Page 47 of Monsters of Air

“This is good,” Philit said, smiling. “Now come at me with everything you have. I want to see everything you just learned put into play here. Don’t go soft on me.”

Zilon went for it first, throwing fast punches at Philit, who effortlessly dodged them. They kept doing that until Philit got a grip on Zilon and flipped him hard on the ground. I grimaced, adding more than just a kick in the gut to my list.

“Rayna, now you,” Philit said, the bastard wasn’t even breathing heavily after those quick exchanges. Figures.

I took one shaky inhale before I charged in, throwing a punch with a grunt that echoed off the trees. Philit side-stepped, his leg extending to hit mine. I fell hard on my ass.

I braced for the pain, but it didn’t feel like more than a swap on the behind my father gave me to prod me on. It was just what I needed.

“Again.” Philit didn’t say that. I did.

“Focus, Rayna. Use the resources that you have,” Philit said as I rushed him for a second time only for him to take me down with a punch to my side. I gasped, collapsed, and ended up on my back, his foot on my chest, his long talons curling around my rib cage. He stepped back, giving me enough time to stand up.

I was too busy looking down, but I heard it. A soft whistle in the air, I had heard it before, but I hadn’t placed it until then. I rolled forward and spun to look at Philit. He had his arm extended, palm out. If I hadn’t moved when I did, he would have hit me.

“Now we are getting somewhere. How did you know that?” Philit asked.

“I heard it.”

“Perfect. Come at me. Both of you. With everything you have.” Philit rolled his shoulders, shaking himself out to relax his muscles.

I glanced at Zilon, meeting his eyes. He gave me a slight nod. My fingers sunk into the ground as I dug my heels in. Then as soon as Zilon moved, I was racing forward.

Zilon was naturally faster than me, so he threw the first move. Again, I could hear it, the soft whistle from his movement. I even felt the shift in the air as Philit moved to go right to me.

Philit ducked down, fist already racing toward my jaw, but I was already moving, twisting around as I kicked my leg out, right into his gut. Philit gasped and staggered back against the hit that I was sure would have hurt anyone human, Philit was still a dragon.

I could already feel my shin was bruising from the impact. I hopped away, biting back my cry. “Fucking dragon,” I mumbled, sending Landers into a roar of laughter. Double fucking dragon, he better be happy that he wasn’t up here.

“That was good, Rayna. Do it again, except this time land me on my ass,” Philit said, digging his clawed feet into the ground as he took his position again. “We aren’t stopping until the both of you work together to get me down.”

Work together.

The one thing we hadn’t been doing. We had been going at him, sure, but we hadn’t been working together.

“Stupid,” I mumbled as I stepped back to Zilon, who was staring at me as if he had realized the same thing.

“Shall we finish this, Rayna?” Zilon cracked his neck and went into a fighting stance. I brought both my fists up.

“Fuck yeah.”

We raced toward him, even though it was clear just how much more experience Philit had than we did. It took us three more tries before we even landed another hit on him. It was like he was facing off against a bunch of kids and horsing around. He wasn’t taking it seriously.

Or me.

I had been excited to learn, but now I was pissed. I wanted to take his ass down. I released a low growl that was nothing compared to the snarl of a dragon and raced forward, ignoring the tiredness in my limbs.

Zilon moved as I did, making sure to get Philit’s attention. Philit turned to face him, but I wasn’t falling for it. He was still prepared for me, like he proved countless times already. Zilon threw a kick that Philit blocked with one step. One step that brought him closer to me. Zilon spun, throwing a punch that moved Philit even more to the right. Right where I was already tossing my own punch.

Philit had to step back to avoid me. He tried to go right, but again, I heard the small details, felt that shift in the air, and knew right where he was going. He was blocked. Over and over again.

I kept pushing. Over and over again, determined to beat him.

Dammit. Why was he so hard to hit, how did he do this? I needed to get him down. The desperation bubbled inside of me. Philit dodged a hit, moving more to the right. I tossed a kick with everything I had.

It was enough. My leg slammed into his stomach. He made a small whooshing sound, grunting from the impact. He went down with a snarl and a thud.

I got him.

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