Paths

Chapter 5- aged 7&8

When my mother said 'training' she really meant it. None of us were prepared for the intensity and difficulty of it. 

As well as learning normal subjects (even more advanced than what we'd already been taught) we had to learn history of werewolves and self defence.

The rate that our mother taught us the lessons was so rapid because we knew Maddie was running out of time. And that was a fact that irritated me. 

If we'd only been told all this sooner, like when Jess was taken or even before then, we'd be well prepared and ready by now. And we could even had stopped the kidnappings all together.

I didn't mind the normal lessons at all. In fact, I could keep up with work she set Maddie, and I was two years younger... even though I suspected that Maddie could do more advanced work (she insisted she couldn't so she didn't have to bother). 

It was the stupid werewolf history that I really hated. It wasn't like normal history when everything had dates and nothing was too vague.

It was mostly just stories and legends, as much as I enjoyed stories, I was never sure if anything was true. And those stories didn't always make sense. I wondered where our mother was getting the information from, perhaps her own memory. 

Mum said that it was just to give us a general understanding of werewolf culture and politics. But I wondered when the last time she'd interacted with another werewolf was. Her knowledge ended about 20 years previously. 

But my favourite lessons were definately self defence. I thrived in that lesson. I was surprisingly strong for someone so small. And because I was small, I was also fast. I always beat Maddie and Crystal in a fight, a fact I was happy to boast about. 

I had always been a bit chunky, but the lessons improved my fitness. I had been chunky before because I never had friends to play in the playground with. When every other kid was playing tig or bulldog I was usually just sat on a bench, moping about at my misfortunate family. 

I really enjoyed running, mother took us on long runs around our extensive garden to build up stamina we might need for running away from people. I loved the freedom I felt when I ran; I had been cooped up my whole life, if not physically, then mentally.

 Crystal was less impressed with all the running, she was built for sprints, not long distance. She could beat Maddie and me in a sprint. But she went red and slowed down much faster than Maddie and me. 

My mother told Crystal not to worry about this because her stamina would build the more she ran. Mum said that she was awful at long-distance running when she was Crystal's age. That fact made me realise how similar my mother and Crystal were. They were both blonde and pretty, delicate features, slim. Me and Maddie were more like our father, with auburn hair and we were less slim. Me especially. 

I wondered what my other sisters looked like now. I could hardly remember what Jess looked like. And Beth, she had blonde hair I think. Jazmin definately had auburn hair but she was always slimmer. 

The best thing about self defence lessons was when mum and dad demonstrated fighting. Dad was barely around anymore but he consitantly came to help with self defence. I wondered what he was doing when he was not with us. 

It was fascinating to watch the intricate poses and moves that my parents used to fight with. My dad always won the fight but mum gave him a run for his money. After they demonstrated they would fight with us individually. They started slowly so we could get used to the movement and then slowly sped it up so we were almost really fighting. Of course if they tried full strength they could easily defeat us. But we were improving, slowly but surely.