“Do you think this is a game now?” he demanded. She couldn’t answer back; all she could do was watch his feet as he paced in front of her as she gasped for breath.
“Get up now.”
Her hands were shaking with anger. He was humiliating her, for what? To prove they shouldn’t be in this room? To make a point that she wasn’t cut out for fighting?
Jaycen left the spear on the ground as she stood. Drake was back in his defence stance and had started circling her.
“You go first,” she stated simply as she stood there, not in any position, just watching. Drake looked shocked for half a second, before he composed himself.
She watched his eyes flicker to her left shoulder. It was just a split second, and she could be wrong. But she waited, her hands tingling with anticipation. Then, it happened; she watched him lean into the drive, his spear coming straight towards her left shoulder. She dodged it quickly, leaning forward, and jabbing her fist into his shoulder, just where he had been aiming to hit her.
“My point.”
He straightened, a muscle working in his jaw as he stared at her.
She couldn’t help but smirk.
Arching one of his large eyebrows he threw the spear on the ground, away from the mat. Jaycen kicked away her discarded one. It seemed now they were just going to fight. Was this right? Were a teacher and a student allowed to just duke it out?
“I’ll go first,” he said simply, his hands clenching at his side.
He was going to hit her, Jaycen realised. From the look on his face, he was going to hit her hard.
She balled her own hands into fists. At first, this had been about their pride. Now, she just really didn’t want to get hit by this guy.
He jabbed at her, aiming right for her head. She moved out of the way, his knuckles skimming her face and hitting her head.
His body was wide open to her and she jabbed fast into his stomach. “My point.”
He straightened almost immediately, twisting his neck side to side. Oh, he hated this, and Jaycen loved it.
“Get ready, my point.”
Jaycen had barely got her hands ready when he jabbed at her, his large fist hitting her straight in the shoulder. He looked smug. “My point.”
“Get ready,” she called, bringing her hands up. She aimed and fired, and she completely missed as he dodged it. She was too gutted to notice his fist until it hit her hard in the face.
She fell to the ground, a man’s voice in her head before she had even touched the floor.
The voice in her head sounded pleased as he said, “That’s right. Now, kill her.
Chapter 17
Everything was black, but the voice was right there.
“No, please, don’t kill me. Please.” A man, a different man from the voice she had first heard, was sobbing.
Jaycen couldn’t move; she wanted to call out to whoever was in pain but her whole body stayed still, no matter how much she tried to move.
“Do it, finish the job, and drain them.” the first voice commanded.
What followed next was a shrill, agonised scream. A scream of pure pain. A scream that made her tremble to her bones.
“Help… hel…help.”
Her blood ran cold, until the scream finally died down. Then, Jaycen was left with nothing but darkness and silence. She didn’t know what was worse, the screams or the nothing.
“Oh my god, you knocked her out. You completely knocked her out.”
Gemma’s panicked voice felt like a bucket of cold water had been splashed over her. Her eyes shot open and she sat up.
“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Jaycen reached out, wanting to grab hold of anything real. Anything that proved she was awake.
Gemma’s face was the first thing she saw. “Are you hurt? You’re bleeding. You must be hurt.”
She was bleeding? Her hand went to her nose; red liquid now covered her fingers. Yes, she was bleeding.
“You seem to be okay, good.” Drake was standing over them, not concerned in the slightest that he had just knocked a student on her ass. “I think I won.”
“You’re a psychopath,” she shot back, tipping her head back and holding the bridge of her nose. “Was there really any need for that?”
“No, but at least now you understand how dangerous this room is, and that if you’re not trained, you probably shouldn’t be in it.”
Jaycen stood, which was very difficult with her head still tipped back; Gemma was hovering around her, waiting for her to faint or something.
“It’s only dangerous when you’re in it. We were completely fine before.”
“I’m trying to teach you a lesson. You aren’t trained or capable of dealing with what is in these rooms. Worse than that, you’re untrainable. This is why you will never be in any of my classes.”
Her head shot up. “You’re right; I’m not trained. But it didn’t stop me from getting a few hits on you. It also didn’t stop you from hitting me in the face.” Blood started dripping down her face again, so she tipped her head back until she was staring at the ceiling.
“That right there is why you can’t be trained, you’re too stubborn to admit you made a mistake. At the slightest hint that you might lose you dropped your weapon, a weapon that would have stopped you from getting hit in the face. You dropped it to have a fist fight because it’s the only thing you know. I’ve read your file; I couldn’t count how many schools you were kicked out of because of fighting. That’s not what we do here. We train with our bodies to control the power from within. Your power doesn’t have time to show because everything you do is external.”
She had no reply to that, her face now burning from humiliation and his punch. She was going to have a huge bruise tomorrow. Great it can match the one on her throat.
“Clean up in here and lock up once you’re done.”
She heard him leave.
“I can’t believe he hit you in the face.”
“Me neither.”
“I’d heard that he was hard, but my gosh. He just full on hit you in the face.”
Gemma shuffled off to get out of her suit, while Jaycen waited until her nose had stopped bleeding. Every iota of satisfaction she had felt about getting in a few hits was completely gone now. How dare he take that away from her? She thought she’d done great. Okay, she didn’t know how to fight with spears, but really, who did? Why did Drake expect her to be a martial arts expert when, as he said, she was completely untrained? She picked the two spears up and put them both on the rack, wondering if there were tutorials on how to fight with them on YouTube.
“Did you clear up the mess?” Her body stilled. The man’s voice was back, the voice in her head. The voice that she had heard minutes before talking about finishing a job and draining something. A part of her knew what finish the job meant, another part of her was too petrified to contemplate what that meant. Why was she hearing this? Was it all really in her head?
“Good. Keep it clean and hide the evidence. At least until we’re ready.”
Ready? Ready for what? She didn’t dare move. Before when she had heard the voice, it had been speaking to her; now, it was like she was eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. She still couldn’t see who the voice was coming from, or who he was talking to. But he was definitely talking to someone.
Gemma walked out of the changing room, her hair a mess, and face flushed. “Right, let’s go before Drake comes back and beats us both up.” She noticed Jaycen’s still frame and looked worried instantly. “What up? What’s wrong? Did Drake come back?”
She shook her head. “No. No, I’m good. Let’s go.”
They locked the room and walked out of the training centre. The students still weren’t out of their classes, thank God. Jaycen wasn’t in the mood to have people stare at her bloodied and busted nose.
“Stephen comes back to school tomorrow,” Gemma shared, digging her hands in her pockets and staring straight ahead.
Jaycen knew Stephen had been suspen
ded for a while, he and his little followers, the school’s way of showing they took issues like this seriously. But of course, with a family like his, he was definitely coming back.
“How are you feeling about that?” It was a stupid question; of course, she wasn’t going to be happy about it. Jaycen winced—she really wasn’t good with the whole talking thing. Back when she lived at home, her mother had just poured her heart out, constantly. Jaycen just had to sit there, occasionally nodding, and passing over the spoon so her mom could scoop another mouthful of ice cream.
“I’m petrified.” Gemma shuddered, stopping near a bench and falling down in the seat. “The teachers are being cool—if he even looks at me they want to know. But what are they going to do? Honestly? Could you imagine the uproar his family would cause if their only child is kicked out of school because of someone like me? The only reason that he’s not in school right now is because he and his family went on a skiing trip.”
“Someone like you?” Jaycen repeated, unable to keep the shock from her face. “What the hell does that mean?”
Gemma looked confused. “Well, you know, not violet blood.”
“That’s crap. Complete and utter crap. He’s the one that’s twisted.” Her foot started to tap with the energy she suddenly had. “You’re fine. More than fine, you’re amazing. What does it matter that you’re not violet or whatever? How does that matter?”
Gemma’s face warmed and she smiled. “Aw, thanks. That was really nice.”
“Well, it’s the truth,” she stated simply, shrugging a little.
“He’s going to be so angry. God, you must be so afraid, too. I mean, no way he’s going to go after Thornton, but you can bet your ass he’s going to come after you.”
Come after her? She snorted. “If he comes near you again tell him you’ll get Thornton to kick his ass.” She doubted that Stephen would tremble at her name; he pooped his pants at Thornton’s mere presence.
If he came anywhere near Jaycen, she was going to punch him in the throat. Thinking about it, it might actually be a nice way to take out all her anger after Drake.
“Hey, Gemma, I was just about to come and get you. You ready?” A lanky, red-haired guy was walking towards them, his smile and eyes fixed firmly on a blushing Gemma.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry; I totally forgot the time!” She shot up, looking over at Jaycen. Jaycen had seen the guy before, very briefly. He’d said hi to Gemma a few days earlier; she’d blushed and hadn’t spoken back. How had they gone from that to having plans in a few days? What was his name again?
“I told Luke that I would help him study.” Oh yeah, Luke. “Do you mind? I’m so sorry.” Gemma reached out and grabbed her arm, her face full of sympathy. “No, I can’t leave you with your face like that. We could study another time, Luke.”
Luke was now paying a lot of attention to Jaycen’s busted face. “What happened?”
She really didn’t want to go over everything with Drake. Even though she could have told it in a way that would make it sound like Drake had just plain old beat her up. But then again, he could hear about it and come after her, this time really beating her up.
Jaycen stood. “Long story.” She tried to brush it off, but she could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t going to drop this.
He confirmed it when he said, “Was it Stephen? Did he come after you? I heard about what happened the other day.”
All in all, Jaycen really hadn’t met any magical people who were nice, like really nice. Gemma, a few teachers, maybe. Benedict, if you got him on a good day, and who really knew about Thornton. The guy changed his mind so much that Jaycen just couldn’t keep up. But Luke, he really seemed concerned. They’d never met before, yet he was staring at her, frowning like he was ready to go storming over to Stephen and beat him up. Oh yeah, Luke was turning out to be a good guy.
“Stephen couldn’t get a hit on me,” she snorted. Luke’s frown lessened until he was full on smiling.
“I get now why he hates you so much.” Luke laughed, and Jaycen wasn’t sure if he did it intentionally but he took a step closer to Gemma, it was protective but subtle. What had happened between the two of them while she had been away?
“You guys should go and study. I need to unpack from last night.”
Luke beamed while Gemma still looked unsure. There was no way Jaycen was going to back down on this; no one liked to be the third wheel.
“We can study anytime. I feel bad leaving you by yourself,” Gemma tried again, with a look on her face that told Jaycen that she really meant it.
“No, I’m fine. I’ll see you guys later.”
Luke said goodbye, while dropping his arm over Gemma’s shoulders. Were they a couple? Jaycen winked at Gemma as she backed away, throwing her a look that said, “We are going to talk about this later.”
The arm over her shoulders must be a new thing because Gemma looked elated. Like a small child on Christmas, and of course she didn’t disappoint and blushed. They both turned and walked off, while Jaycen went the other way. Students were now out of their classes, and a few were starting to stare at Jaycen’s messed up face. Yeah, she was going to her room and not coming out until it healed.
“Hey there, my little nymph. What’s hanging?”
Oh goddamnit. That was not a voice that she wanted to hear right then. She turned to see José sauntering towards her, a bag casually thrown over his shoulder, the same cocky grin plastered on his face. The guy just oozed confidence.
“Hey.”
He winced when he saw her face. “Damn, who gave you the pretty nose?”
“Your buddy, Drake,” she informed him sweetly. “He’s an awesome guy.”
José didn’t seem surprised by that news at all. “So, he’s let you in on one of his classes? That’s good, right? Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Nope.” She popped the p. “He just didn’t want me touching his stuff.”
José looked down at her confused. “Okay.” He didn’t look too convinced.
“I should get going back to my room.” She motioned to her face.
“You don’t look that bad. You eaten yet?”
She patted her stomach. “Not yet.” Food hadn’t even entered her head yet, which for her was very strange. She liked to be fed.
He nodded his head to the cafeteria. “Come on. We’ll get you some food and you can tell me more about why Drake kicked your ass.”
Jaycen shook her head, already edging away. “No, really. I just want to get to my room. Maybe, get some sleep.”
He smiled down at her. “In the middle of the day? What are you, eighty?” He looked at her with a smile, and then whistled loudly. “Thorn, over here.”
Oh, great.
“What’s up, man.” José nodded in a man greeting. She heard Thornton before she saw him, as she kept her back to him as he approached.
“Nothing much.” Thornton came into view, a smiling blonde at his side. The same blonde who was with him the night Jaycen snuck out of her room. Jaycen tried not to think about the knot in her stomach.
“So, what? I don’t get a hi?” She smiled playfully, José smiled back. Everyone was smiling apart from Thornton who was unsurprisingly frowning at her.
“’Sup, Lara.” José winked playfully.
“What the hell has happened to your face?” Jaycen wasn’t sure if he meant to, but Thornton literally shouted the words at her.
“Drake hit me in the face,” she said, completely emotionlessly. She then turned her attention back to José and the girl. Both of them were now watching her and Thornton.
“Why?” He took a step towards her; she took a step back. He noticed immediately, his eyes narrowing just a little. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.
“I’m just trying to get Jaycen here to come and get some lunch,” José spoke up, watching them both closely.
“We were just going to get something to eat, too.” The blonde
girl, Lara, stepped closer to Thornton. She didn’t touch him, but it was close enough. “Why don’t you come with us?”
Just like the last time she saw her, Jaycen was taken back by just how beautiful the girl was. Her big, curly blonde hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, her cheeks a little pink and her big eyes. She was stunning.
“My face really does hurt; I just want to get back to my room. Clean up.” She was about to make her way when Lara spoke again.
“Yeah, you need to put ice on that nose.” She winced.
“Why the hell did he hit you? What did you do?” Thornton, it seemed, had been ignoring their conversation, only focused on her busted face.
“It’s a long story.” She tried to brush it off, not hiding her annoyance at his questions. She wanted him to know how mad she was.
A look of real confusion passed over his face, and she watched him until he looked away, his mask back on.
“I should get going. I’ll see you guys later.” She gave a small nod, turned, and was about to leave the group when Lara reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from walking away.
“Wait. I’m having a party tonight, you should come.” A party. Was no one taking notice of her messed up face? Did she really have to keep bringing it up?
“She’s too young,” Thornton answered before she could even think of a response.
“She’ll be fine.” José took a step closer to her, draping his arm over her shoulder and grinning. “I’ll look after her.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” Thornton told him seriously. She hated that he was treating her like a child, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it. She wasn’t that much younger than him.
But one simple fact still stood. “I can’t go to a party with a face like this.”
Lara pulled a face. “That’s what make-up is for. You could bring a friend with you.”
Would Gemma even like to go to a party? Probably.
“It starts at ten; meet at my room and we can go together? Room two-five-nine.” Lara’s smile was so genuine, Jaycen almost felt bad for letting her down.
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