A Drop Of Haunted Blood

Chapter Seven: Bear With Me

When Felix and Arisa arrived at the training yard, Sebastian was already waiting. To Felix's surprise, so was Kendra.

"You're watching us, too?" Arisa asked.

Felix looked around the courtyard as he set his bag and Helena's sword on the ground. It was big enough to hold a few tennis courts, but the ground was nothing but dirt. Castle windows peered down at them on all sides, and he wondered what the chances were anyone else was watching.

"Yes," Kendra told Arisa. "Although I'm more concerned about Seb and Archer than you two." She shot Sebastian a sideways glance as she rested a hand on her hip.

Sebastian held up his hands. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the problem here."

The door behind him swung open, and Archer entered the yard, adjusting his mask as he walked. His hair was pulled up the same way it had been yesterday.

Sebastian turned around and waved. "Hey, Archie!"

"It's like you want to be stabbed," Archer said. His hand dropped to his side as he stopped. "Now, what do you have planned?"

"Felix is going to awaken the rest of his family," Sebastian said. "Then, I'm going to have him and Arisa run through a practice fight."

Archer folded his arms. "They're banned from combat."

Sebastian held up a finger. "They're banned from combat with other students. They can train with each other."

"Is that true?" Felix glanced at Kendra.

Kendra shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Archer sighed. "I suppose the practice would be good," he said. "Even if they won't be going out in the field anytime soon."

"Ah, they won't be going on missions anytime soon," Sebastian corrected.

"I don't like where this is going."

"We can discuss it later." Sebastian clapped his hands together. "Felix. Your family?"

"Right. The only ones I haven't talked to yet are the twins." Felix turned his thoughts to May and Ezra. For a moment, he thought he could hear Ezra running through a dozen panicked what-if scenarios, and May calling him a dumbass.

No, wait, that was actually May. What took you so long, dumbass?

"Sorry, May," Felix said. "This whole thing is still kind of confusing."

A second presence joined. What happened? How long has it been? Even Ezra's mental voice had a tremor to it.

Hey, it's okay, Felix assured him. It hasn't even been a day. Wow. It really had been less than a day, hadn't it? So much had happened.

Hang on, Helena's yelling at me, May said.

"Yeah, okay, you two can leave, for now," Felix said. "I'm just trying to learn how to use your abilities."

Archer watched with a cold expression that made Felix feel like he was already doing something wrong. Thankfully, Sebastian was the first to speak. "Great! Sounds like we're ready to start."

"I think so." Felix shook out his hands.

"I don't want you to overwhelm yourself by trying too much at once, so we'll start with what you already know. Your lightning and fire both require metal, anyway."

Felix spent the next five minutes alternating between summoning electricity and flames. It turned out the hardest part wasn't making them appear but keeping them where he wanted them. The fire kept to his palm when first created, but when Felix tried to wrap it around his entire fist at Sebastian's instruction, it tried to spread up his arm. The lightning was worse, eager to run off in every direction it could.