Page 81 of Finders Reapers

“Cardio?” Jamal arched a brow.

“As you said, I was at one with the screens. I wasn’t exactly anticipating a life running from demons and wielding a scythe,” I returned his blithe expression by sticking my tongue out. “Besides, how does exercise help me? I’m in an entirely new body.”

“Good habits and learning the correct way to move,” Jamal replied, distracted. “Can you stand with your feet shoulder-width apart?”

I did as he said, my body tensing as he approached.

Jamal circled my still frame before placing a hand on my hip and correcting my posture. There was nothing sexual in the movement, just an instructor trying to teach a student, but I couldn’t stop my cheeks from heating.

I kept my gaze fixed forward and felt the moment someone else’s eyes fell on me. The back of my neck prickled as I met Rome’s gaze from across the room.

My face grew hotter if such a thing were possible.

Damn.

Jamal said something. I didn’t catch it.

I blinked. “Sorry, what was that?”

Jamal gave me a long look. “I want you to punch forward. Punch with your left, then your right, and then swing with your left. I want you to continue this for two minutes. I’ll time you.”

I groaned but did as he said. It was hard to get right at first, following a set movement routine. Eventually, my thoughts became background noise, and I focused on moving my body instead of what was going on in my head.

Jamal circled the crash mat, and the other guys continued doing whatever they were doing. I focused on my breathing and timing it with my movements.

Jamal walked behind me, studying my form, and though I felt self-conscious, I stared ahead.

A shadow moved from the corner of my eye.

I tensed and reacted instinctively.

A surprise attack.

I dropped but couldn’t move in time. I watched as the blade larger than my arm swung down towards my face.

Logically I knew that Jamal wouldn’t hit me, but my body didn’t get that memo.

My fingers and toes tingled, and one moment I was on the floor, staring up at the swinging blade of a scythe, and the next, I was across the room with my hand on my chest and my mind blank of thought.

I returned to my body with a crash. Numb limbs, like I had been sitting on the hard ground for too long, before feeling returned. Almost like when I had been walking the desert and then suddenly gained a body.

Jamal halted the scythe before it ever would have reached me, but the weapon fell to the ground when he realized I had vanished.

No one noticed what had happened until Jamal shouted my name, first in panic and then confusion.

One by one, four sets of eyes turned to where I stood in the corner.

I wiggled my fingers sheepishly.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Jamal barked, showing anger for perhaps the first time I had met him.

I shook my head.

I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know.

I sat back on the couch, though the bed had been tucked away, and it was just an ugly paisley couch again.

I was sandwiched between Maddox and Rome, like two bodyguards who stared forward as Jamal paced the living room. Fletcher sat on the armrest while eating an apple so loudly that every crunch made me flinch.

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