Page 43 of Veiled

Remi murmured under her breath, “For which part.” I laughed and winked at her. “Yes, we can do that tonight. I would like to add the magical aspect as well, to give a really good example.”

I nodded. “Good point, in that case, Justin and Trish? Ready? Cool.” I sauntered over to collect my weapons, my favorite choice of a scythe and short sword with a few daggers for good measure. I ignored them and their choices. It didn’t matter anyway. I walked to the mat and twirled my sword short between my fingers and closed my eyes. Sometimes, your other senses told you more than your eyes did. I felt the attack, they swung at the same time, I would have done the same, which is why I knew they would be swinging from either side.

With a yell, I used my scythe and turned it in my right hand and pulled as I snatched a sword from someone’s hands, and used my short sword to parry the other sword, while pivoting and kicking backwards, knocking down whoever was behind me on their ass. I opened my eyes to see Justin about to stab me in the neck with his other weapon and I bent back slightly and brought the scythe up to stop that blade, hard, and then roundhouse kicked his other sword out of my way, and it crashed to the floor next to me. Trish had gotten back up at this point.

I mentally regrouped; each of them had one weapon, and I had both. At this point, the best plan for them would be to take out my legs or at least one of my weapons. They would probably take out my legs, thinking it would be the quickest way for them to overpower me, and then take my weapons. I thought about all of this in less than a second- muscle memory. Knowing my legs were going to be taken out, I did the only thing I could do, I took a hit for a win. I jumped up and turned, putting me in the path of Justin’s blade, but wrapping my legs around his hips jerking my body to the side, before jumping off, catching him off guard and while I rolled to the side, Trish knocked him down and sliced his back open, he let out a loud yell. Trish screamed at the blood, and I laughed low. When fighting multiple people, pit them against each other.

The slice I got was superficial, but as his blade was coming down, he did slice my shirt down the middle and scraped my stomach when I jerked up and to the side. My shirt is open now, some cleavage showing. Thank God for good sports bras though, whoop whoop. To avoid my shirt getting in the way, I stripped my shirt off quickly, much to the dismay of my men and Remi, who glowered, and much to the excitement of the other boys watching. Trish stepped over Justin with malice on her face and she pressed her attack with one weapon, throwing some impressive combinations and spins. Zane taught her well.

Except then she became predictable, I feel like Kalen was speaking in my head, “always watch for your enemy’s patterns and also don’t ever have a pattern.” So, I never did, and I always watched closely. She was going to step forward with the right leg and arc the sword to come at me from the top, so I used both weapons, stopped the arc and jerked up slightly, bending her wrist enough for her to let go of her weapon. She growled, pissed, and took up a fighting stance instead. Justin never did get back up. Oh well.

I laughed and tossed my weapons to the side, her eyes widening in surprise. “No, bitch, I’d rather feel your face break under my hands than beneath a sword.” I laughed and stepped forward, quickly fake punching her face to distract and instead kicked high, smashing her stomach and making her double over, while I punched her face from the side and made her neck snap to the left and then to the right as I followed up with another hit. She kicked out and instead of me landing on my back, I flipped up, arching over and landing in a crouch. I smiled and let her come to me and I circled her, playing around. I started to sing, just to piss her off.

“I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world. Life in plastic, it's fantastic. You can brush my hair,” I sang.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” she snarled.

“You don’t like that song? How’s this one? Hush, little asshole, don’t say a word. Hudson’s gonna buy you a mockingbird and if that mockingbird don't sing, no refunds, bitch.” I snickered.

She threw a kick and I sidestepped. “What? So, what if it didn’t rhyme? It was solid work. People don’t appreciate good artistry anymore.” I sighed and I finished her off, kicking her in the face, and as she fell quickly, side stepped and punched her in the opposite direction, completely knocking her out. Justin was taken to the infirmary, so I shrugged and stood in the center of the mat while I reached up to fix my ponytail. I smiled and faked a bow. Remi shook her head, but what I noticed was the smirk on the Dean’s face. I still don’t trust the fucker. The students looked at me and Remi in awe and grudging respect. This is the way it should be in the movies. First day, lay down the law and win a few battles, then bitches back down and we ride off into the sunset. Unfortunately, pettiness was just the start of my problems.

King

I hadto laugh as she gave a fake bow. I rolled my eyes at her and she smiled back. Damn, she was magnificent. Remi was as well, in a terrifying, eat your soul kind of way. When she licked the blood off her hand, I knew she wasn’t someone that you should ever take lightly. Hudson though? I knew she was tough; she took hits when only necessary, with eyes like a hawk, picking up on patterns and movements seconds before they were made.

We watched as Hudson and Remi squared off using magic, hand-to-hand, and weapons to teach a lesson about the benefits of the cohesiveness of magic. To be fair, they had a point. You can’t run off in battle and clap your hands and say, “oh wait, it’s magic time, let me ground myself.” We stressed this, but it fell on deaf ears.

“You know, when you guys spoke about her, I certainly wasn’t expecting to have her be so incredible. When Chancellor Jacobs let us know she was coming, I was expecting skills, but this magnitude of efficiency is disconcerting at the worst times, but damn formidable at the best of times.”

Gray chuckled beside me, “You’re telling me, we have to live with that terror every day. This weekend was just a taste. She’s going to be bloody impossible to deal with after today,” he groaned jokingly.

We watched as Hudson and Remi both threw magic so powerful, Zane hastily tossed up a shield around them to protect the rest of the students. The girls laughed as they flew back but used the elements to outmaneuver each other with clashing weapons. It was like watching a fucking movie right before my eyes.

“A taste, huh?” Blair whispered beside me in a low tone. I turned my head and raised my eyebrow.

“What I mean is, if that is just a taste, you guys are in for quite a banquet of fucking destruction.” He chuckled darkly.

“Not the words I would use.” Ryder frowned. “But the general idea is there, she’s going to be insufferable.”

“You know, her talent could only get better from here on out. Let’s see how she does after a couple of weeks in her classes. Surely from skill alone, she can surpass quite a few students. I want to make sure all of the academics are on par as well,” Deal Alvor chimed in from next to me. “Maybe an apprenticeship with me would be in order, but I don’t want to pile too much on her plate at once.”

He said this distractedly as Hudson pressed an advantage and threw a combination of magic that knocked Remi on her back before crossing her swords across Remi’s neck. Remi laughed and they knuckled. Giving each other a hug and joking while they walked back to their new friends, Jensi and Luca. They were good boys.

I nodded my head at what Alvor had said, she was bright, I’ll give her that, and quick on her feet; academically as well as with her magic and combat alone. In fact... “It certainly would be useful to see her help train some of these students after she does her own combat warm ups. She is very advanced.” Ryder and the Dean nodded and Grayson steepled his fingers under his chin.

We started to get up to file out of the combat zone before the students headed to dinner.

“She definitely surpassed my expectations in practice today,” Gray sighed and straightened. “I agree with the Dean. Let us see how she does in the next couple of weeks. I have a feeling she will continue to surprise us.”

That she will; I’m sure of it. What I’m not sure of is if I liked being friend zoned. I shook my head as I thought about being her squishy. I had a warm feeling in my chest. Being her anything made me a little giddy, even if it wasn’t in a romantic way. Still, I have a feeling that being friends with her would be better than to not be. In more ways than one. No one that skilled is ever free from the challenges that will come from those who want to prove themselves, or worse, those who would rather destroy the good in her. Being her squishy would mean I can keep her close and watch out for her too. Oh, the tangled webs life weaves, and my life is tugging me toward her direction.

* * *

Logan

WatchingRemi lick the blood off her hand, I knew what it was. Briefly, her eyes had touched mine, but that was enough. It was a warning. A warning I wasn’t going to heed. I knew she knew more or was more. There was something off about her. I was excited at the prospect; I knew I was right. No one understood me. They warned of telling old stories, calling them myths. They said that those stories were falsehoods, that they couldn’t possibly be true. So why couldn’t I tell them? No. Only those who seek to hide the truth forbid you from talking about it. I knew… I knew… I knew…

I loved when me and my twin sister went out to play in the forest behind our house. There was a pretty stream with the prettiest of flowers.

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