Page 48

Keahi

I feel like an overeager teenager as I join Malia on the mat.

She’s standing in her all too familiar old fighting pose, tricking me into old habits.

I attack first, sending a tame burst of fire toward her. She ducks away, and when she straightens again, a grin is splitting her face. So beautiful.

She conjures water up and snaps a whip my way.

I block with a counterattack and her whip turns into a protective wall.

Once the protection is no longer needed the wall splashes over me with a noisy crash, causing a few of the adults to turn their heads.

I’m too busy absorbing a realization to care.

Malia’s water isn’t black anymore.

It’s not as clear as it used to be, but the blackish tint from a few weeks ago has turned into more of a teal color. The force of her water makes me stumble a few steps back and off the mat.

"One point for me," Malia tells me smugly.

I get back on and surprise her with a ball of fire, attacking her swiftly enough that she’s too slow to dodge.

To my surprise, it hits her right in the stomach, only to be absorbed by the fabric of my uniform she’s wearing. She coughs a few times before it turns into laughter.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She quickly nods, and we go on.

It takes some time, but I eventually manage to get a point and turn this into a tie.

On our third round, I don’t notice the whip of water around my ankle until it is too late.

My feet are pulled out from beneath me, and I fall onto my back.

I sigh and try to get up only to notice a weight keeping me down. I open my eyes to see Malia on top of me, straddling my chest with a wicked smile on her face. Again, there’s a dagger at my throat but only loosely this time.

"How many times are you going to put me into this position?" I ask her, my lips twitching into a smirk.

"How many times are you going to let me?" she retorts.

I take a breath to tease her, but without warning, the girl on top of me is blown away and hits the ground a few feet to my right.

She rolls the collision off and is quick to glare past me while I’m still trying to catch up, adrenalin pumping uncomfortably through my veins. I follow her gaze to a tall woman near the other guards, and it dims on me what just happened.

"What on earth?" I yell as I get to my feet.

The woman seems taken aback to be at the receiving end of my outrage.

She scans the faces around her for support.

"I looked over and saw her hurting you.

I thought she would kill you," she explains hesitantly.

"She wasn’t hurting me, we were training.

And why would she kill me? She is one of us!" I snap at her and all the other adults who are now staring at me.

All sounds in the training room go out like a snuffed candle.

"She is not one of us," a man nearby snarls.

"Funny how she is still the most useful person here.

She went to this school, just like you, and she is here now, preparing for a fight against the Dark Fraction, just like you.

Not only that, but she singlehandedly got the information that might give us a fighting chance. If anyone deserves to be here, it’s her. She’s one of us," I insist firmly. The man I direct my speech at averts his eyes, and everyone else remains quiet.

"Does anyone else have a problem with Malia?" I demand loudly.

No one speaks up.

Good for them.

"Can anyone here confidently say they know the new method?" I query next.

I’m not yelling anymore, even though I’d really like to keep it up.

A handful of people raise their hands.

"Good, you can help us with instructing the people tomorrow.

The rest of you need to keep training." I turn my back to them and head toward Malia. She’s on her feet again, leaning against a wall nearby, and heads out the door without a word once I’m close.

We walk through the academy in silence and exit the building the same way.

The sun has long since set, giving way to a beautiful night with the stars shining brightly.

Malia’s head tips back in her neck as she takes in the sky while my gaze stays on her. A nasty feeling has been gnawing at me ever since I made things tense between us this morning, growing worse with every second the distance between us remained. It had disappeared during our duel only to be back now at full force.

"Are you okay?" I ask for the second time this evening.

Without looking at me, she replies, "He wasn’t wrong, you know.

I’m sure you meant well, but I am not one of you."

"You’re not one of them," I argue.

I don’t need to elaborate who them is.

We both know I’m talking about the Dark Fraction. Malia looks at me with a small smile.

"I know that." I can feel my brows dip in the middle, but if she notices my frown, she doesn’t care enough to elaborate.

Soon enough, she seems to get lost in thought, and I drop it.

"You can have the bed," I say once we enter my house.

I’d obviously prefer to sleep next to her again, but I know she wouldn’t agree to that.

She still can’t stand me, same as I would if the roles were reversed. Malia scans the living room keenly before answering me.

"I don’t think we should sleep at the same time again," she says.

I gape a little.

"Why?"

"They probably know where I am and might come.

We should take turns to stay awake." She walks into the bathroom, looks around, and comes outside again.

It dims to me that she is looking for intruders.

"How would they know where you are?" The answer comes to me as soon as the question leaves my lips.

Kaz.

Malia searches the bedroom but doesn’t reply. "Do you think he is still alive?" I ask slowly.

"No," she replies without the shadow of a doubt.

I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about it, her haunted expression when we mentioned Kaz earlier today was enough to let me know.

She is hurting as well, even if she’d never admit it.

"I’ll take the first turn," I offer even though I’m exhausted.

"It’s fine, I don’t think I could sleep now anyway," she brushes me off.

I nod once before heading to the bedroom, falling asleep even before my face hits my pillow.

"Keahi, time to get up." Malia’s voice rips me from my slumber.

I open my eyes and realize the sun is already up.

"You didn’t wake me," I reproach.

"Yeah, I know."

"Did you fall asleep?" I ask but she shakes her head.

I frown in disapproval.

"You were awake all night?" She nods. "Why would you do that, we agreed to take turns. There’s a long day ahead of us." I sigh and get out of bed.

"Whatever, I’m not tired." The dark circles under her eyes suggest otherwise, but she’s already heading out of the room to let me change before I can make a remark.

"Do you want some?" I ask her as I’m making myself some toast a few minutes later.

"I already ate." There are no dishes in the sink, so I shoot her a suspicious look.

"What did you eat?"

"That is none of your damn business," she snaps.

No sleep and probably no food just seems to be the perfect combination for someone with a temper like Malia’s.

I don’t push her, seeing as I like my limbs uninjured and where they are, thank you very much, so the two of us head back to the academy in silence.

There’s a group of guards waiting for us, and we start explaining the method to them.

The people who managed to almost perfect it yesterday are helping us, so Malia and I each only have to teach the method to the people with our own element.

It’s a relief since I’m already failing at that, stuttering stupidly while my gaze insists on darting back to Malia every other second.

Her posture is stiff and guarded, but I can tell by the slouch of her shoulders that she’s barely hanging on.

In turn, my worry keeps me from focusing on my job.

Brilliant. Her self-destructive behavior is contagious. Once our students are set to train with each other, Malia and I sit together. She is leaning against a wall, looking exhausted while I feel terrible.

It’s not like I had a choice in the matter of not taking my turn or forced her to stay up all night.

She’s just so damn stubborn.

Look where that got her now. She looks dead on her feet when we’re supposed to be working.

"You can go home if you want.

We got this here," I tell her, but she shakes her head.

"I’m fine." Even her scowl is less convincing.

I nod and lean against the wall next to her to watch the guards.

Some of them seem to get the hang of it quickly, and I feel more enthusiastic about our fight.

If our guards actually kill the Shadow Handlers – and that is a big if – the kids will be fine.

If I can kill them. I can’t imagine ending someone else’s life, but as Malia said, there is no ideal solution. Besides, as horrible as it sounds, I’ve started seeing Shadow Handlers as monsters rather than people a long time ago.

Malia has killed someone before, but I realize we’ve never had the chance to talk about that incident.

Not that I think she would have confided in me, but I’d have liked to at least offer an open ear.

After all, there is so much I’d like to ask or talk to her about. They’re sensitive topics, like what exactly happened in the four years she spent with her parents, if she can remember her real childhood now, what being initiated means, or what type of missions she had to go on, and what kinds of orders she had to act out for her parents.

When I turn toward her to ask her just one of those things, she has her eyes closed and mouth slightly open.

I chuckle to myself.

She looks cute, something I really hadn’t thought I’d use to describe Malia ever again.

I’d like to lay her down in a bed or even carry her home, but I’m scared to wake her.

She is a deep sleeper, though.

She would most likely kill me if I carried her home, I know that. So, I leave her alone and keep watching the training adults.

Time passes and most people have already left by the time Malia wakes up.

Her eyes widen when she realizes she fell asleep, and I can’t help but laugh.

"How did it go?" she grumbles reluctantly.

"Good.

Most of them got the hang of it and they’ll teach their friends, spread the knowledge.

We have another group tomorrow, and that’s it."

"It’s not like we have more time anyway," she mumbles at the ground before standing up.

"Let’s go home then."

"Actually, we won’t go home.

I thought about what you said and asked Flint for a room here.

Well, not here, but in the guard’s quarter. He said it’s packed since more people are staying here than usual but I managed to get us a room," I tell her.

"That’s not a terrible idea, I guess," she says but rolls her eyes when I clearly take pleasure in her agreeing with me.

She shoves me, but I see she’s fighting a smile.