by Sarah Carter
“Everyone step back,” Claire’s grandfather instructs.
Taking in a deep breath, Claire tries to center herself. She’s slightly nervous, but she pushes that to the back of her mind. Taking a ready stance, Claire locks her eyes on Mark.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Mr. Blakely says.
There is a moment of hesitation and then Mark steps forward. He moves toward her and Claire keeps her distance. Mark kicks at her in a series of advancements. Claire spins and ducks out of the way. Turning she darts her fingers out and hits two different spots, one on his side and the other on his thigh. Mark crumbles to the ground. Claire stands up and looks down at him. “You should learn all the pressure points and block them.”
“They’re supposed to know them,” Mr. Blakely mumbles. “This is disappointing.”
“I won’t fall for the same tricks,” Lucas states. “I know all 102 and she won’t be able to use them.”
“Bring it,” Claire quips back.
Lucas steps forward and stares her down. Claire takes her stance and returns the look. In one swift movement, Lucas punches at her. She barely spins out of the way. Claire darts down and behind him. Lucas quickly turns around and faces her and kicks toward her head.
Claire drops down and ducks out of the way. She twirls on her toes and gets back up into her ready stance. He kicks at her again and Claire ducks.
“Are you going to fight back?” He asks with a grin, “Or are you chicken?”
“Watching how you move,” Claire says back. She darts forward and kicks him, nailing him right in the rib cage and he buckles.
Claire lashes her fist out, striking him in the face. Lucas spins and gets out of her way. He grabs her arm and twists it making her fall to the floor. Claire twirls around, knocking his legs out from underneath. He in return strikes her in the chest. Claire gasps for a second, but then quickly recovers. She scrambles up onto her feet as he does the same. Lucas kicks out once and then twice, nailing Claire the second time. Damn it. Center yourself. She takes a step back and looks at him. He growls and swings. Claire steps to the side and strikes him in the throat, stopping his forward motion, then she spins and back kicks him in the chest with extra strength.
Lucas flies backward and lands on the ground hard. Claire jumps on top of him and jams her fingers into his chest. He falls limp and Claire smiles. “You’ll regain movement in fifteen minutes or so, but you probably know that already.”
There is clapping from beside her. She turns to see Damien and Alex both cheering for her. Mr. Blakely crosses his arms. “You’re quite impressive.”
“She’s fought four people at once and took them all down,” her grandfather declares.
“If all goes well with your testing, you’ll be welcomed into the guard,” Mr. Blakely says. “As long as you can do that.”
Claire follows his finger and looks at the obstacle course.
Jumping up and down, Claire squeals, “Can I do it now?”
Mr. Blakely looks at Dr. Galliger. “Can she?”
“That would actually make for some good readings,” Dr. Galliger replies.
“Mark, make yourself useful and get her a harness,” Mr. Blakely instructs. Mark bows his head and runs off.
“I don’t need a harness,” Claire laughs. “It’ll just get in the way.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Damien says. “You fall, you die. You’re wearing a harness.”
“Yes, sir,.” Claire salutes him.
Damien rolls his eyes and palms his forehead.
“We need you to fight longer at some point,” Mr. Paulson states. “That was too quick to get enough readings.”
Alex raises his hand, “I’ll spar with her. It’s what we do.”
“That sounds good,” Mr. Paulson replies.
Mark walks up with a harness that Claire notices looks like a parachute harness. “You need to put this on.”
“Where does the rope go?” Claire inquires, taking it from him.
“There’s no rope,” her grandfather declares. “It’s magnetic. If you fall, the computer registers it and suspends you in the air.”
Clicking her tongue, Claire says, “So, it’s like I can fly in this?”
“Well, suspension in the air.”
“Cool.” Claire pulls it on, clasps the buckles together and tightens the straps. “Okay, I think I’m good to go.”
“Now, the point to this exercise is to see what your limits are. The harness will act as a weight. You have to make it through the whole course with that on your back. Alright?”
Claire nods. Her grandfather walks up behind her and hits a button. A blue light appears on the front.
Claire pauses for a moment. “The weight didn’t turn on.”
Mr. Paulson says, “Yes, it did.”
She smiles. “If you say so.”
“We can increase it,” Dr. Galliger says. He presses a few things on his tablet and then looks up at her. “How is that?”
Claire stares blankly at him.
“Okay, I’ll increase it more.” He hits the button again.
“Now I feel it,” Claire declares.
Dr. Rollins says, “That’s five hundred and fifty pounds.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Claire chirps. Everyone stares at her.
“You’re all set. Please, take your time and be careful. Remember to center yourself,” her grandfather instructs.
“I will,” Claire replies. “Here I go.”
She walks over to the beginning of the course. The first thing is an inclining balance beam.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Mr. Blakely calls out.
Claire takes a step up and starts forward. The balance beam isn’t hard, nor is the wall that she has to scale next. Swinging from rope to rope in the next obstacle is easy also. The rolling cylinder is a little harder to cross. It’s the one thing she isn’t used to so far.
She traverses a few other obstacles like wire crawls and net climbing before she gets up to the posts. Claire takes a deep breath and backs up on the platform. With a running start, she jumps to the first post. It takes some concentration to not fall off.
Claire’s heart beats harder. This is actually making her nervous. With some centering breathing, Claire jumps to the next post and then the next. On the last post, her fit slips off. She lands stomach first on the pillar. The wind is knocked out of her.
“Ow.” Claire groans.
Slowly, she pulls herself up and gets back on the post. With one breath, Claire jumps and she lands on the platform. The only obstacle left is the bars across the ceiling.
Claire studies them. They’re way too far apart to swing from one bar to the next like monkey bars. She knows she’s going to have to trapeze across them. Closing her eyes, Claire tries to set her mind.
Finally, she opens them back up and runs forward. Leaping, she grabs ahold of the first bar. Carefully, she swings her legs and she flips over and holds herself on top of the bar. Claire brings her legs up and props herself on the bar. She takes a second and then jumps, grabbing the next bar. Her right hand slips and she hears yelling from down below. The weight on her is finally proving some difficulty. With all her strength, she reaches up and grabs the bar with both hands. Claire exhales and then swings herself up. Concentrating, she slowly makes it across the ceiling. Finally, Claire leaps onto the platform and drops to her knees.
Cheers erupt from down below from down below. She looks over and everyone is clapping. The weight from the harness is gone. It makes Claire sigh in relief. Doing this drained her. She takes some deep breaths and rests.
Damien comes running up the steps. “That was amazing.”
“Thanks,” Claire sighs, still trying to catch her breath.
“You did it in record time and with triple the amount of weight that others use. You’re so hot!” he exclaims.
Claire giggles. “You don’t mind having a girlfriend who’s stronger and capable of kicking your ass?”
“Girlfriend?” Da
mien quips, with a grin. “You sure like using that term.”
Dropping her face into her hands, Claire whimpers, “That came out wrong, again. I was just posing a question.”
“No, I don’t mind that my girlfriend can do all those things. She’s sexy as hell,” Damien whispers, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I’m not your girlfriend,” Claire hisses quietly, as she watches Alex come up the steps.
Damien looks over his shoulder, and then declares, “I think you are.”
“Damien,” Claire snaps.
“Claire,” he retorts.
Alex steps up next to them. “Good job, babe.”
“Thanks,” Claire sighs. “I’m kind of tired. That really pushed me.”
“You did great. You should be proud.”
“Claire?” Mr. Blakely calls. “Could you please come back down here?”
She nods and they all walk back down the steps. “How was that?”
“Impressive, young lady. Very impressive,” Mr. Blakely responds. “I think once your training is complete, you’ll be added onto the red squadron.”
“Excuse me?” Damien shouts.
“The red squadron?” Claire says back, slightly confused.
“Are you sure, Master Blakely?” Her grandfather replies. “That’s usually held for members that have been in service for years.”
Mr. Blakely taps his chin. “If she can do what we think she can do, her abilities will be out of this world. She’s stronger than any current guard member. Claire is fast and extremely talented. And if you add on her other ability, her power is immeasurable.”
Leaning in, Claire asks, “Okay. What’s the red squadron?”
“Special operations,” Damien growls. “Very top secret.”
“And you want me to join?” Claire squeaks.
With an enthusiastic nod, Mr. Blakely replies, “Yes. I see it this way: if we don’t use your abilities, they’ll just be wasted. Of course, this is entirely up to you. I know you planned to go to college.”
Claire inquires. “Do I have to protect someone all the time or can I just be used for missions? I just want to join the guard.”
“What about college?” Damien asks.
“College or the guard…it would totally be the guard.” Claire smiles.
“You could do both,” Mr. Blakely says. “You don’t have to protect a council member if you don’t want to. You can go to college first.”
She shrugs. “Yeah, but I just want to do the guard, so college is pointless.”
“You will go to college,” her grandfather declares. “You need a good education.”
“We do take care of the guard members for the rest of their lives, but you may get bored after you’re done serving,” Mr. Blakely states. “An education would do you some good.”
Rolling her eyes, Claire groans, “Fine.”
“You’re talented,” Lucas says. “I give you that much.”
Beaming, Claire says, “Thank you.”
“Especially for someone so young,” Mark adds on.
“We don’t usually take on guard members at the age of 18,” Mr. Blakely replies.
“25 is usually the youngest,” Mark states. “Alex was the most recent exception.”
Nodding, Claire asks, “How long will my training take?”
“Not long. I would say three solid months, but you will be in school, so six or seven months of doing it on your off time. I will train you,” her grandfather answers. “You know everything for the most part. I made sure of that. Our weapons and the disciplines of the guard are really the only things you’re missing.”
“I’m so excited!” she cheers.
Mr. Blakely laughs. “I’m glad.”
“I’m not amused,” Damien grumbles, crossing his arms.
“About what?” Mr. Blakely inquires.
“She can’t join the red squadron.”
“Why not?” Alex asks.
Damien glares at him. “I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“Neither do I,” Alex counters.
“Okay,” Claire interrupts. “We haven’t even gotten there yet. Let’s just take it one step at a time.”
Mr. Paulson says, “Well, we can start on the next group of energy tests.”
“Yes,” Dr. Rollins adds. “We should go to one of the exam rooms, just in case something happens.”
“Right this way,” Claire’s grandfather replies, waving his hand.
“Let me take this thing off,” Claire mumbles, unbuckling the straps.
Lucas sticks out his hand. “I’ll take that for you.”
“Thanks,” Claire says, as she hands it over to him.
“Now, let’s go do these tests,” her grandfather says.
When they get to the room, Mr. Paulson points to the exam table. “Alex, please sit down. We need to apply the same electrodes that Claire has. We have to closely monitor you.”
Alex nods and sits down. “How are we going to do this?”
“We aren’t sure exactly,” Dr. Galliger replies. “It’s going to be trial-and-error sort. We have no idea how Claire did it originally, so we need to figure that out first.”
“Okay,” Alex says.
Claire walks over to him. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Of course, if it helps you,” Alex replies. Claire gives him a soft smile and he smirks back.
Dr. Rollins walks over to Alex. “Take your shirt off, please.”
Alex does and Dr. Rollins starts to stick the electrodes onto him.
When she finishes, Dr. Rollins says, “You’re all set. Claire, why don’t you sit down and you can face each other.”
Hopping up onto the table, Claire spins and sits cross-legged from Alex. He turns and does the same.
“Alright,” Dr. Rollins starts, “Let’s begin by you touching each other. You can place your hands on top of his.”
“Okay,” Claire replies. Alex sticks his hands out and Claire puts hers on top. “Now what?”
Mr. Paulson comes up next to them. He stares down at his computer tablet. “Well, there are no energy fluctuations by touch only. Try to draw his energy from him now.”
“I’m not sure what that entails,” Claire declares.
“Remember, close your eyes and feel what it felt like when you kissed Alex,” Damien replies.
With a nod, Claire does as he says. She concentrates really hard, but finally shakes her head. “I can’t feel anything.”
“Interesting,” Mr. Paulson mumbles. “There was no energy transfer at all. So, you can’t sense his energy?”
“I know he’s there, but it’s not the same feeling,” Claire replies.
“Okay, Alex, try to push your energy into Claire, just a tiny bit,” Dr. Galliger says.
Alex looks at Claire and smiles. There is a slight wisp of feeling and Claire tenses. “I’m scared I’m going to hurt him.”
“We’re here to stop you,” Damien reassures her. “Don’t worry.”
“Alright,” she mumbles.
“Now, try to pull his energy into you,” Dr. Galliger says.
Claire closes her eyes and concentrates. She feels the light touch of Alex’s energy and starts to spread it across herself.
“There’s energy transfer,” Dr. Galliger declares. “Don’t pull too hard, Claire.”
She falters a little and abruptly stops. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
“I’m fine,” Alex assures her. “I can feel it happening this time.”
“But, what if I drain you too much?” Claire whines.
“Then I take a really long, deep nap,” Alex says, with a smile. “Just take it slow.”
Taking in a deep breath, Claire starts to pull his energy again. A pleasurable tickle tingles across her nerves, a rush that spreads everywhere.
“Wait, stop!” Dr. Galliger yells.
Claire grimaces. She can’t.
Damien jumps forward and yanks her away. Alex grabs his chest, gasping. Claire’s hea
d is foggy, and she stumbles off of the table. Damien grabs her.
“No, don’t touch me!” Claire yells.
“Her energy level is too high,” Dr. Galliger exclaims. “Claire, are you alright?”
She bends over and takes ragged breathes. “It’s like a horrible pressure.”
“Shift,” Dr. Galliger instructs. “Shift now.”
With a thought, Claire shifts into a lioness. The energy drains out of her and she exhales a sigh of relief.
“Okay, your levels are lower,” Dr. Galliger states. “You can shift back.”
When Claire does, she ends up on her hands and knees. “I’m not used to this shifting.” She looks up at Alex. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” Alex rubs his face. “Just tired.”
“You have about half of your energy,” Mr. Paulson says to him. “I want you to go to Shima right now to see if you can get it back.”
Alex nods and closes his eyes.
Claire sits back on her heels. “That was a little intense.”
“Your levels are still pretty high,” Dr. Galliger notes. “Do you feel any different?”
“Yeah. I feel a tingling across my skin.”
“She should try to go to Shima,” Damien suggests. “Since she couldn’t at all before this.”
Dr. Galliger looks thoughtfully at Claire. “That’s a good idea.”
“I’m not sure I can,” Claire mumbles. “Especially in front of an audience.”
“Well, I can help with that,” Damien chirps. He walks behind her. “Sit against me,” he instructs as he comes down by her.
Claire scoots back and leans on him.
Damien puts one hand on her chest and the other on her stomach. “Now, take deep breaths with me.”
Claire feels his chest rise against her. She inhales deeply along with him. After a few seconds, she asks, “Now what?”
“Shhh. Keep breathing,” Damien whispers. “Now, close your eyes.” Claire does. “Okay, now feel your energy. Let your mind be absorbed by it.”
Claire sees a light. She’s seen it a few times before, but never this bright. Then, like a vacuum, she’s sucked forward. When Claire gets her bearings again, there’s nothing but light around her.
“I did it!” she screams.
“You did!” Damien cheers from behind her. Claire runs over and jumps into his arms.
