Blood and Bone | 1

0 | 7

Three days later, and I was still training with Arlo over how to properly defend himself.

I'd been watching the others, and saw that Riley, Jake and Jaxon were all skilled at fighting in their own ways. I suspected that they'd already had some training in how to fight some way or another.

The others weren't bad, they just didn't have the same skill as Riley, Jake and Jaxon. Kane was getting quicker and more agile with his new spear, Gigi was beginning to hit every bullseye she fired an arrow at, and Finn was hitting the punching bags with enough force to knock someone out. It was only Arlo that was having real trouble.

      "Bring your fist from your hip, face down, and as you're shooting it out, turn it at the last second. That's what makes punches deadly, that twist in the end," I instructed, doing it in slow motion for him to try.

      Arlo gave the punching bag a weaker imitation of the perfect punch I'd just landed.

      "You know what?" I said, as an idea popped into my head. "Get on that protective gear over there." I pointed to a basket full of exercise equipment.

"Why?" Arlo questioned as he walked over to the equipment, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Because you're going to fight me," I told him matter-of-factly.

"Excuse me?" Arlo complained loudly. "You're going to kill me!"

"You'll learn quicker when you're actually needing to use what you've learned." I knew for a fact that the method would work. That's how I was taught. It was either learn quickly or die.

So Arlo reluctantly put the gear on and we started throwing punches and kicks at each other as I tried to teach him as much as I could in as little time as we had.

      For the rest of the day, all we did was train. It was hard work, but it felt good getting back into shape, and knowing that I wasn't completely useless in a fight.

      I decided to call it a day after Arlo had finally gotten a few good punches in, and I felt like I might die of starvation. After I'd finished taking a shower, in the one bathroom that wasn't taken, I headed downstairs where everyone else was seated in the dining room.

I took the only free seat on the end, next to Finn. Gigi handed me a plate of food that she'd just finished serving up. For a while, the only sounds were of utensils scraping against the plates. But as soon as everyone was basically done, we started talking about what really needed to be addressed.

     Finn announced, "We need to figure out how we're going to start this and what we're going to do tomorrow."

"Yeah, and where do we even start?" questioned Riley.

"That guy could be anywhere in the world," cried Arlo, closing his eyes for a second.

"But he's not anywhere in the world. I need a map of the places he's attacked," said Finn.

"Ah yes, let me just get out the map of all the crime scenes that I carry around in my pocket," Jake sneered sarcastically. It was like he emitted coldness the few times that he actually spoke.

"Hunt already told us that he's coming here tomorrow to see us off. And because he told us that we have all the resources that his little agency can offer, he'll give us the places where the bodies were found," suggested Riley, looking around at all of us as she spoke.

"Yeah, that might help, but it would be better to know where he's going next. A map can't tell you that," reasoned Kane, looking serious.

"The map might hold a few clues as to where he's striking next. I think that that's our best bet," I said, speaking for the first time.

      "Okay," Jaxon drew out the word. "But Hunt is coming to see us off tomorrow and we don't even know where he's seeing us off to."

      "We should go to the place that was attacked the most recently. If any place is going to have any clues, it's there," Gigi meekly put in her opinion, as if she was afraid we would all reject it right away. Jaxon nodded with agreement to her plan.

      "Sounds like a good start," Finn commented to Gigi, and just like that, we had a plan.

After dinner, I decided to go get some fresh air. There was a second-floor balcony that gave a breathtaking view of the woods, and you could make out the bright lights of the skyscrapers in the city beyond that.

      The cool night air blew onto my face and blew my white hair forward. Pushing it back behind my ear, I leaned forward against the railing to watch the pink and purple hues of the sky disappear into the night.

      This was the last day I had before my life was possibly going to be changed forever. It was a possibility that I could die, and be slaughtered with my newfound team. It could also be that we found the terrorist, brought him in, and Hunt used us as his attack dogs after. I didn't see any other outcomes coming out of this.

Even if the government did let us go home, what did I have there?

A stern, disapproving grandmother, and the life in the spotlight, filling luxury, anger and lies into the gaping holes pain and sadness had left in my live? Or maybe the people that practically worshipped me at school, only for me to figure out that they were just using me?

Later, I looked up at the moon through my window as I lay in my bed, not able to find sleep. The pollution of the city prevented most of the stars being seen, and only a few twinkled in the otherwise black sky.

With an ironic twist of my lips, I thought about how I was like those stars. I was there, but the pollution in my life, my past and circumstances, changed the way people viewed me now. They changed me into the person I was now.

      And I wasn't sure that was a good thing.