I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth as I finished another lap around the large gymnasium in the basement of the Italian coven house. Since I was in total lockdown and unable to leave the grounds without Marcus or Avalon, I was confined to running indoors. And I hated it. There was no game in running in circles.
"You know, Jenny, if you get bored, you can always come join us for a little brawl," Adrian's voice came from off to my left and I turned my head to see him and my brother squaring off in the middle of the open space to practice James's skills for his next assessment. "It's a lot more fun."
I pulled my headphones off to give him a look as I put my hands on my hips and heaved fresh air into my lungs. The world seemed so less happy without the peppy music in my ears. "Not my thing," I answered, slightly out of breath.
"She's already run three miles and she still won't give it up for a sparring match," James said, shaking his head. "That's my baby sister for you."
Adrian grinned at him before looking at me again. He wiped a lock of white-blonde hair off his damp forehead. "Nah, she'll give it up eventually. Mark my words."
I scowled at the implication, which was lost on James. "Not funny, AJ," I shot back. "I'm not a warrior. That's what you Mezdor men are for," I added.
"What are Mezdor men for?" came the sound of Luce's voice from behind me and I turned to look at him, feeling like I'd been rescued. It wouldn't have taken long before my brother tried to push me into a match. I didn't know the first thing about hand-to-hand combat; I only knew the basics of self-defense for the purposes of protecting myself and that was it... And even then, I had to seriously think about it to remember every move Marc had taught me.
Magic was supposed to be my protection now.
"Kicking ass and taking names," Adrian responded loudly and I rolled my eyes discreetly so only Luce would notice.
Luce chuckled, winking at me. "Jenny's not like our mother, AJ. She shouldn't be expected to knock you out with a roundhouse kick and then spar off with Grandfather for a real workout," he admonished. "And as a human, no less."
AJ shook his head and ducked James's next punch. "Only for a couple more years. You've already got the witch part down, Jen. Besides, after the other night, I'd think you'd wanna take a crack at this."
I crossed my arms over my chest and bit down on my bottom lip. I still wasn't ready to talk about it any more than I already had. The very thought of it made my skin crawl knowing that I had the paralysis curse still within my chi. If Avalon knew, he'd be upset with me and kill Adrian.
"I will," Luce said as he stepped forward to take the heat off of me. He didn't say anything about James and I turning, and I was thankful. That wasn't a topic I wanted them to fight over tonight now that they were back on civil terms.
James huffed a breath and backed out of the fighting space to let Luce in as the new challenger. He came to stand beside me, bumping his shoulder into mine lightly. "You might actually like it, you know. It's a lot of strategy and psychology," he said softly.
I glanced up at him and then flipped off my music player in my pocket. "Don't start," I replied just as quietly. "I'm not like you. I never have been."
"I know," James said, frowning at me. "I don't want you to think I expect you to be like me. But I don't expect you to be Mom, either."
My breath caught in my throat and my heart hurt suddenly.
"You don't have to be a witch because she was, is what I'm saying," my brother clarified. "If that's not what you want, then don't let these two make you think that's who you should be."
"Can we not do this here?" I whispered, unable to look at him.
James was very protective of me, and always had been. When I first began to show my affections for Luce, he wasn't thrilled about the idea. Luce was too different, too strange for a simple girl from Raleigh. The fact that I could read thoughts, see memories, and could once access another plane of existence didn't seem to put his baby sister in the same category as Luce's half-demon heritage.
And that had bothered me for a long time. In my book, I was no different than Luce. I had always considered myself an outsider and a bit of a freak. There was a reason Avalon had helped me lock down a lot of my early gifts when I first began to use magic.
"I just mean that you don't—"
"Okay, my turn," I called, cutting my brother off. I pulled my music player free and handed it off to my brother with my headphones, not bothering to look him in the eye as I did so. "I'll give it a try."
AJ and Luce paused from their match and they both grinned.
I stepped up and into the chalk outline of the ring. I quickly unzipped my runner's jacket and tossed it behind me, leaving me in my leggings and sports top.
Adrian shot Luce a glance to see if he was going to bow out. "I've got this one," he said confidently, as if that would make his adopted baby brother give up. "I've been working out with Mum for a lot longer than you."
"Doesn't make you better, just cocky," Luce shot back with a grin. "I'll take her through the basics."
Adrian's eyebrows furrowed and he looked over at me.
I knew that expression: Choose.
"Coach me, Luce," I said calmly without breaking eye contact with Adrian. This was my payback for his dirty insinuation earlier. Besides, Luce was a better teacher and had a higher level of patience.
AJ rolled his eyes dramatically and stepped back to leave me with Luce.
Luce grinned and beckoned me forward to come join him. "What do you want to learn first?" he asked.
I shrugged as I made easy fists with my hands and held them in front of my chest like I had seen them do. "How about you show me how to do that cool take-down move with the trip-and-flip?"
"Do you know how to flip someone twice your size over you?" James called with a laugh. "He's a lot heavier than he looks!"
"It's not about strength," Luce said calmly. "It's about speed and catching the other person off-guard and off-balance. Jenny, try to punch me."
I frowned, and then nodded. I threw my right fist forward towards him and Luce had a hold of my wrist and my upper arm before I could make contact. His foot flashed forward to catch my ankle and I fell forward. With an easy pull, he sent my feet over my head to hit the floor as my body flipped over. I squealed out of shock and enjoyment. The moment my body stilled and I was hanging from his grip inches above the floor, I started laughing.
"See? Speed, not strength," Luce said, winking down at me.
"That was crazy," I said, grinning. "So, how do I do it?"
Luce laughed and pulled me up to my feet with one arm. Once I was standing up, he let go and turned to look at my brother. "Let's have you try it on James before you try it on AJ."
James smirked and moved forward to come join us. He dropped my mp3 player on top of my jacket. He moved around to the opposite side of Luce so he was facing me.
"Let's go through it in slow motion first. James, go for the punch," Luce instructed and my brother did as he was told. "Now, Jenny, when his fist comes towards you, you're gonna want to use both hands. Use your dominant hand on his wrist and your opposite on the muscle there above his elbow."
I nodded, grabbing James's wrist and then his bicep.
"Good," Luce said, moving to my right so he could watch. "When someone punches at you, they're most likely going to put all their weight down on the foot that corresponds to the punching arm. See how James has already instinctively moved his foot forward to put weight on it while he punches at you?"
My brother and I both nodded again.
"Before he can get that foot down, you want to be able to sweep your leg across and catch him at the ankle. When you do that, he'll start to fall forward. Once he does, pull as hard as you can to bring his head and torso down and then around. A good warrior will always try to land on their feet. When your kick is strong and you have good arm strength, you both will automatically have a moment of free falling for his body to flip while he tries to land on his feet and not his face. You have control of whether his feet hit the floor or his whole body does simultaneously," Luce explained.
"I don't think I have enough strength to pull him that hard to get him all the way around," I said slowly. James was several inches taller than me, and heavier. Trying to yank his body weight around wouldn't be easy.
"That's okay," Luce said calmly, sounding like his adoptive father. "It's about the speed, not the strength."
James looked over at me and raised his eyebrows. "You wanna try this or what?"
I nodded. "Sure, let's try."
Luce chuckled. "And James, I'll be here to spot your body so you don't break your neck. Marc would kill AJ and I both."
James's head bobbed in agreement and he pulled free from my grip to retreat a step. He looked at me and I nodded, ready. He took a deep breath and then threw his punch.
I grabbed at his wrist and then his bicep, my leg shot out in the same way I had seen Elizabeth do when she trained, and my ankle collided with James's. His body fell forward and I tried to use his momentum to flip him.
James wobbled in the air and he pulled his free hand out to reach for the ground, pulling both of us off balance. As he fell, I gripped harder and yanked. James crashed onto the padded floor on his side. A second later, his weight pulled on me and I went down.
I hit the mat on my side, lying across from him and we both started to laugh in our identical way. "Ouch!" I giggled. "Why'd you do that?"
James continued to laugh and shook his head. "Why did you not flip me like you were supposed to?"
"You're too heavy!" I laughed, rolling onto my back.
"Are you saying I'm fat?" my brother howled, going into a deep belly laugh like our dad used to.
Luce and AJ both stepped to stand over our bodies, looking down at us as we lay there shaking from uncontained laughter.
"Not bad for your first try," Luce chuckled.
Adrian smirked. "This is why you should practice with me more often," he said teasingly, his lavender eyes looking down at me. "You should get stronger now before you turn. Then your strength will only increase."
My laughter sobered and I began to shake my head. "Let me just learn the basics," I said, my voice a little more harsh than I had meant it to be.
James held his hand up to be helped back to his feet and Luce obliged. "She'll get there," he said as he was hauled to his feet. "She's all about cardio now. Maybe we can corrupt her into lifting weights and doing full-body workouts."
I shook my head and giggled again. "Nope, I'm a runner, not a lifter."
When I went to reach my hand up to ask Luce to pull me up as well, my vision seemed to go blurry as everything hazed out of focus. Above me, a swirling mist formed and floated above the boys' heads, and I could barely make out a face. I felt my body go tense when I realized what I was seeing.
The ghost slowly formed itself out of ether, staring down at me as if I were a great distance away at the bottom of some pool and it was on the surface. I felt like I was underwater looking up at it. A hand formed and reached downwards and I could feel my blood going cold as the chill of ozone and aerosolized ectoplasm sent an icy draft over me. The rest of the world hazed into grayscale and I was stuck frozen in time, watching the spirit slowly grow closer to me as its long arm and fingers reached for me.
"Jenny? Jenny, what are you doing?" came the sound of James's voice on the surface of some other dimension and I blinked.
Suddenly the world snapped back to color and warmth returned. I blinked a couple times, but the ghost was gone. I stared at that patch of the ceiling for several seconds, my eyes trying to refocus.
"Jen?" Luce asked and I shook myself back into reality. "You okay? What just happened?"
I nodded quickly, feeling my whole body fight the urge to shiver violently. I hadn't seen ghosts or spirits since I was a kid. I thought I had locked away that part of my powers, the powers that made me a medium for the dead, the undead, and the living.
"Yeah, sorry. I got a little dizzy for a second," I said quickly when the three men all stared down at me. I offered my hand again and Luce took it, pulling me up.
"You sure you're okay?" he asked again.
James and AJ both took me in with some skepticism. The three knew me well enough that they could tell when I was withholding information. I had good poker faces, but that didn't mean I could always keep them on without concentration.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said again. I brushed myself off even though there was no dirt to be found on me. It was a nervous tick. "Sorry. I think I'm just tired. I ran a lot of extra miles the last couple nights. I'll be fine," I added.
"Did you see something?" James asked, his voice wavering with discomfort. He knew that I was different, being a medium for both the normal and the supernatural. And since Avalon had helped me lock down that ability, he hadn't asked me about it. I think he secretly hoped the power to see phantoms was over.
"I don't know," I said, running my hand over my forehead to push my dark hair away from my face. "I think I'm gonna call it a night. I need a shower and post-workout snack."
"Want me to come with?" Luce asked, giving me his hesitant smile. "I can walk you back to your door at least."
"No, you guys hang out and have fun. I'm good," I responded quickly. I glanced at AJ, surprised he hadn't said anything yet. He was watching me closely and then his eyes flashed upwards towards the ceiling. His brow furrowed for a moment and then smoothed as he rolled a thought around in his brain. I could see the wheels turning. He wanted to know if and why I had seen something after years of being separated from that capability.
Seeing my gaze, Adrian dropped his expression and tipped his head slightly to the side. "Just wait 'til she has a little more experience under her belt. She'll be unstoppable."
I shook my head slightly. "Yeah, whatever. We'll see about that," I said, feeling lame about my rebuttal. That was how I had argued with James when I was six and seven. "I'm gonna go. See you guys later."
Luce frowned again, giving me a funny look for refusing his help.
It wasn't anything against him; I just needed a few minutes to be by myself and calm down. Internally, I was freaking out.