Bury all your secrets in my skin

8. Transformation

"Should you be showing off with that?"

Ava turned to see Lilith leaning casually against one of the central stone pillars of the training hall.

"It's fine..." She said, "And I'm training not showing off..."

Lilith scoffed and Ava poked her tongue out at her before turning back the little group of recruits tossing clay discs in the air.

"Alright, pull!"

A disc went flying and Ava hit the clay with a carefully controlled bullet of Halo power. The recruits cheered, and she puffed her chest out with a little bit of pride.

"See I have it under control Lilith..." The golden glow around Ava's hand faded slowly.

"I suppose you do..." Lilith looked reluctantly impressed, she straightened and moved to stand beside Ava, "Helps to not have a certain person distracting you... where is she, anyway?"

Ava tensed, "Taking a walk."

"Why? She sick of you already?"

"No!" Ava lost the battle to keep from blushing, "She, ah, well she..."

Lilith rolled her eyes, "Spit it out Ava."

"We had a moment at breakfast..." She looked away briefly, needing a reprieve from Lilith's piercing gaze, "She pushed Mary away from me... and then she..." Ava grimaced, "She kind of made out with me in front of everyone..."

Whatever Lilith had been expecting her to say, it obviously wasn't that. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally responded in a low voice.

"What. The. Fuck?"

Ava couldn't agree more with Lilith...for once. The more she thought about breakfast, the more nervous she became. What was Bea thinking when she advanced on Mary? She had a knife in her hands. Ava was sure of it. What would've happened if she hadn't pulled Bea away?

Ava shivered, "Yeah..."

"Ava, Ava!" The recruit operating the clay target thrower was waving enthusiastically at her, distracting Ava from her dark thoughts, "Do you think you can hit three at once?"

Shaking off the strange unease that was prickling at her skin, Ava concentrated on accessing the incredible power of the Halo, drawing it out and guiding it to her palms.

"Let's find out..."

~

Another wave of sound rolled gently through the hallway and Beatrice tilted her head in wonder as she ambled towards the library.

She really had not planned on training today. She had passed it off to Ava as arrogance, and if she was honest with herself it was a little bit, but she was concerned about what had happened the night before. Dreaming that she was Camila, and then waking up to find herself in Camila's room with her hand...

Beatrice took a deep breath and shook her head. It would not do to dwell on that particular aspect of last night even though that was her sole reason for heading to the library. Maybe she could find something there that would help her figure out what was wrong with her. It was so much more than just the skeletal hand. She had attacked Mary just for talking to Ava! If she didn't do something about this soon, how long would it be before she really hurt someone?

Another cheer echoed down the hallway, distracting her from her ruminations. It struck her as odd that there should be cheering; the sister warriors didn't typically celebrate martial prowess and showing off.