Ghost... Witch?

Sisters

Rose POV

Ow! Ow! Ow!

Her father had been less drunk than usual when he attacked her this time. Less drunk, and more violent. Usually the fucker was far too drunk to do much but that was the case this time and damn, did her ribs feel the difference.

The worst part?

She didn't HAVE to get hurt.

Rose was trained.

She could kill at the rate of a dozen men a minute. She could've taken him in out in less time than it took him to get off the couch.

But, at the same time, she couldn't.

If she didn't take it, her mom would. Or it could be even worse. Before she'd stepped in, it had been her mother. Then she'd started interposing herself. Because her mom was pregnant, because she had to protect her yet-unborn sibling. Her mom had allowed it, but had always intended to go back to being the recipient of the abuse once she'd delivered. Only it hadn't worked out that way. No matter what her mother did; no matter how hard she tried to shield Rose; the fucker always came after her. And that scared the shit out of Rose. And so she kept taking it because if SHE got out of the way it could be May instead of her mom. And that wasn't an option. Not while she lived.

Sang POV

Something was off about Rose. She was limping and wincing and had been since she saw her enter this morning. Which in itself was an anomaly. Sang was rarely early enough to see Rose come in. And she hadn't made any particular effort to be early this morning. Which meant... Rose was late. Rose was NEVER late.

And the way she had been moving.... There was something familiar in the way she'd winced and moved. Sang's eyes widened in surprise and she grabbed at Cait (who was next to her at the moment) whispering, "Find a first aid kit and keep it handy. We need to get Rose alone.".

Rose had been moving the way Jaz moved after one of Mother's particularly intense punishments. Rose was hurt. And Sang was going to find out why.

Cait POV

Today was turning out to be confusing and scary. First, Rose turned up late and was acting oddly. Then Sang spent some time staring at her and then ordered me to find a first aid kit and keep it on me and said that we needed to get Rose alone. I know what you're probably thinking - 'Sang is your mentee and you let her order you around?'. I know, it sounds crazy to me too when you put it that way but you see, there's something I've learned about Sang Sorenson, she doesn't play around. She's generally the sweetest and most biddable girl you'd ever meet but she's got a hella instinct and when she gets that tone of voice and starts ordering folks around there's always an excellent reason behind it. And if you'd heard that tone... well, let's just say that you wouldn't care to disobey the girl using it either.

Later that day...

We got Rose alone by the simple expedient of pushing through our physical training as fast as we could and then running over to where the seniors were having theirs. For some reason Rose was the last to finish and prepare to leave. Sang wasn't particularly surprised and acted as if this was expected. I was thoroughly confused. Rose was one of the best in her bracket. She practically blew the roof of the curve. Had been surprising her trainers since her first week. Why would SHE be the last to finish?

Sang made Rose sit and asked me to get the first aid kit. Rummaging through it she said, "Take your shirt off.". I stared at her. NO ONE ordered Rose about. Even our instructors shied away from giving her direct orders, preferring to word their instructions as requests. "Why?", said Rose raising an eyebrow sardonically. I almost gave myself whiplash turning to look at her. Rose HATED orders, yet her tone held no confrontation. She'd reduced seniors to whimpers with a few well-chosen words - hell I turned into a wibbling heap with a single glare and I was her mentee, damn it! Yet Sang knew what was going on and I was out of the loop! And... if I wasn't wrong - there'd been a wry resignation in Rose's tone... almost as if she knew what was coming, and knew that Sang was going to get her way. How was THAT even possible? Rosabel Rachael Remington did NOT ever give way! If it wasn't HER way, then well there WASN'T a way and that was that! Sang pinned Rose with a glare, her hands freezing. "You know damn well why." I whipped my head around again. I'd never known Sang to curse before. Apparently my universe had decided to do headstands today. Or I was hallucinating. Yeah, that was more reasonable than... Holy Shit! Was Rose actually going to OBEY Sang? Sang was good but could anyone be THAT good? Yet Rose was taking off her shirt.