by Lanie Jordan
His cheeks went slightly pink, but his smile never faltered. “I did not scream like a girl.”
I made my expression go blank, which was a lot harder than I thought it’d be when I wanted to keep laughing. “You might’ve.”
“I did not. You did.”
“Yeah, but I got bit by a vampire.” I frowned. “And I am a girl. I’m allowed to sound like one.”
Peter’s shoulders shook. “Come on, Jade. Show the P4s what they have to look forward to in a few a months, once their treatments settle.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rachel make an ugly face and roll her eyes. To Leslie, her friend, I heard her snort and whisper, “Like I want to be anything like her.”
For a second, I wondered if she’d forgotten how good my hearing was, but then she spotted me looking at her and shrugged. Part of me almost refused Peter’s request. But wasn’t that what I’d been doing the last two years? Trying to hide who and what I was, trying (and still managing to fail) to stay off everyone’s radar? It hadn’t worked so far, had it?
“You know what? Sure.” I let out a sigh under my breath, pushed Rachel from my mind, and grinned at Adam. “But I’m not holding my punches and you better not either.”
Adam’s eyebrows shot up. “You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Peter went to the table and chairs and started moving them toward the back wall. He paused after a minute. “This is your not-so-subtle hint to help.”
After that, everyone scrambled to help. In no time, everything was out of our way, Adam and I were standing in the middle of the room, and the P4s formed a circle around us.
“No face shots,” Peter said. “And no trying to actually make each other yell like girls. Agreed?”
Adam and I both mumbled our agreements.
Peter shook his head again. “Oh, and Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“If she kicks your butt, I’ll make sure everyone finds out.”
“You mean you’ll make sure no one finds out.”
Peter smiled. “No, I mean I’ll personally tell everyone and you’ll never live it down.” He held up his phone, screen facing out, letting us know he was recording the fight.
Adam’s jaw dropped. “That’s cold, man. Cold.”
The P4s snickered.
Peter shrugged. “You’re three years older, have at least sixty pounds on her, and you’re almost a foot taller. If you lose, you’ll deserve the mocking.”
Frowning, Adam turned to me. “Sorry, Jade. You’ve gotta go down.”
I grinned at him. Thanks to all of Linc’s crazy movie marathons, I’d gotten a few ideas for some moves I’d been wanting to try. Now I had a guinea pig. “This is going to be fun.”
“Oh, will you just get on with it already,” Rachel muttered. “We don’t have all night.”
“She’s got a point,” Peter agreed, giving her a hard look, “albeit rudely said.”
Adam and I ignored them both and circled each other. It reminded me of my first day with Linc, when we’d fought in front of the other students, but when Adam punched me in the arm, I quickly realized it was different: Adam wasn’t holding his punches.
I narrowed my eyes, turned to the side, and tried for a side-kick. He caught my foot in his hand and grinned. I smiled in return, and when his eyes went suspicious, jumped, kicking him in the side of the neck with my other foot. I landed on my hands and knees as Adam hit the ground.
He rubbed his neck as he got to his feet and gave me a small nod. To Peter, he said, “They didn’t teach us that one.”
I shrugged. “I like watching movies.” Like was a mild word. Linc practically forced me to watch them, and the more action they had, the better they were—to him.
With another nod, Adam started circling again. His eyes reminded me of a hungry shark. I stopped pacing, and when he did too, I kicked him in the shin. Not hard, just a tap really.
He looked down, his brows creased. “What the hell was that supposed to accomplish?”
“Exactly what it did,” I said, then I hit him in the stomach.
The others laughed. I caught a glimpse of Peter, standing behind the others, trying to keep a straight face.
Adam, who was now glaring at me, charged. My eyes went wide and I ran toward the P4s closest to us. They scrambled out of the way and I ran up the wall. Adam did the same thing and we ended up colliding into each other mid-air. When we hit the ground, it was with Adam taking the brunt of the fall. He groaned. “You’ve got bony elbows.”
The elbow in question was currently jabbed into his ribs. I rolled away and got back to my feet. I shrugged as he looked up at me. “Sorry.”
“Liar.”
I grinned.
Rachel yawned. “Boring.”
Slowly, Peter turned toward her. “Think you could liven it up?”
“For one, they’re not doing anything we can’t do now. Two, how do we know either of them are even trying to do anything?”
“Because I said we are,” Adam said, back on his feet now. “And I’m not a liar.”
“Maybe not.” Rachel lifted a shoulder. “But you’ve been giving her googly eyes since she got here, and pretty much every other meeting.”
I laughed. Adam blushed. I waited for him to argue. A weird knot formed in my stomach when he didn’t, one I couldn’t explain. What Rachel said was crazy. Adam was…Adam, for crying out loud. He was older. A hunter.
I glanced at Rachel again. She had a smug, I’m-so-clever expression. When I tried looking at Adam, I found him turned away so I couldn’t see his face. I shook my head. Adam was cool. He was younger than the others, closer to our age, but he didn’t look at me with googly eyes—whatever that even meant. She’s insane and doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about.
Peter broke the now awkward silence. “Well, if anyone else has a suggestion, I’m open to hearing it.”
So Rachel wanted something better? I could do that. “Blindfolded.”
“What?” Peter’s head whipped in my direction. “You want to fight Adam while he’s blindfolded?”
“No. I want him to fight me while I’m blindfolded.”
There was a new kind of silence in the room now. Everyone, including Rachel—who always had something to say—stared at me, speechless.
“You’ll get your butt kicked,” was the first thing I heard.
“There’s no way.” Rachel shook her head. “Even you can’t see blindfolded. Get real.”
Peter walked over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me away from the group. “Are you insane?” he whispered.
“What? She wants something better, fine, I’ll give it to her.”
“I heard about that from Agent Burke. I’m not saying I don’t believe you or that it was exaggerated, but…”
“But what? Either you believe me or you don’t.”
“Can you do it?”
“Yes.” Probably. “I’ve done it before.”
He stared down at me with narrowed eyes. “And you’ve tried to do it again since then?”
I didn’t comment, because I hadn’t really tried doing it much. It was kind of freaky, even to me. But I could do it…couldn’t I?
“Are you sure about this?”
No! “Of course.”
Adam came over, eyebrows creased and shaking his head. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Fine. I’ll be blindfolded and you can stand there and get your butt kicked. I’m sure Harry and Dale will love that.” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at Peter. “You’re already recording this, aren’t you? I mean, visual proof is better than just a verbal retelling, right?”
Now Adam was glaring, and Peter, who seemed to like the idea of harassing Adam more than he disliked the idea of me being blindfolded, grinned. “She’s got a point. And a good idea.”
“Of course I do.” And why did he sound so surprised? Why did everyone sound surprised when I had ideas?
“Shut up, old man,” Adam said.
Pete
r lifted a shoulder. “You two discuss things. I’ll be over there, thinking of excuses to give the director when one of you—if not both of you—end up with black eyes.”
“What’s the deal, Jade?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you want to do this?”
“Being here is all about training. This, the mentor thing, is partly about learning what’s possible when you’re different, isn’t it? Well, what I can do is different.”
“That’s not something anyone else is going to be able to do. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do.” It made me a little sad that he was probably right, that none of the others would be able to do it. If they could, then maybe they wouldn’t think I was such a freak. But as much as it weirded me out, if or when I actually mastered it (assuming it was masterable in the first place), it could come in handy.
“I’ve talked to Peter, so I know you’re not exactly thrilled with being different. Why do this?”
I rolled my shoulders. “No, I’m not thrilled with it. Sometimes I’m too different, but that’s not going to change anytime soon, and something has to. If it’s not them, then it’s gotta be me, right? I’m tired of hiding who I am from them. I’m tired of pretending I’m not something I am—which is different.”
“Time to embrace your demon side?”
My demon side. I still didn’t exactly like that term, but… “Yeah, basically.”
He said nothing for a minute. “Okay, I’m in. But so help me, Jade, if you get hurt…”
“Then I’ll just tell everyone you hit me when I wasn’t looking,” I said sweetly. I walked away as he sputtered and smiled to myself when I heard him mutter ‘shit’ under his breath.
It took a few minutes to get things set up because I’d asked for a red light like the one they’d used in Tracking. After, Adam moved everyone to the far side of the room as Peter wrapped the blindfold across my eyes.
“You’re absolutely sure about this?” Adam asked for the sixth time as the lights went out.
I couldn’t see things like I had before, but I knew he was to my left. “Yes.”
“If you say so.”
Even though they were covered, I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. Focusing, I pulled the image of the room to my mind and thought about where everyone had been. I could hear whispers and breathing, slight shuffling of feet. Rachel, who’d been as far from us as possible before, had moved to stand in the front when the lights went out, like she wanted the best view possible.
Some of the others were, like before, saying I’d get my ass kicked. After a second, I realized my ‘some’ estimate was off—it was most of them. Even Kristina wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t walk away without some bruises.
“Ready?”
I spun toward the sound of Adam’s voice, praying that the seeing sounds thing would kick in any second, because until it did, I was basically going to be a blindfolded punching bag. My other senses were still pretty good, but not good enough if he kept his earlier word about not holding his punches. “Yup.”
Hearing his feet moving, I raised my arms in fight-mode and moved, trying to keep the sounds—and him—in front of me. The air shifted a little and I dodged to the side. Adam’s fist grazed my arm.
“You okay?”
I smacked him when I felt him move in front of me. “I’m not unconscious or crying. I’m fine.”
The longer my eyes were closed, the louder the sounds got. Adam struck out again, catching me in the other arm. There was barely any force behind it.
C’mon, demony senses. Kick in already so I can kick his butt!
We circled around for another minute or two, with him still pulling his punches.
The sounds got louder again and the blackness got darker. A light red glow formed in the shape of a body. Adam.
Still freaky, but definitely kinda cool.
This time, I took the offensive and moved toward him. I heard the unmistakable sound of intakes of breath—including Adam’s. He moved back and circled one way, then another, then back again. I took a step forward and punched him in the stomach. Before he could move or duck or dodge, I brought my arm down on his back.
“Lucky guess,” Rachel called out when the others started to cheer.
I turned toward her voice. “Think so? I’ll hold still, then. You try.”
“Jade—” Peter started.
I shook my head. “Even if I hit Adam or dodge his hits, she’s just going to say he’s letting me get him or something. Right?”
“Which he probably was,” Rachel said, the red glow around her nodding.
“Well, here’s your chance to see for yourself.”
I wasn’t sure what I expected—her to refuse or gladly take the chance—but I didn’t think she’d march right over and hit me in the stomach. I could have avoided the hit, and probably should have, but I’d been so shocked she’d actually do it that I’d just stood there. “That’s your free shot,” I said, tone low.
She scoffed and tried hitting me again.
I dodged to the left, then right, then ducked, then dodged to the right again. Each time she tried hitting me she missed by inches. She tried circling around me, like that’d help, but I just followed her and ducked and dodged some more. This time she tried kicking my feet out from underneath me, so I jumped up.
“Alright,” Peter said, “I think that’s enough of an example.”
Ignoring him, Rachel advanced on me, punching and kicking non-stop. I kept moving back, blocking her hits with my hands and legs easily, but I knew I was getting close to a wall now.
“I said enough!”
I dropped my hands down to my side at Peter’s snapped command and glanced to my left, where he was standing.
Rachel muttered, “You’re a freak,” under her breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her punch out once more.
I turned back in time to catch her fist a second before it would’ve hit me in the jaw. I tore the blindfold off and did my best to ignore the spark of anger in my stomach. She made an ugly, angry face at me and tried slapping me.
Even as I caught her hand easily again and held it, that spark of anger ignited into a ball of red hot fury. My fingers tightened.
“Let go!” she shouted.
I heard and felt a sickening crack. Rachel cried out and yanked her hand free before I could release it. She pulled back hard enough to send herself sprawling to the floor.
My stomach dropped as Rachel scrambled back, pushing away from me with her feet. I couldn’t move or think, only stare at her, helpless to do anything. Someone shoved me aside when I took a step forward. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—I barely—”
Kristina blocked my path. “Get away from her, Jade.”
“Step back, Jade,” Peter said.
“My hand’s broken!” Rachel gasped. “That bitch broke my hand! Get her away from me!” Adam and Peter helped her to her feet. She held her arm to her stomach, her face white and clammy. “See?” Pointedly, she stared at the other P4s. “This is what I’m talking about. She’s dangerous. She shouldn’t be here!”
My heart pounded in my chest. Something tight clutched my lungs, making it hard to breathe. “But I didn’t mean—”
Matt, who’d been one of the first to act nice toward me, shook his head. “Just go, Jade.”
I didn’t want to leave like that, but what else could I do? Without another word, I ran from the room. Outside, I moved to the side and fell back against the wall, trying to catch my breath as it wheezed out in painful gasps.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. I repeated the words in my head, over and over, until it matched the sound of my ragged breathing. What have I done now?
Still unable to catch my breath fully, I went out onto the catwalk. Air, peace, quiet.
Avoidance.
Yeah, I was going to play the avoidance game until…I wasn’t sure when. When people were gone?
For the last few weeks, things had been looking up a little. The
other P4s had been on my side, not Rachel’s. If she said something to me, I’d been the one getting defended. And not just the P4s, either. The others had started to…not like me exactly, but they’d showed me less animosity than normal. Not tons less, but there weren’t as many whispers about me. No doubt that would start up again full force.
I already knew no one believed it’d been an accident, that they thought I’d done it on purpose, because they knew Rachel and I didn’t like each other. Because they knew we had issues. But I’d never hurt her on purpose. Okay, excluding last Phase when I’d punched her, but even then it hadn’t been that hard, more of a not-so-gentle tap.
Yeah, I’d squeezed her hand a little, but not with the intent to really hurt her. A little pressure, no pain.
Wasn’t that what had happened with Linc? I’d barely shoved him and he’d flown back like I’d put all my strength into it. He’d said it was the adrenalin and my emotions that had done it, and I’d believed him. I’d wanted to.
God, I hadn’t wanted to hurt him, or even Rachel. I’d just wanted Linc to stay back because I’d been upset, and I’d squeezed Rachel’s hand a little, just to show her that I was done being her verbal punching bag.
I hadn’t meant to hurt either of them and I’d done exactly that. Except this time I’d really hurt someone.
Linc and Dr. Cherry…they could both say there was nothing wrong with me, but I knew better, especially now.
And Rachel, whether I liked it or not, was right. I was dangerous.
CHAPTER 16
Greene sent me to see Dr. Cherry an hour later. He’d glanced at me, told me I was going to see her immediately, and that was that. No discussion, nothing. He didn’t yell or question me about what had happened, though I was sure he’d get to it eventually.
To make it worse, I didn’t have Linc with me and instead Doc had been ordered to go. I didn’t mind her company, but I would have preferred Linc. I was used to him going with me, and after the accident, I hadn’t even had a chance to talk to him about it. I’d been on way to see him when Greene had found me and said I was going to the facility.
