"This really isn't that difficult, Luca."
"That's easy for you to say," I reply, stretching out my legs from where we're positioned on the floor. The tips of my boots hit the edge of the bench when I cross one ankle over the other. "You've been doing this for, what, six or seven years? You could probably do it with an accent, for all I know."
Nox sighs, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling of the train. We're alone in here, so the exasperated sound echoes around the space. When he looks back at me, his dark eyes appear both tired and irritated. "Do you even want to be here?" he asks quietly.
I meet his gaze head-on. "Honestly? Not really."
"Then why are you—"
"Because Sigma wants me to train with this ability," I interrupt. "She thinks it could be useful when I'm up above."
Nox runs a hand through his mess of curls, blowing out a breath between his teeth. "Okay, you know what? Despite what you said, let's try again."
I sit up a little straighter, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "Fine."
He doesn't remove his eyes from mine when he says, "Listen and really feel how this power works. It took me a few months to get it right, and I didn't even have anyone to help me."
"Then how did you know it was working?"
"Because I could feel it."
I nod slowly, the silence in the train deafening. I swallow, closing my eyes and concentrating on the push and pull he's creating in my mind. It's hard to explain with words how it makes my mind feel. It could only be described as a blunt instrument trying to penetrate a sponge. It tries, but it can only go so far. The push hurts more than the pull.
Nox's voice rings in my head a moment later.
Remember, Luca, I hear his voice say, the strange sound almost echoing in the silence, the words in your head are not spoken—they're thought. They don't hold the same weight as if you said them out loud.
With his words still ringing in my head, the meaning settling in my mind, I breathe deeply and reach out. I connect with him easily, my grip on his mind tight but slick. I breathe once more and focus on the feeling of the energy. It's both uncomfortable and exhilarating at the same time, the ability like nothing I have ever experienced.
Once I find an opening, I seize the opportunity.
Can you hear me? is the first I ask, like I always do.
He furrows his brows and leans back. "I can. It's a little louder than it should be, but it's an improvement." He slaps his thighs once and says, "Come on, let's try again."
The next hour passes slowly, with both of us trading sentences between our minds. Every minute that goes by, I can feel the grip loosening as I get tired. And it must be my fatigued mind that asks, without thinking, "Can this power kill a Soldier?"
Nox blinks at me, brown eyes worried, suddenly. He shakes his head slowly. "I... I don't—"
"It's all right," I interject quickly. "I was only joking."
He shakes it off, but his eyes remain the same. He presses his hands against the bench and rises from the floor, instructing me to do the same. "We're finished with this." He looks out the dirty window, at the few Freaks passing in between the tunnels. "I've got an idea. Follow me."
I reluctantly do as he says, urging my tired legs to fall into step with his long strides. We quickly make it to the training room, passing very few Freaks along the way. Two boys nod in greeting as we pass them, continuing with their conversation a moment later. From the sound of what they're speaking about, it makes it feel like we're not in the former Underground, hiding from the people hunting us down. It's like they're trying to forget about all of the horrors we've been through.
I wish I could forget.
Nox and I make it to the training room quickly. It's empty in here, no Freaks and no Nathan to be seen anywhere. The familiar rush of adrenaline comes rushing back as we make it to the middle of the space, both of us standing in the middle of one of the large black mats.
"Okay," Nox says as he turns around to face me, a small smirk playing on the edges of his lips. "Are you ready?"
"For what?"
In a flash that my mind doesn't register straight away, Nox grabs hold of my left arm, hooks his foot behind my ankle and with his right arm, pushes me down to the ground in the same breath. I release an inaudible gasp as the air leaves my lungs, the pain shooting from my back to the rest of my body in a second.
I groan, blinking my eyes open and struggling to breathe in the air as Nox crouches down beside me, grabbing hold of my hand to pull me up. "For real training," he says, yanking me to my feet.
I rub at my back, wincing when I brush over sensitive flesh that will more than likely bloom into a bruise later on today. "You could've given me a warning." My words sound breathless and feel burning hot deep in my chest.
His smirk returns as he disappears to the cupboard at the back of the room. "Do you say that to all your enemies?" he calls out.
I absentmindedly rub at the spot I fell on again, my senses on high alert. "Well, before the Soldiers arrived and took over the world, I didn't tend to have enemies."
His smirk doesn't disappear when he returns, handing me a strip of material. "Well, you've got spades of them now." He rolls the fabric around his knuckles and hands, and I do the same, struggling slightly with the movement.
Finally, he gets into a fighting stance. "Hold your fists up to your face, will you? It's very unsatisfying to spar with someone who doesn't defend themselves."
I do as he says, circling him with my hands in front of my face. Nox feigns a punch to my jaw and I flinch, hopping backwards. He rolls his eyes and beckons me forward again. I take up my defensive position once more, watching his every move as we circle each other.
I notice that he favours his left leg slightly more than his right, even though he's right handed. When I aim a punch for his face, he scuttles backwards. He has a minor limp. Something happened to his right leg a while back. An old injury, perhaps.
We continue to trade punches for the next few minutes, each one getting quicker and slightly more real as the time passes. I'm not trying to hurt Nox, but he insisted that we do this like it was a real fight.
He attempts to kick me in the leg, but I counter-attack with my arm, watching as he staggers backwards slightly. I take the opportunity and aim a punch for his face, my fist connecting cleanly with his cheek. He breaks his defence position and presses a hand to his now-red skin. "Very good," he says with a smile.
He looks over my shoulder as he slowly takes up his defensive position again, his eyebrows furrowing. I brace myself for Nathan's or Sigma's voice to echo through the large space, but I hear nothing, not even the sound of approaching footsteps.
I turn my head to look over my shoulder, seeing nothing.
"Why did you—?" My words are cut off as Nox's fist connects with my jaw, sending me backwards and down onto the ground. I mutter a curse under my breath and press a hand to the throbbing flesh, glaring at him as my eyes water from the sudden pain.
Nox strides over to me, stooping down slightly as he holds a hand out for me to take, a smirk playing on his lips. "Lesson number one," he says, "never let your guard down."
Without a thought, I kick his legs out from under him, watching with satisfaction as he drops to the ground with an inelegant grunt. He groans as he rolls onto his side, clutching at his back as if that will ease the pain.
When Nox sits up, I expect him to glare at me or reprimand me for my actions, but he smiles his usual half-grin and rises from the floor. "Striking first is good in some cases," he says, "as your enemy won't wait for you to make the first move. You have to catch them off guard, always."
"Great." I clap my hands together once as I rise from the ground as well. "Thanks for today. I never thought I would learn something from this."
As I turn to leave, I hear Nox's voice one more time. "Where do you think you're going?"
I turn around, indicating towards the door like that would be a good enough answer. Clearly, by the look on his face, it's not. "I was going to—"
"Leave?" he interjects. "Do you think you're done?" Nox raises his eyebrows before beckoning me forward, taking up his stance again. "Let's go again."