My eyes were glued to the monitor for at least fifteen minutes, zooming in on the aisle to my room… and Haylie’s.
Chris had gone in there half an hour ago, and I didn’t like it. At all. What the hell was he up to?
Finally, the door opened, and Chris stepped out. He spoke to Haylie who followed behind, leaning against the doorframe. She looked tired, and her eyes were swollen and glassy. Had she been crying?
Her words from earlier were still tumbling around in my head. Her usual composure and calmness had vanished, and she’d confronted me with questions I couldn’t answer.
Chris kissed her forehead in a reassuring gesture, prompting my Fighter blood to boil and my fingers to twitch with the urge to drive my fist into the screen. Haylie closed her eyes briefly, feeling comfort in his touch. When Chris left, she let out a sigh and closed the door.
Damn him. Chris had come closer to Haylie than I would have liked. When had that happened? What did they talk about? What did Chris know about her she only shared with him and no one else?
A minute later, the door to the control room opened, and Chris appeared.
“Did you have fun?” I couldn’t help but ask, nor could I hold back the grudge underlying my tone.
Chris looked taken aback for a second until it clicked where I was going with this. “Did you stalk me?” he asked in a cold voice.
“I’m on surveillance duty. I cannot not stalk you.”
“I don’t have to justify myself just because it goes against the grain for you,” Chris retorted in a clipped voice, dropping into one of the chairs.
“You’re going too far,” I cautioned, hoping to get the warning across.
“No, you’re going too far, Dylan. We need to support her, and that’s what I’m doing. Most of all, you should know how important it is Haylie gets through this in one piece.”
“By slipping into her room in the middle of the night? Not enough pretty girls down here for your taste?”
“We were just talking. Jeez, could you ease up, man?”
“What did you tell her?” I pressed, not ready to drop the subject. Chances were high they’d been talking about me behind my back.
“What was necessary for her to know,” Chris answered, giving nothing away.
“Are you letting her stand between you two? This is ridiculous,” Cassie’s cranky voice sounded from the other end of the room where she was organizing folders on her desk.
“Shut up, Cassie,” Chris retorted.
“Oh, you’re telling me to shut up?” Cassie dabbed a finger into her chest as her temper shot high. “After her hysterical breakdown today? After she lashed out at Dylan in front of everyone?”
Oh dear, this was going down the wrong road. “Cassie, we all know you have issues with her, but that’s not what this is about,” I countered in hopes of avoiding a sure-to-follow drama.
To be fair, Haylie hadn’t said anything against me earlier, only blaming herself in every sentence. Not that I wanted to defend her, but I didn’t want her to be condemned by Cassie, either. We clearly had two different points of view here.
“Why are you defending her? What’s wrong with you?” Cassie snapped, shutting a folder more forcefully than necessary and glaring at me.
“Would you please continue with your heated debate elsewhere? I’m trying to work here,” Jimmy mumbled monotonously from behind me, as usual not bothering to pick a side when some of us had a fit.
“Yeah, shouldn’t you have your beauty sleep, anyway?” Chris growled.
Cassie stood up, fuming. “You’re pathetic,” she barked and stalked out of the room.
“I’m going to kill her someday,” Chris huffed after the door shut behind her.
“I’m going to kill all three of you if you don’t pull it together,” Jimmy replied, clearly annoyed.
The door opened again, and Scott entered, a yawn overcoming him as if he hadn’t a care in the world. I would make sure to change that.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I snapped at him, causing Scott to stop short in his tracks, looking clearly helpless.
“Um, okay… Where’s the fire?” Scott eyed me innocently, still standing in the doorframe.
“Did you get Haylie stoned today?”
“What?” Jimmy shouted, his work suddenly forgotten. I watched Scott as his face fell. At least he had the decency to look guilty.
“Haylie was high when she came in. Don’t deny it. I could smell it a mile away, and her eyes were bloodshot.”
“You’re pissed,” Scott stated unnecessarily. “So, she didn’t tell you the good news?”
“What good news?”
“I guess Haylie figured out about her ability,” Scott answered with caution, eyes flipping between each of us.
“What?” Jimmy shouted again, this time shooting out of his chair and slamming his hands on his desk. “Could somebody please tell me what’s going on here? Now!”
“Um,” Scott mumbled again, unsure of what to say. “Okay, yeah, she took a few pulls from the joint, but it made her relax. Um… literally. Enough to… float.”
Silence.
“What are you saying?” Chris asked, as confused as the rest of us.
“She floated. Really floated. Like, a few inches above the ground. It was so crazy,” he exclaimed. “I saw the realization on her face as it all clicked together, but she stormed off to tell you before she told me. I swear, I have no idea about her ability. She figured it out on her own.”
Fuck. That’s why she came to the control room in the first place. She’d wanted to tell Jimmy, but I’d chased her off.
“Did she tell you?” I directed at Chris.
“No,” he replied with a frown on his face. So, Haylie hadn’t confided in Chris, either. For some unknown reason, this lifted my spirits. “Should I wake her?” And this question made them plummet down again. Yeah, Chris would only be too eager to slip into her room again.
“No, we’ll wait. Let her sleep,” Jimmy replied with a tired sigh.
“Why didn’t she fill you in, anyway? She hurried off to tell you,” Scott mused.
“She got caught up in a confrontation with Dylan,” Chris answered for me, the underlying accusation not lost on me.
“Again?” Scott groaned in annoyance, and I was close to flipping him off.
“This is getting out of control. I need her to trust us,” Jimmy interjected. “I want her to tell us whatever she needs to tell us. If she’s keeping secrets because she’s afraid, then this isn’t going to work. There is too much at stake. Dylan, you’re responsible for this.”
“Me?” I asked incredulously. Haylie had shouted at me, and I was the one to blame? Figures. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”
“She’s indecisive around you. She doesn’t know if you are friend or foe. I can’t have that. You will talk to her. I don’t expect you to become close friends. Just… fix this,” Jimmy ordered and got back to work.
~~~
The next few days passed by way too slowly. Jimmy had overloaded my schedule with surveillance duties at night, training lessons during the day, and whatever came to his mind for filling my free time in between, like checking the gas pipes down in the tunnels, making an overall backup of our footage or—my favorite—doing bureaucracy stuff. Not.
He forced me to be close to Haylie as much as possible, which didn’t exactly lighten my mood. My schedule was so tight, I couldn’t even leave the compound, which resulted in making me slightly cranky. I was in desperate need of a distraction, preferably of the female kind.
Danielle had texted me two days ago letting me know she wouldn’t be of service anymore. She was furious with me for not answering her last seventeen text messages full of dirty suggestions, which I chose to ignore. Danielle took my silence as her dismissal, and she wasn’t far off track. I’d had my fun with the curvy nurse, but my interest had weakened ever since, meaning I’d have to find myself another play toy.
No need to mull over much as there didn’t seem to be an opportunity to leave the underground any time soon. Jimmy wouldn’t loosen his leash on me as long as I didn’t solve the issues with a certain Natural, which appeared to be an impossible feat.
To be honest, I hadn’t made much progress on that particular matter. Although I’d tried to give her personal advice during our training sessions, she hadn’t warmed up to me. If anything, she was more distant than ever.
Since the day she’d wanted to announce her discovery, none of us had managed to break through to her. Sarah and Scott had tried multiple times to reveal her secret, but neither of them succeeded. Haylie was always nice to them, smiling and cracking jokes, but as soon as anyone mentioned the word ‘ability,’ she would withdraw.
In science classes, she was outstanding, but she only answered when addressed by Scott, never volunteering to relinquish her knowledge. In training classes, she was training harder than before. The progress she’d made so far was enormous. Throws and takedowns, striking skills and submission techniques—she always did as well as the best ones. There were even a few skills she was better at than Jared, and this was something, considering he was one of our best Freshmen and a Racer on top.
Although Jared was miserable in science and educational schooling in general, he was outstanding in physical combat. He was pushing her, and she welcomed it. I tried to pair them up as often as possible, hoping Jared could fill in the holes I couldn’t. He didn’t treat her like a freak as the other girls did. Seriously, I’d tried to inhibit that issue, but even the strongest Fighter couldn’t break through the torrent of hatred of jealous women, and I wasn’t fond of trying any longer.
In the morning, Haylie would be awake early and leave the compound where it exited to the cemetery. Sarah told me she’d go there to meditate. Jimmy let her, as we knew she couldn’t escape nature’s lure. At night, she would sneak out of her room to train, repeating the moves she’d learned in her lessons over and over. A few times, I wanted to approach her and give her guidance, but I was afraid to scare her away a second time, and then Jimmy would bite my head off for sure.
I kept a close eye on her during classes and pointed out her mistakes to her personally, trying to sound as neutral as I would talk to any other student. Well, not exactly like that, as I was known to be one of the gruffer trainers in the compound. Haylie always accepted my advice, quickly implementing my suggestions, but she’d never spared me a glance since our heated confrontation. Whenever I approached her, she would hang her head or avert her eyes. The confidence I was accustomed to had completely vanished.
Maybe she was ashamed. Maybe she was scared. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have cared, relieved not to be forced to look into those haunting eyes, but for some reason, our silent treatment didn’t sit well with me.
I wasn’t exactly what you’d call the sharing type and tended to recoil from endless discussions or pronouncements of emotions. This was a weakness of mine my many ex-girlfriends had to suffer. How the hell did Jimmy intend to get me to break Haylie’s barriers? Me, of all people?
“Today, we’ll focus on one specific joint lock,” I announced to my class. At least half of them were still gasping for air from their warm-up. Not Haylie. Her condition had improved drastically. “Dominic, come over.” I waited until Dominic was positioned in front of me and demonstrated to the Freshmen the move they had to repeat.
“Most attacks start with a punch, which is why it’s advisable to know how to use that to your advantage. Avoiding getting hit is one aspect, but this alone won’t make you win. Your goal is to find counter-strike opportunities to get the upper hand. So, if your opponent is punching you,” I indicated to Dominic who moved his fisted hand slowly forward for demonstration, “you’ll get out of his attack line, twist out of his grip, and now you have the chance to strike back.” I stepped to the side, twisted my arm around, and grabbed Dominic’s wrist. Now, I was standing outside of Dominic’s initial range of vision, my opponent’s arm extended to my side.
“Now, you can focus on the lower part of the body. One way is to kick his knee hollow like this.” I lifted my foot, positioning it at said body part on Dominic. Using a little more pressure, I demonstrated the move’s effectiveness, making Dominic’s knee buckle. “If you use enough strength, your opponent will go down. Questions?”
My gaze swept over the faces of my students. Most were paying attention, but a few seemed bored. “Alright, let’s pair up and try.”
I called them one by one, partnering Amber with Haylie. Amber was one of the more, let’s say, difficult students. She was known for her viciousness. Usually, no one wanted to pair with her because she tended to get brutal. Sometimes, I wondered if she was related to Cassie.
Blowing my whistle, I watched the students mimicking the move. A few struggled with properly twisting out of their opponent’s grasp. Some also used the tip of their shoe instead of their heel to kick, causing me to wipe a hand over my face in frustration. Haylie was making the move neatly, as always, forcing Amber to the ground in less than a second.
I whistled again to indicate a switch. This time, I kept a close eye on Amber. Gathering from the death glares she sent Haylie, she was on bad terms with her, which wasn’t surprising. As a Natural, Haylie was an outsider and stronger than all of them put together.
Amber sidestepped Haylie’s attack, grabbed her wrist, and smacked her foot into her knee. Only it wasn’t just a practice move, because she executed the kick with enough force to make Haylie crumble and cry out in pain.
Before I could blow my whistle to give Amber a lecture for unfair behavior, Haylie counter-struck. Twisting out of Amber’s grip, she grabbed her wrist. Then, she struck her elbow into her knee hollow while pulling Amber’s arm behind her, causing Amber to bend backward. As soon as Amber’s neck was within reach, Haylie’s hand came around her throat, yanking her down. Amber landed on her back, all the air leaving her lungs at once, and Haylie stomped her knee into her lower stomach to keep her in place.
“Argh! Dylan, she hit me!” Amber whined.
I angrily blew my whistle, but the attention of the other students was already on the fight displaying in the middle of the training hall. I stomped over and Haylie stood up, gasping for air, head hanging low.
“Are you hurt?” I asked Amber, trying to sound like I cared.
“Yes. Argh!” Amber exaggerated, as always, probably only too eager for me to tend to her.
I crossed my arms, looking down at her in disgust. “Good.”
“Wh… What?” Amber stuttered, her painful expression quickly turning into a shocked one, her injuries forgotten all of a sudden.
“Don’t play games with me, Amber. Get out of my sight,” I said in a low voice, daring her to reply. She knew damn well why I was throwing her out. When she realized I was serious, Amber scrambled hastily to her feet, making a run for the door. Haylie’s eyes darted up to mine in surprise.
“Are you hurt?” I asked her. She just shook her head slowly, staring at me like I’d grown two heads. “That was a good counter-strike. You used the move we practiced yesterday with perfect precision.”
It was strange complimenting a student. I’d barely done it before, maybe because none of them had ever done anything to earn my praise. But then, Haylie wasn’t just any student who could be classified as average, was she?
Her mouth parted and snapped shut before she was able to say anything. “You won’t scold me for that?”
“You defended yourself. That’s what we’re training for here.”
“But the first rule is not to harm anyone on purpose.”
“Like Amber did only a second before?”
She didn’t answer.
Being neutral to all of my students had never been my strength. In my opinion, they just needed to learn a lesson sometimes. Always the diplomatic one, Jimmy wouldn’t agree, but he didn’t need to know about my teaching methods. I was the best down here for a reason.
A smile played on Haylie’s lips, and it was the first time in days she held my gaze. I couldn’t help but curl one side of my lip in response, my personal issues forgotten for the time being. I turned around to continue with my lecture, wondering if I’d just taken my first step toward progress with her.