A lump formed in my throat. “Were?”
The vein in Tore’s jaw popped as he clenched down. “My mom’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “Nott?”
He shook his head ‘no’, and that was all. We walked the rest of the way home in silence.
****
“All right, Pepper, today we’re going to try something different.” Tore led me, Bodie, Johann, and Mack out of the safe house and into the forest. We walked in the general direction of the complex, our boots crunching on three-day-old snow. “What we’re going to do is dangerous, but you have to get your feet wet some time.” Tore’s words didn’t exactly make me excited for whatever it was he had planned.
A few days had passed since Tore had dropped his mom news. He’d been true to his word and devoted his waking hours to turning me into a Night killer. I doubted I’d ever be ready to take on the goddess of all things evil, but the guys said my form was improving. And I’d put on another pound of muscle, which seemed to make Tore mildly pleased. I, however, was on the fence. On the one hand, my improved abilities and increased mass meant we were that much closer to being able to hunt down the pieces of my weapon. On the other hand, it meant I was that much closer to having to fight Nott and her minions to the death. And as much as I wanted to save my realm and bring back my mom, the idea of a death-fight still scared me.
“We’re not going that way.” Tore put a hand on my arm as I turned toward the complex.
I shot him a confused look. “But it’s training time.”
“Exactly. And while we’ve trained you in weapons, weights, creative combat, and, to some degree, energy management, we still haven’t taught you to use your greatest weapon.” Tore marched into the woods. I trotted after him.
“My brilliant wit?” I offered.
“I was going to say your ethereal beauty, Allie.” Johann threw an arm around my shoulders.
“That too,” I quipped. We moved deeper into the forest until we reached a small clearing. Massive evergreens stood in a circle around us, and a thin sheen of frost covered the ground. Tore came to a stop in the center of the ring, and Johann and Mack sidled up so they stood directly to my right and my left.
Bodie stood slightly apart from the rest of us. “I’ll be the guinea pig,” he offered.
Tore raised one eyebrow in a questioning look. Bodie just nodded. “I got this,” he affirmed.
“It’s your funeral.” Tore shrugged.
“You guys are freaking me out. What are we doing here?” I adjusted the leather strap of my shoulder armor. Usually, the metal arm piece made me feel tough, but the abrupt change of training venue and mention of a potential funeral had me slightly on edge.
Bodie stepped in front of me and gave me a cocky wink. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to these.” He flexed his biceps, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Thanks. That’s one stress off my plate, at least.” I chuckled.
Tore stepped in beside us and placed one possessive hand on my lower back.
“Focus, Allie,” he commanded. “Look at Bodie’s energy.”
At Tore’s words, I switched gears and opened up my sight to scan my friend. Bright, blueish-green waves radiated three feet off of his body. “I see it,” I told Tore. Where are we going with this?
Tore nodded. “Okay, now listen carefully. Every living thing has this energy whether you can see it or not.” I assumed he was talking about himself with the “or not” comment.
“I’m aware of that. Thanks.”
Tore’s frown suggested he didn’t appreciate my sarcasm. “Well, are you aware that you can take that energy to weaken someone and make them easier to kill?”
My mouth fell open at his words. “I’m not doing that to Bodie.” First of all, he was my friend. Second, I had no idea how to manipulate someone that way. I’d dedicated my eighteen years of life to avoiding other people’s energy, thank you very much.
Bodie stepped forward so he was right against my space. He put his hands on my arms, bending down so his eyes were level with mine. “I promise I won’t let you hurt me. If it’s too much, I’ll back off—I know my limits. But you have to learn to do this if you’re going to defeat Nott and her night elves.”
Tore stood with his arms crossed, looking at me like I was a remedial student. “It’s not a skill you can learn from a book, Allie. You have to actually do it.”
“All right, fine! I’ll try to suck the life out of Bodie.” I exhaled loudly. A snicker from my left shifted Tore’s intense stare from me to Johann. One icy glare shut him right up.
“Okay.” Tore took a slow breath and held up his hands. “Open the energy centers in your palms, and place them on Bodie’s chest.”
I grounded myself to the snowy forest floor, then turned my palms upward and waited. The energy centers pulsed, swirling and opening like flowers drinking in the sunlight. I gave Bodie a questioning look, and he nodded. But when I placed my hands on his chest, he flinched. “Whoa,” he said.
I wanted to ask what that meant, but I knew he’d tell me if it was too much. So, I kept my palms on his shirt and waited for the next direction.
Tore re-crossed his arms. “You already know not to merge energies—your bubble is your armor, and you need to guard your space against energetic invaders. You can’t be corded, or drained, unless you let your guard down and let someone in. So don’t ever let anyone in. Not even one of us. Do you understand that, Allie?”
“I do,” I whispered.
“Good.” Tore leaned back. “Now, when you’re near a dark being you have to be extra vigilant. Darkness feeds off light. And a dark being will try harder than you know to penetrate your bubble and cord you. When battling dark energy, you need to first create an energy bowl.”
“A bowl?” I asked. “Seriously? That’s your plan?”
Tore looked like he was losing patience with me. “Look, I wish one of our mothers were here to explain this better, but they’re not, so you need to work with me.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Take some of the energy from the surrounding nature, and make a bowl.”
I grumbled. “You’re saying that like it’s easy.”
“You have no idea what you’re capable of.” Tore’s eyes bored into mine. “You’re Eir’s daughter. Compared to what you’ll be doing in a few years, this is easy.”
I tried not to look as frustrated as I felt. “Maybe. But you can’t just say ‘make a bowl with nature’s energy,’ and expect me to have half a clue how to do that. You need to show me.”