“No, you’re the woman who disappeared on us and left him heartbroken and scared. That was nice, by the way. Thanks for assuring us that you hadn’t been murdered or kidnapped or anything. And you say I’m the one who lied? Get real.”
“I was with the Sentinels. It’s not like I could’ve told you.”
“You know, actually, you could have. You could have told us about the slavery and the lies. You could’ve let me know my brother was alive.”
“Let me give you a little insight into me: I don’t do anything if the odds aren’t in my favor. My one goal in Saint Catherine was to get my brother to join me, not convince a brainwashed superheroine that she’s being brainwashed. At that time, there was a good chance of getting him. But every damn day it dwindled, and I couldn’t figure out why. And then I met you, and I realized why.”
I lazily crossed my arms. “My southern charm?”
She made a face. “Feelings. The one thing I can’t control. I realized it the second I saw you in the park. You were so obviously Gregory’s sister. I saw you and realized my superhero-obsessed brother was besotted with pure poison. Everything made sense.”
“Aren’t you a peach. Poison, Eleanor? Really?”
“You’re all poison! My brother got sucked into this Westerner slavery crap because he met
you! He could’ve been here with me, safe and sound the whole time while he got to be the soldier nurse he’s always wanted to be, but instead he got involved with you, and look where that landed him. They could’ve killed him! Do you know how much danger you put him in? Do you know what they do to their slaves?”
Her pale face was slowly becoming splotchy and red. Goodness, it was easy to yank this woman’s chain—and I was in the mood to yank chains. I quirked my eyebrow. “Are we poison because of the cult, or are we poison because Artemis kicked your ass in Baltimore that one time?”
Ember appeared in the doorway, her face carefully neutral. “Jill, I need you in our room. Eleanor, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We both ignored her.
“I hate you,” Eleanor spat.
“If you hate me so much, why did you rearrange heaven and earth to get your brother and me together? You literally locked us in a room.”
She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. “There was such a high chance that he’d be turned off by you telling him about the cult. Such a high chance. But stupid me, I couldn’t see how much he liked you. He liked you, and I couldn’t calculate the effect his feelings would have on the outcome.” She opened her eyes. “I could feel my chances of success plummet the second I locked you in there.”
“And then you just dipped out because you’d failed? Nice.”
“I waited for the rare window of opportunity I needed to leave without anyone following me. Patrick’s attack gave me that.”
So, it was Eleanor’s personality that had been the façade.
I was surprised by how much the revelation wounded me; I’d spent months worrying about her, hoping she was safe. Now here she was, yelling at me for merely existing.
Still, she was nearly thirty years old—something about her behavior was a bit over the top. She knew as well as anybody else that I hadn’t wanted Benjamin to be sold into slavery and acting like I had was unfair. The mere memory of discovering that Benjamin was gone was enough to take my breath away for a second.
I had just one more question for her.
“Is anything I think I know about you true? The ex-boyfriend who you dumped for not knowing anything about kids in China? The one that you thought was too stupid for you Trents? Is he real?”
Curiously, she seemed taken aback. “That… how did… Dean and I had an argument before I came here, okay? But he’s not my boyfriend,” she said quickly. “I just added some extra details about the situation that my brother would believe and sympathize with. He's protective, and like you, he needs to feel superior. I wasn’t lying for lying’s sake. I needed a good story.”
She sounded a bit defensive, even embarrassed.
“Well, I’m glad we’ve had this little chat,” I said, kicking off my boots. “Thank you for illuminating just how much the Trent siblings have misrepresented themselves.”
She wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”
“Ask Benjamin.” I turned to go to my bedroom.
“We’re not done here!”
I whirled around. “Oh, yes, we are. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.”
I hurried down the hall and slammed my bedroom door behind me, collapsing on the bed and staring up at the cracked ceiling. I let out a long breath. “What did you need, Em?”
“I needed you to back out of that fight before Eleanor hauled off and decked you.”
“…Fair enough.”
Ember sat on the edge of her bed. “She’s not actually that angry at you, you know.”
I scoffed. “Could’ve fooled me. The way she tells it, everything she’s ever done was a calculated effort to keep me away from Benjamin. I can’t believe I spent so long worrying about her.”
Ember shook her head. “At least some of that was lies. She was scared for her brother. I think you know the feeling?”
I turned on my side and faced Ember. “I might.” Some of my irritation melted away, and I plucked the ro
se out of my pocket and tossed it to Ember. “Here, you can have this. Sorry that it’s all squished, but it still smells nice.”
“Where the hell did you get a rose from?”
“Dean can grow plants in an instant. This was from a bush he grew in ten seconds today.”
Ember gazed down at the rose. “Oh. I see.”
“Whatever. The raid’s tomorrow night. I need to get some sleep.”
Ember placed the rose on her bedside table. “I know you’re hurting, and like I said, if you need to talk to me, I’m here to listen. Your anger is going to burn you if you don’t suffocate it.”
“What about you and Reid?” I could hear little sounds coming from the kitchen. “I saw that look you gave him. You could’ve withered the rose bush with it.”
Ember shoved the rose into her bedside drawer and slammed it shut. “He’s being a jackass. Every time I try to talk to him about this new attitude of his, he blows me off. I don’t understand where it came from. He was never like this before, not in the whole time I’ve known him.”
I rolled onto my back. “Tell him that you’ve got options. Graham pulled me aside today and asked if he had a chance with you.”
“He’s cute, but I’m not interested. How old is he, thirty? Besides, I am with Reid. This is just a rough spot.”
We chatted for a few minutes more until we both rolled over and laid in the dark in silence.
“Hey, Jill?”
“What?”
“Think about what I said, okay?”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I talked to Dean about the anger. He said I’ll be okay soon enough.”
Ember drifted off, but I stared at the wall, my eyelids determined to stay open. There was too much to think about before I fell asleep.
My first full day of being a Sentinel was drawing to a close, but I didn’t feel like I’d achieved anything. Sure, I’d been issued a weapon and had proved a natural sharpshooter, but… so what? The Sentinels hated me.
I shifted uncomfortably. Why did I even care whether they liked me? My life wasn’t a popularity contest, and goodness knows I’d had detractors all my life. Yet, my altercation with Judd had left me grasping and cold, as if I were trying to cover myself with a too-small blanket.
What was I doing? Who was I doing this for?
“For Isabel,” I whispered.
“Hmm?” Ember murmured. “Wha zat?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Sweet dreams, Em.”
For Isabel. I was a Sentinel now. Saving Isabel was my purpose. If for nothing else, I’d keep going for her.
26
“Right arm up like this,” I said, demonstrating the correct position. “Left arm back here. Then strike.” I punched the foam dummy’s neck; had it been a real person, they wouldn’t have been able to breathe for a few seconds. “The idea is to incapacitate your opponent with as little effort as possible.”
“Well, duh,” one of the Sentinels said. “That’s why we have guns.”
Some of the other Sentinels sniggered and nodded.
My team and I were in the main building, called there by Dean to demonstrate basic martial arts moves to any interested Sentinels. Several, including my brother, had shown up.
At first, I’d been hopeful that their presence meant that we’d finally bridge the gulf between our teams, but so far none of them had asked questions or shown any particular interest in what I was teaching.
I dropped my arms. “What’s your name?” I asked the Sentinel who’d just spoken.
“Antonio Grantham.” He glanced at Gregory, who gave a little shrug. “What about it?”
“Grantham, huh? This might come as a shock, Tony, but you’re related to a superhero named Artemis. Try not to kill yourself out of shame.” The Sentinels tittered. “How would you kill her, if you were so inclined?”
“I’d shoot her.” He sounded confused.
“The doc tried that once. Artemis is still alive. The only reason the doc’s alive, too, is because he can run faster than a train. Unless you can run as fast as that, what are you going to do when Artemis jumps up and bends your little gun like it’s made of tin foil?”
“I’ll, uh, pull out another gun?”
Gregory patted him on the shoulder, but other Sentinels were shooting him doubtful, unimpressed expressions.
“I hope your will is updated.” I turned to the other Sentinels.
“Let’s be real, though,” a red-haired Sentinel said. “We’re not going to fight Artemis. What’s wrong with our guns?”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Ned Cohen.”
“Ned’s raised a good point,” I said, looking around at the handful of men. “You probably will never fight a superhero. But some of you have already been in a situation when the person you were shooting at wasn’t a Westerner.” I held up my hand, purposely not looking at my brother. “What if the circumstances had been different and one of you’d simply killed me?” I lowered my voice. “Or Ember?”
Reid wasn’t the only one whose face became grim.
"It might not have been superheroes in there. It could have easily been your brothers, sisters, cousins, or any other captured children from the camps. My point is, there is strategic value in knowing how to fight someone without killing them. Any of the men at the sorting station that day could’ve had information on the compounds, but we’ll never know because none of you can capture, just kill. That makes you weak.”
I caught Marco’s eye and he gave me a curt nod. I grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground, pinning him in such a way that he couldn’t escape.
The Sentinels gaped—the whole move had taken less than a second.
I let go of Marco and brushed off my hands. “I get that you guys don’t have any respect for superheroes, but anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see the value in knowing how to use your body as a weapon. Guns run out of ammo.”
A young man with skin slightly darker than Marco’s stepped forward. He gave me a nervous smile, the first Sentinel that morning to do so. “Can you show me what to do when someone in front of me points a gun at me?” There was no sarcasm or disdain in his question.
“I’d be honored. What’s your name?”
“Gabe. Mom said that when she was at Oconee, her last name was Spivak.”
A rare feeling spread through me: happiness. “I know several Spivaks. Lark Spivak serves in Baltimore with Artemis under the codename Valkyrie. She’s incredibly sweet and very brave. She’d want to meet you.” I handed him the orange plastic handgun we used for demonstrations. “Point this at my head. I’ll show you the block quickly, then slowly. Then we’ll go through it move by move.”
Gabe nodded and pointed the orange gun at my forehead.
Muscle memory took over. I pushed his hands up, pantomimed kicking him in the groin, then shoved the gun into his solar plexus. He let go of the weapon and I drew back, pointing it at him.
He coughed, clutching his stomach, but grinned at me. “That was fast.”
“All battles are fast. Every altercation between you and criminals… I mean, you and Westerners, is a battle. Here, point it at me again and I’ll show you what I did in slow motion.”
The other Sentinels crowded around us, finally quiet and straight-faced. I demonstrated the simple block a few times, then told them to pair up and try with their partners.
Gregory and Antonio went to a corner, though instead of practicing Antonio sulked while Gregory stared angrily at me. Because there was an uneven number of Sentinels, Marco paired with Gabe. They chatted about the Spivak family while they practiced.
Reid and I moved to the corner of the room. He tossed the gun to the ground. “You know what I haven’t had in a while? A good sparring session.”
“Got a lot of tension?” I asked, cracking my neck. “Because I do.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “First on the floor loses?”
“You’re on. I promise not to go, you know, full Battlecry o
n you.”
We fell into our stances, and then without warning he threw a punch. I ducked and swiped for his chin, just slightly slower than I would a real opponent, and we fell into the comforting pastime.
After a minute of fighting, I grabbed his arm and spun him to the floor.
Applause lit up the room. I looked up, my mouth open. Most of the Sentinels had stopped practicing to watch us, and a few of them were even smiling. I blinked, then helped Reid up.
He gave me a good-natured wince and rubbed his shoulder. “Three out of five?”
“We’re supposed to be teaching them,” I whispered.
“They’re starting to like us,” he whispered back. “Competence is hard to disrespect.”
I held up my hands to calm the applause, then turned to Reid. “Do you think they’re ready to learn that move?” I said loudly.
Reid smirked, catching on. “I think so.”
“What move?” a Sentinel asked. “Teach us!”
“Yeah, show us what it is!”
I put my hands on my hips and held my head up. “Now, I know none of you would ever deserve a punch to the face, seeing as you’re all sweet as pie,” I began, giving a significant look at Judd.
The Sentinels howled with laughter, some of them playfully punching him on the back and shoulders.
“But should you find yourself in that common fighting situation, you should know how to defend yourself.”
As I spoke, the door opened, and Eleanor slipped inside and sidled along the back wall, watching us with a blank expression.
“Reid and I will show you some of the various methods of fending off a frontal attack, depending on the type of punch your enemy uses.”
Reid and I slid back into our first positions and breathed for a few seconds. I met his eyes and counted down to the hit. “Three… two… one…”
His fist flew toward me.
My left ankle wobbled, suddenly unable to bear my weight.
Reid’s fist, and the full power of his arm, collided with my face.
I cried out and fell to my knees, hot blood gushing out of my crunched nose. My eyes watered nonstop as pain crept into all corners of my cheeks. The Sentinels were silent, too stunned to react.
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