Chapter Fourteen

The task that I've been set to practice is moving through the air as easily as I fight on the ground. Before today, that has been by fighting against Cain since he is the only one that can do it too, although I do think that anyone who has an air gift should, in theory, be able to do it.

At least, I think they should.

"Okay, we're mixing it up a bit today," Cain surprises me by saying.

"Okay," I reply cautiously. I was always wary when Cain would deviate from the plan it usually meant that I was going to get one hell of a curveball thrown at me.

"Don't sound so scared," Cain replies with a smile that has a distinctive edge to it that makes me even more wary.

I raise my eyebrow and give him a challenging look, "Oh, so I shouldn't be worried about what you're about to throw at me?"

He chuckles, "No, you should definitely be worried."

I throw my hands up in the air dramatically, "I knew it, alright old man, what exactly are we doing today."

"Well, you're going to be in the air, where you thought that you would be, but instead of fighting against me, you're going to be dodging, shielding, and fighting back with magic. I'm going to fire some energy balls at you, and at first all I want you to do is dodge them. Once you've got the hang of that, I want you to send them back to me, and then we'll work on you firing your own, and then we'll put it all together."

"Well, er, that doesn't sound terrifying at all," I comment and then take a deep breath as excitement rushes through me, "Right, let"s do this."

Cain smiles proudly at me, "Well done, up in the air then."

I do as he says, finding my balance quickly, and then when his grin widens, I ask, "What?"

"Once you've got a good handle on it, I'm going to get you to practice fighting against several opponents at once and see how you do," Cain throws yet another curveball at me.

"I assume that you're going to use the others to do this?"

"Yep, although I'm not sure how your Bonded will take that," Cain replies and then shrugs, "we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Without any more notice, he throws a fireball at me and I feel the heat of it on my cheek as I barely manage to move out of the way in time; I'm almost sure that I can smell burnt hair, but before I can even yell at him for it or think about what supe he could be since he has the gift of fire, another ball of magic is shot at me, this time made of water.

I didn't have time to right myself completely after the last attack and my distraction that I could smell hair, so this blast of water shoots me straight in the stomach with enough force that it has me tumbling through the air, but fortunately not enough force to really hurt me or do any serious damage. I've learned my lesson and I move out of the way before I've even fully orientated myself and just hope that I'm not in the way of the next blast because, knowing my luck, I would move directly in the path of it instead of away from it.

Thankfully, I do miss the blast of air, which is yet another gift that he shouldn't have since two is supposed to be the maximum. I'm starting to think that there is so much more to Cain than I ever imagined even after I found out that he was actually a supernatural when I thought that he was a human for all of my life.

For the next couple of hours, that's my existence, having blasts of magic shot at me, as I try to move out of the way. My movements are clumsy and honestly if I were against a real opponent I would've been dead by now. It"s frustrating me, but at the same time, I can acknowledge that it is the first time that I'm training by having magic thrown at me while in the air and that I'm not going to be perfect at it straight away no matter how much I want to be.

"Alright, that's enough. It"s getting late, and you kids need some sleep," Cain shouts up to me, and not a moment too soon, because I'm honestly starting to shake with the effort of keeping myself up here.

It's damn hard work.

"I'm exhausted," I say as I land heavily on the floor.

Cain looks at me worriedly, "You should have said that you were getting this exhausted; we would've stopped."

I smile, "Thanks, Cain, but they wouldn't stop because I'm tired in battle so I don't want to stop when I'm tired now. Besides, I could do with upping my stamina for this anyway."

Cain nods, "Yes, you"re right. I suggest that you go and get as much rest as possible, you are going to be sore tomorrow."

I groan. "Oh shit yeah, I forgot about tomorrow."

"You did really well," Cain adds.

"You looked really good up there," Jax says as they all gather around us, all of them sweating and out of breath. I'm not the only one who is pushing myself hard.

I burst out laughing at Jax's compliment, "Thanks, but no, I didn't. I looked like a flailing mess who had no idea what I was doing, mostly because I didn't."

My words make everyone smile or laugh, and Jax pulls me under his arm and kisses my forehead.

"You'll get there. Today was only the first day, and you picked up hand-to-hand combat in mid air really quickly. I have no doubt that you'll do the same with this, you just need a bit more practice, that's all." Cain adds, making me feel so much better because honestly, I did feel like I failed at it, and I don't particularly appreciate feeling like I failed, although I don't think anyone does really.

"Thanks, Cain," I reply.

"No problem. Before you all head up to bed, I wanted to ask how you were getting on with that book about Warrior Marks that I gave you and if you had any questions. I thought you would have asked me something by now."

I wince, and so do Erin and Cole.

"I'm not telling him," Cole blurts out, which, of course, immediately lets Cain know that there is actually something to tell him.

"Well, done," Erin says, rolling her eyes and making them sound like bickering siblings.

Cain's eyebrow rises as he asks, "What happened to the very rare and expensive old book that I left in your care?"

Since the other two don't seem to be willing to say anything any time soon and are both staring at their feet, I guess that it is down to me to own up. We managed to get away with avoiding the subject for this long, so I guess we should be grateful for that much.

"We looked after it, I swear we did. I know exactly where we put it, but when we went back to look through it, it had disappeared. There's no way that someone could have gotten in my room and taken it, and I know exactly where it was, it"s like it just got up and walked away. I know that sounds crazy, and we're really sorry."

To my utter shock and the shock of Cole and Erin, who suddenly look up from their feet, Cain bursts out laughing.

"Shit, you had me worried then. I thought you'd sold it or something," Cain says once he"s finished laughing, "the book does that every now and then, it just disappears; it will show back up when it deems that it's necessary."

I sigh as my lips twitch, "You don't think that you should've told us that when you gave us the book?"

Cain's eyebrow rises again, "You don't think that you should've told me as soon as you lost the book?"

"Oh, touche," Kai says gleefully.

I can"t help it, I smile, and reply, "Yeah, okay you may make a fair point."

"Well, now that's cleared up, we really do need to head up to bed." Levi interrupts.

"Give me a second to get the shield up, I'm exhausted and I've used a lot of magic in this training session," Erin states.

"You can pull a small amount from your Bonded to help," Cain says, "if you take a small amount from each of them none of them will even notice."

"Is that okay with you guys?" Erin asks her men.

All of them roll their eyes as they reply that, of course, it's okay. I don't miss that they also surround her. They're worried about how far she pushed herself today and how that's affecting her magic.

With the help of her men, she soon has the shield up around us all, and we say a quick goodbye as we make it up to the room as quickly as possible so that we're not putting any unnecessary strain on her. With the way that everyone is pushing themselves I think it's a damn good job that we're only training with Cain every other day instead of every day. We're training even harder than we usually would and I can"t speak for the others, but for me especially, it's because I have this feeling that something big is coming our way, and soon.

I know that we're going to have a hand in taking down the Order of Kronos once and for all, but that's a marathon, that's not going to happen soon; I feel like there are things that have to be moved into place before that's possible and that will take time.

As usual, I don't know how I know that. It"s just one of those things that I know.

∞∞∞

"Do you think they'll ever send a teacher in here?" Erin asks as we once again sit in the empty classroom.

I shake my head, "I kind of hope that they don't, if I'm honest. Since they have gradually gotten worse, I imagine that everything that came out of their mouths would piss us off greatly, and one of us, most likely me, would snap and end up proving them right."

Cole smirks, "Yeah, actually, you're right. Besides, we're learning a lot more by going through Asher's books anyway."

"Exactly," I reply, "speaking of books, when are we heading back to the library to go through the artefacts?"

"This evening might be a good idea," Erin replies, "it will be quiet, and because we're helping it, in theory, the library should let us in without too much fuss even though it will be after hours when it's usually shut."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. We'll have to get Harry to see if Dean, Maria, and Yates are free and if they want to come to," I suggest.

"They'll definitely want to come. I actually think that we should start inviting them to spend more time with us anyway. I know that they don't feel comfortable around everyone else at the moment," Cole suggests and then adds, "You know, when we're not doing something that would put them in immense danger or that they shouldn't know about."

I nod, and smile, "Yeah, I like that idea. I like them too; they're easy to hang out with, and they've already helped us loads."

Erin nods, "Yeah, that sounds good to me."

The door to the classroom opens and I'm on my feet within seconds, readying myself for whatever is about to come through even though it"s most likely just a teacher. I am always on edge at the moment.

"What are you guys doing in here?" I exclaim as my men walk through the door, quickly followed by Erin's and Cole's.

"We were kicked out of our classes," Kyle explains as he gathers Erin in his arms and kisses her thoroughly.

"What, why?" Cole asks, as he greets his men.

"We actually weren't given a reason, we were just told to leave and come to this classroom where someone would teach us more appropriate things," Levi replies, rolling his eyes before he kisses me.

"So, nothing then?" I joke, even though it's not really funny.

"I have to admit that I was surprised that you were still in your classes and they weren't giving you any shit," Cole says.

"Yeah, they must have gotten fed up with not preaching about the Order to us in our classes," Kai adds, as he perches his ass on the desk, "so what are we talking about?"

We quickly fill them in on what we were saying about Maria and the others and the plan for tonight, which they quickly agree to.

"Yeah, that sounds great," Harry agrees and then smiles, "I know for a fact that they will want to come and help."

"Good, we've only got an hour or so left before we can leave since classes will be over," Cole says, as he looks up at the clock at the front of the room, he frowns, "why would they leave it until almost the end of the day before they told you that you can't be in classes anymore and that you needed to come here."

I frown as his words sink in, "He's right, it would've made more sense to tell you in your first lesson, or even wait until the end of the day and your last lesson to tell you not to bother going to normal lessons tomorrow, the timing is really strange."

"Yeah, actually, now that you mention it, it is really odd, and makes me wonder why? They must have something planned, but I don't know what or why us missing the last hour would make a difference." Maverick replies.

"I'm sure we will find out sooner rather than later what they're up to," Jett points out.

"That's true, we're already on our guard, so nothing should surprise us. Although that might be famous last words." Kai says starting positively and then ending up with a frown.

"In other words, we all need to stay aware of our surroundings and stick together as well," Jax translates.

"Yes, that," Kai replies, smiling gratefully at Jax.

The conversation stays light until it's time for us to head out. I don't know what I expected when we exited the room, but I sort of imagined that there would be something different since the circumstances of the guy"s arrival were odd, but everything looks exactly as it should be. Students moving through the halls, all of them studiously ignoring us. That is until we hear a familiar calling after us.

"Guys!" Maria yells as she, Dean, and Yates push through the crowd, who are now eyeing them like they're crazy to be talking to us.

"Hey," I smile, "we were going to try and find you."

She looks surprised as she replies, "You were?"

"Yeah," I reply, but before I can say anything else, I realise that we're not only being watched closely but we're being listened to as well. "Actually, why don't you guys come up to our floor with us? Have some dinner too?"

"Yeah, we'd love that," Maria replies after a quick shared look with the guys.

"Okay, why don't we go and get some food while you fill Maria and the others in?" Hunter suggests.

"I'll come with you too so that I can get ours. Maria and Yates can fill me in later," Dean offers.

"Sounds good, man, let"s go," Kai replies.

Everyone except Maria, Erin, and Yates goes with the guys to help get food since we're doing strength in numbers, especially when we're around the other students and large groups of teachers, and the teachers all eat in the dining hall.

We stay silent as we head up to the room, but as soon as we're in our hallway, where I know that we're alone, and so is Maria, she starts bouncing impatiently.

"So, what"s up?" she asks.

I grin, "We were just wondering if you guys would like to go to the library with us later to carry on looking through the artefacts?"

"Don't worry if you don't want to. We know that it will be really tedious, and we won"t take offense if you just want to chill out in your rooms or something," Erin adds as she moves into the kitchen area of the vast space in my front room and starts making drinks.

Maria grins, "That sounds good, and surprisingly, I didn't get as bored as I thought I might've going through them. Some of the stories are surprisingly interesting."

"Right?" I ask, "I was transfixed, I even wrote notes on the ones that I wanted to research more."

"Me too," Maria agrees with a smile.

"How are we going to do it without raising any suspicions of anyone who is in there?" Yates asks curiously.

"We don't have a solid plan for that, more of a hope that because the library wants the object found and taken out as much as we do that it will let us in after hours and only us; that way, we will have it to ourselves." I explain.

Yates smiles and nods, "Yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't work, I'm happy to come along."

"That's great, thanks guys," I reply.

The conversation flows easily until the others get back with all the food, and then a hush falls over the room as everyone tucks in.

I do love the food that they make here, it's delicious.

When everyone has mostly finished eating, conversation starts to pick back up again. We've only got an hour or so until the library officially shuts to everyone, so hopefully we can get in soon.