A Touch of Madness (A Recipe for Disaster Novel 1)

Wakes up with a grumble

 

After my shower I dressed in a pair of loose sweats and a t-shirt, perfect for the self-defense and self discipline I was going to be teaching. I ran down the stairs lightly, humming under my breath. Cassie gave me an amused look so I leaned against the breakfast bar and tried to look menacing, which despite my muscle bulk is harder than it sounds because I'm so damn cute.

 

“Well children, if you’re both almost done, I have to get going. I’m sure Edward has had quite enough of the three of us for today.” I said in my most authoritative voice. Cassie gave a very ungraceful snort, which made me grin.

 

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go. See you later Edward, have fun at work.” Cassie said, sliding off her bar seat. She was in hospital scrubs. Barry was in last night’s jeans and he had his shirt off. I gave him the once over and shuddered.

 

“You look like a rug.” I complained. He shrugged at me.

 

“Not my fault. Besides, it keeps me warm in winter. I gotta swing by my place and grab a change of clothes. Meet you at the center Callie. Cassie, I’ll walk you to your bus stop.” He said, holding an arm out in a gentlemanly fashion.

 

“My hero.” Cassie said in a falsely simpering voice and linked arms with him. I followed behind them and waved bye to Edward.

 

The mixed youth center was near Mooney’s Bay and as such, I held as many classes outside as possible. There’s a fitness park, running and biking paths, a huge hill and the beach, all perfect to make the poor souls who come to me work out on. For self discipline we work on a series of kata to train their muscles on how to handle and balance their bodies while they try to concentrate on their various talents. Eventually we pair students off and have them work on sparring. Slowly at first until we feel they’re ready for full tilt. Barry loves fighting with me because I cheat and he doesn’t have to hold back. And together we teach those brats how to fight to survive, or fight to defend without killing. Although I’m tough and strong; in a fight, a guy like Barry would kill me. The thing is, Casters that shape shift like he does have to learn how to defend themselves without going into animal mode so I teach disabling and how to fight dirty so they can get away. Barry teaches how to overpower and pin an opponent to those students who have the physicality and control to do so. The other teachers cover how to fight hand to hand and other specialized skills as needed.

 

Today I had the entire class running suicides up the hill and down, to get their endurance up. Barry walked over to me and smiled. “He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again.” He quoted to me. I nodded absently, more focused on seeing if the students were pushing themselves.

 

“I think tomorrow should be a game day.” I said out of the blue. “Tennis balls and nerf guns for instructors and the students need to hit check points in order, do exercises and dodge us. Punishment is hill laps.” I recommended. Barry thought it over.

 

“At each checkpoint they’ll have to show us the skills we’ve been teaching them, probably best if we pair them up for the day. By general skill level then.” He added in. We talked it over and agreed on a final plan. Then we called the students in and told them about it. Saying that they were less than happy with the prospect would be an understatement. Though that’d a bit of a lie, some of them love the opportunity to try and impress us.