A Revolution In Shadow And Blood

I Sit with the Stars

I grin at the boy, and spread my arms wide as I back further into the room. "Come on in then." My classmates spread out in the room, some standing alone but most of them stay in groups. From body language, I can tell that a good portion of them are nervous. Some of them still aren't sure of me, which is expected, but that isn't going to work if they really want to learn from me. "So, the way my parents taught me is by teaching me self defense. Even though none of us may ever use these skills, it's still a good way to learn. The goal is control, it doesn't really matter how you get it." I motion towards the mats. "Line up on the mats an arms length apart if you want to learn."

"You're going to start teaching us now?" Jessica asks, though she still lines up on the mat with Guanyin, Luke, and most of the others. I notice a few uncertain souls stay back, but don't mention it.

Instead, I shrug, "We have no class. Why waste time?" I watch as they form scraggly lines. I raise an eyebrow at their awkward shuffling and uneven spacing, but I'll have to deal with that later. "It's about control. Control your body, control your ability," I tell them, repeating the same mantra that my parents drilled into me when I was first learning. After I spread my feet and put my hands up by my jaw, I punch the air. I quickly explain the name and how to do it, then do it again but this time much slower. Now it's their turn to try. I watch as they attempt the punch, and immediately notice a problem. "Wait, stop."

Gesturing toward their feet, I say, "Sorry, I should've started with this, but you need to stand a certain way." I turn my back to them and take my stance. "Feet should be about shoulder width apart, with your dominant foot slightly forward." I turn to watch as they all figure it out and show them the punch again.

After I'm sure I haven't missed anything else, I walk around and have them do it one at a time while I correct any small mistakes. By then, more of my peers have joined in, leaving only a couple still standing away. Quickly, I notice a common problem among them, and once I've given each of them one on one attention, I walk back to the front and show them how to put more than just their arm muscles into the punch. That part is very important, especially for the girls, who don't have as much natural arm strength as the boys. I also demonstrate how to twist your arm at the end to include more force and protect your elbow. Last, I show them how to tuck in their thumbs, so they don't accidentally break them. Soon after that, the bell rings and the students start to file out, thoroughly exhausted. I call after them, saying, "If you want to learn more, I'll be here tomorrow instead of going to class."

A skinny boy with red hair lingers behind the others and waits for them to leave before he asks, "Your parents taught you all of this?"

"Yeah. They learned all of this while training as soldiers to fight in the Blood War," I tell him. I pause, debating whether or not I should make a friend out of him, before I say, "I'm Freya, by the way."

He smiles and I realize that I made the right decision. "I'm Conner. I was wondering..." Conner's already ruddy complexion turns pink before he manages to continue, "I saw you in the cafeteria. You just went flying suddenly. What happened?"

"I can see Spirits. I ran into a Dark Spirit in the cafeteria and it attacked me." His face drops into shock, so I quickly add, "It's not a big deal. I run into them all the time, just not usually in such a public place." Now that I'm thinking about it, it's strange that one was in a school for Enhanced, especially because I'm sure I'm not the only one with a death ability here. Anyone that can see Spirits can destroy them, and if there was a graveyard or hospital or something near here, there should be an employee who is supposed to protect the students from any wandering Dark Spirits. However, it could be from a random death nearby, or a wandering Spirit that just hadn't been dealt with yet.

"They attack you all the time?" Conner says the same time Guanyin asks, "Is it like a ghost?"

I answer Guanyin's question first. "The idea of ghosts came from Spirits, but it's different," I explain, "When someone dies, it causes a lot of emotions. A Spirit comes from the emotions of whoever is dying. It's like an echo of their most powerful emotion in that moment their soul leaves their body. Negative emotions produce Dark Spirits and positive emotions produce Light Spirits. The Dark ones are violent, no matter what negative emotion they came from. And yeah, the Dark ones always attack me. I'm not sure why or how, but they sense me soon after I see them and come after me."

"And that's what you ran into in the cafeteria." Luke states.

"Yeah." It's silent for a moment, before I speak again, wanting to get off of this topic as soon as I can. "Well, I'm hungry. Let's go get some lunch."

Hours later, Jessica is sound asleep in the bed next to me, her soft snores filling the room. I can't seem to sleep, and it's not the noise. Maybe it's the unfamiliar place, maybe it's the ache in my chest that can't seem to leave me alone. I sigh as I roll over, knowing it's the latter. I close my eyes again. I am not getting out of bed. I cannot let a stupid boy dictate my life. He's not even here! I roll on my back again and press my palms against my eyes. Nope. Not doing it. The knot tightens, and his voice whispers in my ear.

I want to take you somewhere.

I give up. Pushing my body out of bed, I tiptoe to the window and open it, letting the light breeze pick up the shorter hairs and attempt to carry them away, while the longer and heavier strands only move slightly. I lift myself onto the window sill and step delicately onto the roof. I place one of my hands on the roof, along with both of my feet, knowing very well that if the wind were to best my balance and I were to fall the three stories to the ground, I would not be walking away without a scratch. Quickly, I climb the roof until I reach the top and sit down on the slanted side that my window is embedded in. I'm facing the moon with my back to most of the small towns lights, and I can see thousands of stars. It really is a shame that I can't see any more, as I'm too close to the town. But I'll take what I can get as I fully enjoy the crescent moon and small pin-pricks of light that poke through the endless black sky.

One of my hands moves to my chest, rubbing at the spot where my rib cage splits in the center of my torso, just below my sternum. It does nothing to help the ache, but I find it comforting so I do it anyway. I can't help but think of the boy that's causing this, who is probably experiencing the very same ache from...wherever he is. I close my eyes as I bury my nose in the crook of my elbow with my arms folded and placed on top of my knees, which are curled against my chest. The last memory I have of him jumps to the forefront of my mind, the last image I have of his face freezing in the memory.

Messy light brown hair, not long, but not short either. Right in the middle, I think. Normally soft red eyes turned hard, glaring, with short lashes framing them. Arched eyebrows above them to accentuate the anger and betrayal that reflect in his eyes. He could never hide his true feelings from me. Brown skin tanned darker from spending too much time in the sun, which I could never understand. Those of us who have Dark energy usually spend as much time out of direct sunlight as we can. Pink lips, the lower one slightly thicker, pulled into a slight frown. His jaw was clenched, a muscle ticking. Every inch of his face showed how fully he hated me in that moment.

I shake my head free of the memories, and force my mind to other subjects. After several minutes of trying not to return to thinking of him, a thought comes to me and I rush to dig my phone out of my pocket and call my Mom. Of course, as it's two in the morning, she doesn't pick up, but I leave her a message, telling her about the History book and how Enterprise is teaching it's students. She can't come down here and smack some sense into them, as awesome as that would be, but she might be able to do something else. Maybe contact the committee and try to get them to enforce new policies about teaching their young citizens. The committee are a group of adult Enhanced who are responsible for creating the extra rules for all Enhanced. It was created after the Blood War, and though they aren't official rulers of our kind, most of the public sees them as such. Them, or my Mom. After I leave the message for her, I sigh, closing my eyes for one more second of peace, then climb back down to the window, and slip back into bed.