by Kimbra Swain
“I’m will always be here,” she said quietly.
“I know,” I said and reached up and turned off the lamp beside the couch. The TV was the only light in the room. As it flickered, I drifted off to sleep watching Abby at the other end of the couch. I think she was asleep the moment the last word came out of her mouth.
The alarm on my phone went off, and I growled at it. I looked down at Abby. She pulled the blanket over her head. “Turn the damn thing off,” I heard her muffled voice.
“I think we should have breakfast again before class,” I said.
She pulled the blanket down and said, “I’m not hungry. Plus, I’m not sure me showing up in the cafeteria with you is such a good idea.”
“I’ll go grab something and bring it back. You want anything?” I asked.
“No. I think I’m fine.”
“Ok, well help yourself to anything in the fridge. The bathroom is in there. You can even go lay down on my bed if you would rather.”
“I’m fine,” she repeated.
I hurried down to the cafeteria, and got my second breakfast. I felt like a hobbit. Maybe they were time portal travelers, and that’s how they had so many meals. I got her a cup of tea, too. By the time I got back, she had commandeered the couch and slept again. I sat the cup of hot tea down on the coffee table. And plopped down at the small kitchen table to enjoy my bacon, egg and cheese biscuit.
I had eagerly wanted her to come to class, but apprehension started to rise up in me. The students developing their skills meant a lot to me. They had plenty of distractions thus far. Hopefully, this would be a good move. I heard her moving around behind me. She sat up and said, “Ooo! Tea!” She scooped it up and took a sip. “Cold tea.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d go back to sleep,” I said.
“It's ok. I know how to use a microwave,” she explained. She put the cup in the microwave which was on the end of the counter next to where I sat at the table. The stared at the keypad. I reached over and hit a couple buttons, and it started up. “Perhaps I overestimated my microwave skills.”
“I see,” I smirked at her.
“You mind if I use your computer?” she asked.
“No go ahead. I’m gonna get a quick shower and get ready for class. How do you want to do this class thing?”
“I was thinking about that. I considered a grand entrance with an invisibility spell, but I think just let me be in there when they come in. I’ll even take my old spot in the lineup, if they leave it open for me.”
“You aren’t my student anymore, not that you ever were.”
“But I am. And I promise to be a better one now. I have a lot to learn from you.”
“I don’t know what you could possibly learn from me,” I said.
She sat down at the computer and logged in to the Agency network using her credentials. I imagined she had a lot more access than I did. She opened her email, and the screen filled with unopened ones, “Ugh. I’ll just hit the highlights. Mind if I use the shower too, when you are done?”
“Yeah sure.” I walked over to her. “What exactly are you gonna learn from me, Miss Deflection? Or should I say Miss Change the Subject?”
“Compassion. I think you have a lot more heart than I do. I can be extremely calculating. To be honest, Meredith is a ticking time bomb, and I don’t handle that kind of thing very well. She deliberately tried to force you to shift to prove a point. You however, because of your friendship with her, are willing to endure a lot to save the friendship. I’m not sure I’d have that much compassion. I know I wouldn’t. I have walked the edge of evil too many times.”
“Abby, there is nothing evil about you,” I said.
She hung her head, not watching the screen now. “Yes, there is. I fight it back daily. I keep it confined. I keep it suppressed.”
I realized now how much she actually identified with me, then I asked a very dangerous question, “Have you killed? Like me?”
She swallowed and took a deep breath. She let it out slowly and quietly said, “Yes. I have.”
I just stared at her. I didn’t know what to say. I saw her bite her lip. She did not want to talk about it. I put my hand on her shoulder. She put hers on mine. I felt it shake a little. I knew there were no words. I squeezed her shoulder, and went to get a quick shower.
When I got out she had shut down the computer and waited for me to finish while sitting on the couch. She sipped tea and stared at the television. It was off.
“I’m done, if you want to use it,” I said.
“Thanks,” she got up, and walked past me into the bathroom and shut the door.
The shower must have made her feel better. She smiled when she came out of the bathroom. Of course, she didn’t have any clothes here that I knew of, but while she was in the shower, I found clothes in my closet full of the clothes that were just like the ones at Casa del Sol. I hadn’t figured out how she managed to do all of that. I had gotten over the creep factor of it. Just par for the course when your partner is a crazy wizard. I thought back to Meredith’s rant about Abby’s lineage. If she was part Fae, it wouldn’t surprise me. She was related to Theodoard down the line. There had to be something supernatural there. But she had told me her Aunt Lianne was extremely dangerous because she was Fae. Abby, I suppose, was dangerous too. I knew I hadn’t seen her really throw down with magic.
“You good?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said.
“You are going to be late for class if you don’t hurry up,” I teased.
“Can’t have that, my teacher is a real prick.”
“Hey! That’s not nice. You need to learn to respect authority.”
“Yes, I do. Please teach me o’ great master,” and she bowed to me.
“Oh enough, let's go.” I think she could banter with me all day if I kept coming back. I would run out of witty retorts eventually.
Thankfully when we entered the room, no one had arrived yet. We also avoided seeing anyone else in the hallways. Sometimes I wondered if she didn’t arrange everything. Samantha was the first through the door, followed by Travis. She squealed and ran to Abby. Abby stood in her normal spot on the mat. Samantha hugged her.
“Miss Taylor, please take your spot,” I spoke firmly. Abby grinned at me. The other students walked in. Travis walked past Abby, and said something quietly. She blushed, and then fist bumped him.
“Mr. Reed,” I said.
“Yes sir,” and he jumped in place. I bowed to them, and they all bowed to me.
“Naranhi Sogi.” They all popped to a ready stance. We used a lot of basic stances from Tae Kwon Do. Over the year’s we’ve found that if any had any martial arts at all that they were exposed to some form of Karate or Tae Kwon Do. I chose to use mostly Tae Kwon Do stances for teaching. “As you all see, Miss Davenport has joined our class today. I thought it would be beneficial for you all to know why she was here in the first place. A lot of the reason she came to our class was for each of you. Over the last few days, I’ve been privileged to see her vision for the canvas crews going forward and honored that she wanted my opinions and ideas. Over the years our teaching methods have changed, but never before has the world changed as rapidly as it does these days. With the booming technology and the immediacy of the world, our methods need a complete overhaul. Miss Davenport, would you please join me?” She walked up and stood next to me. She bowed to all of them, and they to her. “Please tell them why you are making changes and what classes will look like from now on.” We had talked about what she wanted to present to the class. I wanted to hand it over to her. I hadn’t seen her in this kind of setting. I stepped to the side and watched.
“Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Mr. Duarte, for allowing me to return to your class,” she looked over at me and I nodded. “He is right. I came into the class as a mundane for two very specific purposes. The first was Mr. Duarte himself. Most of you know, and if you don’t you should, that you are fortunate to be under the teaching of t
he best instructor that the Agency has ever had. I disguised myself as a student to learn more about him and his methods. Most of you know or have heard that I am a wielder. This is true. However, for the purposes of this experiment, I allowed my grandfather to bind my magic. While in this setting, I could not access it even if I wanted to. I wanted to be on the same playing field as the rest of you. Because of the skill of your instructor, it wasn’t very long before he knew something was off about me. His instincts are beyond any of us in this room, including myself. All in all, he handled the situation in an extremely professional manner.” I looked down. We did not discuss her bragging on me to them. I felt embarrassed. I cut my eyes up at her, and finally she caught me looking. I slightly shook my head. She changed course.
“I have asked Mr. Duarte to become my new partner in a much greater scale. My team and I have for many years worked directly with proxies and regents to fight the bad things that would rise up in the night. The very things that each of you will find when you enter the streets. He and I will be making changes to the way you train as well as establishing new proxies and new policies on the streets. The whole system needs a revamp starting right here at the core with you. I mentioned my team. Mr. Duarte, by way of object lesson, I have invited a few guests. If you would please, get the door.” She went off script, and I gave her a half-hearted evil eye. I heard her in my head very quietly, “Trust me.”
I focus on her, “I do.” She smiled. We had started the communication spell just prior to class just in case. I opened the door, and seven very diverse people walked into the back of the class. She motioned them to the front of the class.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is my team. Along with our newest member, Mr. Duarte, I’d like to introduce them to you. These two hulking brutes are simply known as Tony and Tommy. They are my Polynesian hit squad. They cover all security and related measures while in the field. This tall drink of water is none of other than the formerly famous race car driver, Jeremy Stafford. When you drive the circuits as non-aging being, people start to notice that undying youthful glow while everyone else grows old. Mr. Stafford retired from driving in circles, and now handles all vehicles and driving duties including planes and helicopters. He’s expanded his repertoire while with our team.” Stafford leered at her. I gritted my teeth. She looked back at me like she could hear me grinding. I motioned for her to continue.
“Vincent Volkov, the mad Russian, and Aiden Haider, the Arabic alchemist are my geek squad. They cover all sorts of -ologies. If it’s science related, these guys know about it and are on the forefront of research that even the American government doesn’t know about. Dr. Ichiro Maki is the doc. He patches us all up, and keeps us from getting hurt in the first place. Miss Ashley Montgomery is my personal assistant, but I fondly call her the ‘party planner.’ We move across the world as needed and that takes a lot of contacts and savvy skills. Miss Montgomery makes sure we all have what we need, when we need it, whether it’s a designer suit for an unexpected dinner or a whole closet full of clothes for a longer stay somewhere. She makes the impossible and improbable happen.” She turned and grinned at me. She walked up to the last guy in the line. He was a jittery waif of a man.
“And finally, this Mr. Matthew Oliver,” she put her arm around his shoulders and whispered something in his ear. He calmed his jitters. “Matt is autistic. He is extremely special. His skill has saved my life, and the lives of everyone on this team multiple times. He is a human lie detector. Hey Matt,” she said looking at him.
“Yes ma’am,” he answered clearly.
“Mr. Duarte is wearing white shoes,” she said. I dumbly looked down at my shoes. Matt became agitated.
“No, Miss Abby, his shoes are black, you shouldn’t lie,” he said.
“You are very right. Let’s try one more, okay?”
“Okay sure, that one was easy,” he said.
“You are right, this one is a little tougher. This morning I had eggs and bacon for breakfast with Mr. Duarte in his apartment.” If they weren’t tuned in, they were now. She had them all wrapped up.
“No ma’am. You had breakfast somewhere, but not here. But the part about bacon and eggs is true.” Their eyes all went wide.
“You are absolutely correct. Thank you, Matt. You are very good.” He smiled with her compliment. Ashley then took him by the hand, and one by one they filed out. Stafford stopped, and whispered something to her. She frowned.
When the last one left, she continued, “That’s my team. We work as a machine. And Mr. Duarte has agreed to join us. I got to thinking. If I won’t go into the field without a team, what kind of person am I to send each of you out into this world alone?” She paused and let it sink in. She had me wrapped up at this point, too. She mastered the room. I should have known she would school me on presentation.
“Not anymore. In fact, I will tell each and every one of you right now, you will pass this level of training. No one will wash out.” Their faces brightened, and they all looked at each other. “But it’s time to learn something new, and your very survival will depend on it. Time for another object lesson. Travis, please join me.” Travis blanched white, but followed her instruction. She pointed to her right. He stood next to her. “Penelope, please join us.” Penny, as we fondly called her, was tiny, but she would knock your teeth out. She was all quickness and finesse when fighting.
“Now Travis here is all brute force. He can knock you out with one punch,” more than one of the students chuckled, and I cleared my throat. “Can anyone tell me Penny’s strengths? Samantha?”
“Yes ma’am. Penny is fast and deceiving.”
“Correct. Now if I were taking bets, I’d put all my money on Penny kicking Travis’s ass.”
“Hey!” Travis interrupted. She turned to him quickly, and he stood back to attention.
“If you are going to participate Mr. Reed, I suggest you learn to keep your mouth shut and not say everything that comes into your head.” Whatever he said to her before class, she just got him back for it.
“Yes ma’am.”
“You both can return to your spots. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses, but when we work together, we are all strong. From now on you will never fight alone. That goes for here, as well as on the streets. When you get your assignments, you will at the very least be paired up with one of your fellow students. When we practice over the next weeks remaining in your training, one day someone will be your enemy, the next they will be your friend. You will learn to adapt your attacks and reactions based on the skill set of your team. Once you get into the field, you will know the value of life. Not just yours, but whomever else is out there with you. You will be the ambassadors of this new philosophy and carry it out to the crews. I expect a lot of all of you. As does Mr. Duarte. We both agree that each of you are up to the task. Mr. Duarte.” She handed it off to me.
“Alright, let's test this out. First fight will be split down the middle of the room. Each section has 6 people. Pick a partner. You will face off against two people from the other side of the room. You have 30 seconds to pick a partner.”
And that started it all. They engaged to the teaching and the philosophy of working together immediately. I was proud of all of them. Abby was pleased, too. We mixed them up again after several rounds. They were adapting and putting forth a good effort. There were a couple of mishaps. I think Travis was a bit off his game. He doesn’t play well with others unless it’s in a closet apparently. He tried though. I’ll give him that. I dismissed them from class. When the last one left, I looked at her.
“Well?” she asked. I walked up to her and hugged her. And she laughed. “I guess that means you are pleased.”
“Yes, it was awesome,” I spun away from her and pumped my fists. I wanted to sing a line from “We are the Champions.” But I’m a terrible singer, so I didn’t.
“Well, I’m excited they all responded to it.”
“And good grief, you know how to hold a room. They were all tuned in. Ni
ce to meet the team by the way,” I said.
“There will be a formal meeting tomorrow evening,” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“I’m throwing you a welcoming party. Of course, Grandfather has taken it over, but it will still be a party. If that’s okay with you though, I don’t want to put you in a strange situation,” she said.
“Why stop now?”
“Touché”
“What did Travis say to you?”
“Ugh. He’s a pig. And by the way, both he and Samantha are marked. Which means someone upstairs is watching them both.” Marked meant they were picked as favorites by someone in the Agency, and that person would ultimately decide where they were assigned.
“What did he say?”
“I guess he thought since I stood with students that he could talk to me like that, but I’ll adjust his attitude as needed. Or rather you will. Unless you want me to come back,” she said.
“Of course, I want you to be here as much as possible. This is your idea as much as mine. No need to hide behind the glass. Now, stop with the diversion tactic.”
“I don’t even want to repeat it. Basically, suggested I should join his closet activities, and that he was sorry for punching me out. That he hoped there were no hard feelings. I fist pumped the pig just for show.”
“Why on earth would he say that in my class?”
“I don’t know. But I think we might need to revisit the whole live and let live of fucking all over this damn training center.”
“I agree with that,” I said. I never understood it either. Get a room on the weekends. I thought this whole place should be about training. Let them do that on their own time and space. “What about Stafford?”
“Mr. Stafford said my car was brought back this afternoon from being detailed after someone got dirt all in the inside of that beautiful machine,” she lifted her eyebrow at me.
“Who would do such a thing?”
“A moron that decided to go out and drink alone.”
