Rebirth: The Sacred Isle Series

by K. E. Miller

  Chapter 6

  Jaden

  Life passed quickly. Before I knew where the time had gone it was almost February. All of my extra time and energy was taken up by Aaron’s insane training schedule. I used the group project that I didn’t even care about as an excuse whenever Shaylee asked and she never seemed to question it.

  Ever since the morning I’d pointed out Aaron genuinely cared, he’d been strangely pleasant to be around, except for when we were sparring. He was absolutely ruthless. If I had this much trouble beating him, I could only imagine what it would be like going up against a fully trained Warrior.

  I entered the bathroom one day between classes and checked to make sure I was alone. I lifted up my shift and saw the deep purple bruise on my side. I had to figure out how to beat him. I was supposed to be stronger and faster than him, but somehow, I was always the one walking around with bruises.

  I left the bathroom and went to class. Schoolwork seemed meaningless to me now. My life was all about being a Warrior and school wasn’t any help with that. Instead of paying attention, I spent my time thinking up new fighting strategies for my training.

  At lunch I did my best to listen as Shaylee talked about the upcoming partner assignment in Italian, which she was dreading. I felt bad for her. I was her only friend. Everyone else either ignored her or outright bullied her. I wished I was being a better friend, but I didn’t know how anymore with all the secrets I was keeping from her.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Shay,” I told her. “It’s the last one you’ll ever have to do.”

  “I know,” she said, looking embarrassed. “I just wish everyone didn’t make such a big deal about it. It’s not like I don’t do the work or anything. I’m a good partner, but no one gives me a chance. I hate this school.”

  My heart went out to her and I wished I could tell her it wasn’t her fault no one at this school accepted her. It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t one of us. It was just too bad she could never understand.

  “At least I won’t be stuck with Aaron like I am for Anatomy. He’s so strange. Last semester he didn’t even speak to me. Now he answers all of the questions for the labs and then asks me weird stuff.”

  “Like what?” I asked, interest to learn more about my mysterious teacher.

  “Like if I enjoy the piano. Out of nowhere in between listing the structures of the limbic system he asks me about the piano. Today he asked if I prefer cauliflower or broccoli. It’s weird.”

  I glanced over at Aaron and saw that as usual, he had his back to us.

  “That is weird,” I agreed.

  “And his notebook. He sits there and pretends to take notes, but I’ve seen what he writes down and it’s nothing helpful. Then somehow he just knows all of the answers. If I hadn’t seen a few moments of chivalry, I don’t know if I’d be comfortable at all when I’m around him.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “I have no idea how you can be his lab partner if he’s so strange.”

  “Well, it’s not like I have any choice. After he made such a huge scene in front of everyone about being my partner, no way Mr. Downey moves him now, even if I wasn’t his least favorite student of all time,” she replied.

  “I’m sure he’s harmless,” I said, trying to reassure her. “There’s probably a really great guy in there somewhere. He’s just hidden.”

  “Yeah and only intense therapy is going to get him out,” she giggled.

  “I’m just saying there’s a lot about him we don’t know. Maybe something happened to him that made him this way and he just needs some friends to get him through it.”

  I was trying to convince myself more than I was Shaylee. I didn’t really care what her opinion of Aaron was, but I’d been spending so much time with him, I’d almost forgotten who he was. He still hadn’t told me what he needed me for. He could either be a powerful ally or a dangerous enemy and I wasn’t entirely sure which way it was going to end up.

  ***

  Aaron and I circled each other, both waiting for the other to make a move. My newest strategy had initially been to wait for him instead of being the one to attack first. Now that I was actually facing him, I had to force myself not to be impatient.

  To distract myself from the desire to attack, I focused on the little details. I saw the slight perspiration on his brow and heard his elevated heartbeat. As I studied him, my world began to slow.

  I saw the muscles in his leg contract before he ever stepped. I was ready and waiting when he took a step to throw a punch and easily blocked it. Over and over again I seemed to be able to anticipate his moves, as he appeared to move so slowly to me.

  I sidestepped yet another blow and grabbed his arm. I looked into his eyes and saw that they were dilated, a sign that adrenaline was now pumping though his system. It was the first time I’d ever seen him so engaged in the fight.

  I pulled his arm with one hand and pushed him in the chest with the other. He flew backward and landed on the floor. I expected him to spring up and continue, but instead he stayed down gasping for air.

  All at once the world started moving again. I knelt beside him, aware that I could have severely injured him and the ramifications I could face if I had.

  “Are you alright?” I asked.

  “Fine,” he replied. “You knocked the wind out of me, that’s all.”

  I offered him my hand and pulled him back to his feet.

  “It seems that you’ve finally found your inner Warrior,” he said. “My work here is done.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

  “I have nothing left to teach you.”

  “So, what now?”

  “Keep up with the running and strength training. On top of that you need to practice tapping into your heightened senses and other abilities so that you can control them, not the other way around,” he explained.

  “And that’s it? I’m ready?”

  “As ready as I can make you,” he said. “The rest will have to come from you.”

  “Will you tell me everything now?” I asked.

  A throat cleared and we both jumped. I spun around and made a mental note to practice tapping into my heightened sense. A man dressed in a black suit was standing just inside the gym door. He was tall and well built. He was clearly a Warrior.

  “Stay here,” Aaron said, his voice darker than I’d heard it in a while.

  He walked over to the man while I stayed put. I watched as they appeared to have a heated exchange. When Aaron finally came back over to me, he looked angrier than I’d ever seen him. The other man turned and left.

  “Who was that?” I asked, pretty sure I wasn’t going to get an answer.

  “A complication,” he replied. “A Council Warrior sent to check up on me.”

  “Why are they worried about you?”

  “It unusual for me to remain on assignment for so long. When I check in I give vague information. It’s making them nervous that my loyalty isn’t what they thought it was.”

  “Don’t they work for you?” I asked.

  “No. Not for a long time now.”

  “Oh,” I said, suddenly understanding. “So, you’re like their pet Mage. If the world sees you standing with them, they follow.”

  Aaron’s gaze darkened.

  “I’m no one’s pet anything,” he growled. “But yes. The Council believes their rule is viewed as legitimate as long as I stand with them. They’ll do anything to make sure I don’t join the Resistance and cause trouble for them, including checking in to make sure I haven’t gotten any funny ideas.”

  “There’s a resistance?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “And I suspect once all of this is over, we’ll both be with them.”

  Chapter 7

  Shaylee

  The day I’d spent all week dreading had finally arrived. It was the day the partnerships for the rest of the semester were decided. Every year I hated these assignments and every year seemed to be worse than the last. I had a feeling I
wouldn’t even be able to enjoy my birthday this year. It was only a week away and I had the sinking suspicion that this project would be more miserable than even a cupcake from Andrew could fix.

  I sat and listened to Andrew lecture for the majority of the class, wondering when he would stop and the torture would begin. When there was only fifteen minutes left, I began to hope that somehow he would forget or had changed his mind about the assignment, but when he sat his notes down on his desk, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

  “Alright, everyone,” he began. “As we discussed earlier this week, it’s time to select your partners for the remainder of the semester. A lot of this work will be done out of the classroom. Please do not abuse this privilege or I will be forced to resume regular classes, which just aren’t as much fun for any of us. You all know how this works. Take the rest of today’s class to choose your partners. Be careful about your choice, your grades are combined and once we start on Monday, you’re stuck with your partner.”

  He sat down behind his desk and sipped his coffee, which was his traditional signal to begin. I lowered my head, hiding behind my hair. There were twelve of us, which means there would be no group of three for me to force myself on. That meant I just needed to wait and eventually the last person without a partner would seek me out as the last resort.

  There was movement next to me as a pair of expensive leather heels came into my view. Instantly, I knew who it was. I sighed as I waited to hear her sickeningly sweet voice. I knew it wasn’t me she’d deigned to come to the back of the room for.

  “Excuse me, Aaron,” she said. “Do you want to be my partner? I’m one of the best students in this class.”

  Her voice went from slightly timid to arrogant. For a moment there was no answer. I glanced up to see what was keeping Aaron from answering, expecting to see him undressing her with his eyes the way most guys did. Instead he was staring at me with a look of appraisal on his face.

  He turned back to Madalynn, seeming to decide something.

  “I’m sorry, but I already have a partner,” he said, motioning to me.

  A look of disbelief crossed Madalynn’s face that was no doubt similar to the one that appeared on my own face.

  “What? Her? You can’t be serious. I mean she’s…” her voice dropped of as she took in the anger that had spread across Aaron’s face. “Well if you two are already partners I…I can find someone else.”

  She quickly walked away.

  “I wasn’t aware that I’d agreed to be your partner,” I said.

  Turning to me, all of the anger vanished from his face and was replaced with a mischievous smile.

  “Come on,” he said. “We both know that no one else was going to be your partner willingly. I thought you would appreciate a volunteer.”

  “I do appreciate it,” I told him. I really did appreciate it. “I just hope it wasn’t out of pity. I don’t want your pity. I just want to survive this place and get out.”

  The bell rang and the class broke up to head to the Dining Hall.

  “Lunch?” Aaron asked.

  “You go ahead,” I replied, not wanting to walk to the Dining Hall with him. Being seen with him in the halls would cause even more problems than his conversation with Madalynn. “I think I’ll just go eat in my room.”

  “I didn’t take you for someone who hides from her enemies,” he said in a low voice.

  It seemed that he was talking more to himself than to me.

  Then looking confident he added, “You must be hungry.”

  “No. I’m fine,” I lied.

  It was at that moment my traitorous stomach growled loudly. I silently cursed and regretted skipping breakfast.

  Aaron’s confident expression morphed into a smile.

  “No one will bother you today,” he said, trying to convince me.

  I laughed, not so certain.

  “Are you kidding? After what happened between you and Madalynn it will be worse than usual, no matter what dirt Jaden has on her. Madalynn will just send someone else to mess with me.”

  Suddenly the smile was gone from Aaron’s face. His anger was almost overwhelming.

  “If they want to get to you, they’ll have to go through me.”

  I studied Aaron. His words both confused and disturbed me. His mood swings were wild, unexpected, and very concerning. He’d gone from silent and uninterested to the strangest conversationalist I’d ever met to vowing to protect me.

  “Alright,” I said. “If you’re so certain of yourself, I guess I’ll go to lunch.”

  It wasn’t really a challenge. It was more that I didn’t want to argue with him. Aaron seemed the type to not let things go easily and I didn’t feel like skipping lunch was worth the hassle.

  He followed me out of the classroom and to the Dining Hall. We crossed the large room to where the serving line was. I kept my eyes straight ahead as we passed Madalynn and her friends.

  “We made it,” I sighed with relief when we reached the serving line.

  I grabbed my food and walked over to Jaden at our usual table. I didn’t wait for Aaron, assuming that he would eat with the others as he had since his first day. Just as I finished pulling in my heavy chair, the one beside me moved. I looked up to see Aaron sitting down next to me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, shocked.

  “I’m sitting with you if that’s okay. You seem to have plenty of space at this table.”

  He looked at our empty table. The Dining Hall was furnished with large round wooden tables and matching chairs that were made back before the telephone was invented. They were made of a dark wood that gave the room a medieval feel.

  I glanced around the room and saw the angry looks from Madalynn and Kenneth’s table and the looks of disbelief from nearly everyone else.

  “I can see that you’re sitting with us, but you are completely out of your mind. It’s social suicide to sit here,” I warned.

  “You know? I don’t really care what people think, especially those people. If they want to banish me from their group they can go ahead,” he said, sounding unconcerned.

  I could tell that he meant it.

  “Don’t you get it? I would have given anything to be accepted like you when I first got here. How can you not care that you’re making yourself a social outcast?” I asked, trying to get a better understanding of him.

  “I’ve got far more important things to worry about than whether or not they accept me. They should feel lucky to be my friends, not the other way around.”

  Aaron began inspecting his Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes as though he wanted to drop the subject.

  “Is this actually any good?” he asked, poking his steak with his fork.

  “Good enough, for school food anyway,” I answered.

  “So, Aaron, you’ve decided to start slumming it with us?” Jaden asked, entering the conversation for the first time.

  I gaped at her momentarily, having completely forgotten that she was there.

  “Never hurts to have a change of scenery,” he replied.

  The rest of our meal was more social than usual with Aaron’s added presence. It was strange, but I felt like he’d been sitting at our table. Like he’d always been meant to be our friend.

  ***

  After eighth period, which was my independent study instead of the regular music class, I rushed out of the auditorium and slammed into Aaron, who had been standing outside the door. He reached out and caught me as I almost fell to the floor.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said as he steadied me.

  “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said with a smile that lit up his eyes.

  It was the first truly happy smile I’d ever seen from him. The feeling of familiarity that I’d felt the first time our eyes met in the Dining Hall came rushing back.

  “I need to watch where I’m walking,” I replied.

  “Or I need to stop standing where you walk.”

  We laughed and he surprised me
by taking my bag from me. He threw it over his shoulder and we walked to dinner.

  I managed to ignore the stares as we entered together for the second time that day. We got our food and I was secretly pleased when he followed me back to the table. It was a complete turnaround from my feelings at lunch, but he was suddenly a different person that the boy who’d been sitting next to me in class over the last few months and I liked the new Aaron.

  “I wonder where Jaden is,” I said, making conversation. “I don’t usually like to eat without her. Bad things tend to happen when she’s not here.”

  “There was a time when I too depended greatly on my friends,” he nodded in understanding.

  He looked out the window, but I could see the sadness that had entered his gaze. I watched him silently as he was obviously lost in his memories, trying to get a better understanding of him. He glanced at me and seemed surprised by how intently I was watching him. I blushed and looked away.

  “I’m here and I’m sure nothing bad will happen,” he said, reassuring me. “Look there’s Jaden now.”

  He nodded over at the door and I turned to see Jaden striding in, looking confident and in control. She glared at Madalynn as she passed her table.

  Aaron and I were making small talk when Jaden sat down with her food.

  “I see you’re still here,” she said to Aaron.

  “Is that a problem?” he asked.

  “Nope. No problem. It’s actually good that you’re here.”

  “It is?” he asked with surprise.

  “Yeah. I’ve got a little problem with my project and I was wondering if you could help me with it after dinner.”

  It seemed to me that there was more to what Jaden was saying, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

  “Sure,” he answered. “I’d be happy to help you.”

  “Great!” Jaden said, sounding as though she were trying too hard to seem happy.”

  I was suddenly jealous. I didn’t want Aaron to have secrets with Jaden. I didn’t want Aaron to have secrets with anyone. I couldn’t help the blush that spread across my face as I realized my sudden infatuation with Aaron. It darkened when I realized that I’d been fascinated with him from the beginning and never recognized it.