The Assassin's Shadow

Chapter 5

Practice-wise, the next day was more successful for me than the day before. I had a better grasp of what Ash was teaching me because she had changed her tactics. Instead of leaving me to fend for myself, she brought out some well worn punching bags and gave me instructions on how to fight. Around an hour into my lesson, Quin came in to watch me work as he ate a BLT. The smell of it distracted my unsatisfied stomach and I thought of my measly breakfast that consisted solely of toast and tea, not even real coffee. Ash noticed my preoccupation and turned to see what I was looking at. She laughed when she saw what Quin was holding. It was the first time I noticed that she didn't laugh without an edge to her voice.

"Hey Quin, do you mind giving up half your sandwich?" she asked. I turned to look at her sharply, wondering what she was up too.

"Half my sandwich." he asked suspiciously. Then he seemed to notice my gaze and the suspicion left his voice. "Oh, sure."

He tore it in half and handed it to Ash. She walked over to me and handed it to me.

"Go ahead, take a break." she told me, still with that strangely natural smile on her face. "You deserve it."

My wariness of her generosity quickly turned into pure joy as I took my first bite of that sandwich. The bacon itself was a luxury for me and I found myself sitting on the ground, savoring every new taste; the lettuce, the bacon, the tomatoes, the white french bread, still fresh and warm.

All of it was finished sooner than I liked and when I looked up again, I noticed that Ash was watching me with a strange glint in her eye, something very close to maternal. The look was quickly eradicated, however, when she processed me looking at her.

"You won't be distracted again, right?" she said. I nodded and stood up. We continued with my lesson, but I couldn't help but look at her a little differently now. I still hated her, yes, but there was something else when I looked at her. There was an edge to the hate as if it was muted by another emotion. It was only when she released me to go to lunch that I identified the feeling. It was curiosity.

Quin had been walking by my side, heading for lunch, but when I started to take my usual turn up the stairs that led to my room, he grabbed my wrist and grinned.

"Nuh, uh girly. You need to get out of that hole of yours every once in a while. Come on, you're eating with us today."

"No, I'm fine eating in my room." I said, trying to tug my hand out of his grip.

"Yeah yeah, being antisocial and all you probably would, but it's good for you to get out every once in a while and be with people. Besides, you get better food when you come down to get it yourself."

I dragged my feet sulkily but I couldn't deny that I wanted something more to eat than the same thing every day. Quin led me to the dining room of the mansion. I had never been to it before, having done everything in my power to avoid contact with the people who lived here.

The dining room was furnished like I would expect in a mansion, complete with a crystal chandelier, however instead of a single table in the center of the room there were many smaller tables situated as if this was a cafeteria. Two of the tables had people sitting around them. I recognized some of the people but only one of them did I know by name. Josh, the one I had met the first day of my training with Ash, was sitting at the far most table from the door. He sat with three other people, one of whom I recognized as a man with the talent to conjure a bubble-like shield that no physical object could get past. 

The second table held a young girl with blonde hair, probably fourteen years old, a woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, and a boy with dirty blonde hair and a handsome face in his late teens. Quin led me to that table and I noticed when I got close that they were all eating various types of sandwiches.