Author's Note: This is the sequel to "The Seven Princesses" and you might want to read that first! Otherwise, here's a brief version: a girl named Sara Watson moved to England met this guy name Sherlock Holmes solved a mystery about a really weird murderer named Mr. Donnelley and they sort of (ish) fell in love at the end. Got it? Okay, good, here goes:




I shifted my weight, bending my knees and balancing on two feet.

"Good, good," Holmes whispered, circling me. "Chin up," he said, tapping my face. I obeyed and he slipped the mask over my face. I squirmed as he tied the chest padding strings in the back.

"I feel stupid," I said. My voice whistled through the mask.

"Don't. You're good."

"Really?"

"Really." Holmes slipped his mask over his head and wiggled his glove on. He walked around in front of me and bent into position. "En guard," he whispered, raising his sword. No, wait, they call them "foils". I braced myself.

Holmes struck and I blocked, then blocked again, looking for the opening he had been teaching me about. Holmes raised his foil to strike again...

On sudden inspiration, I fell to my knees. Holmes' blade whistled above my head. Still on my knees, I lunged forward.

"You can't do that!" Holmes said, leaping to the side.

"Says who?" I fell back and rolled away from his downward sweep. Rising to one knee, I lashed out to my side.

"Says all the rules of fencing!" Holmes yelped as he dodged. "Hold on, hold on, stop it." Holmes took his mask off and wiped his brow. "You know the basics, but there are certain rules in fencing. There are legal moves, and illegal moves."

Now I took my mask off. "You've got to be kidding me. I could understand a rule like "don't kill the person you're fighting," but legal and illegal moves?"

Holmes nodded vigorously. "Yes. And that was an illegal move."

I rolled my eyes. "Puh-leaze. You know, if you were ever in a real fight, that person wouldn't be obeying the rules. They'd try to surprise you, and you'd have to be ready."

Holmes paused, then looked confused. "You know what? You're right."

"Of course I am!" I smiled. "So, I think it's about time we broke some rules." I shoved my mask back on. "En guard, Holmes."

I spun around with a yell and landed in an utterly ridiculous "karate kid pose". Holmes stood back, laughing, and I struck. His block was late, and I felt my foil jab his chest. "Touché," I said, smug.

"Not fair, I wasn't rea-"

I struck again. This time he was quicker and we circled each other, looking for an opening. Holmes swung. I ducked and lunged. He parried, and then lashed out. I stumbled backwards, landing flat on the floor. Before Holmes could strike, I pushed myself upright, holding my foil diagonally in front of me. Our blades locked. Holmes pushed with all his strength and I struggled to hold my arms in place. Shaking with effort, I realized for the first time just how strong he really was. I took one hand away from my foil and shoved him away.

"That's illega-"

I swung. Holmes blocked, then adopted my own tactics. He kicked out, aimed for my face. Startled, I fell back and felt Holmes' foil at my collarbone. "Touché," he said, every bit as smug.

"Best of three?" I gasped.

"Sure thing." He struck. My block was late, my next one later, and later. I stumbled backwards. Holmes, being decidedly silly, swung his foil around in a circle. I couldn't block, and his blade smacked the side of my mask. I cried out and stumbled away.


"Watson!" he yelled, ripping off his mask and dropping his foil. Gently, he pulled my mask over my ringing head. He took my head in his hands, paler than I've ever seen him. "Are you okay? Oh, God, Watson I'm so sorry."

The ringing stopped. "Aw, it's all right, Holmes," I said, shaking my head. "I'm fine. You didn't hit me that hard. No permanent damage." I smiled. "Really."

I was surprised to feel his hands trembling. "Oh, Watson. I would never want to hurt you."

"I know that, stupid," I snapped. "But let's go." We gathered up the fencing equipment and headed back to the rec room. I stuck the foils in their holders. Holmes put the gloves away and hung the masks on the wall. While his back was turned, I undid the strings on his padding. He shrugged out of it and then helped me out of mine.

"Besides," I said as he undid the knots, "You couldn't hurt me if you tried." I expected Holmes to laugh, but he was silent.

What's up with that? I wondered.

I pulled the padding off the front of my sweatshirt and hung it up. I shouldered my backpack and we headed out of the gym. Holmes opened the door first.

"All clear?" I asked.

"Shhh, shhh," Holmes said. "There's somebody at the end of the hall… hold on, he's going, okay he left. C'mon! Go! Go!"

We ran down the hallway, our sneakers squeaking against the linoleum. A. We weren't supposed to be using then gym and B. If I got caught out of uniform I would get detention. But, as I told Holmes, I was under no circumstances learning to fence in a skirt. Give me blue jeans any day.

We dashed out of the school, then shivered in the crisp December air. I zipped my jacket up tighter, walking in silence. When we got to the corner of our block, Holmes broke off to his house. "G'Night, Watson," he said.

I turned back to say goodnight, too, but something at the other side of the street caught my eye. A man was standing half in shadow. Just standing there. For some reason, it gave me the shivers. I hurried back to my house.

Holmes' voice echoed in my head. "I would never want hurt you…"

Stop it! I told my brain. You're just scaring yourself.