"You're fast."
The words startle her, and she brings up her fists as she swings around toward the voice. She was in the middle of punching a bag when Eric spoke to her, and all he does is raise a pierced brow when she turns.
"But there's no power behind your punches."
Caldera stays quiet, but a frown tugs at her lips. She resists the urge to flinch as Eric leans forward to grasp her shoulders. It's no secret that he and Four dislike each other, it's fairly obvious how the two two contrast. In her eyes, Caldera thought they were different kinds of Dauntless.
Four's kind.
And Eric's.
And, if she was honest she would admit that Eric's kind of Dauntless scared her.
SCARED?
"Okay," She begins slowly, her jaw and mouth hurt when she talks. A colorful bruise has already tattooed itself on her face, and her body aches all over from her fight with her brother yesterday, "So, how do I put power behind my punches?"
Eric moves her shoulders, his hands sliding down to show at her elbows as he helps her movements, "You follow through with your punches, but you follow through with them a little too much. You'll fall if you keep that up."
He lets go and walks away without another word. Caldera watches him, confusion tugging at her facial features.
When Four offered her advice he stayed, make sure she did it right. But Eric was quick to talk and quick to leave.
Cal straightens up from her fighting stance and makes her way over to watch her brother - who is on his second fight. He's against one of Caine's lackeys, another Erudite transfer. And, from the way that the boys face is already swelling, her brother was winning again.
She claps her hands a couple of times, watching as her brother lands one final punch on the Erudite boys face and he fell to the floor.
Her brother smiles over at Cal, wiping blood off of his lips and nose but only managing to smear the crimson all over the bottom half of his face, "You see that, C?"
Caldera shakes her head, a smile tugging at her lips. She tugs the sleeve of her long sleeve shirt and wipes her brothers face.
"Disgusting,"Cal grimaces, pulling off the sweater and and shoving it onto her brothers chest. He laughs, using it to wipe the rest of the blood off of his face. "Both won our fights today."
This was true. Before Syn's fight, Cal was put up against Sonny. The taller girl put up a fight the best she could, but her fighting style was crazed and unconventional. And although Cal wasn't the best on offense, she was killer on defense. She was quick and fluid with her movements but had trouble, as Eric had stated, putting power behind her punch.
WINNERS.
"This is suppose to be your free time, initiate."
Cal keeps hitting the bag. His voice doesn't startle his this time, but she can hear him coming closer to her. The sound of his boots are heavy on the stone floor, and Cal tries to steady her breathing in accordance to each step.
"I know."
Eric leans against the wall closest to her and watches her form. He's noticed that she took his advice, and her punches are slowly building up more strength behind them. Unlike her brothers natural talent, Cal is walking on a straight line during initiation. Her brother, who excels at shooting and has won both of his fights is top of the class. While Caldera shooting is neither good nor bad, and her fighting is decent. She knows her strengths, ducking and defense. But those, along with her occasional knife hands and elbows, will only get her so far.
"Come here."
Eric moves away from the wall and walks towards one of the mats set up in the middle of the room. Her removes his black, leather jacket and cracks his neck.
Cal stops punching the tattered bag and uses the back of her hand to wipe sweat from her forehead. She looks at him oddly, a frown tugging at her lips once more.
"Well," He snaps, "I don't have all day."
Cal gulps and takes long strides towards the mat, she hesitates for a fraction of a moment before stepping onto it.
"Come at me."
Cal can feel the words I can't settle on the tip of her tongue. The Candor in her wants to admit defeat before she even tries because she knows, without a doubt, she wouldn't be able to strike first. Disregarding the fact that Eric is a trained Dauntless leader, he has seen her fight and knows how she functions. And, because he's seen both of her fights, he knows that she doesn't strikes first.
"Come at me, initiate," Eric pushes out each syllable as he speaks.
Cal tries to wet her mouth, but it's dry with nerves. Eric sniffs, "What? Are you afraid?"
"No."
The lie leaves her lips so quickly and assertively that she's sure he'll believe it. Everyone always does.
But the smile that tugs at his lips isn't the kind of smile she recognizes, and the hairs on the back of her neck start to stand when he speaks again.
"Well," Eric lets out a single laugh, "Never met a Candor that can lie as well as you can."
LIAR.
The only people who have ever been able to see through her lies had been her family. Her brother and father always seemed to know when a lie fell from her lips. Whether it was through experience or because she had a tell, she didn't know. The only time truth spilled from her lips and she admitted her lies was when she was under punishment and was forced into taking the truth serum.
Eric was the first to ever break the cycle.
Or maybe it was a lucky guess?
A part of her wants to tell another lie, test him to see if he really could read her as well as he was playing at. But, another part of her didn't want to know if she could be read so easily.
"I don't strike first."
She opts for stating this, a simple fact about her fighting style will hopefully sway his opinion and maybe he'll charge at her first.
"You either want my help or not," Eric shrugs, "You either come at me first, or not at all."
She curses and balls her hands into fists before rushing at him as quickly as she can. She assumed he'd hit her as soon as she got close, but all he does is redirect her direction and send her face first into the mat by his feet. Her split lip opens up again, and the coppery taste of her blood touches her tongue.
"You can do better than that, initiate."
Cal pushes herself up and swings her leg around, trying to wipe his feet out from under him.
Again, he grabs her leg and sends her falling straight on her back.
Cal gulps for air as he rests on his haunches at her side, looking at her with a curious gaze. She takes the opportunity to swing her fist over her body, aiming for his face. He sees her and turns his head, causing her fist to skim his jaw rather than his cheek.
"You know," Eric begins, grabbing her by the throat. His fingers wrap around her neck and squeeze her jaw tightly, "Dauntless aren't suppose to be afraid."
"I'm not," She speaks through gritted teeth and heavy breaths, his hold on her throat isn't painful - just uncomfortable.
LIAR.
Eric tsks, "Another lie? You're not very good at them, kitten."
The nickname annoys her the second it leaves his mouth and she finds herself thrashing against his hold.
"There we go!" Eric laughs, catching Caldera's wrist as she aims for her throat. He twists her around, her back resting on his chest while her own forearm pushes against her neck. He leans into her, his breath caress her cheek as he talks softly into her ear, "You know, you and your twin brother are pretty different. He's loud, you're quiet. But you both have this glint in your eye that makes me think you really hate being made fun of."
"I don't care," Caldera fights, bringing the elbow of her free arm back and jabbing it into Eric's stomach. He releases her arm and she stumbles away, her hand flying to her aching shoulder. Eric doesn't speak for a moment, he watches her as she grimaces, running her tongue against her bottom lip to get rid of the blood that falls down her chin. Her hand grips her shoulder tightly and her breathing is heavy from both training and her temper.
"Tomorrow, same time."
"What?" The question comes out as both confused and annoyed, but Eric ignores this tone.
"Same time tomorrow," He picks up his jacket, "I'll show you how to get better."
Caldera doesn't say anything in response, and only gives Eric the smallest of nods as he starts walking out of the room.
"Maybe tomorrow I'll get the truth out of you, kitten."
AUTHORS NOTE
Thank you for Maya6996 & StardustSpike for your reviews!
Thank you for reading!