Hunted

know, a shiver. The way you described him…”

Annoyed, I reminded her, “Cold eyes? Mean? Hates us and humans? And he wants me dead.”

“Oh, I know, but you are…the Chosen One. You have the powers of the Kris Dagger and the entire Guardian army behind you. The archangels won’t win. Please, show me.”

“No.” I got up from her bed, too annoyed to stay. “I can’t even link with Bran to get my lost memories because I’m scared of messing up his energy. There’s no way I’m going to link with you.”

I didn’t hear from Kylie for days. Just as well. Our houseguests, six female SG instructors, monopolized my time at home. They were nice, if I looked past their need to share every story about Xenith and make me watch homemade clairvoyant movies. It was like dangling something I really wanted in front of me, but keeping it out of my reach. So many times I just wanted to say “enough”. But I couldn’t be rude.

The first time we met, I’d entered the kitchen to find them making breakfast. I took a step back, wanting to teleport back and disappear in my room until they were done, when the one standing by the stove had turned and smiled.

“Join us, Lil,” she’d said with a smile. “Unless you’d rather not.”

How could I refuse?

Watching the Guardian children frolic in the water and chase butterflies at a park in Xenith made me wonder what my childhood would have been like growing up there.

“Those little girls could easily have been me,” I told Bran when were alone after another long training session.

“Do you feel cheated?” Bran asked absentmindedly, his concentration on the pad he was sketching on.

“Hmm, no.” My childhood had been complicated. First living with Grandma’s circus tribe, then later moving from place to place with Grampa as he tried to keep the promise he gave my mother—keeping me safe from Valafar. My relationship with my grandfather was special because of the years we’d spent together. “I wouldn’t trade the years I spent with Grampa or my Gypsy relatives for anything.”

- 19 - THE TEAMS

Our training became mentally, physically, and psychically draining as the week progressed. Each power team took over a classroom, while the SGs used the pit. Evenings, we ate together. The Cardinal Guardians sat in one corner of the cafeteria with our regular/sector teams, while the SGs took over the rest of the tables. They outnumbered us five to one.

The first two days were a nightmare. The Psi team focused on telekinetically controlling suspended swords while wielding one or two with their hands. Lucky for me, Master Haziel and I had already started working on the routine. The others hadn’t. They grumbled and whined, and drove Mrs. D nuts.

I began to bond with a quiet guy with wavy brown hair and gray eyes. I didn’t even know his name, but he was determined to master the move and seemed the nicest. I’d hoped his niceness would rub off on the rest of the Psi team. It didn’t. Their attitude toward our team was like poison that seeped into everything they did.

On the third day, Master Haziel walked into the psi training room just as we were warming up with wooden staffs. He and Mrs. D spoke in low tones and kept glancing at us.

“Are you sure they are ready?” Mrs. D asked, her voice reaching us.

Master Haziel answered, so quietly that we could not hear, then left.

“Today, we are using the pit, Psi Cardinals,” Mrs. D announced. “Grab your preferred swords and let’s go.”

The other Psi Cardinals looked at me for answers. Considering how they’d treated me with distain the last two days, I gave them a blank stare.

There were eight in total. Two of them—a black girl with red-streaked hair and a guy with pitch-black hair —came from Esras’ team. The guy was either a full-blooded Nosferatu—or at least half, he was so pale. The other six were split evenly between Solaris and Lunaris’ sectors. One had all guys, a redhead and two obnoxious dweebs. The last group had the nice, quiet guy I liked and two girls—a bubbly girl with freckles and a Werenephil with yellow cat eyes. Mrs. D’s eyes only shifted when she was angry, so it was interesting to be so close to a pure Werenephil. The first time she caught me staring, she’d glared and hissed. I wondered what other unusual features she had. As for Mrs. D, after two days she was getting frazzled by the animosity in the room.

Ask him what’s going on. Someone telepathed me, without pinging first, which was totally rude. I recognized the voice as Onora’s, the girl with streaked hair. After two days, she was the only one I knew by name because the Nosferatu from her sector tended to defer to her.

Why can’t you ask him yourself? I shot back.

Because you are his favorite, she retorted.

Who cares what he thinks? one of the obnoxious guys said. He had pale blond hair and a perpetual sneer. He’s senile.

And bitter because he’ll never be a Cardinal like us, his curly-haired friend added. Trainers are expendable.

We should tell the CT he’s incompetent, the blond finished.

Cat-eyes and Freckles giggled. Onora’s Nosferatu partner and the other two guys caught my gaze and looked away. I was sure my fury was visible. Mrs. D, waiting by the door, shook her head in warning, but I was too pissed to care.

“You stupid, pretentious morons,” I said through clenched teeth.

They backed up.

“Lil,” Mrs. D called out warningly.

“Master Haziel is not senile, bitter, or incompetent,” I continued. “He is wise,” I pressed a finger for emphasis, “he’s strong, and he’s a saint for putting up with all of you. He’s trained more powerful Guardians than you’ll ever be, and he takes pride in all the Cardinals’ accomplishments.”

Mrs. D clapped to get our attention. “Cardinals!”

“Powerful Guardians?” the curly-haired guy whispered, but I heard him. “Think she’s talking about herself?”

“Must be,” his blond buddy answered. “No modesty whatsoever.”

I wanted to zap them both. “I’m not talking about me, you idiot. I meant the Senior Cardinals.”

“Lil,” Mrs. D called out again. She sounded pissed and closer.

“Listen to your Psi teacher, Lil,” Onora mocked.

“Why don’t you try listening, Onora? Maybe you might learn to lift multiple swords without whining. We could be attacked any moment while you play stupid mind games.”

“I hope we are,” the blond said. “Then we’ll see how ridiculous the trainers’ ideas are.”

“What does he know about fighting demons anyway?” Onora said with a sneer. “He’s never faced one, and if he did, he’d probably hide behind us—”

My hand shot up toward her, my reaction so instinctive I didn’t stop to think of the consequences. I sent her flying across the room. Lucky for her, the foam blocks and mats were piled against the back wall and cushioned her fall.

“Lil Falcon!” Mrs. D snapped as she appeared beside Onora.

Onora refused Mrs. D’s help and scampered to her feet. “You saw that. She,” she jabbed her finger in my direction, “used her powers against me. It is against the rules—”

“To disrespect your trainers, Cardinal Onora,” Mrs. D finished. “That alone is enough to put you on probation.”

“Probation? Since when?” Onora retorted.

“Since now,” Mrs. D snapped.

“I’m a Cardinal Guardian. You can’t order me around.”

“You have a perfectly capable, younger Cardinal Psi in your team.” She waved toward the Nosferatu boy.