The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (5 page)

Gemma
entered the library to see Caspian staring up at the paintings that plastered
the walls. Again.
  ‘Fraternizing with the enemy are we?’
  ‘She’s not the enemy, Gemma,’ Caspian said softly.
  ‘We don’t know that. She could be a spy, already corrupted by the other side.
We have always had specific rules to abide by when allowing people into this
manor, but she can waltz straight on in? I don’t like it. Estella and Leo are
putting us all at risk.’
  ‘Didn’t you hear Stella? She and Leo were very close with the Harmers. They
trust them and they trust Laura. And if they do, then I do,’ Caspian turned
away from the wall to face her, ‘she just watched her father die in her arms
and she was then brought to this place and introduced to a whole world she
never knew existed. That’s a lot to try and comprehend. When you came to join
the manor, were you put through the hell of constant meetings after what you
had just been through?’
  Gemma avoided making eye contact with Caspian.
  ‘Exactly,’ said Caspian.
  They both fell silent.
  Caspian sighed, ‘look I know you are worried, and I get it, but give her a
chance. Like we all did for you.’
  Gemma raised her eyes to Caspian’s and the edge of her vision was blurred by
a memory. She recalled that dark, wintery night, when she had stumbled up the
steps to the Grand Manor, covered in blood, terrified and in a state of shock
after what she had just witnessed. She remembered Caspian’s kind face as he
opened the door and, after gasping with surprise, his arms reached out and drew
her into the warmth without a second thought.
  She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging her body the way she had done
that dreadful night, standing before Stella and Leo, replaying the horrifying events
to them, and nodded, ‘I’ll try.’

Drew pulled
the old, navy volume from its place upon the mantel. He crossed the room to his
bed and settled by the lamplight.
  Light flooded across the cover of his book and he opened to the first page, reading
over the words. He needn’t read the words, really, for he knew them off by
heart, but having them in front of him brought the memories of his mother,
holding the book while he sat in her lap.
  Closing his eyes, he hugged the book to his chest, repeating the words in a
prayer to the Gods, and then closed it and sighed. He did this every night, yet
not once had he received a response. Not once had he been given a sign. All he
wanted to know was if they were proud.
  Lowering his head he traced over the words that were indented in silver
lettering across cover.
  He wasn’t quick enough to stop the flicker of those beautiful gold-hazel eyes
from appearing in his head. In seconds, he had pushed the image from his
thoughts, refocusing them on his book.
  ‘I won’t forget,’ he whispered, and stood up, placing the book back in its
place on the shelf.

Oliver
was laughing, lifting up a little, bubbly three-year-old Laura and zigzagging
her through the air like an aeroplane. Laura was squealing and laughing. He
started to lower her down, putting on his best Pilot voice as he said, ‘prepare
for landing.’
  He placed Laura onto the ground and planted a big kiss on her forehead. She
laughed and kissed her father back on the cheek.
  ‘You two are maniacs. I thought one Oliver was enough but now I have two!’
  Little Laura ran to her mother’s arms. She was smiling, glowing a slight
green. Little Laura didn’t notice, but the Laura that was dreaming it sure did.
The other thing she noticed was the thick, black ‘
W’
that was on her wrist.
  Laura’s father gave a nod and in Laura’s mothers hand appeared a small
glowing sphere, shining the colour of green. It grew bigger the way Leo’s had
just hours before and it cast green flickering specks of light over the room.
  ‘When you remember this my dear, it is time,’ she whispered looking straight up
at Laura as the little Laura disappeared ‘I only hope that time never comes.
But if it has, then please know, my dear, that I love you, and I know you will
do what is right.’
  ‘Mum?’ she murmured, ‘time for what?’
  Suddenly it felt as if Laura was being dragged backwards by an invisible force
and the scene before her was fading into the distance.
  ‘No!’ she screamed, thrashing about, trying to break free.
  ‘NO! Mum help!’

Laura woke
up screaming, tangled in her blanket. She sat straight up and pulled her legs
into her stomach, wrapping her arms around them. She started to rock back and
forth, attempting to calm herself. Beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks, but
as she reached up to wipe them away, she realised that they were tears.
  She rested her forehead on her knees and breathed in, then out, in, and then
out again. Eventually she gained control of herself and laid back down in her
bed.

Logan awoke
in a hot sweat and sat upright in his bed. This happened too often. Realising
it had been yet another dream, he ripped back the sheets and placed his feet to
the cool hard wood floor. He stood and pulled the T-shirt that sat on his
nightstand over his head.
  He made his way out the door and down the hall to the kitchen. He took a
glass from the cabinet and filled it from the tap. Turning away from the sink
he leant his back against the counter and gulped from the glass. He often did
this, allowing his mind to wander, hoping it would calm him from the terrors
that invaded his dreams.
  ‘Another one?’ Grace asked as she entered the kitchen and took out a glass
for herself.
  ‘Yeah,’ he exhaled heavily despite not needing the air, moving so Grace could
use the tap.
  ‘Me too. I swear we all get more sleep in the day than during the night.’
  ‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ Logan said.
  ‘Sometimes I just wish that we hadn’t had to witness what we did. We were all
too young. And they were our families. The people we loved.’
  Logan nodded, finishing off his water and sitting his glass in the sink, ‘if
only wishes could be granted.’
  ‘Yeah, if only,’ she retorted, ‘so what do you think of Laura?’
  ‘She seems nice. She reminds me of you a bit. When you first showed up.
Strong and brave.’
  Grace blushed, and Logan smiled as she said, ‘Gemma doesn’t trust her.’
  ‘Gemma has trouble trusting anyone. Remember how long it took before she
would actually join us for a meal?’
  ‘Yeah,’ Grace grinned, ‘and on the first day she did Drew flung his peas
across the room, hitting her square in the face.’
  Logan laughed, ‘and she vowed to get him back when he least expected it.’
  Grace began to laugh too, real laughter, ‘I suspect she’s biding her time,
planning the perfect revenge.’ Their laughter died down and she sighed, ‘well I
better get to bed. May as well try and sleep.’
  ‘Yeah me too,’ Logan smiled.
  Grace bid him good night and left the kitchen. Logan waited for the door to
close, and then lent back against the counter. He wouldn’t be getting any more
sleep tonight, that much he knew.

Laura must
have fallen asleep eventually because she found herself opening her eyes to the
sound of chatter floating down the hallway. She rose from her bed and changed
into a more comfortable and less tattered set of clothing that Stella had
kindly left for her. She laced up her sneakers and headed for the door, making
her way down the hall, seeking out the voices.
  When she entered the dining room, she found everyone seated around an
enormous oak table. The walls were bare and the ceiling was high, arching over
the top of the dining table.
  Leo and Stella were discussing something of importance, but Laura could see
Stella smiling, so it must not have been anything too serious.
  Drew and Caspian were erupting with laughter as they spoke loudly with one
another.
  Gemma and Grace were giggling and fussing over Logan’s hair, pushing it up,
swishing it from side to side, and then braiding it, since it was, indeed, quite
long.
  They were all like a family. Like something that Laura no longer had. Feeling
out of place, she quietly turned to leave the room.
  ‘Good morning Laura! Come, take a seat,’ she heard Stella call out.
  She turned back to the table. Grace moved one seat down and patted the chair next
to her as she smiled at Laura, urging her to come and sit down.
  ‘How are you this morning Laura?’ Leo asked her.
  She could tell he was attempting to make her feel welcome, but everyone’s
conversations had died once she had arrived, and she felt more out of place
than ever.
  ‘Fine thank you,’ she replied as she reached for a slice of toast from one of
the many platters of breakfast foods.
  ‘We were just discussing our plans for today. What would you like to do?’
Grace chirped.
  ‘I would like to assist in the search for my mother. I am feeling much
stronger and think I could help a great deal.’
  They all fell into an awkward silence.
  ‘Of course, a wonderful idea,’ Stella finally said, ‘we will contact someone
from the station and inform them of your eagerness. I’m sure they will send
someone over right away to interview you. That might be a nice start, don’t you
think?’
  ‘Yes, that would be good,’ she said gratefully, and took a bite from her now
buttered toast.
  ‘So, I was thinking it might be a good idea to begin training. Maybe try and
catch you up a bit, teach you some skills in fighting, ease you in before Leo
takes over. If you are up for it of course?’ Drew inquired, munching away at
the last slice of toast that was on his plate.
  ‘Oh, Drew I don’t know. She has been through a lot.’ Stella quickly jumped
in.
  Laura gazed across the table at Drew and nodded slowly, ‘I think I’m up for
it. Might be nice to be able to defend myself at least.’
And distract me.
She
added inwardly.
  Her gaze darted to Stella’s, and while her own eyes were pleading, she sighed
and gave a nod of her head.
  ‘It’s settled then. Meet me in the weapons room at 10,’ he said as he and Caspian
rose from their seats, ‘we have our own training now, we’ll be down later to
hand in the assignment,’ he directed his gaze at the head of the table and
received a nod from both trainers.
  Drew gave one last glance in Laura’s direction before the two of them left.
She could hear their voices floating down the hallway, fading away slowly.
  ‘Are you sure you are up for training?’ Stella asked Laura, concerned, ‘your
stitches will have dissolved but the injuries may still be sore.’
  Stella was right, her injuries did still hurt a little, especially the cut on
her arm, but after learning more of the people who had taken her mother, she
felt sure that getting her back would require a fight, and she needed to know
how to do just that if she wanted to win.
  She gave Estella a confident smile, ‘of course I am. It can’t be too bad.’
  Gemma snorted, ‘you won’t be saying that tomorrow.’
  ‘Gemma,’ Leo warned.
  ‘What do you mean?’ Laura frowned.
  ‘You have never trained with Drew. Trust me, wear a lot of padding, or at
least do some stretches before you train,’ Logan said, his face completely
serious, moving to leave the room to join the boys in practice.
  Laura laughed, ‘okay I’ll keep that in mind.’

Later on
when Laura was making her way down the corridor, she was suddenly stopped by
Stella in the hallway.
  ‘Laura, here. Put this cream on your wounds again, just to make sure that
they are healing. It’ll speed up the process.’
  Laura frowned, wondering how a cream could make much of a difference. She
took it and thanked Stella anyway, glancing up into her eyes. As she did so,
she could see something within them that closely resembled regret.
  ‘What is it?’ Laura asked quickly, her stomach forming a knot.
  ‘I’m so sorry to have to ask this,’ she hesitated, ‘I know it’s all very hard
for you at the moment, but you are the only person who can give consent to
this. Leo and I need to inform the morgue of the funeral arrangements so they
know what to do with your father.’
  Laura didn’t flinch, ‘tell them we wait until my mother gets back.’
  Stella paused, before nodding, ‘all right I will let them know.’
  Laura gave a short, sharp nod before heading off towards the one place she
had come to feel comfortable in; the library. She didn’t want that particular
conversation to last longer then it needed to.

Caspian
ducked to the left, watching as the dagger whizzed past him. Sweat prickled the
back of his neck, but there was no way he would give in.
  ‘You’ll have to do better than that!’ Caspian baited.
  Drew was fast, the next knife soaring through the air before Caspian had a
chance to blink. Caspian was on the floor, rolling across the floorboards and
back up on his feed in seconds. The blade whirled overhead and clattered into
the wall, landing on the ground with a number of thumps.
  ‘Come on, you were the one who said it was my turn, put some muscle into it!’
  ‘Why do you play this ridiculous game? One of you could be killed! Well,
injured at least.’ Logan scoffed as he went about his safer version of target
practice, sending three daggers sailing one after the other straight for the
centre of the three bullseyes.
  Drew grinned, twirling another dagger around in his hand as he and Caspian
began circling one another.
  Drew took action first, lunging forward to distract Caspian, then darting off
to the right, taking a firm grasp of Caspian’s wrist and tugging it around
behind his back.
  ‘All right, all right,’ Caspian said as the cool sharp metal of the blade bit
into the skin of his neck. He did not attempt to break free. He knew Drew too
well, and waited patiently for his moment.
  ‘What can I say?’ Drew said smugly.
  That was Caspian’s move. Reaching up, he elbowed Drew in the gut, took a firm
hold of his knife hand, spun out of his grasp and twisted the hand behind
Drew’s back. He then pried the knife from Drew’s fingers and shoved it to his
neck, grinning.
  ‘Touché,’ Drew said, swallowing against the metal.
  ‘Idiots,’ muttered Logan, despite the smile on his face.
  Caspian let go of Drew and the two boys turned on Logan, who at that moment
made the wise decision to leave before he was dragged into the fight.
  They often did that; fought each other. It not only helped to strengthen
their fighting techniques but they felt that it was good to keep one another on
their toes. It helped to keep them fit and well trained, although they were all
regarded as some of the highest trained students in the state, if not, the
country, thanks to Leo’s experience.
  Caspian moved away, grasping a hold of his towel and wiping his face and neck,
watching as Drew hastily packed the equipment up.
  ‘What do you think of Laura?’ Caspian asked, crossing the room to help.
  Drew shrugged.
  Raising an eyebrow, he pressed on, ‘she’s brave, I’ll give her that. I don’t
know how she has managed to pull herself together after losing her father only
a few days ago.’
  ‘I guess we all deal with death in different ways.’
  ‘Still, she must be a mess inside. I feel sorry for her. Not knowing what has
happened to her mum, especially since her dad is gone. That must be the hardest
part.’
  Drew looked up at that, his eyes glazing over as if in a daydream, ‘yeah. It
would be hard,’ he said, ‘she is a strong girl. Back at her house, when I found
her, she was holding herself together well.’ His head dipped back down and he
could hear Caspian chuckling to himself.
  Drew glanced sideways at him, ‘what is it?’
  Caspian looked up, his cheeks dimpled with a smile, ‘she is very curious too.
Rightly so, considering she is only just learning about us, but still. It’s
very amusing watching her as she takes everything in.’
  Drew paused in the middle of his packing, his eyes flickering away from
Caspian’s, ‘I can imagine she would want to know everything she can so she’s
prepared to find her mother. It would be very hard.’
  Caspian lifted the basket of weapons from the ground, ‘yeah it really is
hard, I’m
still
learning things that you all know already,’ he said as
he headed for the door, ‘I’ll take these back, see you later,’ he called over
his shoulder as he moved towards the stairs.
  Drew called back a good bye, ignoring the pang of jealously that hit him.

After
realising that sitting around moping in the library wouldn’t do her any good,
Laura had retreated to her bedroom to apply the cream Stella had given her,
finding that the cut was indeed healing well, and relax before meeting Drew.
  She was surprisingly excited about training, and she observed her watch
anxiously as time moved slowly, until finally the hand ticked over to 9:50am.
  She headed out into the hallway ready to track down Drew, when she noticed
that Grace was making her way along the passage to her bedroom with a pile of
un-folded and crinkled clothes in her arms. She dropped a shirt from the top and
the pile swayed slightly as she tried to grab it before it hit the ground. She
managed to hook it onto her foot, and was left hopping about to stay upright.
  ‘Damn,’
  ‘Oh here, let me help you,’ Laura said, grabbing the shirt from Grace’s foot,
allowing her to regain her balance.
  ‘Thank you. These are some of my older clothes, they should fit you. And on
the bottom is a set of old training gear you can change into. They are much
more comfortable, trust me,’ she said as Laura opened the door to her room
allowing Grace to drop the pile onto the bed. Grace opened the draws to the
dresser and the two of them began folding the clothes and putting them away.
  ‘Thank you for these, I really appreciate you lending them to me,’ Laura said.
  Grace waved it off with a smile, ‘oh, don’t mention it! You can keep them.
They don’t fit any me more anyway.’
  They fell into a comfortable silence as they finished putting the clothes
away, leaving the training gear on the bed.
  ‘I’ll leave you to get changed. My brother will work you hard, so be
prepared.’
  ‘So Drew is your brother! I thought I could see some resemblance between you
two.’
  Grace looked grim, ‘yes we are quite alike in looks and actions, but personality-wise,
we are very different,’ she frowned as she shook her head, ‘he is
incredibly…distant these days.’
  Laura’s eyes flickered up to Grace’s face, ‘whys that?’
  ‘Drew was in a pretty dark place when we first came to the manor. He blamed
himself for a lot of things. Part of him still does, I think,’ she headed for
the door, ‘a word of advice,’ Laura looked back at Grace, registering her kind
tone, ‘don’t challenge him. Trust me, you’ll regret it the next day. I sure
did.’
  She allowed a smile to creep onto her face, ‘I will remember that, thanks.’
  Grace laughed lightly, closing the door and leaving Laura to change into the
training gear.
  They were typically black. A long-sleeve top, padding in the elbows and along
the forearms, a strong leather vest that fastened tightly at the front and plain
army-like pants with thick padding in the knees and calves, completed the
ensemble. The clothes fit well, and along with the black boots Grace had also
dropped off, Laura felt ready for training.
  She took her leave, wandering down the hall, searching for someone who could
point her in the direction of the weapons room. She found Leo reading by the
fireplace in the Library, and knocked lightly on the door so not to startle
him.
  He glanced up with a smile, ‘I see the training gear fits well.’
  Laura glanced down, ‘yes, it’s surprisingly comfortable.’
  ‘It suits you. Are you sure you’re up for this, though?’ He asked kindly.
  Laura gave him a reassuring nod, ‘I am. I need to be. If I want to find my
mother then I need to be able to fight. I doubt that these Wicked will go down
without one.’
  Leo’s eyes flickered to hers and he gave a short nod of agreement, ‘all right
then.’
  ‘I was wondering if you could show me where the weapons room is?’
  ‘Of course!’ He stood, placing the book on the mantel piece and hurried past
her, ‘follow me.’

Leo led her back down the hall and out into the main
entrance. To her right was a huge double doorway. Opposite that, was a flight
of stairs and beside the stairs was a small corridor that lead to yet another
door.
  ‘In here is the weapons room,’ Leo said, leading her to the door and opening
it for her.
  Drew was already in there, dressed in the same uniform as herself. He was
sharpening a blade that was a good meter long. Laura was horrified.
  ‘Ace! You made it,’ Drew said grinning.
  ‘Take it easy on her Drew,’ Leo said sternly. He turned to Laura, ‘good
luck.’ He honestly looked afraid for her.
  She gave him a assuring smile, then, he left, closing the door behind him.
  ‘So, where should we start?’ Laura asked, eyes sweeping across the rows of weapons.
  Daggers and knives of all kinds, swords of every size, throwing stars,
chains, whips, bow’s and arrows, shields, and the most frightening of all,
guns, covered every inch of space.
  ‘Keen are we?’ Drew was still grinning as he leaned against the bench.
  ‘You’re enjoying this aren’t you?’
  ‘More than you know.’
  ‘All right get on with it then,’ Laura said.
  ‘We will actually be spending the morning in the training room. I just wanted
to see your face once you saw this place.’
  Laura glared at him. Drew beamed back.

Leo passed a
worried looking Stella stalking down the hallway, and made a sharp U-turn, following
her to their office.
  ‘What’s the matter?’ He questioned her, closing the door behind him
  Stella spun around to face him.
  ‘This,’ she thrust a piece of paper into Leo’s hands with a huff.
  Leo removed his glasses from his pocket and placed them on the bridge of his
nose.
  ‘Really Leo, that is
truly
the best way to break those glasses and we
will have to buy yet another pair.’
  Leo looked up at Stella through his lenses.
  She waved a hand, ‘sorry. Just read.’
  Leo read the page, and slowly his blood began to boil, as Estella’s obviously
already had.
  ‘How could they be so foolish?’ He was far from happy, ‘what is this?’ he
pointed to a line in the letter, ‘not high on our priorities… looks like just
another accident… mortals always have affairs with our kind…’ he looked up from
the paper and shook his head, furious, ‘in the past year the death of pregnant
Warlocks has gone up by 40% and at the same time the mother of the one girl who
survived just this situation is kidnapped and the father murdered, but we are expected
to just brush it off as a ‘strange’ coincidence? They can never be bothered to
really take interest in a case that appears to require too much dedication.’
  ‘What do we do now? They’re searching for Cara, but they will never trust
what we say until it’s too late and then Laura will never forgive us. Not to
mention the horrors that could be unleashed if they actually manage to get
their hands on the girl.’
  Leo tore the letter in half, ‘not if I have anything to do with it. Later we
will go back to her farm and investigate. Surely there will be clues.’
  Stella huffed, ‘hope so.’

Laura
followed Drew up the staircase, entering through the door behind him. When he
finally moved out of her view, her eyes widened. She was standing in one
enormous room that covered the whole top floor.
  The training room.
  The floors were wooden, the walls and ceiling white, and the entire wall
opposite them was covered by tinted glass windows. Laura could see the farmland
reaching out for miles, winding roads separating the grassy land. Pulling her
eyes from the window, she noticed the training equipment around the room. Dummies
in one corner, gym equipment in another and target practice complete with
bullseye’s and a wooden board set up in the third corner. In the last was the
only separate room in the entire space. The gun room, Drew told her. Completely
bullet and sound proof.
  ‘Wow,’ breathed Laura.
  ‘I know. Leo and Stella really went all out with this place.’
  ‘Why bother training with old fashioned swords when you own guns? That surly
is more effective?’ She finally asked after sweeping her eyes across the area
another three times.
  Drew shrugged, ‘only silver can kill a Wicked, and only gold can kill an
Enchanted. That’s why our swords, daggers and other weapons are all silver.
Silver and gold bullets are hard to make, the weight and entity of the metal
doesn’t react well with the gunpowder, so they’re hard to come by, making
blades more practical.’
  ‘Wouldn’t they be heavy though?’
  ‘Oh they are heavy, indeed, however we train to endure and wield the mass. I
believe the fact that they react with our being helps ease the weight
somewhat.’
  She nodded in understanding, eyes still wandering, ‘so… how was training with
Caspian?’
  He eyed her suspiciously, ‘good, why do you ask?’
  She shrugged, ‘just wondering. What did you guys do? Duel or something.’
  ‘Yes, why?’
  Laura choked on a laugh, taken by surprise.
  ‘What?’ He frowned, drifting to a cupboard and removing two towels, slinging
them over a hook.
  ‘Duelling? We aren’t duelling are we?’
  ‘God no, way to advanced stuff for you. Until you reach Caspian and my level
– which I doubt will be any time soon – you will be learning the basics.’
  ‘Don’t hold back on me…’
  ‘Okay we will be starting on the floor.’ He said, his deep green eyes
watching her.
  ‘On the floor?’ Laura questioned, confused, as she edged towards him.
  ‘Yes, on the floor.’ He moved towards the middle of the room, ‘I thought it
would be best if I teach you defence first. Calming yourself enough to think
clearly during an attack is very important.’
  She gave a nod of understanding.
  ‘All right, first thing you need to know about defence is that the attacker
will want to get the upper hand. Usually, this will be through overpowering
you, by shoving you onto the ground, hindering the use of your arms and legs,
or disarming you. You have to do everything you can to stay on your feet.
Considering your lack of muscle-‘
  She scoffed, ‘harsh,’
  ‘-once you are on the ground, there will be no getting back up, so your best
chance is to…basically not be tackled. Now I am going to throw a punch at you.
Don’t worry it won’t be a hard one, but I want you to block it.’
  Laura nodded, raising her clenched fists up in front of her chest, ‘I’m
ready.’
  Drew threw the punch and Laura reached out, grabbing his hand to stop it.
With Drew’s other hand, he grabbed a hold of her arm, twisted it behind her
back, forced her into a head lock and pulled her down, straight to the cold
hard floor, pinning her there as he did only five days ago.
  ‘Hey! What the hell! I thought you were going to punch me!’ Laura yelled,
struggling against his grip and wincing slightly as the strain on her arm
became more apparent. It was only a dull ache, but it was enough to annoy her.
  ‘Too easy. You left yourself wide open and your movements are sloppy and
slow. You have to be fierce and quick. Too quick for me to grab your arm. See,
I’m using your strength against you to force you to the ground. You have to be
too fast for me to do that. And you’re making a fist wrong. You’ll break a
thumb if you keep clenching them like that.’
  Drew sprung to his feet and held out a hand to Laura. She slapped it away and
pushed herself up from the ground, flexing then clenching her fists in front of
her face, ‘go.’
  She barely could barely comprehend what had happened, but she knew she was on
the ground again.
  ‘Too slow, keep your forearm firm, use it to block my blow and then aim to
disarm me.’
  Frustration bubbled in Laura’s veins.
  ‘Get up, come on. We go again.’
  She got into position.
  He threw another punch toward her. Like a flash she blocked his blow and reached
out, gripping his wrist. With one quick jerk, spun him around, pushing his arm
firmly behind his back.
  ‘That good enough?’ She whispered into his ear, and she could smell his cologne,
a sweet metallic scent.
  He cleared his throat, ‘yes that was better.’ 
  Laura let go and stepped back, pleased. Drew spun around, dived for her and
again tackled her to the ground, pinning her down.
  Laura groaned. She felt small flashes of pain shooting up her arm again from
underneath the bandage, worse than before, but she once again pushed it from
her mind. No way was she going to lose focus.
  ‘You let your guard down. Never let your guard down.’
  The hours ticked by and the rest of the training lesson went much like that,
Laura being nearly punched, Laura trying to block the punch, Laura slightly succeeding,
Laura being dragged to the ground. By 12 o’clock she had become quite
acquainted with the floor, but she had to admit, she felt better in herself
knowing she had acquired at least
some
basic defence strategies.
  As she was walking away, though, she wondered why she was learning defence
strategies. The minute the idea was suggested she had agreed instantly, reasoning
with herself that it was all for her mother’s sake, that she would have to put
up a fight in order to get her back. But those had been just words. Just
thoughts.
  Now, they had become real. She could feel it in her gut that something was
coming. Something that would require her to fight, and she suddenly realised
that she wanted to know
how
to do just that; fight.
  That realisation shocked her, but beyond that, it scared her. It scared her
because she wasn’t sure what she was capable of, or what she would be willing
to do to save her mother, and herself. She was afraid of herself. She was
afraid of what was to come. She was afraid of the unknown.
  ‘Next lesson is tomorrow, same place - same time.’ Drew said, breaking her
out of her trance.
  ‘Sure,’ Laura nodded and worked her way down the stairs, wiping the sweat
from her flushed face with her towel.
  Her hair was sticking to her sweaty neck, the prickling beginning to bother
her. She had just entered the hallway, intending to head for the shower, when
Drew called out to her, ‘hey Ace?’
  She considered questioning him about the nickname, but decided against it.
  ‘Yeah?’ She said turning to face him.
  He stood at the entrance of the weapons room, the door half open and his
blazing green eyes watching her thoughtfully.
  ‘Good work today. You have already made progress.’ With that, he entered the
room, closing the door behind him.