Allie, who had longed for any kind of normality, none the less endured the lessons with ill grace. It was hard to stay focused on what the teachers were saying. She wanted to be in Dom’s office, helping to find Carter.
She was also avoiding any situation when she might be alone with Sylvain. She wasn’t ready to deal with their confused relationship.
As soon as classes ended for the day she raced up to Dom’s office, working there until Night School began in the evening.
She hadn’t told anyone about her meeting with the Orion Group. If she told them that, she’d have to tell them she was leaving Cimmeria. And that was a conversation she wasn’t going to have with anyone until Carter was back.
And he would be back.
But she kept thinking about it. Julian had seemed so reasonable. He seemed to have absolute faith that they’d find a way to beat Nathaniel.
She wanted him to be right so badly it hurt.
Night School training resumed that evening. Isabelle suggested Allie should skip it (‘You’ve had a terrible week…’), but she refused.
She had to stay busy or she’d go insane. She wanted to run. To kick things. To knock everyone down.
Now the students were arrayed in Training Room One under the flickering fluorescent light. On one side of the room, Zelazny and two of Raj’s guards were working with the younger students, walking them through basic stretching and strength building.
On the other side of the dim room, senior students were working with Eloise, practising techniques for disarming attackers.
Sylvain was there, too. He looked relaxed, focused. He didn’t seem to have noticed she was avoiding him.
To Allie’s relief, Eloise paired him with Nicole, assigning Allie to practise with Katie.
So, thirty minutes after training began, Allie held a fake handgun in her hand, pointed at Katie’s face.
‘Bang,’ she said.
Katie rolled her eyes. ‘Very funny.’
‘It was the best I could come up with,’ Allie said. ‘I didn’t have much time to prepare…’
Without warning the redhead leapt into the air, directing a perfect flying kick at the weapon.
Before Allie could react, the gun flew out of her fingers, thudding against the wall.
Katie landed weightlessly in front of her. Allie stared at her, open-mouthed.
‘Bang that, girlfriend.’ Katie dusted her hands against her hips. She looked very pleased with herself.
‘Remind me never to get into a fight with a ballerina,’ Allie muttered, as she looked around for the lost weapon. But Katie found it first.
Picking it up, she pointed the barrel at Allie’s heart. ‘Your turn, rock chick.’
Allie’s eyebrows shot up, making her stitches sting. ‘Rock chick?’
‘It’s street talk.’ Katie gave a disinterested shrug. ‘Don’t blame me if you’re not down with the kids.’
‘I’m not down with the kids. I am a kid.’
‘Are you going to kick this gun?’ Katie asked evenly. ‘Or not?’
Allie noticed that her nails were beautifully manicured in pale pink. How did she have time to paint her nails when Carter was a hostage and Lucinda was dead and the world had gone to hell?
For some reason this small detail galled her. Anger, always close to the surface, flared.
‘I’m going to kick that gun.’ She gritted her teeth.
Whirling on the toes of one foot, she performed the same move with less balletic grace, and more violence. The gun flew ten feet, just missing Nicole and Sylvain.
‘Careful,’ Eloise cautioned from where she was training with Zoe. ‘Nobody’s supposed to get hurt tonight.’
Allie waved an unrepentant apology.
Katie examined her wrist. ‘That was unnecessarily brutish.’
‘Thanks,’ Allie said. ‘I tried.’
Katie craned her neck to look to where Rachel was training with Lucas. She was struggling to reach the gun with her foot, even though Lucas kept lowering his hand to make it easier for her.
‘I want to train with Rachel again. She has excellent manners.’
‘You mean she’s not very good at the fighting.’
‘That too.’ Katie picked up a towel to dab her face. ‘Let’s take a break while I plot my revenge.’
Grabbing a bottle of water from the floor, Allie took a swig. She wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone but she liked training with Katie. She was a quick student. Interesting to spar with. And funny.
She took her mind off things. At least five minutes had passed since she’d last worried about Carter.
Katie stretched an arm above her head, bending so far to one side she looked broken. ‘You must be glad to have Sylvain back.’
Allie followed her gaze. At the opposite end of the room, Sylvain and Nicole were practising with smooth, well-matched precision. Sylvain’s movement were as graceful as Katie’s – he had a dancer’s perfect balance. He defied gravity.
His muscles flexed as he whipped the gun from Nicole’s fingers.
So much for taking my mind off things.
‘I am glad,’ she said, not entirely dishonestly. ‘We need him.’