The competition had ended, and of course I had lots of pointers brewing in my head after watching the form and techniques. I bit my tongue not to say anything. Shaun called all the warriors to the side of the ring while the crowd slowly migrated away. I stood silently and watched as they all lined in formation and faced Shaun. The only girl in the group was Tess and she didn’t seem at all interested in what was going on.
“Good matches today trainees,” Shaun boasted. He motioned for me to join his side and I silently walked to stand beside him. I held my shoulders straight, my arms to my side and my head high like a soldier. I wasn’t sure what he was fixing to get me into, but I needed to be ready. “I would like you all to meet Leona. She has some pointers that will help you all to further your training and make you better, so please listen.”
“What are you doing?” I hissed through my gritted teeth.
He smiled and leaned down toward my ear, “I am doing what is best for my students. And you can’t tell me that brain of yours wasn’t critiquing them the whole time.” He leaned back up and turned back toward the now jaw dropped trainees as they stared my little human body down. “Who would like to step in the ring and be the model for the rest of you?” All their hands went up, surprisingly and I inwardly laughed. Shaun pointed to the front, “Jonas, your up.” Shaun patted my shoulder as he turned me to the ring, “Don’t hurt him too bad, okay?”
What have you got yourself into Sin? I screamed inside my head as I calmly marched to the center of the ring and turned to face Jonas who was already in position.
I took a deep breath and placed one arm behind my back as I held the other up with one finger extended to the air. “First lesson, wipe all that anger in your mind away. It makes you weak and predictable.” Before I placed my hand down, Jonas was already charging me like a football player with daggers shooting from his eyes.
I steadied my body and just as he would have made contact, I side stepped and caught his chest with my forearm while flipping him over his head and flat on his back. “Like I said predictable.” He jumped to his feet and threw a punch, but I already knew it was coming, I was ready. I threw my arm up catching his arm and slinging it to the side while I threw a punch to his rib cage and watched as he bent double to catch his breath. My eyes searched the group that was watching and was pleased that they seemed to be paying attention.
“Lesson two, expect the unexpected.” Jonas came from behind me and wrapped his troll like arms around my abdomen. I laughed as I played the whole SING scenario out on him and listened while he cried like a baby after the G came for groin.
He finally came to his senses as I turned to face him and threw another punch, this time instead of blocking I caught his wrist with my hand and twisted his arm behind him, I dug into the pressure point and kicked his knees out from under him landing him flat on his face with my knees dug into his back, my fingers dug into his wrist, and I wrapped my other hand around his neck. “And lesson number three,” I shouted. “Never judge a book by it’s cover.” I squeezed the pressure points on his neck, and he instantly went limp.
I jumped up and dusted myself off while the crowd stared in wonder, “Don’t worry guys, he’s just sleeping, he will wake up in about twenty minutes or so.” I slowly approached the side and smiled, “Any questions?”
Everybody’s hands shot up and I couldn’t help but laugh, it was going to be a long evening. I spent a couple of hours speaking to each one, they had some interesting questions, and I answered the best I could with each one. I loved the fact that they wanted to learn, and that lesson one seemed to already be taking a hold of them, the anger I had felt earlier was already gone. The two questions that they all answered, I felt like a robot answering, did I have a secret because no way I was human and two who trained me. The first question was easy, I just told them to remember lesson number three, and that nothing is impossible for anyone, humans and supernatural alike. The second question was as simple answer, my dad.
Tess was the last one to approach me as headed toward the building. I stopped in front of her and offered her a friendly smile, “Do you have a question?”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and I immediately had a flash of Jess standing there in the same position. She cleared her throat and placed that fake smile across her face, “Why are you here? Humans don’t belong you know, and you think you are so strong, princess someone will knock you off that horse of yours sooner or later.”
I lightly placed my hand on her shoulder and gave her an authentic smile, “Let’s just say I am taking a walk down memory lane, not that it is any of your business. Humans once walked these halls, just like you. And tell me how old are you?”
She seemed taken back by my question, “Nineteen, why?”
I laughed, “Because sweetheart, I had already been knocked off that high horse several times at your age and got right back up. You have a lot to learn. But why don’t you start with your attitude.” I pushed past her and made my way back toward my room. I didn’t have time to play high school drama with her.
Sitting in my room, I let everything hit me and I accepted it all with open arms; the memories, the events of the day, I let it all come in. I even accepted the fact that I knew there was something missing, I only hoped that eventually it would come to me, but if it didn’t, I accepted the fact I would be okay with that too, at least who I was. Laying down and closing my eyes, I couldn’t shake the fact that I didn’t like Tess and obviously she didn’t like me at all; I searched through my memories thinking maybe I had come across her in the past, but nothing, there was not one single memory of her. I finally closed my eyes and shrugged it off; we can’t make everyone happy.