"Everything okay?"
"Kalen didn't have anyone telling him not to say stupid things this morning," I told Jenna and stomped upstairs.
I was furious. Not only had I been clueless, and in real danger last night, but Kalen had never intended on enlightening me. What sort of person puts their friend in a dangerous situation and keeps them in the dark? Indefinitely in the dark by the sounds of it too. God, I was so mad! I had felt so useless and vulnerable last night; so completely out of my depth. It had terrified me. And, Kalen had known. I felt something shift irrevocably inside me. Not a physical movement, but it was like a spotlight had switched on in my brain and was shining on my relationship with Kalen, illuminating him in a completely different way.
Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I screwed my hands into fists and pushed them into the duvet underneath me. When same blinding pain from the night before started pounding behind my eyes, I raised my hands to my temples. I pushed against the side of my head with the heel of my hands. Tearing my eyes open, I glanced quickly around the room; there was nothing there to help me and everything was too bright, too clear. In one look, I could see the grain of the wood on my bedside table, the weave of my linen curtains and even the spiderweb ridges running through the skin on the side of my hands. Closing my eyes, I let out a loud groan.
Jenna came running into my room, "What's the matter?"
"My head," I whimpered through clenched teeth. Jenna sat on the bed next to me and started stroking my hair. I leant into her and she pulled my head into her lap, smoothing my hair slowly with her palm. Gradually, I felt myself growing calmer and the pain behind my eyes ebbed away. I opened them and looked around the room again. My vision had returned to its normal clarity. I looked at Jenna. "Better?" she asked quietly.
"Yes. Thank you," I croaked.
"You haven't had one of those in years," she said. I raised my eyebrow. "You don't remember? You got them when you were only a little girl, you'd shout about your eyes hurting and the only way to calm you down was to stroke your hair. The doctors told your mum it was anxiety related."
"I don't remember. How old was I?"
"Oh, only young, maybe 3 or 4? A long time ago now. What's kicked them off again?"
I shrugged and sat up. "Last night I think. At least, I had one last night when I got out of the club." I shuddered, remembering how white Gabriel's eyes had looked against his dark skin.
"And just now, after fighting with Kalen?"
"You heard that?" I asked quickly.
"Not really, at least I didn't hear what you guys said, I could just tell you were angry." I nodded in response. "Give it time Anastasia. Things are always muddy when you fight with your friends."
"I'm just so mad at him."
"That why you want to go to Wepre today?".
"Yeah, I just... I need to clear my head."
"Taking any of your sticks?" she asked with a smile. I looked over at my wooden, jujitsu training weapons thoughtfully and then nodded. It might be good to thrash them around in the open air. Jenna told me to pack them up in a bag if I was going to be getting the bus back, and then she left me to get changed.
I swapped my jogging bottoms for black gym leggings and put on a sports bra and training top. After snapping a bobble onto my wrist, I packed up the training weapons and pulled on my zipped hoodie, pausing briefly to slip my phone into the bag pocket. The wooden weapons clanked together in their bag as I walked down the stairs and dropped them on the hall floor. I wrestled two bottles of water and my purse into the bag, then pulled my converse out of the under-stairs cupboard. Laces tied, I carried the bag to the car and dumped them unceremoniously in the boot.
Aunt Jenna made good progress in the late-morning Saturday traffic; it only took twenty five minutes to get to Wepre Woods. "You'll call if you need me?" she asked.
I waved my phone at her. "That's the only reason I've brought it."
"Good. You've got enough money for the bus later?"
"Yes, I did think to bring my phone and purse," I sighed dramatically but with a hint of a smile.
"Right, get out of my car."
I laughed and climbed out, collecting my large bag from the boot and tapping on the closed lid to signal I was done. Jenna pulled away so I followed the path out of the car park, past the visitor's centre and along the stream, ignoring the curious looks that followed me and my weapons bag as I walked. Popping in my earbuds, I turned on some music and felt myself falling into a steady pace as the path wove through the trees.
Eventually, I came to the bridge that crossed the main stream and took one of the bottles of water from my bag. I removed an earbud and swigged some of the cool water, while I rested on my elbows against the barrier of the wooden bridge. A noise to my right took me by surprise and I turned to see a young couple emerge from behind a bush. They blushed when they saw me and walked quickly past while looking intently at the floor. Once they were a little further away, I heard the girl giggle.
After fighting the bottle back into my bag and replacing my earbud, I walked over to the bush that the couple had emerged from. Sure enough, there was a trail behind, so I followed it. The trail was very thin, probably made by animals going for drinks at the stream, and it wove through the trees in a strange pattern. Unable to keep my curiosity in check, I followed the trail further into the woods. A while later, the ground beneath the trail started to get steep and the trees became denser until I was really having to push through thick bushes to keep on the track. Finally, I shoved myself through a gap where two particularly leafy bushes met and fell onto the floor of a clearing.
When I looked up, I was greeted with a remarkably pretty scene. Lush, green grass spread out ahead of me, broken up by the occasional clump of wildflowers. As the sun shone between the branches of trees that stretched overhead, dappled sunshine hit the clearing floor and lit up the reds and purples of the wildflower petals. All around the edge of the clearing, there were thick, leafy bushes like the ones I'd pushed through. It made for quite the picturesque hiding place - or training area.
I swivelled round into a seated position and drank more water while I decided what type of 'sticks' I wanted to wave around. After a little deliberation, I pulled a matching pair of tonfa out of my bag. The main part of these wooden weapons looked like thin juggling batons in shape, but at the thickest section there were handles that came out at a 90 degree angle. When I grasped the handle in my fists the long part of the weapon lay along my forearms, jutting out in front of my hands and behind my elbows. I put the weapons back down and ran through a quick warm-up followed by stretches and then I was ready to play.
Once I'd changed the music on my ipod to something with a slower tempo, I stood holding the tofa with my arms by my side. Taking a lunging step forwards, I raised my fists in front of my face, causing the ends of the tonfa to cross into a defensive 'X' shape. I breathed in slowly, moved my arms up and out as I stepped, and then tucked my elbows into my waist, fists facing forwards. Moving swiftly, I stepped once more and shot both fists out as if punching the short ends of the tonfa into an invisible opponent's chest. I twisted my body to the left, lifting my forearm and using the long end of the tonfa to defend against an imaginary swing from above. I carried on moving to the left, following through with my right arm in an offensive punch and then a high side kick to the second imaginary opponent's face.
Starting towards a third opponent, I thrust with a left punch, followed by and right and then dropped down before springing up and bringing the ends of the tonfa up into an arch that trapped his head, smashing into his temples. At the same time that the tonfa reached the apex of the arch, I whipped my knee high and my foot forward in a snap kick to the groin. I flowed through another few movements in form training, keeping the tonfa steady and controlled, flipping them back and forth to utilise both the long and short ends in offensive and defensive strikes. Then, I sat down on the grass, panting.
Reaching for my water, I took a grateful swig, enjoying how cool it felt as it ran down my throat. Once I'd taken my earbuds out, I put my ipod into my bag and then lay down on the grass next to my tonfa, breathing deeply. I looked at the beautiful forest around me; it was so peaceful here.
My mind drifted to the events of the previous night and I shuddered. I thought about Kalen, trying to see his point of view, but it just made me mad all over again. Jenna had always taught me it was important to try and understand the other person's feelings when you argue but, no matter how hard I tried to empathise with Kalen, I didn't understand how he could keep something so important a secret from me. I guess I wouldn't have believed him without proof - I would have laughed at him if he'd told me out of the blue. But to actually take me into a club owned (I assume) by an Unseelie, when I knew nothing about any of it was just dangerous. If it hadn't been for Broch and the others last night...
The more I thought about it, the more reasonable I thought my feelings were. I was right to be outraged and angry at him... but I was also right to be hurt. I thought we knew almost everything about each other. For the longest time I thought I might have loved him. However, the person I thought he was is simply a figment of my imagination. The funny, mischievous, human guy that teased me mercilessly, but would always keep me safe, was all made up in my head. He wasn't human. I didn't even know what he was. Tears fell unbidden from the corner of my eyes and wiped them away angrily.
I tried to stop thinking about everything and instead started listening to the sounds of the forest. The slight wind was rustling the leaves and I could hear birds chirping in the trees. Closing my eyes, I tried to listen more carefully to my idyllic surroundings. In my head, I imagined what the birds would look like and, as I felt the sun shining warmly on my face, the previous late night caught up to me and I slipped into a light sleep.
After about twenty minutes, I felt myself waking back up again. Uncertain of what had woken me, I sat up and looked around for hints in the clearing but nothing had changed. Eventually, I noticed that all the birds were quiet. I strained my ears and thought I could hear footfall outside the clearing, so stayed very still to minimise the amount of noise I was making.
When a rustle came from one of the bushes, I rolled onto my knees, then feet, picking up my tonfa as I stood.