Lottie was as taut as a kendo sword, constantly side-eyeing Sayuri, but every time she looked at her, Sayuri’s gaze was serene, impenetrable.
This was the longest time they’d been in a room together since the museum, and it was painfully awkward. Had she told anyone? What would Lottie do if she had?
It made it impossible to entirely concentrate on the match in front of her. She just had to hope they could trust her, and besides, there was something much more important she needed to fix.
They had to stop whatever Leviathan were planning, and they had to find out who this terrible Goat Man was, but they couldn’t do anything until they started working together. Looking at the scene unfolding in front of her, it seemed she had some serious work to do.
Lottie was not going to pretend she knew anything about kendo. From what she’d picked up it was mostly about discipline, but from the moment they stepped in the dojo Lottie sensed the same fiery tension that had been present when she’d found Ellie training. It was not the calm, focused energy she’d been told to expect, and it was obvious to everyone who it was coming from.
The atmosphere was a rubber band stretching and stretching, threatening to snap at any moment.
“Yappari.” Miko caught Lottie’s attention. She was watching Ellie and Jamie intently, all the while chewing the corner of one of her decora nails. “She’s stuck inside her own head.”
A loud whack echoed through the hall from Jamie blocking Ellie’s strike, the move so fast it was barely visible. Before Lottie could even register what happened, Jamie’s feet glided him into a counter position like some kind of fantastical box step, where he whacked Ellie’s mask directly on the side. The second the hit took, he threw his bamboo sword above his head and stepped backward out of her reach.
“Whoa!” Rio’s mouth was agape. “He’s amazing.”
“Your Partizan is very impressive,” Wei affirmed, genuine interest sparking in his eyes.
Lottie still didn’t understand, but it was plain that she’d witnessed something remarkable, and it only made the tension increase.
The two fighters got back into position, and Lottie thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, because Ellie’s bamboo sword was shaking.
Once more they were centered, once more the bamboo snapped together, and once more Jamie got the winning hit. This time it was different, a little more spectacular, his footwork intricately spinning him, flipping Ellie’s shinai, striking her chest and moving effortlessly behind her, swift and easy like a shadow moving with the sun.
Time looped, endlessly repeating bursts of combat, with Jamie coming out victorious again and again. Lottie could see Ellie panting, the suit rising and falling. Centered again, with everyone on the edge of their seats ready for the final round, something changed—the split-second flash of Ellie’s weapon was met with a different sound, a more robust pounding as the two bamboo swords struck each other. Ellie darted with such speed that it seemed she might be about to land a hit. The breath caught in Lottie’s throat, milliseconds stretching out into an eternity. She was going to do it!
Silence spread through the dojo, and it was just when it seemed a universal truth that it crumbled in front of them. The moment burst, as Jamie did what he did best, and won.
He was a looming darkness, unbeatably quick and deadly. The final hit was on Ellie’s left glove, barely even a tap, yet the confidence in the strike was finite, his shinai rising above his head again, marching backward, the shadow receding.
Thundering, awestruck applause echoed around them, but Lottie couldn’t partake. Something was wrong. Miko felt it too. Ellie was practically vibrating, static sparking around her.
“No!” Ellie screamed, pulling off her helmet and throwing it to the floor, where it landed with a loud whack.
A collective gasp sucked the air out of the room, the applause drying up to be replaced by a bitter taste at Ellie’s actions. Sayuri and Haru rose to their feet, yet even they were hesitant, having never seen such a shocking display in their school.
“I can’t!” Ellie’s voice was that of a whimpering child, face contorted with sweat and despair, black hair sticking to her face. Her huge dark eyes darted frantically around the room, glazed over, her breath raspy and labored. She backed away, trembling. Ellie let out a feral cry and pulled off the rest of her armor, while Jamie stood still.
Frozen by the display, Lottie heard Sayuri’s words echo in her head. “You and your princess still have your Partizan, and he’s a very good one . . .”
Lottie couldn’t let their bond be destroyed permanently. She had to do something.
Saskia ran up and tried to offer a word of comfort, but it was entirely the wrong thing to do. “Ellie, you’ve got to calm down; it’s only—”
Ellie growled. “Get away from me!”
She made to shove Saskia away, but Saskia blocked the move lightly with her forearm, causing Ellie to tumble into the wall, smacking her shoulder. The shock of the impact seemed to cause a crack in her mind, clarity coming back into her eyes. She suddenly registered what she was doing and how many people were watching.
“Ellie, I didn’t mean to—”
Ellie cut Saskia off with a snarl, but this time the sound was weak. She turned to her spectators.
Rubbing her shoulder, she kicked the helmet on the floor. Lottie tried to reach her, but it was far too late. Ellie had stormed out of the dojo, abandoning her shoes, abandoning all of them.
“Ellie!” It was a pathetic, desperate call that floated in the broken atmosphere of the room.
The door slammed shut behind her princess, and Lottie felt deep inside that she’d failed her somewhere, that the rope connecting them was lying broken on the ground. But she wasn’t giving up. She shot a look at Jamie, a fiery determination building inside her, and she knew exactly what had to be done.
