War. It was the only word on everyone's lips, on everyone's minds as the days progressed. There was an incident in the city. A Contractor used her powers in broad daylight, shifting her body to steal some valuables. No one from the Children of the Gate knew who she was, or how she got away. Only that she'd created something terrible we couldn't get out of. Now, the public knew that Contractors existed, and it wouldn't be long before Pandora cracked down on us.
After all, we weren't human. We weren't meant to be in this world, were we?
Whispers filled the halls and rooms of the sprawling mansion. Fear, anger, determination, but above all, the will to fight. We had no idea what we were up against. No idea of the dangers and terror ahead.
The smirk of the woman from the garden that night stayed with me, though I had no idea who she was or what she was doing out there. I even asked Scarlett about it, but she said that security would have noticed if someone was lurking on property, and that perhaps I was just tired. But I knew what I saw, and I was sure it was something bad.
I started combat training. My first few sessions were with another member, a Contractor who could lift large vehicles with one hand. We ran and jumped and learned basic positions, and I after every session I felt so… alive. My blood pumped through my veins, and my breath reached down to my very core. I was quickly escalated to the next level.
The first morning I skipped breakfast to get there early. I knew I shouldn't train on an empty stomach, but Claude's constant presence around me was starting to bother me. After spending so much time alone, it was exhausting to have to pay attention to him all the time. He was so vain and obnoxious. I screwed up my face in distaste, then gasped as a short chuckle rang out from the front of the training studio.
I looked up to see that deadly smile, those sharp, knowing eyes and cascading black hair. My stomach jumped and I wished I'd at least stopped for a muffin or something at breakfast.
"What were you thinking?" Hei asked me. His deep voice echoed through the room. I was sitting on the floor, legs in lotus position. My cheeks flushed red.
"I was thinking how nice it is to be alone," I answered, then caught myself. Hei frowned, and his chest recoiled as if he'd been hit.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," he said. I shook my head furiously, my ponytail swinging.
"No, I don't mean you. It's just that… well, Claude is always around…" I trailed off. Hei finished my thought for me,
"And you're tired of listening to him talk about himself?"
I giggled, feeling guilty for laughing at my friend's expense. He was my friend, after all. He was one of the only Contractors who wasn't put off by my past or by my social awkwardness. I'd even been reading fiction to try to fine-tune the art of conversation. I'd found a stash of magazines with stories called Rose of Maurice, about the love between a beautiful man and a pink elephant. At first I'd thought it strange, but something about the writing drew me in, like the author was writing it just for me. I still didn't have the courage to talk to new people, but I felt that they were slowly warming up to me.
"You could say that," I replied. Hei's eyes softened at my laughter.
"You're so pretty when you smile," he said, then widened his eyes as if he wished he'd never said it. I felt the familiar fluttering in my chest as his own cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that," he added.
Other members began to file into the room, chatting in their own circles, and Hei and I pretended that nothing had been said, but I couldn't pretend that I didn't feel something at his words. Even his smell had become a comfort to me, like I was safe if I was near him. I wanted him to hold me like in all of the stories I read. I wanted to feel what it meant to be complete with someone else.
But as the room filled, he backed away from me, and the severity of our situation returned to our minds. Claude tapped my shoulder as he sat beside me, a sly grin on his mouth.
"You weren't at breakfast," he said. I shook my head, willing my secret thoughts to stay in my mind and not fly away like dandelion fluff in the wind.
"I wasn't hungry, and I wanted to do some grounding work before starting," I said. Claude chuckled.
"You're always so focused," he stated simply.
"What else is there?" I asked, but our conversations were cut as Hei drew attention to the front of the room. He pulled off the T-shirt he was wearing so that he was clothed in dark jeans and a black wife-beater. The shapeliness of his muscles and the lines of his collarbones drew my eyes. He looked around the room, his face donning that intense stare. Everyone was silent.
"We've all heard about what happened recently, but what we haven't talked about is how it affects us. Before, all we had to worry about was Pandora and their efforts, but now the stakes are higher. Now, because of this individual, the general population knows there are living Contractors, which puts the Government in a position to exterminate us as soon as possible. We cannot let this happen. We need to be prepared to fight. We cannot rely just on our abilities. Who knows what Pandora has been planning? They have resources to tap into that we can't even imagine. I need all of you to work together to keep our race from going extinct. Is that clear?"
The room nodded. Claude muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't catch what it was.
"Alright, everyone partner up."
I groaned inwardly as Claude immediately scooched closer to me. Not that I had anyone else in mind, but I knew I would have to listen to him talk about our race as superior, that we were more than humans could ever be, and I was still uncomfortable with it. Even though mankind had shown me nothing but hardship, there was still something within me that clung to some kind of faith in humans. Like an old lover or a childhood friend. I couldn't explain it, I just felt it.
We began practicing basic move sets, including how to stand and where to strike and where to block. Hei insisted repetition was key at this stage to build muscle memory, and that soon we would need to be able to assess our environments for anything that could be to our advantage or our disadvantage.
Claude was well-versed in the move set, so he helped me find the right positions, and gave me tips on where to strike. When no one was looking, he moved in close to me and whispered into my ear,
"There is so much you aren't learning about yourself." I pushed him away just as Hei walked by.
"Nice counter, Yin," he praised. Claude smiled, like he'd set it up to my advantage, but as soon as Hei was gone his mouth folded into a grimace even I wasn't supposed to see. We began to practice again.
"How do you know?" I asked after a few more rounds.
"Because there is a power within you that you aren't training. Out here, you're working your physical body, but it is your spectral body you should be training. Your power. Without it, you're just human, but with it, you're a god," he replied.
His words clung to me as I hit and blocked, hit, then blocked. Without it, you're just human. Did that mean I used to be human? Those words repeated in my mind again and again. Then, just as I was beginning to space out, my shoulder popped as Claude hit me—hard—and I fell to the ground with a grunt.
Hei rushed over as the room gasped, and helped me push my way up. My shoulder throbbed. He glared at Claude while he pushed around my shoulder joint with his fingers. It hurt.
"What the hell are you doing?" he growled at Claude. Instead of looking apologetic, Claude had a malicious smile on his face.
"Just proving a point," he said.
"What kind of point is that?" I interrupted. Anger seethed through me, and the only thing that kept me from spinning out of control was Hei's steady touch, the feel of his skin close to mine, the smell and comfort of his arms surrounding me. Claude just stared at us, like he could see through and know everything about us, and he found it disgusting.
"Physical training is worthless without focusing the mind," he answered finally, then walked away. The crowd surrounding us parted for him.
"I have to go after him. Go see Scarlett, and I'll come find you later," Hei whispered in my ear. He motioned to one of the members to help me, then ran off after Claude.
I stood up with the help of the others, and watched them run out of the studio and into the main house. I didn't want to think about what had just happened, or what was going to happen, or about my throbbing shoulder or Claude's angry expression. I just wanted to memorize what it felt like, to be in Hei's arms.
When darkness fell, I retreated to the study with the piano. A healer had fixed my shoulder with the touch of her hand, though I felt terrible when she had to bleed as payment. She reassured me that she was used to it, but I couldn't help but think, what a terrible price to pay for the gift of healing.
Claude wasn't at dinner. I didn't see him anywhere, actually. My inner rage had calmed into curiosity. Why had he done that? Why did he want to hurt me? I peeked out the window when I reached the study to see if the strange woman was there again, but the yard was empty. Only cool moonlight poured through the window pane and onto my skin. I breathed it in. I needed to be strong. I needed to find out how to focus my mind so that when the war came, I could fight alongside everyone else. I didn't want to rely on my spectre, who often had a mind of her own. I didn't trust her.
I stood in the middle of the room and began running through the poses I had learned. I tried to focus my mind into what I was doing, but swirls of the day kept ramming my head. I sighed in frustration.
"Close your eyes," a voice sounded. I didn't need to look up to know that it was Hei standing in the doorway. I did as he said, and when my eyes were closed and the visual intrusions of the outside world were gone, I felt my body relax, could feel my breath deeper, and slowly the events of the day seeped away from my mind.
I heard him draw close to me, felt his presence as he stood behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders, breathing with me.
"Breathe in time with me," he whispered. I waited for movement in his chest as his body closed in on mine, and timed my breathing to rise with his. Soon, all I could feel was him, and my senses of the area around me multiplied. I could hear everything, could sense the boundaries of the room without looking.
"I can sense everything," I murmured. He backed away from me, but my concentration held still. Even as he stood up, I could feel where he was, could predict where he would step next. I was completely in tune with him.
"Now stand," he said. Without opening my eyes, I rose from the spot. He was behind me, far enough away that I couldn't reach him, but still close enough to strike. I turned around as he moved slowly to the right, and used my new senses to pinpoint his location. It was almost as if I could see him, as if I had another set of eyes in my mind. Every time he adjusted his position, I changed mine. I could even sense his grin as he prepared for his attack.
He leaped toward me, and I held up my arms in the defense stance I'd learned. I blocked his arms, but he rebounded quickly from the side. I shifted again, ducking just in time as his arm whipped over my head. I knew he thought he had me by the triumph in his breath, and instead of leaping away as he went for my legs, I moved into his attack, knocking him off balance. Except he didn't just fall, he took me with him.
Together we flew through the air, and my eyes jolted open just as we landed on the carpet, my body straddled over his. Our faces were nearly touching, our eyes locked with each other's. I panted heavily. Neither of us moved. His body was strong and hard beneath me, his hands placed on my legs.
"Yin…" he whispered. His breath sent chills down my spine. I wanted to reach my hands up and run my fingers through his hair, to feel his skin with my lips. I wanted him to touch me. His fingers were already clasped over my hips, his breathing growing more rapid.
"What is this?" I asked quietly. My lower lip was trembling, so close to his. Even feeling him so close made my body electric. This was greater than anything I had ever read or seen. He reached his hand and placed it on my cheek, his thumb dragging down the corner of my mouth. His teeth gritted in desire.
"I don't know, but you… do something to me that I can't explain," he murmured. His hand wrapped around my neck, pulling my face toward his, but just as our lips touched, a crash from outside sent us both to our feet, panting like mad. We rushed to the window, horrified by what we saw outside.
Claude stood in front of the house, right by the gate, which had been busted open by some kind of explosion. A few members stood behind him, including the cat I had seen the other night. But where was the woman? What was happening?
"Go upstairs," Hei ordered under his breath. I nodded, realizing that this was a command from him as an officer, and that whatever had just happened… well, there was no time to think about that now.
He ran out the front door, and I obeyed him, that is, I ran up the stairs to the second floor window and pushed it open, other members groggily trudging down to see what had happened. Claude and Hei were squared off against each other outside.
"What are you doing, Claude?" Hei called out. Claude grinned, and motioned at another member. I recognized her—she could produce flames from her mouth.
"I'm doing what you never had the courage to do, Black Reaper. I'm going to fight back," Claude called back. Black Reaper. Why did that sound so familiar?
"Claude, this is enough. It's too dangerous on your own," Hei began, but Claude cut him off with a low cackle.
"You have to be kidding me. All of the power in the world resides in this rotting mansion and you're worried about humans? Don't make me laugh. You're just as doomed as the rest of them. They will know that Contractors are the next evolution. They will bow down to us like dogs, where they belong!" he shouted. By now, dozens of members were squished up behind me, watching with horror as the girl breathed flame onto the dying rose bushes in the garden and they burst into wildfire.
"We need to do something!" a girl shouted from behind me.
For me, the room was growing dim. My heart flooded with anger at Claude, at his ideals and the risks he would take for the power her yearned for. He took power for granted. He was wrong. Someone beside me gasped, but I could no longer respond. I fell, and suddenly I was falling through space, the stars streaking by as I plummeted. I could do nothing.
Nothing but feel the anger burning within me, and the absence of my other self. Where was my spectre? Was she saving Hei?
Everything faded except the memory of my brief encounter with his lips. I hoped she would save Hei. I hoped she would ruin them all.