by Shana Vernon
“You’re telling me! I thought he would recognize me in tiger form, but I guess not.” I said as I picked up my blanket that had fallen to the floor during the commotion.
“Nah, it doesn’t look like he had any control. If you ask me, it’s pretty fucked up the masters don’t stay with us the first night to make sure we don’t die,” she said as she readjusted the slippers on her feet.
“They probably want to see who the strongest initiates are.”
She brushed a brown, wavy lock behind her ear and I noticed thin scars that ran vertically down her arm. She saw where my eyes were focused and laughed a little maniacally and snapped a rubber band around her wrist.
“You’ll probably hear what happened from someone here, so I might as well tell you myself,” she started, shuffling on her feet.
“I went through a dark phase a little while back, after my brother was murdered. I didn’t handle it the best way. Actually, that’s partially why I am here now. My brother was killed by some of the Hermanos gang members after stupidly pissing them off. I finally found one of them and killed him, but I got caught. The Guild is making me train as payback for bailing me out of jail. I figured this must be better than jail, and now I can learn to become a fighting machine and kill the other assholes who murdered my brother.” She snapped the black band again.
It must be some sort of nervous tick.
“I’m really sorry to hear that. But hey, at least you already got one. How did you manage that? I heard Hermanos gang members are crazy.”
“They’re fucking psycho. I trained myself in knife fighting for a year before I went after them, though I only managed to stab one before the cops showed up.” She snapped her wrist band a few more times. I sat down on my bed, trying not to focus on the snapping.
“Have your abilities manifested yet?” I asked her.
“No, but they might not be obvious ones like shifting. It could be something more passive. What would you want if you could choose?” She sat down on the corner, opposite me.
“That’s a good question. Is it too cliché to say the ability to fly?”
“Only a little.” She chuckled before becoming serious. “I hope mine will really help me take on the whole gang. I want them all to burn.” Her eyes glazed over with anger.
“If you want to burn someone, you can just ask Cade to help you. He has fire abilities.” We swiveled around to see a shirtless Ekon looming over us. He had slipped on a new pair of pajama pants since his old pair were shredded with his change. I needed to know everything I could about the Abbotts, so I tried to coax more information out of him.
“Are you psycho or something? Who talks like that?” Hailey’s snide voice wafted from across the room.
“Do you wanna fuck with me and find out?” Sofia retorted.
“Whatever, clearly the Guild is having an off season,” she huffed and went back to bed.
I wanted to bring the topic back to Cade.
“Fire abilities? How do you know about that?” I said, attempting to sound nonchalant.
“I went to boarding school in the UK with him and his best friend Quinn. Cade rejected his abilities in the beginning, so they became really volatile. I saw his flames one day when I was here visiting Quinn.”
“Why in the hell would he reject his abilities? I would love to be able to control fire,” Sofia said, her eyes glazing over again.
“His whole family was killed by a fire in their home about seven years ago. He barely made it out alive himself. It really messed him up.” He stopped to lower his voice. “Half his body is still covered in burn marks. Of all the abilities to manifest, he got fire.” He shook his head.
Sofia covered her mouth in shock and I tried to think back to our night under the stars. For the life of me, I could not remember if I saw any burn marks.
I did vaguely remember him not wanting to remove his shirt when it started getting heated between us, but I had thought maybe he just wasn’t the type to have casual sex.
“That is really messed up. Were his parents assassins? Maybe it was arson,” Sofia inquired.
“They weren’t able to confirm arson, and you heard what he said before. Children are not allowed to Guild members. His Uncle was the only assassin in the family until Cade joined. Anyway, this death talk is killing my buzz. Guys, I’m a fucking tiger!” Ekon exclaimed, gesturing to his body. “How ace is that?” His British accent came through strongly.
We bobbed our heads excitedly.
“Hailey, what’s happening to your feet?” I heard Brielle say distantly.
We turned in their direction.
Hailey’s feet were falling through her bed as if they weren’t solid anymore. She yelped and jumped up. As she landed back on her feet, her entire body sank through her bed and she crashed to the floor in a heap of limbs with a loud thump.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Someone help me!” she screamed while Sofia, Ekon and I laughed hysterically, watching her try to get back on to her bed and failing. Her body just kept passing through any solid object.
I was pretty sure the magic of the room was the only reason she hadn’t fallen through the floors as well.
One of the guys I still hadn’t spoken to was trying to help her, but every time he got close, his hands just went straight through her body.
Sofia bent over, clutching her stomach as the tears ran down her face. She gasped, trying to halt her laughter and managed for a moment then blurted out, “That is the funniest fucking thing ever! What if she can never make herself solid again? That would be fucking hilarious.” She doubled back over.
Ekon rubbed her back until her laughing fit was over.
I wanted to go to sleep, but I felt a nudge in my consciousness.
Ugh, fine!
I got up and walked over to Hailey, her brown eyes wide. “Try to do the same thing I said to Brielle, it should hopefully work for you too.”
“Don’t pretend you’re some kind of manifestation expert. You haven't even gotten your powers yet,” she said.
I threw my hands in the air. “Fine, enjoy not being able to touch anything.”
I returned to my cot and positioned myself under one of the thin, wool blankets the Guild provided us with. “Alright guys, it doesn’t look like my abilities are manifesting now, so I’m going to get some shut-eye.”
Sofia and Ekon pulled their cots over to either side of mine and we all sunk back into our sheets.
When I entered the Guild earlier that day, I had one goal only: to find Papa. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of making friends here. I wrapped my hands around my pillow and closed my eyes, my mind on Papa, but with my heart feeling a little less empty than before.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Come on, little hawk, one more time and we can take a break.”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and lifted my arm back up, my muscles screaming at me in protest. I pointed the katana at Papa and he grinned wickedly.
“There’s my girl.”
“Alright, come at me, old man.”
“Old man? Who are you calling old man?” he replied and then rushed me, brandishing his sword.
I twirled away from his jab and thrust my blade toward his back, trying to catch him off guard.
He spun quickly, parried, and gave a return swipe that would have sliced my arm had I not jumped aside at the last moment.
“Are you trying to kill me?!” I screamed, attempting to readjust my grip on the hilt of my katana, while simultaneously calming my racing heart.
“Sweetheart, do you think your enemies will give you leniency because you are a young girl? They won’t, so neither will I.” He leapt forward, his sword aimed for my neck.
Without hesitation, I lifted my arms, deflected his attack, and turned myself invisible.
“Hey! No powers!” Papa yelled, swiveling around trying to spot me.
I giggled and popped back into view and pounced toward his chest.
He easily dodged my move and returne
d with a swift jab toward my shoulder.
I immediately parried it and feinted to the left, and the moment Papa took the bait, I spun my blade around his, whipping it out of his grasp. I then swung my katana up to his neck and pressed into his skin lightly.
“Got you!”
“That you did, little hawk,” He said with a laugh. He seemed a little too smug and I suddenly wasn’t so sure I had gotten the better of him at all.
“You let me win, didn’t you?”
“If you had been fighting almost anyone else, that move would have worked. I wanted you to trust your instincts.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder as we made our way back into the house. The sun had nearly set along the horizon.
“Papa?”
“Yes, little hawk?”
“Why can’t I go to a regular school? I’m thirteen years old now, I can control my abilities. I won’t let anyone know what I can do.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his chestnut hair, a sad look crossing his mismatched eyes.
I instantly regretted bringing it up, I didn’t want to hurt him.
“Oh, sweetheart, we discussed this already. If anyone were to make the connection between us, they would kill you without question. I am so sorry that you are stuck here, but I will figure out a way for you to be freer, I promise.”
We sat down at the kitchen table, the light yellow walls giving a sunny feeling to the room.
“Okay, Papa. I understand.”
He kissed the top of my head and walked out of the room.
“Lenna! Wake up! You’re glowing!” I felt someone roughly shaking my shoulders and opened my eyes to see a concerned expression etched on Sofia’s face.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and noticed a crowd of people surrounding me behind Sofia.
“What’s going on?”
“Lenna, look at your body! You’re glowing.” Sofia gestured toward me.
I glanced down and saw that I was indeed glowing. I must have been manifesting another ability, though I couldn’t imagine what would make me glow. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t manifest anything besides my hidden abilities, so whatever was happening was a bit of reassurance. I cleared my throat and looked back up into Sofia’s hazel eyes.
“What do you think it is?”
“The glowing? Fuck if I know.” Sofia replied, shaking her head.
“Is she pulling the light from the other sources in the room, or creating new light?” Axel’s face appeared over Sofia’s shoulder to look down at me curiously.
Brielle walked over to the lights and turned them on and off. The glow on my body didn’t change. “It doesn’t look like that’s it,” she said, coming back to stand in between Ekon and Axel.
“She just looks like a glow stick. Not a very impressive ability if you ask me.” A sarcastic voice came from across the room. The guy I had yet to meet was sitting upright on his bed with a dismissive look on his face.
Heat rose to my face and my knuckles clenched when Hailey snickered at his comment. I was about to reply when Sofia beat me to it.
“Good thing nobody asked for your stupid ass opinions then, Ryder.”
His face reddened slightly, but he shrugged and stepped into the bathroom.
I knew I shouldn’t let juvenile comments get the better of me, but I still wasn’t used to dealing with people very much and my anger spiked, causing my body to glow brighter. Everyone around me took a few steps back simultaneously.
“I think it must be connected to my emotions, it only glowed brighter when I got annoyed with Ryder.” I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to calm down by using a technique Papa taught me when I was young. I pictured water slowly dripping on the top of my head, making its way down my body, easing the tension in my limbs. Satisfied that it had worked, I opened my eyes to see the glow completely gone.
Ekon smiled down at me. “There is that non-glowy, beautiful face we’ve been waiting to see.”
I chuckled and threw my pillow at him, which he easily plucked out of the air.
“What time is it?” I asked, looking around for a clock.
Sofia rescued my pillow from Ekon and sat down on my bed next to me. “About eight in the morning.”
Ekon sat on my other side while Brielle and Axel moved back to their beds now that the excitement was over. Ekon grabbed his stomach and said, “Do you think they’re going to bring us food? I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”
Before any of us could reply, the door banged open and Master Locke strode in trailed by three other workers laden with trays of food. They placed the trays on the tables and walked back out without a word.
I grabbed his wrist. “Ekon, are you psychic?”
“If I was, I would have found a way to get you to sleep in my bed last night,” he said, which caused Sofia to gag next to me as I shook with laughter.
“Seriously? So, you’re into corny pickup lines?”
“Oh, I could go all day with corny pickup lines, gorgeous.”
“Ugh, gross. I’m going to go get food before I vomit,” Sofia said, standing up and walking toward the tables.
I jumped up to join her. They had given us a wonderful spread of food, assorted eggs, veggies, salads, sausages, and bacon.
“Fuck yes, they have coffee. I was seriously worried about that,” Sofia said and grabbed the pot, pouring herself a huge cup of the steaming liquid.
Papa had never allowed coffee in the house because he didn’t believe in handling addictive substances. He barely even allowed sugar in the house, though from what I had seen on television and in books, people became very dependent on both coffee and sugar. The only time I ever drank it was outside the house when I needed those pick-me-ups after using my invisibility.
“Alright initiates, take some food and let’s get started.” Master Locke’s voice echoed through the room, making me jump slightly.
I hadn’t realized that she was still there.
Way to be perceptive.
We grabbed our plates and dragged our chairs to sit in a semi-circle around Master Locke. I still wasn’t sure what to make of her. She hadn’t given away much about her personality since we had met her. I wondered if she had been close with Papa and if she knew anything about his disappearance. My suspect list was pretty short so far. Actually, it only had one name on it, the one Papa had given me; Killian Abbott. I needed to do some spying the minute they let us out of this room.
“Raise of hands for those who have already begun their manifestation,” Master Locke said, glancing at us around the circle. Four hands shot up alongside mine, leaving Sofia and Ryder with their hands still in their laps.
“Not to worry you two, this is very common and like I said, nothing to do with the level of skill.” She turned to her right where Hailey was sitting and asked her what abilities she had manifested, holding a pen to a notepad on her lap.
“I was in bed last night and just fell through it to the floor. I wasn't able to touch anything solid for like twenty minutes straight,” she said, running her hands down her uniform, smoothing out a few wrinkles. She must have gotten up much earlier than me to have had time to shower and dress.
Master Locke raised her eyebrows. “Quantum tunneling, also known as phasing. A very useful tool for assassins if you need to make a quick getaway.” Hailey smiled smugly as Master Locke made a note on her pad.
“Or for thieves,” Sofia said with a smirk.
“Yes, or for thieves, though thievery is not tolerated in the Guild in any manner, so I would use that ability responsibly,” Master Locke said, not at all fazed by Sofia’s comment.
“Are you able to exert any control over your phasing, or did it only happen that one time?”
“I haven't tried it again – I was too nervous it wouldn't go away without help.” She looked down at her hands sheepishly.
Master Locke didn’t respond, she merely moved on to the next person, skipping over Ryder since he hadn’t manifested any abilities and moving straight to Bri
elle.
“What about you, initiate?”
“I manifested the ability to control water. I haven't tried it again since Lenna wasn't awake to help if it got out of control like the last time.”
My jaw dropped open. I hadn't expected her to appreciate my help by the fact that she was associated with Hailey. I’d just assumed they were the same type. From the look Hailey was giving her, I didn't think she expected it either.
I guess that's what I get for making assumptions.
Master Locke’s gaze flickered to me for a moment before returning her attention to Brielle. “An elemental ability, depending on the strength, could come in very handy. What did you mean by Lenna’s help?”
My nerves flooded back with her comment. I discreetly gripped the knife on my breakfast plate and waited with bated breath for what Brielle would say.
“My manifestation came really quickly and I wasn't expecting it. I panicked and was basically choking on the water. Lenna helped me relax and send the water away.”
My grip tightened on the knife as Master Locke faced me again. I readied myself for a fight. I had already memorized all of the entrances and exits when I arrived yesterday. I really didn't want to leave after only one day. I hadn't been able to gather any intel or rescue Papa. I needed more time here.
“How were you able to help her with that?”
“I do a lot of meditation and yoga; it helps calm me down before I sleep and I read in a comic that superpowers are connected a lot to stress and emotions. I figured it might work that way in real life too.”
Her face was expressionless, which made it impossible to tell what she was thinking. I didn't want to fight my way out of here in pajamas and barefooted.
“That was quite intuitive, initiate.” She scribbled a few more things down on her paper.
“Thank you, Master Locke.”
She nodded at me and turned her gaze to my left where Ekon was sitting.
I released my grip on the knife and the blood rushed back into my hand. I hadn't realized how tightly I had been holding on to it.
“What about you, initiate? What did you manifest?”
He grinned mischievously. “I turned into a tiger!”
