Page 49 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

“And last and probably least”—Tucker chuckled, as did the rest of them—“this is Eric Wilmore and his girl,Beth.”

Tara knew Beth from school, but they’d never talked. Tara didn’t have anything against the girl … that she never knewof.

“You ever thrown an axe before?” Jasper askedher.

“Only every Saturday of my life since I could lift one,” Tara said with a completely straightface.

Tucker chuckled while the other three guys looked a little awestruck. She almost hated to burst theirbubble.

“That’s badass,” Ericsaid.

“It’s also a lie,” Tara said, drawing out the first word and then winking at him, hoping that would take the sharp edge off of hersarcasm.

“Tara’s a real funny girl,” Desiree said, her lip turning up in what she must’ve thought would be half a smile but looked more like asnarl.

“Put the claws away, Des,” Jasonchided.

“We’re wasting daylight, people,” Tucker said and tugged Tara along past a grove of trees. Beyond the grove was a sizeable tin barn, long past its working days. Tara could see that large square pieces of wood bearing painted targets had been screwed to the side of the building. Three targets lined almost the entire length of the structure. A giant tree stump, grey and weathered with age but not yet rotting, sat several paces away from the barn. Several short-handled axes poked out of it, their heads buried into the stump…Which henceforth will be called the stump ofdeath.

They meandered over to the stump of death. Tara saw there weren’t enough axes for everyone. Jasper grabbed one and handed it to Harper, and they moved to one of the targets. Tucker led Tara after them. “We’re going to share with Harper andJasper.”

She nodded and gave a thumbs up. Tara was actually excited to throw an axe. As long as she didn’t kill anyone or chop off her own toe, it should be fun. Fun because she planned on imagining Elias’s face plastered to the wooden target she would be throwingat.

“Let’s let Jasper and Harper go first so you can watch them, and then I’ll help you when it’s yourturn.”

“Sounds good,” she replied. Tara noticed, as Harper took her place across from the target and readied herself to throw, that the handle on the axe was much shorter than the one Tara’s father had used to cut firewood. Tara didn’t allow herself to dwell on that memory and made herself stay in the present. She paid close attention to Harper’s form. The girl held the handle much like a baseball bat, but instead of bringing it over her shoulder, she brought it straight up and over her head. To Tara, it looked just like how a soccer ball would be thrown back intoplay.

Jasper and Harper completed their throws, of which Jasper stuck two out of three and Harper stuck all three, gaining Jasper many catcalls from the other boys. Then, Tucker motioned for Tara to step up. He handed her an axe and showed her how to place her hands. Then, he walked her through the same motions she’d just watched Harper and Jasper perform. To Tucker’s credit, he didn’t take the opportunity to get too close to her or do anything that made Tara feel uncomfortable. He gave her a crooked grin and winked as he stepped back and said, “Let’s see what you got,Thompson.”

Tara thought about the motions and pictured herself throwing the axe, mentally watching it fly through the air and hit the target, which in her mind was right between Elias’s eyes. Visualization done, she pulled the axe back, arched forward, bringing it down with her arms, and released it just when she saw the blade come into sight. It spun one time before lodging into the target only a couple inches from the bull’s-eye. She shrugged. At least she hit him in the face. Okay, maybe she shouldn’t keep thinking about hurting Elias with an axe. It probably wasn’t a healthy obsession to have, and she really was trying to cut back on her obsessionquota.

“Wow! T, that was awesome,” Tucker said and gave her a high five. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a girl hit the target the firsttime.”

“Nope,” Jason called from down at his and Desiree’s spot. “Des threw it at least fifty times before she finally got astick.”

“That was just because she liked you adjusting her ‘form,’” Eric said, inserting quotations around the wordform.

The guys all chuckled while Desiree said something to her boyfriend, low enough that the rest of them couldn’thear.

“He’ll never learn,” Tuckersaid.

“What?” Taraasked.

Tucker tilted his head toward Jason and his girlfriend, who was currently wagging a finger at him like he was a four-year-old. “He knows what things will piss her off, and yet he says themanyway.”

“It’s because he likes angry, make-up s—” Jasper started, but Tucker cut him off with a shake of hishead.

Tara rolled her eyes. “I know what sex is. Just because I’m not out there doing it doesn’t mean I don’t realize othersare.”

“Regardless,” Tucker said, “you shouldn’t have to listen to crudelanguage.”

“You obviously don’t know my best friend,” she said dryly. “Crude is her playground in the town ofGutter.”

Harper laughed. “She soundsfun.”

Tara smiled because it made her cold heart warm a little toward the girl. Shelly was fun, and it was sad that more people didn’t realize it. “Sheis.”

“All right, how about a friendly competition,” Eric called out. “Guys againstgirls.”

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