Purpose and anticipation wrapped in ribbons around the maypole of my soul at the thought of having a plan. Our revenge would be cold, but the root was more scalding than the sun.
Chapter Ten: Outsiders
I pulled my head off of my knees as I realized Malcolm had turned off the soothing music and was about to address the class. Everyone was sweating profusely and when I located James’ face in the crowd it was beet red from exertion. Who knew Tai Chi could be so taxing?
Malcolm’s booming voice carried. “Anyone who isn’t interested in the Kenpo session work some weights or take a spin on a stationary bike in the next room. Everyone else, you know the drill. Assume the ready position.”
At first, the class was a chaos of moving bodies, some exiting and others visiting briefly before they reorganized at the edge of the mats. A few more students that hadn’t attended the first session came in to find a spot.
Malcolm made some smart comments about sleepy heads not getting out of bed, and the majority of the late arrivals laughed. A few adults I hadn’t noticed when Kara and I came in earlier had mixed with the participants, but they all left, headed in the direction of the workout equipment. When everyone had settled into evenly spaced, seated rows all around the perimeter, Malcolm raised a hand motioning four students forward as he moved into the center of the mats.
“Chiang, Swindell, Harris, and Martinez, you’re up.”
Each of them positioned themselves around Malcolm. I hadn’t failed to notice ‘Harris’ in the roll call, and it was indeed the short blonde girl from the women’s locker room. Chiang was tall and slender with dark brown hair, copper skin, and slightly slanted eyes. Swindell was a tall, fiery redhead that reminded me of Maggie. Martinez was petite, short haired and androgynous looking; I wasn’t even sure she was 'she' until she moved her arm and I saw the outline of a breast under her t-shirt.
Malcolm paired off the two short girls against the two taller girls, which might seem unfair but interested me greatly. I wanted to see what techniques they used to defend against a larger opponent with a longer reach.
Martinez was a born athlete, all solid muscle, and hardly any body fat. Swindell, on the other hand, looked like she might be easy prey, bigger or not. When Chiang and Harris squared off, I thought for certain the taller girl would win based on her long muscular limbs alone. Harris didn’t have the reach or much strength.
The bouts were over in the blink of an eye. Martinez and Chiang went down with loud thumps on the mat while their opponents stood above them with a grip on an arm. They pantomimed kicking a shoulder blade or the back of a leg at the knee. Each ‘winner’ extended a hand to help their sparring partners up and then each headed back to their former positions at the edge of the mat.
Malcolm made some comments directly to each student about proper form and technique then called another group of four to the center. “Lee, Martinez, Smith and Chiang; you’re up.”
At ‘Lee’, James popped up. I guess I had never wondered at James and Kara’s last name, now I didn’t have to ask.
I asked Silver, “Is our last name seriously Rainbow? If we’re going to hunt down a serial killer that’s hundreds of years old, end a civil war that’s stretched back almost as many years, and save our race, you would think a more serious surname would be in order.”
Silver made a sound resembling a choked laugh. “Anything that muddies the waters and causes our enemies to underestimate us is welcome…besides, isn’t there always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?”
“We aren’t leprechauns, Silver.”
My only answer was an amused silence.
Kara sat to attention. I murmured to her, “Is he any good?”
Her face lit with enthusiasm. “You’ll see.”
Malcolm paired off tall to short just as he had with the girls earlier. It ended up being James against Martinez and Chiang against Smith. Martinez looked like a twin to the girl version but stockier and slightly taller. Chiang was tall, dark headed, thin and could be a twin to the earlier female version as well. Smith was of medium build and indeterminate race with a gymnast’s build. Broad shoulders tapered down to a small waist and sturdy legs.
I looked around at the rest of the class. Either the siblings looked a lot like one another, or an abnormally high ratio of twin births existed. They weren’t all twins because I could tell there was an age difference of a year or two between some of the individuals that looked related.
Not everyone had identical siblings. Smith for one didn’t have anyone in the crowd who favored him. As the boys squared off, I paid closer attention to how James moved his feet. I didn’t want to miss a second.
At some signal from Malcolm, they all burst into movement. Martinez struck out toward James’ neck and leg simultaneously. He was lethally fast. James didn’t just dodge the attack, he moved to the side and toward Martinez. Before I knew it, Martinez was being held by his neck in a position that could have been fatal. James pantomimed an elbow to the abdomen, and just that fast, it was over. I would swear I hadn’t blinked, but James had been so quick I hadn’t seen the move in its entirety. I looked at Kara, and she was smiling like the proverbial cat that ate the cream with a little astonishment thrown in. She seemed surprised at something. A couple of bystanders from the class were murmuring and darting surreptitious glances at James. Maybe we weren’t the only ones wondering about his speedy takedown. If Malcolm picked it up, he didn’t say a word.
Silver said sarcastically, “Hmmm, recruit number one you think?”
“He’ll do.”
“Do you want me to do anything about our raging hormones? Don’t let Malcolm catch you looking at James with any ideas. He might pat us on the head again…then we would have to kill him.”
“About that, Sister…what did we do exactly when we hit Malcolm?”
Silver’s puzzlement was obvious. “I’m not sure. I pulled energy from our body and pooled it in our hand. When it connected with his chest, it released. I’ll be honest, I did it on instinct, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”
“Well, keep thinking about it. It would be useful in a fight for certain, but not if it’s too draining. I won't want to count on it if that’s the case.”
“It’s fun plotting homicide and world domination with you, Sister. We rock!”
I earned a sideways look from Kara when a brief bit of mirth escaped. The blood rushed to my cheeks, but I couldn’t regret the genuine laugh. Happiness was rare in my life.
Silver pushed a feeling of total agreement my way. “We have a long haul ahead of us, Sister, and if we can squeeze in any moments of actual living and laughter, we should.”
I smiled at Kara and fought through my embarrassment at my random seeming laughter. Her response was a hesitant smile that burst into a full tilt tooth-baring grin. I nudged her shoulder with my own and the smile spread all the way to her eyes causing tiny wrinkles at the corners. I wondered if we would live to be a ripe enough age for our lines to become permanent. I hoped so.
Malcolm continued to pull out groups of four and instruct until every student had a turn. Each bout was exciting to me, and I felt like I had learned a few moves I would like to try for real rather than just running through them in my mind.
In closing, he said, “Just remember, there is no one right way. Adapt to your strengths and weaknesses. Just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it’s the right path for you. You are all dismissed.”
The border of human bodies broke up quite swiftly. I unfocused my eyes and tried to take in the movement of the whole room to see any patterns. As I had suspected, the division of the compound politically was reflected in the younger population. Little clusters formed to visit and wander toward the workout area or the locker rooms.
Three groups materialized; those that sided with the Council, Harris’ group; those that sided with no one; and those that were against the Council. I could tell which people were against the Council’s decisions mainly by their
aversion to Harris’ group. If I watched carefully, the way people held themselves and the hand gestures they made could tell a tale. The younger crowd seemed to be more against the Council than for it if my observation was accurate.
Malcolm stopped in front of Kara and me. “So, what did you think about the class, Dynamite?”
“I liked it.”
Kara cut her eyes in annoyance at our deadpan response before announcing, “That was awesome! I’m looking forward to getting back into a class. James and I used to practice together for competitions, but it isn't the same as having a teacher.”
Malcolm raised his eyebrows. “James didn’t tell me you and he competed.”
James sidled up beside Malcolm. “Given Kara’s situation and how things stand about ‘Outsiders,' why would I? The Council wouldn't approve my participation in local competitions.”
Malcolm grunted in agreement. “After we all get cleaned up, we can pick up that package from Maggie and then go into town. Catch a shower, Dynamite, and take Mighty Mouth with you. We’ll meet in the hall in thirty.”
He gestured at Kara with the Mighty Mouth comment and James laughed at her loud protest of, ‘Hey!’
I pulled us both to our feet, feeling ten times better than I had before the class started but still tired, and meandered around what lingering groups of visiting kids were left, headed out the door and toward the entrance to the women’s locker room. Kara hadn’t let go of my hand when I helped her up, and it wasn’t bothering me, so when we entered the locker room, our fingers were still entwined.
The echoing din of conversation ceased as soon as we became visible. Kara gripped my hand tightly before releasing it, then moved in front of me through the tight spaces in between silently staring girls toward our locker.
I thought to Silver, “We have to start somewhere. We can’t let ourselves become the freak show everyone gossips about forever, right?”
I got the feeling Silver was only half paying attention and possibly in the Web. The physical world was supposed to be my expertise, so I zeroed in on a nearby girl that turned out to be Martinez. She looked curious not hostile, so I extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Cassandra Rainbow.”
She blinked like an owl as if I had shocked her with my introduction and replied with a question. “What the hell is a Rainbow doing in a non-Warp compound?”
Okay, now I was totally lost, and I reflexively reached for Silver in confusion.
She was suddenly there and thinking rapid speed. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t tell you everything about Mother and Father. In a nutshell, Warp spy meets Weaver, who unearths his traitor status but falls in love with him. Weaver gives up everything including her Council seat to run away with Warp. They get found then killed by the Warp Faction because there is no such thing as Warp defection. We get taken and ‘the end’, a grisly end to a doomed love story. The Rainbows have a long, complicated history with the Warp Faction. Be mad at me later. Sorry. To be fair I didn’t lie to you, I omitted.”
“Are there any other omissions you’d like to share?” I asked. “Never mind, tell me tonight. By the way, I will be mad at you whenever I feel like it because you did lie. You said you hadn’t run into any Warps in the Web.”
Silver sent me a resigned indifference I knew to be feigned.
Out loud, my response to Martinez was, “Recovering. My uncle rescued me from a Warp prison cell about a month ago. What’s your excuse for being here?”
Martinez gave me a skeptical look. “So how do any of us know you aren’t a spy? A name like Rainbow isn’t going to be popular around here. Lots of people have relatives killed by their hit squads.”
I held her gaze intently with my hand still extended. “You don’t know if I’m a spy. I can only tell you I’m not. Both my parents were killed by a Warp hit squad in front of me when I was about five. I may hate them more than anyone else in this place.”
Martinez mulled it over so long I thought she might tell me to stick my hand where the sun didn’t shine. Slowly her hand rose to shake my own in a warm firm grip.
“So what do I call you besides Martinez?”
“Helen, but most people just call me Hell.”
I smiled. “Nice to meet you, Hell. So, maybe I’ll see you around.”
A couple of other girls that were close by crowded in as if they might introduce themselves then Harris walked in ruining all of my efforts. The atmosphere of the locker room shifted to about ten degrees colder, and she bore down on me with an evil gleam in her eyes. A space cleared immediately. I could hear Kara moving toward me in the crush.
“Excuse me, move please,” she murmured.
I held Harris’ gaze until she was standing in front of me. I raised my hand to greet her. She slapped it aside with a cracking sound. My skin stung, and it took everything in me not to hit her. I pasted on a bemused smile and continued to stare into her eyes. There were ways and then there were ways to fight back, passive aggressive I could certainly do.
“Don’t come in here trying to act all friendly and innocent. You’re a traitor and a spy like the rest of your father’s family. The Council should have killed you as soon as Gerome brought you to the compound. I’ll be watching. If you move so much as a toe out of line, I’ll kill you myself.” Every word out of her mouth was abrupt as if it was all she could do to hold her anger in check.
“I’m not acting like anything but myself, Harris. All I can say about your little death threat is to bring it. Last I checked with Gerome, you aren’t on the Council, so your opinion of me matters for shit.”
Then again, sometimes aggressive was nice.
Harris reached for me, and she was fast, but Kara’s arm shot out from behind me to block her hit.
Kara’s voice came from above my head. “You want me to share this little episode with Malcolm? I’m pretty sure there’s no fighting off the mats.”
Harris squinted and tried to act as if walking away were her idea. As she turned her back, she mouthed, “Later.”
Apparently the idiom ran in the family.
I craned my neck up at Kara. “Are we hitting the showers?”
She gave a tight smirk and motioned toward a stall. “I’m clean from the clinic, but I’ll stand guard while you wash up.”
The other girls had gone back to their own business as soon as Harris backed down. I could tell some of them were considering us now instead of rubber-necking the new girls.
After I was clean and feeling oh so much fresher, we met Malcolm in the hall then headed out to the infirmary to pick up Kara’s blood work. We didn’t visit with Maggie because she was tied up with a patient in the back. David handed over the goods with a smile.
James seemed torn about looking into housing for him and Kara or going into town with us, but having somewhere to sleep tonight won out. He gave his sister a hug and left. Our little group whittled down to Kara and me since Malcolm told us to wait for him by the front gate and disappeared to get transportation.
The trek to the entrance of the compound was peaceful, and the weather was turning sunny. If it held, some parts of the muddy ground could even dry out. The wind picked up again. As a blessing, the still damp earth kept the gusts dirt-free. Kara had my bag flung over her shoulder and was enjoying the sun on her face.
“So, do you have any doubts about me since my last name is Rainbow?”
Kara opened her eyes to squint against the sun and looked down. “Should I?”
I felt a smile tug at the corner of my mouth, and I replied, “No.”
“Then…no.”
As we neared the guard post at the entrance to the compound, I could see the familiar profile of my uncle standing next to another security officer discussing something. When we drew closer, he broke off the conversation and turned to await our arrival.
“How was the class?” Gerome’s words were clipped, and his eyes looked tired.
“Good. I watched with Kara. Had a minor run-in with a Harris in the locker room but it’s all good. When were you
planning on telling me about my father?”
Gerome glanced at Kara then back at me. “Now isn’t the time. Obey Malcolm in town. We’ll have this conversation later.”
“I know we will.”
My uncle looked at me with a concentrated focus that had probably put more than one grown man in his place, but I wouldn’t be cowed.
He gave an exasperated sigh. “You’re just like your mother, I swear.” Then he smiled and hit my shoulder with an open hand. “Behave in town. I’ll see you when you get back. Do you need any money? Maggie called and said she was with a patient when you went to the infirmary. Are you feeling better?” He pulled a wallet out and offered me some cash.
I stuffed it in my coat pocket without counting it. “I’m good.”
Whatever else I was going to say would have been drowned out by the growl of an approaching vehicle with Malcolm behind the wheel. The older, muddy Suburban was idling with a throaty growl, great big plumes of diesel exhaust bloomed from the tail pipe. Although the SUV looked like a vehicle past its prime, the engine ran as if it was well-maintained. The tires were enormous and mud-caked but brand new.
The guards quick-stepped it over to the gates and swung them open. The front passenger door opened, and Malcolm beckoned. Even with Malcolm as a third, the front seat was big enough for three. Kara and I climbed in. I got the middle and the hump with my shorter legs.
Gerome came around to the driver’s side and leaned an arm on the door, speaking to his friend through the open window. “Hey, there’s some tension right now. I got word a few girls have gone missing, and some of the local authorities have us on their short list. You may need to stop by and talk to Officer Walters. Find out what’s making them look to us besides the usual rumors.”
Malcolm’s head dipped as he squinted through the windshield at the rising sun. Light reflected off of his forehead and cheeks creating a dark rainbow on his skin. “I’ll ask him. Most people think we’re a cult or some survivalist, end of times baloney. It isn’t helping that the Council shut down all of our participation in local charity work. If it gets too bad, we could catch the attention of the FBI and then we’ll have another Waco on our hands.”
Chimera (The Weaver Series Book 1) Page 15
