Angelic

Alec ~ 6

The feel of the blade in my hands, protecting me, guarding me... There was no other feeling I liked more in the world. My feet played a choreographed dance beneath me, chasing Jace's. Our blades clashes together, hard enough to make sparks fly. He twisted, squatting down while swinging around in a circle, but before he could swing at my legs, I jumped up, over him, and had my blade at his head before he realized what I had done.

"Alec 1, Jace 0," I said with a smile.

He stood up, turning around to face me. He was covered in sweat, his shirt stinging to his chest. His hair stuck to his forehead like a lifeline, his chest rising and falling with short, quick breaths. I probably looked just the same.

"You better take it for granted." He responded. "I'm not gonna let that happen again."

I laughed. "I'm gonna go get my bow. I could use some target practice."

He nodded, walking over to where he had set his water bottle down and took a big chug.

I walked over to the far end of the room, where my bow and the quiver--full of thick, strong arrows--sat leaning against the wall near the door. As soon as I had thrown the quiver over my shoulders, the door opened, and in walked Izzy, Max, and the new girl. I didn't move as they approached Jace.

Izzy explained what we used the room for to Ev, then walked her over to Jace.

"Jace!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, Iz." He went to hug her, but seeing as she was still wearing her dress, she backed away. Jace laughed.

"He's usually harmless." Izzy told Ev. "Just don't go with him to any formal occasion. He find any way to ruin your favorite dress."

"Hey, Jace!" Max exclaimed, who had been holding onto Ev's hand since they entered the room, but now dropped it to hug Jace. Izzy rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her face.

"So, I hear you're pretty good at hand-to-hand combat." Jace commented casually, staring at Ev.

"I'm okay." She was humble, too. Why did she make it so hard to hate her?

Izzy laughed. "Jace is the last person you have to be conservative with. The word humble isn't even in his vocabulary."

Ev smiled, but it looked fake, even from across the room. As soon as I thought it, she glanced over in my direction, as if she knew I had been standing here the entire time. I waited for her to call me out on it, or at least say something, but she only looked back at Izzy and Jace and said, "Izzy, can you show me where the library is? Jace should get back to his training."

Izzy nodded, but before they left, Jace told Ev, "Hey, sorry about running off earlier. Alec and I needed to train, but that probably wasn't the best way to handle it."

Ev shrugged. "It's not like I've never been more eager to train than talk to someone new. I get it."

Jace laughed. "I'll train with you to make up for it."

"Jace, do you really think you'll be able to keep up with her?" Izzy questioned.

"It's alright." Ev assured her. "I'll go easy on him." She added with a wink in Jace's direction, but she didn't give him a chance to add a snarky response, because the next second Izzy and Ev were halfway out the door.

...

An hour into my target practice, Jace walked over to me, saying, "I'm starving. Let's go get lunch."

Without having to say anything, we somehow decided on Taki's, and half an hour later we were inside a booth in the corner of the restaurant. Jace glanced around, probably looking for that waitress he always messes around with.

"I didn't know you were spineless." I commented.

He looked over at me, an eyebrow raised. "Where'd you get that ridiculous idea?"

"I thought you didn't like Ev as much as I didn't, but suddenly you're training partners?" I questioned. I didn't really care how he felt about her. I just didn't want my parabatai sparring with her.

"Why don't you like her?" He asked. "She's actually not that bad."

I rolled my eyes, not getting a chance to answer before our waiter came by and took our order. Once he left, I looked back at Jace. "No one thinks she's bad. In fact, everyone seems to be obsessed with her. Don't you find it kind of weird that she just got here and suddenly she's everyone's favorite person?"

He stared at something behind my head, seeming to think about it. Then he looked back at me. "No, I don't find it weird. What I find weird is why you seem to dislike her so much for no reason."

"I don't know." I finally admitted. "I just get the feeling..."

"What?" He asked, egging me on.

"There's something sketchy about her, something she's hiding."

"And you're sure this isn't just your hate talking?"

"You don't get a weird feeling about her? Like something is off about her?"

"No, I get the feeling that she's a girl from another country that probably feels way in over her head and that you need to give her a break." He said it with finality, and even though I wanted to keep pressing it, he didn't seem to want to talk about her anymore.

Luckily, our food came, and we spent the rest of the time in silence, eating our burgers with loud minds and quiet tongues.