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  I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Leave her alone. Unless you want everyone to see you get knocked out by a girl.”

  My tone was casual, but my blood was boiling. Nobody touched Nelly. Nobody.

  Disturbing thoughts raced through my head, every one of them intriguing. Riley definitely was bigger and stronger than me, but I was pretty confident I could hurt him. That thought alone erased any possibilities of fear. I guess my Mother’s trainings were good for something. I was no stranger to battle. I was conditioned for it. And mostly, I just wasn’t concerned with the consequences.

  “Watch it,” Riley said, through gritted teeth, “unless you want to end up with two black eyes.”

  Again, I shrugged. “You are most certainly welcome to try.” True to his word, Riley lunged for me. I had been expecting this; I’d learned long ago to anticipate the attacks of others, and he had nowhere near the amount of combat skill my Mother had. My respect for her grew a little.

  I managed to side-step his attack and push Nelly out of the way in the process.

  This was not something he had been expecting, and he stumbled a little before regaining his footing. As he spun around to face me, the anger that had been on his face before had turned into rage. I flashed him a toothy grin, egging him on.

  This time he stepped forward and swung his fist out toward my face. Again, I had been expecting this. And, in my mind, the fact that he would hit a girl justified my next actions.

  A hazy sort of anger came over me. It was so intense that I felt it thrum in my veins; like it was vibrating under my skin.

  Resolved, I made my decision. I wanted very much to end this circus show he was putting on. I moved so fast I don’t think he ever saw it coming. I slammed my fist so hard into his face that he literally lifted off of his feet and fell back on his butt. His head hit the pavement with a sickening thud, and I stood frozen to my spot. I had known I could fight, but the strength it must have taken to knock someone down twice my size impressed even me.

  I felt myself move forward, and then I was standing over Riley. My mind snapped back to the blackbird. His nose was sitting at a funny angle and deep crimson was flowing out of it. He was unconscious. My left eye twitched. I felt one side of my mouth pull up into a crooked smile and just barely managed to stop it before it turned full-fledged. And, my mind snapped back to the blackbird.

  Then, Nelly was tugging on my arm, her voice was panicked. “Alexa, we have to go. Now.”

  I looked up at her and finally began to take in the scene around me. Students were standing all around us, dumbstruck. No doubt they had just seen their all-star receiver get knocked out by a girl. A relatively small girl at that. I took one last look at Riley. My mind snapped back to the blackbird.

  I heard myself say, “Run, Nell. We have to run.”

  We did.

  Chapter 4

  By the time we made it back to the house we were both panting and covered in sweat. We’d taken the long way home, going through the woods instead of following the road that led directly to our house. I shut the door once we made it inside the house and slumped back against it.

  Nelly stood directly in front of me, with a look on her face that I had never seen before. She looked both proud and… scared. Was she scared of me or of the trouble I was going to be in when we returned to school tomorrow? I didn’t know. Probably both.

  Still breathing heavily, I looked down at my hands to see that they were trembling. Now that we had stopped running, the reality of what I had just done hit me. What was wrong with me? How badly had I hurt Riley? More importantly, how badly would I have hurt him if Nelly hadn’t pulled me away? I would like to say I would have been able to walk away on my own, but some small part of me knew that that was a lie. Another part of me was disgusted by this. And, yet, another small part of me was left feeling disturbingly unsatisfied.

  Glancing back up at Nelly, I got the feeling that she was aware of this. I’m not sure what my face looked like, though I did my best to keep it reasonably void of any expression at all. But, Nelly knew me. Sometimes, I felt like Nelly knew me better than I knew myself.

  She came forward and took me into her arms. I let her hold me, and actually took comfort in the embrace. My mind seemed to relax a little.

  “Girls? I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes if you want to go wash up and-“ Upon seeing us, my Mother stopped abruptly. Her eyes narrowed slightly and my back went rigid in response. I tried to prepare myself for what was to come. No point in lying to her. She would find out from the school soon enough.

  “What happened?” she asked. The threat was clear in her voice.

  “I got into a fight.” I didn’t know what else to say. Besides, I kind of felt like I deserved whatever punishment she gave me.

  My Mother remained deathly still, waiting for me to elaborate. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even think past that initial thought. I honestly thought I wouldn’t have to. I had been expecting her to drag me outside right then and there.

  It was Nelly who came to my rescue.

  “There was this guy at school who was messing with me,” she began. “He grabbed me and Alexa yanked him off of me. She tried to tell him to leave me alone, and then he attacked her… so she… stopped him.”

  Okay, that may have been a little bit skewed, but it sounded better than: Alexa may have just seriously injured someone with an extremely badass punch to the face.

  Nonetheless, I was glad she spoke up.

  My Mother’s gaze snapped to me. I met her eyes and nodded. And then, to my utter astonishment, she gave a small nod and… walked away.

  Chapter 5

  Later, I was sitting in my bedroom staring at the wall, when someone knocked on my door. Opening it up, I expected to see Nelly standing there.

  Except it wasn’t Nelly.

  It was my Mother.

  “Mom, I didn’t mean to-“

  “I know, come with me,” she said.

  I grabbed my shoes and followed her. Some part of me had been expecting this. I had known she wasn’t going to let something like this slide, but from her reaction earlier, I guess I was just hoping she would.

  She led me out to the backyard of the house, and I knew what was coming. Time for her to teach me a lesson. I pushed my chin out and wiped my face clear of any expression, refusing to showcase any fear. The effort had me clenching my teeth.

  But instead of stopping in our usual spot where we did our training, she just kept going. Oh god, I thought, maybe she’s taking me somewhere to kill me.

  I laughed out loud at this morbid thought, and my Mother turned her head, giving me a slightly confused look. I shook my head and mumbled an apology as I continued following her to this unknown destination.

  We walked for a little over an hour through the woods that encased the back of our house. With every step my unease grew. I felt like I was on some impromptu death march.

  To make things even weirder, my Mother kept pointing out certain markers, telling me to commit them to memory. I did. I was never sure why my Mother did the things she did, and by this point in my life, I had learned to just roll with whatever she threw at me.

  At last, we emerged at a small clearing. It was beautiful. The ground was packed with wild honeysuckle and dandelions. And straight ahead of us was a small hill that was surrounded on all sides by tall trees. It also had what seemed to be an opening at the foot of it, like it housed a small cave.

  “Wow.” I didn’t know what else to say. I almost smiled. Maybe I’d been wrong.

  Maybe she just wanted to spend some time with me. As happy as that would have made me, the thought alone made me suspicious.

  But, when my Mother turned to face me, she had the same expression on her face that Nelly had had earlier, when we’d first entered the house. It was a mixture of pride and fear. A second later, it was gone, replaced by her usual, serious expression. I decided I must have been mistaken. I doubted this woman even knew what fear was.

  “Do
you remember how to get here?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Good, it’s very important that you do. This is where I want you to come if anything ever happens to me.”

  “Why would anything ever happen-“

  “Why is not important,” she replied. “What is important is that if anything ever happens, you run, you run and you bring Nelly with you to this spot.” I gave her what must have been a weary look, because she was in front of me, faster than anyone should have been able to move, and she was gripping my shoulders. It was an unpleasant, tension-filled touch; much like the rub of denim on badly sunburned skin.

  “Alexa, I need you to tell me you understand. I need you to promise me that you’ll do as I say.”

  I looked her straight in the eyes, refusing to let her scare me. I wouldn’t be scared of her anymore. She had to know that. “I understand.”

  What I thought looked like more pride flashed behind her eyes, and this time, I was certain I saw fear. “Good,” she said. “Let’s head back. It’s time to practice.”

  Chapter 6

  When we made it back to the house Nelly was sitting on the back porch, as if she’d been expecting us. She probably had, considering that this was the time of day our Mother always made me “practice”.

  Upon seeing us, Nelly gave me a big smile. I was surprised to feel a huge weight lift off of my shoulders. I guess I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been that she might be angry with me about the fight earlier. I smiled back and then took a deep breath, preparing myself for what was to come.

  Ahead of me, Nelly’s smile faltered, and I knew what that meant. I swung around fast, and just barely managed to dodge a strike from my Mother.

  I spun to the side and my hands went up. I met her eyes. The woman who had just led me through the forest was gone; now she was just a predator. I was used to this look on my Mother, and it never failed to scare the shit out of me.

  But, somehow, today was different. I was still scared, and my Mother hadn’t changed any from yesterday or the day before that. It was me that seemed changed. I felt that maybe today, when my Mother stood across from me on the destroyed grass that served as our

  “practice” area, she might just feel that she too was staring down a predator.

  She didn’t move again, and neither did I. We stood there for several seconds, just watching each other. Looking for a weak point; an opening.

  She broke first, rushing forward and swinging with all power and skill. Seeing this made me think of Riley, and that seemed to release something in me. The world slowed. I dodged, moving with what felt like superhuman speed. And then I saw it.

  My opening; her weak point.

  At that point, everything became a blur. Now, instead of slowing down, the world had sped up, pulling me along with it. I remember moving as I had been trained, throwing all of my weight and strength behind my fist, the motion all too familiar. I remember it connecting, crashing hard into what seemed to be a solid surface. But I didn’t feel any pain. Not right at that moment. I didn’t feel any pain.

  Then my Mother was on the ground, lying in much the same position as Riley had been just hours earlier. And I was standing over her, not quite sure I could get my muscles to move. Not really trusting myself to move.

  So, I just stood there, until Nelly spoke from somewhere behind me. “Mom, are you okay?” Her voice was calm; maybe a little too calm.

  My Mother sat up and gave her head a sharp shake. A red welt was already swelling up on her face.

  I finally found my voice. “Mom, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize,” she replied. “Well done. I can’t believe you inherited your strength.”

  Beside me, Nelly nodded in agreement. I furrowed my brow in confusion. What an odd choice of words. Inherited your strength.

  “Although, I do have to say I feel sorry for that Brockman boy if he took a blow like that,” she continued, pulling herself unsteadily to her feet. “You need to be careful with whom you choose to fight. Not everyone is built as sturdily as we are.” She started heading back to the house. “And be careful who sees you fight too. Your strength may seem…. unnatural to them.”

  Chapter 7

  Later that night, I was sitting back in my room, just staring at the wall. I wasn’t sure what to think about all the events of the day. Or maybe I was just afraid to. It was all too strange. I felt like I was missing something big here. I didn’t like that feeling.

  First of all, Nelly and my Mother were keeping something from me. I wasn’t sure what, but I was sure it was something. What the hell had my Mother meant by “inherited your strength”? Even weirder than that was the secret spot she’d taken me in the forest today. I was starting to worry about her. Maybe she was really losing it.

  I’d sort of always assumed that she had some mild case of paranoid schizophrenia. Didn’t people with that condition tend to think someone was after them? I’m no doctor. I didn’t know.

  But, even stronger than my worry for my Mother was my worry for someone else. Me. I’d always known I was different from other people. I just tended to get angrier than most; thinking things that people probably shouldn’t be thinking, or at least would never admit to. But, I’d always been able to control myself. I’d never considered myself a danger to others. I was starting to rethink that.

  I glanced over at the clock sitting on my dresser. It was just past two in the morning. I wished I could get some sleep, but lately, I’d been feeling restless at night. Usually, I could read until I fell asleep. Somehow I knew that reading wasn’t going to stop my mind from turning over.

  Lying back on my bed, I stared at the ceiling. At least it was a change in scenery from the wall. It was dark in my room, but I had always been able to see reasonably well in the dark. My Mother said it was because she fed me lots of carrots when I was young. Knowing her, she probably had.

  Just then, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, near the window. My senses went on high alert. I slipped off the bed and snuck over so that I was standing beside the window, my back against the wall. My Mother’s room and mine were on the first floor. Only Nelly had a bedroom upstairs. My Mother never explained why, but I assumed it had something to do with keeping Nelly safe. I didn’t mind.

  My window was open, and I immediately regretted this. My room tended to hold in heat, so I usually kept it open once the weather began to get warmer. Still, it was stupid; I doubted my Mother slept with her window open.

  A shadow moved across the floor. I stilled. It irritated me to think that someone might be sneaking around my house in the middle of the night. It made me nervous too, but my instincts overrode that. And, before I knew what I was doing, I’d swung around, grabbed the intruder by the front of his shirt, and hauled him through the window.

  I knew it was a him because he was heavy, but the adrenaline that was coursing through me seemed to lend me super-strength and I managed to throw him to the floor with impressive force. I drew my fist back to hit him, but he dodged the blow and grabbed my wrist. I drew my other hand back, intending to hit him again.

  “Alexa! Alexa, it’s me,” he whispered fiercely.

  I stopped mid-swing, recognizing the drawl of his voice. “Jackson? What the hell are you doing here? I almost punched you in the face!”

  He chuckled softly. “Yeah, I noticed.”

  I flopped back onto the bed and inhaled deeply. It seemed to take a minute for me to realize there was no longer a threat. Shoving my hair out of my face, I said, “I would have felt really bad if I had knocked you out too.”

  Jackson made a show of dusting himself off, then walked over and sat down next to me on the bed. It dipped with his weight. “I know, I heard about that. Wish I had been there to see it. Good thing I’m not such a weak opponent.”

  I didn’t really want to get into that, so I ignored that comment. “Why are you here, Jack? How did you know where I live?”

  “I wanted to come and check on you. I was worried after
I’d heard what happened. I really should have been there for you.” His green eyes fixed on me. He looked like he was serious, and my agitation faded a little, but I didn’t miss the fact that he’d ignored my second question.

  “Well, thanks, but I’m fine… Did you hear anything about how Riley is doing?”

  “Yeah, I guess he’s got a broken nose and a concussion.” He shrugged like this was no big deal.

  Noticing what must have been my horrified face, he quickly said, “He’ll be fine, though. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Besides, I heard he swung at you first. He deserves what he got.” I wasn’t sure I agreed. “What else did you hear?”

  He flashed an easy smile. “That you were amazing… and fast. Some of the kids are even afraid of you. Well, more afraid of you than they were before.” I scoffed. “People aren’t afraid of me.” Who was I kidding? I was starting to be afraid of me.

  Jack stood up and walked over to the window. “Course they are. It’s in their nature.”

  My brow furrowed at that. Had everyone taken a crazy pill today?

  “Well, darling,” he said. “I gotta go, but I’m glad you’re okay. He turned to the window to leave, and then stopped and turned back to me. “Don’t worry, Lexie. You did the right thing. You did what you had to.”

  He was starting to sound like my Mother.

  Chapter 8

  At some point, I must have drifted to sleep, because when I woke up, it was morning. I squinted at the sun shining brightly in through my window. What time was it? By the way the sun seemed to be up and in full force, I would have guessed it was about noon.

  Oh shit. I was really late for school. Why hadn’t anyone woken me up? I jumped out of bed and rushed out of my room. And nearly collided with Nelly.

  She giggled. “Morning, sleepy head.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”

  Nelly checked her watch. “Oh, almost noon.” I gaped at her, and she continued,