LOGAN:

I groaned, collapsing onto the nearest bench I could see as I pressed my head into my hands. My brain ached in my skull for all the information those blasted teachers had shoved into it with an hour each. I was pretty sure my head was going to explode.

“They put you through the wringer?” Erica chuckled, handing me a bottle of water.

After classes, Cody took me to grab some lunch from the mess hall before handing me off to Erica like parents tossing their child at a babysitter. He couldn’t apologise enough for the headache but that didn’t exactly make it go away.

“I feel like my brain has been pulled out threw my nose and then thrown back in there the wrong way ‘round. What is the point in me reading Charlotte Bronte’s books anyway I can hardly understand them.”

Erica chuckled, clipping her knife belt around her waist.

It was then that I decided to have a look at the training floor. Unlike the rest of the facility, this room wasn’t quite as well-decorated as the rest. It more so resembled a cave with its high ceilings, crudely carved out like a child using crinkled scissors. The room stretched on for further than I could see with the bend in the corner, and more mats apparently beyond that. There was an archery range with targets at the far side, a sparring area for hand to hand combat, dummies, and even an obstacle course.

The more things I noticed that you could do, the more I realised that it would be Erica putting me through the wringer today. I wasn’t quite safe yet.

Erica pulled out a silver packet from the pocket of her hoodie that was folded up beside me. “Take two. Let me know when they kick in.”

I popped the tablets out of the packet and waited until the pain in my head had just about become bearable when I walked over to Erica at the targets. She pulled blade after blade out of the belt on her waist as she flung them at the targets so effortless it looked as if they were merely sliding out of her grasp without a thought.

Each knife hit in the centre circle as her eyebrows furrowed lower and lower in her head. If she concentrated any harder she wasn’t going to be able to see past them.

My attention was drawn to a rack of bows a couple of meters away from us. I would never have been able to imagine such impressive weaponry if I tried, each bow appearing to have been carved from the finest wood, the compound bows with pulleys so shiny that they positively gleamed in the light of the cave. I picked up one of the wooden recurve bows, familiar with how the grip fit into the palm of my hand as if I had felt the same sensation hundreds of times over before.

I clasped a quiver around my waist with a couple of arrows in it and joined Erica on the range. She spotted me out of the corner of her eye and did a double-take, almost dropping the knife she held in her fingertips.

“You did not just do that?”

I frowned. “Do what?”

“This is the first time you’ve been down here and the first thing you grab is a damned bow?”

“Sorry, Kim Possible, but it’s what stuck out to me.” I shrugged my shoulders, facing the target.

“Whatever, but if you shoot yourself in the foot go crying to Cody instead of me.”

“Fine by me. I’ll just aim to shoot you in the foot instead.”

Erica moved to another target to keep her distance from me as if she had forgotten that it was supposed to be her showing me the ropes here instead of expecting me to pick things up alone. Although, that’s what I had seemed to do so far.

I looked around at the others lined up on the firing line. Most had bows like me, however, they had opted for the more complicated setup. The compound bows were much more impressive, sure, but if you’re worth your buck you should be able to shoot just as well with any recurve bow.

Where my sudden knowledge was coming from, I didn’t know.

I knocked an arrow and lined up my sight with the centre of the target, cursing as the arrow thudded on the outer ring. I shot another few before fiddling around with my sight, as if it had become second nature to me.

I had drawn the eyes of Erica and a couple of other kids training on the floor along with us. After fifteen minutes and a properly aligned sight, I was shooting the arrows into the centre ring every time without breaking a sweat. Shooting felt as easy as breathing to me, it felt as simple as spouting flames from the tips of my fingers.

A few of the other shooters beside me who came to my side, watching as I racked up points as if it was nothing. A little kid stood to the right of me, younger than most I had seen in the facility so far, and he was holding his own recurve bow and beaming. I fought the smile that wanted to take over my face at his excited gaze.

Erica stomped over to stand beside me again, her knives discarded on the target. Her hands were on her hips as she glared at me, taking in my target and the small crowd that I had attracted.

“How the hell-”

I held up my free hand, my fingers raw from pulling back the string without a guard. “Don’t ask, I don’t know.”

Erica held up her hands in surrender, taking the bow out of my hands and placing it back on the stand with the others as she ignored my protests. “You’re freaking me out with that thing. Besides, you clearly need no more practice with that.”

“It just…it makes no sense. How?” I asked as Erica led me over to a free sparring mat.

“It feels as easy as going to sleep? Like walking? Like your brain telling your arm to pick up a cup of tea?” Erica asked, unclasping her belt from around her waist and dropping it to the floor. I was happy to see that; I didn’t doubt that if she still had it that she would be tempted to play dirty.

I nodded, wordlessly. We circled one another, waiting to see who would through the first punch.

“It was the same with me and knives. You just know. We must have learned before at some stage in her lives, although who would give a kid weapons I have no idea.” Erica used my distraction to land a punch on my ribs. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to rub at the spot.

I watched her carefully to see if she had any ticks to give her away, but I saw none so far. “Who would give a group of teenagers an entire training floor regardless? What’s the point of that?”

Erica jumped as I went to sweep her feet out from in beneath her and she stepped down hard on my ankle instead. I crumbled. “Some of us believe that someday Castaneda’s going to come back for us. And I’d like to be ready.”

I panted, clambering back to my feet. “He spat the lot of us out without memories or homes to go back to what more could he want to take from us.”

“We’re a community of unique people who had recovered from being experimented on our entire childhood and forged bonds with each other. If he knew about us, he’d want nothing more than to take it all away.”

Erica gulped in a deep breath as I landed a hit on her stomach and she stumbled back. She glared furiously at me for taking advantage of her moment of vulnerability but I merely shrugged my shoulders.

“What makes you think he doesn’t know?”

Before I could comprehend her even moving, Erica sprinted to being me and kicked me in the back of the knee. She wrapped a muscular arm around my neck as I knelt on the ground, scratching furiously as she tensed, making me struggle to draw in a breath.

“Cause we’re all still alive.”

I slapped her arm a couple of times and she finally released me. I curled up in on myself as I bent over, coughing and fighting for breath as my head grew fuzzy. Erica nudged me with her foot and I groaned, suddenly wishing I was back in my bed.

“Don’t be a baby, I didn’t completely choke you out.”

I pointed with my hand, my other clutching my chest as I struggled to remain my breath. “Fucking hell.” Was all I was able to utter.

“Get up, we’re not nearly done yet.”

Once I was able to breathe like a person again, Erica led me over to the obstacle course.

“Watch carefully.” She grinned. I blinked, and then she was gone.

Somehow, I had already managed to mess up the order she gave me. I squinted, looking for her through the obstacle course. I saw the net wiggle slightly as if was disturbed, but there was no wind in the cave to bluster it about like a curtain on a stormy night. The monkey bars squeaked as if skin was rubbing on metal and then I heard a thud. I watched as obstacle after obstacle was disturbed, however, I didn’t know what was causing it.

I drew in a sharp breath, feeling cool metal grace the skin of my throat before the hand holding it reappeared. I could practically feel Erica smirking behind me as she held the blade to my throat. I was one gulp away from bleeding out.

“And that’s what I can do. You never even saw me coming, although I did warn you to keep an eye on me.” I sighed As Erica lifted the knife from my throat and I turned to face her.

“That was both awesome and terrifying.” Erica looked me up and down before nodding as if she had only just decided that I was ‘alright’ and ‘worth her time’. If Cody was here I could have asked him what it was she was thinking, but even then I was unsure if it was something I wanted to know for certain.

I shifted uncomfortably where I stood, fire flickering at my fingertips as I noticed the stairs of people that tracked me. “What-”

“You’re…rare, Logan.” Erica explained, slipping her knife back into her belt, hands on her hips. “We haven’t had someone quite like you before. You’re…destructive.” She tread carefully but it still stung like a slap across my face.

“I didn’t ask to be like this.” I hissed, flames spouting from my palms, and traveling up my forearms.

“Calm down before I throw a bucket of water over you. This isn’t a fight you want to be picking.”

“I’m pretty sure it is,” I replied.

“Keep your cool or you’re only going to make them more scared of you.” I gritted my teeth at her words, concentrating to make the fire dispel from my hands.

My head shot up at the sound of the bell as I whipped around searching for the source. Erica smacked the back of my head, all tension now gone from the room.

“Dinner time.”