“I know,” Ashlee replied as they caught up to the other students in the entry hall. The students stood in silence as they waited for one of the Elites who would be watching over their PT to show up.
Much like every morning, Angel took the time to study the high ceilings of the room. The door was a double heavy oak one, and Angel suspected that this was once a mansion that only a few people lived in. She knew the school was old, as was the town close by, but she never really had given the past of the building a thought until she was standing in the foyer.
“Why does no one talk?” Ashlee whispered in Angel’s ear. Angel cast a sidelong glance her way as Sara, their Elite instructor for the morning, entered. The group moved outside, guided by Sara, toward the track. Angel pondered Ashlee’s question as they walked. Why did no one talk? As she considered it, more questions formed in her mind, one echoing louder than the others. Why was she only now beginning to care?
Chapter Two
The knife missed her face by inches. Angel slid back, clutching her own knife tightly in her right hand, which she brought up in front of her face.
“Angel! Get your head out of the clouds, or you will be joining your namesake!” Ashlin called from the other side of the room. Angel spared him a quick glance before her attention was diverted back again to Kelly. The other blond girl smirked at Angel as she slashed at her with her knife. Angel dropped to her knees in an attempt of dodging the blow but hadn’t reacted fast enough. She felt the sting of the blade as it slashed a small line on her cheek. A faint trickle of blood ran down the side of Angel’s face as she glared up at Kelly. As her blue eyes connected with the green ones of her sparring partner, Angel rolled to avoid the downward cut.
A bright light flashed before her eyes as the blade impaled in the mat beneath her. Kelly glared at her, a fire burning in her eyes, a fire Angel had seen before. A stabbing pain cut through Angel’s head situated between her eyes almost like a brain freeze. And for a moment, Kelly changed into another woman—her copper-red hair pulled out of her face in a tight bun and her brown eyes giving Angel the same look Kelly was—shortly before the barrel of a gun intercepted her vision. Angel blinked, and as the pain faded, so too did the image. All that was left was Kelly’s face, and it was coming closer. Angel rolled to dodge the next blow from the blonde.
Using her momentum, Angel sprung to her feet and lunged toward Kelly. She tackled the taller girl to the ground and struggled to pin her there. The fight was hard, as she was still holding the knife in her right hand, and then the answer occurred to her. Holding both of Kelly’s hands with her left, Angel brought the knife up to her throat.
“Enough!” Ashlin barked. The Guardian made his way over to the girls and grabbed hold of Angel’s hair. He tugged and hauled her off Kelly, throwing her into a group of students who had gathered around their ring to watch what Ashlin would do.
Ashlin was one of the five Guardians registered to teach at the school. Guardians were not subjected to the standards of discipline after the academy as other members of the Hessians. This was probably why Ashlin was so much harder on them than any of the others. He was forced to stay on and teach students, which he felt was beneath him. Sure, they were trained just like the Elites and the Seekers and could be called upon to perform a job for the Hessians, but they could go where they wanted and do as they pleased. They were the ones who protected everyone from the rest of society, much like a buffer. His temper made it so that the only class he was allowed to teach was the combat ones.
“Wash up,” Ashlin ordered. The group of kids walked off, Angel with them, but Ashlin grabbed hold of her shoulder. “Not you,” he growled.
Angel glared at him. She watched in her periphery as the rest of them filed out. When it was just the two of them, he spoke to her, “Your hand-to-hand needs work, and your knife skills are atrocious.” Angel looked at him, puzzled. Ashlin shifted his feet so they were shoulder width apart and turned sideways. He brought his arms up into a fighting position. “Form one,” he ordered.
Angel backstepped and into position. She waited for his attack and wasn’t waiting very long. Within a second, Ashlin had lashed out with his right hand at Angel’s chin, pushing her head backward. In the exact moment she was knocked slightly off balance, he struck her again in the throat and used the momentum to shove her to the ground. Her world became a blur of color and sound as she attempted to breathe air back into her lungs.
It was Ashlin’s voice though that cut the haze in her mind. “What, too fast for you?” He taunted her, attempting to anger her possibly or maybe asking an honest question. Angel’s mind had no idea. So she mumbled out the first thing that came to her mind.
“Yes, sir.” She wheezed as she attempted to make her lungs work.
Ashlin glared at her and growled, “Get to the showers. You’re going to be late to your next class.” He walked away from where she was lying, and Angel attempted to stand.
The locker room was empty at this point. By now, the others had filed out and were on their way to the next class. Angel stepped into the steam room and attempted to breathe. Her throat burned each time she inhaled, and her back hurt from where she had collided with the ground. She rolled her shoulders and attempted to crack her neck, hoping to relieve some of the pressure, but it didn’t work.
“You’d have better luck with a compress or a massage,” Kelly’s voice echoed off the tiles, and Angel turned to her. Green eyes framed by blond bangs studied her as Angel turned her back and made her way to the locker where she had stowed her clothing. “Look, I’m sorry about that. I got carried away. Something came over me,” Kelly continued.
Angel pulled off her sportswear and changed back into her gray shirt and black pants. She was sliding on her boots when Kelly approached and spoke again.
“Seriously, I wasn’t trying to hurt you or get you into any trouble. I just…” She trailed off when she realized Angel wasn’t listening. Instead, Angel had made her way to the foggy mirrors that composed the upper half of the wall. She cleared away the condensation and began to fix the mess of blond hair that was tangled in a ponytail. As she worked, Kelly continued, “You’re one of the few people who actually pays attention to me, to anyone in this place, and not just to study them for their weaknesses. I just…I hope we can still be friends someday.”
Angel looked up past herself at Kelly’s face in the mirror. The girl was smiling at her. Angel cast a puzzled look, and Kelly’s face fell. Movement in the corner of the room drew Angel’s attention. Someone was there, and they were not alone in the room.
“Never mind,” Kelly muttered. She hung her head, causing her long hair to fall onto her face, and she left. Angel continued to observe the spot in the corner of the room until she had left. Quickly Angel spun on her heel, attempting not to lose her footing on the damp floor, and studied the corner with her own eyes. Nothing was there, but someone had been. As she got closer to the wall, she realized the tile in that corner was not covered in water droplets from the steam, and a handprint was visible on one of the lockers. But soon, the spot was covered in water again. Angel shook her head. She was just being foolish, and she was almost late for her next class.
Angel grabbed her bag from inside her locker and made her way down the hall to her class. The old mansion was huge on the inside, with the first floor being the classrooms and a large dining room and the upper floors being the housing location for the students who all trained (at Angel’s last count, roughly a hundred), along with a library and the Council chambers. It was easy to forget that this was not just a boarding school. At last, she reached her classroom, and Angel opened the door, preparing for the lecture from Jaroslav about her tardiness.
As the door swung open, several people turned to look at her, but most of the class remained facing the front board. Jaroslav was not there yet, and not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Angel made her way to her seat and got ready for class. Just as she had settled in, the door opened, and Jaroslav entered.
“Good afternoon. Now, class, last time we left off on the history of the Hessian outpost system. Can anyone