Adults and children
Elara
No one told me anything. For some odd reason, I felt like a child surrounded by adults who didn’t want to tell me the full information.
I remembered seeing something similar when I was younger, how, when I got to the orphanage, the big people were talking in strong and technical terms, and when I asked what they said, even though it was too obvious to tell, they said everything was fine, and then I just trusted them.
They said they would find my parents’ siblings and I would get to be with family, until suddenly I was put in foster care. Not a good experience for me, no matter which way it could be sliced, and when I voiced my opinion about it, I was told to shut up, that I didn’t know what was in my heart, that it was a grown-up’s matter.
So here I was, the subject of scrutiny, the subject of many talks that appeared to be bigger than I was. I had lashed out at Kendrick when he refused to say what was wrong in detail, and I slightly regretted it at the end of the day, but still, I was angry, and I needed to know what was going on with my own body, for fuck’s sake.
“I’m going to put it simply,” he had said after my outburst of anger.
“So many colorful languages,” Alejandra mumbled beside him.
“As it stands right now, I don’t know what you are. I don’t think anybody else does. I told you that something was off about you from the start, but I didn’t tell you that you didn’t exactly smell human. And because you don’t smell human, I should at least hope to classify you properly into where you belong, except that I don’t know where you belong.”
That was a nice way of saying, we don’t know whatever the fuck you are, you stand alone, go figure yourself out in a corner.
“So what now?”
He shrugged. “It simply means that trying to push to have you killed for being the human that trespassed on our pack line is not exactly going to hold any water any longer. Although some people might seek to disguise it, my nose, but still, I’m sure it’ll be fine. It shouldn’t hold water.”
I was not convinced. Still, I gave him a tight-lipped smile.
I spent a few more days in Elder Logan’s home being drilled until, gladly, Alejandro was called away, and I couldn’t have been more relieved to see his sister. I noticed that she was at least softer than he was, and for that, I was glad and grateful.
Still, they say good things don’t last long, as too suddenly Lucas came. I smiled when I saw him, genuinely wished I could run and hug him, except that I was literally tied down at the moment, with Alejandra sitting on my back while I held a plank position.
“Oh good,” Lucas smiled as he bent in front of me. “I see you’re doing the hard stuff now, huh?”
He looked up at Alejandra.
“Why?” I groaned in pain.
I looked at the clock, and oh dear, it was only 30 seconds in, but it felt like I had been there for 30 minutes.
“Why not?” the woman on my back mused. “She holds well,” she said. “A little weak, but I’m sure she’s gaining her strength if we watch it.”
“Oh no, I can measure it,” Lucas mumbled, looking back at me with a wink.
“There’s no way I think I would have thought her progress would be this quick, so maybe what?” he looked at her and then at me. “Under 160, 170, maybe 180 pounds on top of her back in plank position, and look at that, she’s pushing one minute.”
He turned to the clock. As soon as the one-minute mark hit, I collapsed onto my belly.
I groaned and nearly let out a squeal when I was forced to get back into the position. This time, I zoned out of the conversation between the both of them and stared at one spot, allowing Alejandra’s weight to simply guide me through the way I breathed.
In through your nose, out through your mouth. I repeated it as a mantra in my mind. I continued, feeling the sweat drip down from my face to land on the floor. I even started counting that.
Soon, both of them were silent. I looked up and noticed that Lucas was staring at me as though I had grown another head.
“It’s been three minutes,” he said, pointing at the clock.
I looked at the clock, saw that it was true, and fell down onto my belly.
“Oh, how wonderful the powers of zoning out can be,” Lucas mumbled, smiling from ear to ear.
“It was a fluke,” I said, glad that her weight had finally come off my back. I rolled onto my back instead, staring up toward the ceiling.
“After this, you’re going to spar with me. But rest,” Alejandra declared, seemingly ignorant to my suffering.
I caught my breath, and when I realized I was getting sleepy, I stood up quickly, went over to a nearby bench, and picked up the bandages for my hands before I started wrapping them in the way and manner Lucas had taught me from the beginning.
Both of them started speaking in hushed tones, sometimes they looked at me, and sometimes they didn’t. I began to hate it again.
“You know, if you guys want to tell me something, you could just say it directly to my face,” I mumbled under my breath, knowing that they would hear me just fine.
Both of them stopped, mumbled something amongst themselves, and soon they were near me.
“She’s stronger than before,” Lucas said with his eyes on me.
“Well, it’s a given, being that my brother trained her. After all, I think he has plans to take her as his apprentice,” Ale said, her eyes also on me.
“Not like that,” I shook my head as I tied off the bandage on my right hand. “I just mean I don’t like it when you guys talk about me like that.”
Both of them stared expressionlessly at me.
“We are your mentors and teachers, and we reserve the right to talk about you whenever we want to and in whatever manner we wish to do so. You, being the student, must keep your mouth shut and be respectful at all times,” Alejandra spoke to me with as much sternness as a librarian on her time of the month. “The next time you try this, you will run an additional 20 miles around the property.”
I pouted but gave them a solemn nod.
“Seriously, she needs to understand how to respect hierarchy.”
I wanted to shoot a snarky reply until I remembered running around the property 20 times and decided against it.
We got into a quick sparring match that ended a little quicker than I thought. By the time we were done, and by the way, I had collected at least a couple of punches to the gut, to my arm, my back, and my legs, as, according to Alejandra, she didn’t want to damage the goods that was my face and didn’t trust my healing. After all, I could not heal as quickly as their kind did.
By the time I was done, my body hurt everywhere, but nothing prepared me for the expression Lucas had on his face.
“What is it?” I had asked when I walked up to him.
“Nothing,” he answered quickly, looking down before walking away, leaving me in the garage.