Pessimism (Book One)

Chapter 17: Got Game?

I tried to remember the weapons Jeff used in my dream. All I could remember is that he yells a lot, or maybe that was an act. Then it hit me. I remember he could travel, no, move through walls. It was a bit too unreal to imagine he could move through walls. Maybe that part was just a part of my dream. Or maybe he was an experiment.

"Guys?" I asked. "Is Jeff, by any chance, an experiment?" Almery looked away. Grant looked at me and smiled.

"Why the interest in Jeff all of a sudden?" Grant asked me.

"Oh, no reason." I decided to let this question slide. Almery got up and slowly walked into the kitchen. He pulled out, from the fridge, a water bottle. I thought he was going to do something important. I sighed and sat down.

"Ian, get up." Grant told me.

"Why?" I got comfortable.

"Jeff has a plan to kill you, and you want to relax?"

"Yes." I knew that was a rhetorical question.

"Come on." He pulled me up. "You still need to train."

"But what about Almery and the others?" I complained.

"Almery is going to help me train you," I wonder what Almery would be doing. "And Elaine and Ethan and Kaitlin are going to come up with a plan to take down Jeff and figure out where Jeff is hiding."

"They'll need my help." I wanted to get out of training. It was like working out.

"No they won't." Grant and Almery pulled me into the backyard and Elaine just watched and laughed. I remembered what happened the last time I trained. I always knocked out. If that was during real combat, I'd be easily taken by Jeff. I wonder how Kaitlin and the others are going to figure out where he lives, I mean, where would they start looking?

When we made it into the backyard, they let go of me. I fixed my shirt and patted their fingerprints from my shoulders.

"Wait, Grant, what is Almery going to do?" Now that I looked at them together, Almery and Grant weren't too far apart in age. Maybe about a ten to twelve age difference.

"Almery here," Grant chuckled. "Is going to teach you close combat techniques." Close combat? "I thought we were training my sorcerer powers?"

"Shut up Ian." Almery told me. "Are you scared to fight me?" He smiled. He had father's smile. His eyes were like mother's, a deep dark blue. They gave a devilish look.

"I'm not afraid of you." I said. "I was actually hoping to give you a good beating." I spat back.

"Uh, guys?" Grant tried to interrupt us.

"Hmph, cute. My little brother wants to fight me." He laughed. "You know, I've missed out on our childhood together, so this'll be our first sibling feud."

"Don't you talk about childhood, Almery."

"Come Ian, show me what you got." He pulled up his black sleeves. He was in jeans, but he's supposed to be able to teach me to fight. I have some moves of my own. I kicked him with my right leg and he took it by the hand and threw me to the ground. I rolled over and got up. I ran towards him and threw a few punches. He managed to defend and then threw a punch at me. He hit me right by the jaw line and I moved back, regaining my balance. I wiped the blood off from my lip.

"You got game, Ian, I'll give you that." He smiled. He hasn't even wasted a breath. I could feel myself panting. I decided to change tactics and show him what father taught me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I threw the first punch as a diversion. He took my right hand by his left and quickly moved to my side. He was standing right by me. I couldn't do anything. I decided to do the escape tactic. I took my right hand and flipped him to the ground. I got on top of him and tried a punch to his face, but he read me like a book and dodged. He threw me off and I rolled to my feet. He kicked three times, simultaneously, each one coming down fast. It was taekwondo. I flipped backward and dodged the last kick, that came down with his heel, with my barrier. I released my barrier and sent him flying just by three feet. He got to his feet.