CHAPTER 6
I WANTED TO CURL UP IN A HOLE AND DIE.
“There you go.” Aiden nodded as I deflected one of his blows. “Use your forearm. Move with purpose.”
Move with purpose? How about moving to a spot where I could lie down? That was a purpose I could get behind.
Aiden launched himself at me and I blocked his jab. Hel yeah, I was good at that. Next, he swung around, and for someone so freaking tal , he sure could move that body like a ninja.
The heel of his foot slipped past my arms and slammed into my side. The impact barely registered on my pain scale. By now, I’d gotten used to the sharp spike of pain and the throbbing that fol owed. I inhaled slowly and tried to breathe through the agony. Half-bloods don’t show pain in the face of the enemy. At least I remembered that.
Aiden straightened, concern flickering over his face. “You okay?”
I clenched my teeth. “Yes.”
He approached me, looking doubtful. “That was a pretty hard hit, Alex. It’s okay if it hurts. We’l take a few minutes.”
“No.” I walked it off while he watched. “I’m fine. Let’s try this again.”
And we did. Missing a few jabs and kicks was far better than having to run laps like yesterday or spend the entire afternoon in the gym.
That’s what’d happened when I’d whined about my back and sides hurting last time. Aiden went through several more blocking techniques a ten-year-old could master while I obsessively watched his movements. Over the past couple of days, I’d realized how far behind I
real y was, and even I was amazed by the fact I’d managed to kil two
daimons.
I couldn’t even block most of Aiden’s kicks.
“Watch me.” He circled me, his body taut. “There is always some-thing that’l give away my next move. It could be a fine tremor of the muscle or a brief glance, but there is always something. When a daimon attacks, it’s no different.”
I nodded and we squared off again. Aiden moved in with one swipe of the hand. I knocked his arm away, and then the other. It wasn’t his jabs or punches I had a problem with.
It was his kicks—he spun around so fast. But this time, I saw his eyes drop to my waist.
Twisting into the kick, I brought my arm down in a clean sweeping motion a second too late. His foot connected with my bruised back. I doubled over immediately, grasping my knees as I slowly breathed in and out.
Right away, Aiden was at my side. “Alex?”
“That… stung a bit.”
“If it makes you feel better, you almost had it this time.”
I looked up and gave a short laugh at the sight of his lopsided grin. “Good to hear.”
He started to say something, but his grin faded as his voice gave a low warning. “Alex. Stand up.”
My back protested such a sudden move, but the moment I saw Marcus at the door, I understood why. I didn’t need to look like I’d just gotten the crap knocked out of me in front of him.
Marcus leaned against the door, arms folded. “I wondered how training was going. I see it’s moving along expectedly.”
Ouch. I took a deep breath. “Would you like to give it a try?”
Marcus’s brows rose and he smiled, but Aiden placed a warning hand on my arm. “Don’t.”
I shook his hand off. I was pretty sure I could take my uncle. With his perfectly groomed hair and pressed khakis, he looked like a poster child for yacht-club-of-the-month.
“I’m game if you are,” I offered again with a bright smile.
“Alex, I’m tel ing you not to do this. He used to be—”
Marcus pushed away from the wal . “It’s al right, Aiden. I wouldn’t accept such a ridiculous offer normal y, but I find myself feeling charitable.”
I snickered. “Charitable?”
“Marcus, this isn’t necessary.” Aiden moved in front of me. “She’s only beginning to learn blocks correctly.”
I scowled at Aiden. Jeez. Way to have my back there, buddy. My ego roared back to life and I pushed around Aiden. “I think I got him.”
Marcus tipped his head back and laughed, but Aiden looked less than amused by the whole situation. “Alex, I’m tel ing you not to do this. Be quiet and listen to me.”
I looked at Aiden innocently. “Do what?”
“No. She has this, Aiden. Let’s see what she’s learned.
Since she is chal enging me, I assume she is ready.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “I don’t know. I’d feel bad for beating up an old guy.”
Marcus’ bright emerald gaze settled on me. “Attack me.”
“What?”
He looked perplexed, but then he snapped his fingers.
“That’s right! You haven’t learned any real attack moves.
Then I shal attack you. You do know defensive blocking techniques?”
Marcus knew about defensive blocking techniques? I shifted my weight and glanced at Aiden. He did not look pleased by any of this. “Yeah.”
“Then you should be adeptly trained to defend yourself.”
Marcus paused and the smile slipped away. “Just picture me as the enemy, Alexandria.”
“Oh, that won’t be too hard, Dean Andros.” I raised my hands and motioned him forward. I was a total badass.
Marcus gave no warning other than the fine tremor in his arm right before he moved. I raised my arm, just as Aiden instructed, and blocked the jab. I couldn’t fight the wild grin as I deflected another bone-jarring punch. My gaze narrowed on my uncle as he straightened and prepared for another attack.
“Back off.” Aiden’s voice came from the sidelines, low and harsh. “You’re too close.”
I pushed forward, blocking another one of Marcus’ hits.
Cockiness took over. “You’ve got to be faster—”
Instead of Marcus fol owing through on what I expected would be a pretty damn good roundhouse kick, he grabbed my arm and twisted. As he spun me around he brought his other arm around my neck, placing me in a brutal choke-hold.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Any movement I made only succeeded in twisting my arm to an even more unnatural angle. Within seconds, he’d rendered me helpless. In any other situation, like one where it wasn’t my uncle holding me in a choke-hold, I would’ve given him props for such quick maneuvering.
He bent his head, speaking directly into my ear. “Now just imagine if I was a daimon,” said Marcus. “What do you think would happen next?”
I refused to answer, clenching my teeth.
“Alexandria, I asked you a question. What would happen if I was a daimon?” His grip tightened.
My gaze met Aiden’s. He watched the whole thing with helpless anger etched into his face. I could tel there was a part of him that wanted to step in, but he knew he couldn’t.
“Do we need to try this again?” asked Marcus.
“No! I’d… be dead.”
“Yes. You’d be dead.” Marcus let go and I stumbled forward. He brushed past me, addressing Aiden. “If you even hope to have her ready by fal , you may want to work on her attitude and make sure she actual y takes your instructions next time. If she continues this way, she wil fail.”
Not taking his eyes off me for one second, he gave Marcus a curt nod.
I silently fumed until the moment Marcus disappeared.
“What the hel did I ever do to him?” I rubbed my neck absently. “He could’ve broken my arm!”
“If he wanted to break your arm, he would have. I told you to be quiet, Alex. What did you expect from Marcus? Did you think he was just some lazy pure-blood who needed protection?” His voice dripped sarcasm.
“Wel , he looks like one! How was I supposed to know he was secretly Rambo in Dockers?”
Aiden stalked up to me, reaching out and catching my chin. “You should have known, because I told you not to push him. Yet, you stil did. You didn’t listen to me. He used to be a Sentinel, Alex.”
“What? Marcus was a Sentinel? I didn’t know that!”
“I tried to tel you that.” Aiden closed his eyes and let go of my chin. Turning away, he ran a hand through his hair.
“Marcus is right. You won’t be ready in the fal if you don’t listen to me.” He sighed. “This is why I could never be an Instructor or a Guide. I don’t have the patience for this crap.”
This was one of those times I knew I needed to shut up, but I couldn’t. Angry as hel , I fol owed him across the mats.
“I am listening to you!”
He whirled around. “What part did you listen to, Alex? I explicitly told you not to push him. If you can’t listen to me, how can anyone—including Marcus—expect you to listen to your Instructors in the fal ?”
He was right, but I was too embarrassed and angry to admit it. “He only did that because he doesn’t like me.”
He gave an exasperated sound. “It has nothing to do with whether or not he likes you, Alex. It has everything to do with the fact that you don’t listen! You’ve spent too much time out there where you could easily defend yourself against mortals, but you’re not in the mortal world anymore.”
“I know that. I’m not stupid!”
“Real y?” His eyes flashed furious silver. “You are behind every single person here. Even the pure-bloods who’l be attending school in the fal wil have the basic knowledge of how to defend themselves. You stil want to be a Sentinel?
After what you’ve shown me today, I doubt that is the case.
Do you know what makes a Sentinel? Obedience, Alex.”
I felt my cheeks flush. The sudden rush of hot tears stung my eyes. I blinked and turned away from him.
Aiden cursed under his breath. “I’m… not trying to embarrass you, Alex. But these are the facts. We’ve only been training for a week and you have a long road ahead of you. You need to listen to me.”
Once I was pretty sure I wouldn’t start crying, I faced him.
“Why did you even stick up for me? When Marcus wanted to hand me over to Lucian?”
Aiden glanced away, frowning. “Because you have potential, and we can’t afford to have that potential wasted.”
“If I… hadn’t missed so much time, I know I’d be good.”
He turned back to me, eyes shifting back to a softer gray.
“I know, but you did miss a lot of time. Now we have to get you back to where you need to be. Battling your uncle is not going to help you.”
My shoulders slumped and I looked away. “He hates me.
He real y does.”
“Alex, he doesn’t hate you.”
“Oh no, I think he does. This was the first time I’ve seen him since the first morning here, and he was more than eager to prove that I’m a jackass. It’s obvious he doesn’t want me to be trained.”
“That’s not the case.”
I looked at him. “Real y? Then what is the case?”
Aiden opened his mouth but closed it.
“Yeah. Exactly.”
He was quiet for a few moments. “Were you two ever close?”
I gave a short laugh. “Before? No. I only saw him when he visited Mom. He never paid any attention to me. I always figured he was one of the pures who weren’t too fond of…
my kind.”
There were a lot of pures out there who looked down on halfs, seeing us more like second-class citizens than anything else. They knew they needed us, but it didn’t change how they viewed us as something other than pure.
“Marcus has never felt that way about… halfs.”
I shrugged, suddenly tired of talking. “I guess it’s just me then.” I glanced up and forced a weak smile. “So… wil you show me what I did wrong?”
“Which part?” His mouth tightened.
“Al of it?”
He final y smiled, but the usual banter we shot back and forth at each other during our training sessions disappeared. His direct and formal instructions made his disappointment in me clear. But what could I do? I hadn’t known Marcus was Chuck Norris. I’d lost my temper. So what? So why did I feel icky?
After practice, I stil couldn’t shake the feeling of being an utter failure. Not even when Caleb showed up at my door hours later.
Frowning, I stepped aside and let him in. “You’re real y good at sneaking into this dorm, Caleb.”
He smirked, but it faded as he took in my sweat-stained clothing. “It’s Zarak’s party. Tonight. Remember?”
“Dammit. No.” I kicked the door shut.
“Wel , you’d better get ready. Like now. We’re already late.”
I debated tel ing him I wasn’t feeling up to it, but the idea of sulking around my room didn’t seem entertaining. I figured I deserved a night of fun after the day I’d had, and it wasn’t like Aiden or Marcus would know if I decided to go to Zarak’s. “I need to take a quick shower first. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Sure.” He plopped down on the couch and picked up the remote control. “There’s going to be a lot of the pures there.
Ones who haven’t seen you since you’ve came back. Of course, they know you’re back. Everyone is talking about it.”
Rol ing my eyes, I pushed on the bathroom door and stripped off my clothes. I wasn’t worried about Caleb popping in on me. It’d be like walking in on his sister naked; I doubted he wanted to see my goods. As I twisted in front of the mirror, I caught sight of a smorgasbord of bluish splotches covering my back and my sides. Yuck. I turned away.
Caleb continued from the living room. “Lea and Jackson got into a huge fight today, right on the beach for everyone to see. It was fun to watch.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. After a quick shower, I dried my hair so it fel in somewhat manageable waves. Now what to wear?
“Are you almost done in there? Gods, I’m bored.”
“Almost.” I pul ed out a pair of jeans and a shirt even though I wanted to wear the slutty little black dress Caleb had picked out, but the low back would show al the bruises.
Caleb stood up as I walked into the living room. “You look hot.”
I scrunched up my face. “You think this is hot?”
He laughed as he turned toward the door. “No.”
By the time we met some other halfs at the edge of campus, Caleb’s running monologue about who was going to be at the party had driven out the worst of my foul mood.
Caleb kept sneaking looks at one of the girls who’d joined us as we trekked across the bridge to the main island. It was easy to forget about practice and al I’d missed in the last couple of years.
It wasn’t hard for us to make it past the Guards. None of them recognized me, or if they did, they didn’t care enough to send me back to my room. They were used to kids making their way back and forth between the two islands, especial y during the summer.
“Wow.” One of the girls let out a low exhale as we skirted along the sand dunes. “The party’s definitely in high gear.”
She was right. As soon as we rounded the bend, pures and halfs spil ed out from the large beach house. It’d been ages since I’d been to Zarak’s house. Like Thea, his parents held seats on the Council, had a lot of money, and had little time for their pure-blood offspring.
With its incredible views of the ocean, pale blue siding and whitewashed decks, Zarak’s parents’ beach house was identical to the house Mom had lived in. I assumed her house stil stood on the opposite side of the island. A mixture of grief and happiness flowed through me. I saw myself as a little girl, playing on the porch, running through the sand dunes, laughing, and I saw Mom, smiling down at me. She always had been smiling.
“Hey.” Caleb came up behind me. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah.”
He slipped his arms around my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Come on, you’re gonna be like some kind of rock star here. Everyone’s going to be happy to see you.”
Walking up to the beach house, I did kind of feel like a rock star. Everywhere I looked, someone cal ed my name or rushed over to give me a hug and a warm, “Welcome back.” For a while, I lost myself in the sea of familiar faces.
Someone shoved a plastic cup in my hand; another topped it off from an open bottle, and before I knew it, I was buzzing happily among old friends.
I headed up the wide steps, hoping to find Zarak somewhere in the house. He was, after al , one of my favorite pure-bloods. Dodging around two halfs making out while stil maintaining firm grips on their red plastic cups
— amazing ability by the way—I slid into the less crowded kitchen. Final y, I spotted the recognizable head of blond curls. He appeared occupied with a pretty blonde.
I was pretty positive I’d be interrupting, but I didn’t think Zarak would mind. He had to have missed me. I walked up and tapped my fingers along the curve of his shoulder. It took a moment for him to lift his head and turn around. A pair of startling gray eyes—clearly not Zarak’s—met mine.