6. And So My Training Begins!

"M... M... MOTHER?!"

I literally yelled in shock at the lady now standing in the middle of monster dust, seemingly not noticing the scream of sirens behind me.

My mother - who had just happened to be good at monster fighting - gave me an I'll-tell-you-later look. She looked really frightened. Her hair was swept all over her face. Her face was slightly flushed, and I saw her hands trembling. Despite all that, she managed to walk up to the confused group of students and teachers still running about beside the wreckage of the bus.

"Hi," she said. Her voice quivered a little. She took a deep breath, and steadied herself. "I am Xinyue's mother, and I am going to pick her up, if you don't mind, Mrs J- I mean Mrs. Deer." My mom said, with the kind of nervous authority I had when I had to confront someone.

So there was a Mrs. Johnson! Mom probably won't admit calling her that later, but at least I knew I was sane and had not been hallucinating. Relief washed through me.

Then, Mrs. Deer gathered herself from the confusion of the hydra. Her eyes looked wild, yet firm. She raised her hands, almost defiantly. I suddenly felt a surge of pity and guilt. The monster had come after me. I had endangered my classmates, my teachers. Because of me, they had almost gotten killed. How could I have done this?

"Now hold on just a second!" Mrs. Deer snapped. Her voice rang sharply through the air.

"What's wrong?"

"Your daughter over here blew up the whole bus, scared bus driver and you think you can get her away without going to the police first?" she shouted angrily.

I gaped. My heart seemed to stop. What was she talking about? I had just saved them - and myself - from a bloodthirsty monster! It had blown up the bus! I had not done anything except trying to stop it! What was she -

"Nothing happened, you don't remember anything..." My mother said, her tone calming yet commanding. Her voice rolled over Mrs. Deer. She snapped her fingers, and a familiar-looking white cloud drifted from her fingers.

Like magic, Mrs. Deer's blue eyes clouded. Then she looked up, confused.

"What... What happened?" She asked, frowning slightly.

I stared, uncomprehending. My mind whirled in disbelief. I never knew my mother could erase memories! Well, I never knew she shoots fireballs that destroys Hydras either. Since when did she have such power? As far as I knew, she was just simply a normal, mortal woman. Not someone who... who... Well...

"The bus broke down, and I came here to get my daughter. Can we go now?" My mom said smoothly. It sounded so convincing even I believed it for a second. Wow, I thought, she was much better at lying than I ever thought...

"Oh yes, of course Alice, you may go."

"Thanks!" My mom started dragging me into her small, silver car. We got in, and she immediately started driving at top speed. As we sped off, I heard Mrs. Deer yelling behind us, "Wait! You can't go! YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN YOURSELVES TO THE POLICE!"

"What exactly is going on mom?!" I demanded. I wrung my hands. So much had happened today, I was surprised I wasn't already crumbling to pieces. "What is happening?"

My mom sighed.

"Sorry, Xinyue, I might have broken your perfect record. You'll have to switch schools soon."

Record? I wondered if I should Google my mom. Wonder what I might find... Was she some sort of sorceress or something? No, wait, I thought. Was she purposefully changing the subject?

"What are you talking about, mom? And start from the beginning. Please!"

My voice shook. Even I was surprised at how desperate I sounded.

I expected her to tell me everything, explain to me exactly what was going on, right from the start, and tell me that everything was going to be all right. Instead, she said the last thing I expected her to tell me.

"Do you want cookies, Xinyue?!"

My heart sank like a stone. I stared at her, exasperated.

"Mom, I still have a lot of cookies from lunch. I almost got killed twice and getting spewed with yellow powder does not help my appetite, and besides, I just ate!"

"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING ON YOU?!" My mom threw her hands up, off the steering wheel and started yelling. I shrank back in my seat. I guess she also had attention disorders or whatever they were called, oh yeah, ADHD.

"What?"

"Um... Nothing."

Immediately, I could tell that she was not telling me something. I knew that about my mother, at least. Every time she said "nothing", it clearly was something.

"You're hiding something."

"Umm..." By now I could definitely tell that something was up. Something important. She began to drive with one hand while twirling her hair anxiously with the other.

I clutched at my seat, my palms sweating. The car veered a little to the left, then swayed to the right, then...

"Slam on the breaks, mom! Can't you see that crazy car driving toward us?!" I yelled.

"Huh?"

"There was a car in front of you three seconds ago! You didn't notice?!"

"Err..."

I sighed. As great as she was, my mother was anything but careful. All those lectures to me about taking care of my things and not getting into trouble, and she was as careless as someone could be.

As we pulled to our driveway, I noticed the front door was open. I frowned. This was quite odd. However, judging from my mom's unworried expression, I guessed she was the one who left it open.

When I was about to step in, she stopped me. "I'm going to do a scan first." My mind spun. Now what was going on? Energy drained out of me. So much had already happened today. I did not want to go through some other episode of strangeness without anyone giving me any straight answer to anything. Besides, I was not even sure I even knew my mother anymore. I opened my mouth, about to protest, when she brought out that stick she used to blow flames with out of thin air - was it a wand?

Mom muttered something I could not make out. Then, she told me to go inside.

"Can you start explaining now?" I asked as I plopped down on the sofa.

"Sorry, Xinyue, it's not safe to explain," she said, coming in.

"Why not?"

"I'll tell you after the war ends."

"What war?" The wars we were studying for current events flew past my head, but none of them seemed like the one she was talking about.

"Too dangerous for you to know."

"When does it end?" Even if the war had nothing to do with me, I still wanted more knowledge. I felt frustrated beyond belief. I wanted to know things. I hated being kept in the dark.

"August 18."

"How do you know that?"

"It will end one way or another."

What kind of answer was that? I shook my head. I decided to switch tactics. If normal talking could not get me anywhere, I hoped this would make her give away more answers.

"Why are we moving?"

"It's safer that way," she replied.

I stared in silence. This conversation was seriously giving me a headache. And by now, I knew that asking what she meant by "safer" was not going to get me anywhere. Why could she not give me a straight answer for once?

I wondered what to say next.

"Can we move to New York?"

It came from nowhere, as if someone else had said the name through my vocal cords. But the second it came out, I realized a part of me did want to be in New York.

"Not now."

"Why not?"

"Because it's unsafe, Xinyue. Please."

Her voice cracked slightly, and I realized just how stressed she looked then. She still trembled slightly, and her voice quivered. Part of me felt a little guilty. I knew I shouldn't be piling my mom with questions when she was clearly so stressed, but at least I was getting some clarifications, even if most of them raised more questions than they answered.

"Why do you want to move to New York?" Mom asked me curiously.

"Just because." I shrugged. I had been having a weird, tingly feeling that I should be in Manhattan. Somehow, I knew beyond a doubt that I was supposed to be there, not stuck here. However, I was not going to tell my mom about this when she clearly had enough things to worry about.

"Because you were born there?"

"I guess I wanted to see where I spent the first two years of my life."

That might be it! I wanted to see the spot where I was somehow born, even when the terrorists were attacking not more than three miles away - yes, I was born on September 11th. But I also had a feeling it was more than that.

I decided to change the subject.

"How come Mrs. Deer thought I attacked the bus driver? And since she mentioned him, where is he?"

"Um... I'll tell you later."

"Where did Mrs. Deer come from, anyway?"

"I'll tell you later."

"What happened to Mrs. Johnson?"

"I'll tell you later."

I clenched my fingers.

"Why are you saying 'I'll tell you later' so much?"

"Well.."

"Are you an impostor trying to be my mom?"

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, Xinyue!"

I sighed, this was my mother, even if she was a little... Strange. Come to think of it, she had been acting a little off since the end of April.

"So... what do we do now?"

"Hmm..."

My usually carefree mother was actually looking thoughtful. Uncertainty fluttered in my stomach.

"How much martial arts did your grandpa teach you?"

What? Where had that come from?

"Not a lot. Wh - Why?"

"Show me."

I gaped at her, now totally lost for words. Show her? Show her.. how? And how did fighting suddenly come into the picture?

"What kind do you want me to show you?"

"Just fight me."

"Are you crazy?" There was my mother, sitting there calmly and telling me to fight her. I understood she was good - she was good at almost everything she did - but what kind of mother tells her children to fight her?

"No."

The firmness of her voice struck me. She really was not joking then, which meant that she either was crazy, or she had changed to someone I barely recognized since I last saw her. Maybe the impostor idea was really still available.

"Um... okay?"

I shuffled my feet awkwardly for a while. Then I took a deep breath. I might as well follow instructions. If weird events were really spiraling out of control, I might as well try my best to follow.

I attacked my mother. Don't blame me! I had been trained to follow directions! Besides, I was pretty sure she could defend herself just fine.

I tried the first move my grandfather had taught me: pressure points. I hadn't mastered his method of freezing a person by striking their pressure points, but I could make the arm of whoever that pissed me off really numb.

As I reached for my mother, she held her hand out as if giving me a hug. Then at the last moment, she grabbed me and flipped me onto the plush sofa on which she sat. I cursed silently. I hadn't even realized that the position I was in is great for Aikido. I had heard about masters in my grandpa's dojo talking about how great my mother was, but she was still much better than I had thought.

My mother smiled.

"Not bad, I see Gramps had taught you well."

But hidden in her voice, I could tell she wanted to add but not good enough. My mother was nice, but she was a harsh grader. I suddenly felt disappointed. I so wanted to live up to her expectations, yet even though I tried my best in everything, it never seemed to be enough.

"Remind me," I said, "why are you testing my fighting skills?"

She shrugged.

"So you won't be behind."

What did that mean? Disappointment and annoyance fluttered inside me again. I would not be behind in this, except perhaps to my grandfather and mother. I needed to live up to their expectations.

"Here, I'll teach you sword fighting." My mom said, and led me towards the basement.

So, she wasn't teaching me self defense? Just a moment ago, she wanted me to learn martial arts, and now... sword fighting? I had never even tried holding a sword before! Besides, why was my mother suddenly so interested about letting me learn self defense?

"And I will need this skill because..."

"So you won't die in the future." My mom replied matter-of-fact-ly, as though this was supposed to be obvious.

"Um... many people lived without knowing how to fight." I wanted to add not many people didn't even know what self defense was, but I decided not to.

My mom sighed. She put a hand on my shoulder.

"Xinyue, I'm really sorry, but you'll get entangled in a war soon."

What war? Didn't she say the war would end on August 18th? I would need to fight for a war that would end in two months? Me? Fight? Astrange kind of fear bubbled inside me. What was this day turning into? I stared at my mother in horror. Perhaps it was all a dream. Perhaps I would wake up later and find myself still in bed, the morning of the school trip.

"Why would I be willing to fight a war if I don't know anything? Why do I have to fight anyway? I'm just a girl!"

My voice had become shrill.

"You will."

"Didn't you just say you'll only explain everything once the war ends?"

"I was talking about a different war."

"How many wars are there?"

Geez, how many things were the government hiding from its citizens these days?

"I don't know."

I sighed, As hard as it was to admit, I was very confused right then. As I might have mentioned, I hated being kept in the dark.

"What are you going to teach me?"

Instead of answering, my mom handed me the sword I had used to kill Mrs. Johnson. Or at least it looked like the sword. I gaped at it.

As if reading my mind, Mom told me, "Its the same sword"

"How? Why? What? When? How?" My mind was so messed up I couldn't even remember how to finish my sentences. I knew I should feel embarrassed. I usually kept my feelings under control, but right now I didn't even care.

"The sword is passed down the Li family for generations, I know I will have to give it to you after it appears to you."

I gaped.

"You... You can read my mind?"

"You aren't hiding your feelings like you usually do."

Huh?

My mom smiled, as though this was good news.

"Stay that way, Xinyue. You don't have much time left to feel innocent, and it is hard to go back once you aren't anymore."

What was she talking about? She was the most innocent adult I know!

No, wait. Something just occurred to me.

"I try really hard for people to not read my emotions!"

"Ah, your grandmother certainly taught you well, but you still have to think for yourself sometimes." My mom sighed, then looked at me sympathetically. "It's okay. I was once like you too."

I was seriously considering to Google my mom now, if I figured out how to use the internet without my computer breaking up.

"Um.."

"Anyway, you will probably be kicked out of school. We could watch the news later, to see what the made of the whole hydra attack. I'm really sorry I can't manipulate people's minds that well. You'll be skipping school from today! Even if theres only three days left of school."

"Why will I be skipping?"

"You must train until you are ready, of course! We have the same fatal flaw. I don't want my daughter to end up second to someone."

"Fatal flaw?" What kind of word was that? It sounded dangerous. Scary, even.

"You always want to be first right?"

"Yeah?"

"So you should work hard for it!"

"Ok then... But who am I competing against?"

"You'll know later."

"But I want to know now! Please, mom!" The word competition always fired me up. It must be the fatal flaw my mom talked about. Well, even if it was, I could never step down a challenge.

"Well, then, Xinyue," My mom started, "let the training begin!"

YAY IM DONE WITH ANOTHER CHAPER IM SO HAPPY!

and the Xinyue's mom having magical powers is random, I just wanted 2 find a reason for Xinyue's mom's perfection.

Also, should I end this story and make a sequel?