Kate Andrews

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 

"Who are you?" he growled, the tip of his arrow still dangerously close to Aaron's chest.

Aaron's hands were halfway in the air. The rest of us were standing still, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. 

"Phaedril sent us," he said slowly, "He told us someone would meet us here."

The green-eyed guy spoke in a deep voice, "If he told you that, he must have told you my name. What is it?"

Aaron's eyes widened by a fraction. I had always been the straight-A student in my family. Aaron was smarter than I'd ever be, but he was terrible at remembering facts and details. Kevin was bright, too, but wasn't bothered much about school. But if Aaron's little lasp of memory got us killed, I was going to whack him in the face. 

 Luckily, Cassidy was quicker.

"James," she blurted, "That' what Phaedril told us. You must be James."

The only thing I could think of was how much I loved the name James. 

Slowly, James lowered his bow. Aaron dropped his hands and glared at him. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. 

Then, all at once, James grinned, "Hey! James Casey, at your service. You must be Cassidy. Phaedril said you were the blonde." 

He didn't seem much taken aback by Cassidy's appearance. I had expected a reaction similar to Aaron's. But looking at him, he was probably no stranger to good looks. Besides, he seemed to be mine and Seth's age. What I didn't understand, was who he was, and what he was doing here. 

I felt awkward just standing there, with him grinning at us like the six of us were old friends. So I filled the silence by saying, "James? Cool!"

Now that everyone's eyes were on me, I felt the idiotic need to keep going, "I just mean the Harry has black hair and green eyes, and his father's name was James. It's cool. Potter, I mean. Harry Potter. Not Styles or Prince Harry. Just to be clear. People mess them up a lot, don't you think? Britain should get some new names. At least they have Benedict Cumberbatch. No one's likely to mix him up anytime soon. Well, at least not until the Sherlock fandom is old enough to have chilren. Then the streets will be swarming with kids named Benedict, I bet."

I said this all in one breath. It was only when I stopped to breathe that I realized everyone was staring at me. If they were looking at me with interest before, now they were gaping at me as if they thought I was bonkers. And I was doing such a good job at keeping my cool with Seth, too. 

James gave me a once over, his face unsmiling. 

"Eloquent," he said, meeting my eyes for a fraction of a second and then turning back to Aaron.

"No hard feelings, I hope?" he asked, holding his hand out. 

"As long as you can keep that arrow ten feet away from me at all times, " said Aaron, shaking James' outstretched hand. 

"That won't be possible, " he said, his face dead serious.

"Didn't Phaedril mention?" he continued, chuckling, "I'm your trainer. If you stand a chance in front of Zephigon, you need to know how to handle a knife, weild a sword, and shoot an arrow. And when it comes to weapons, I'm your guy."

Seth, who was standing next to me in silence, leaned over with a nonchalant grin and said into my ear, "There's your hot instructor."

I know, I know, I need to learn how to end chapters well. 

600 words. That's all I could manage for now. Hope you liked it, all the same.

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