Darkness (II)

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

"Your form is all wrong, y'know."

My flailing hits paused, fists resting momentarily on the punchbag. A boy, who was of such a diminutive, scrawny stature that I almost didn't see him at first, was stood a few metres away, face half-hidden from sight by a mop of curly brown hair. I scoffed and turned back around.

"Do you know who you're talking to, mister?" I chirped, throwing another clumsy fist towards the punchbag. My knuckles roared in pain. "I'd be careful what you say."

He pondered. "Isa Brown, daughter of the Chief, gifted with super awesome shape shifting powers. Yeah, I know who I'm talkin' too."

I faltered, eyes zeroing in on his toothy grin. He didn't look cool but he used words like 'super awesome'. I stubbornly lifted my chin.

"I was really looking forward to meeting you," he paused for a moment, gaze flitting back to my braced legs, "but I must say that I'm cooly disappointed."

I wasn't sure whether cooly was used in the right context; however, I was too busy burning with anger to pick up on it.

"Wanna say tha' again, pipsqueak?" I demanded, hands curling into fists that blazed gold.

He grinned. "I'm cooly disappointed! I'm at the top of my class so I know that your form is reallyyyyy bad."

I gritted my teeth. He was a liar! My form wasn't bad. It was the punch bag's fault. This boy was jealous.

"Who d'you think you are?" I demanded, folding my arms over my chest as I'd seen Mary do.

His answer was simple. "The name's Ares," he said, sticking out a sweaty hand, "Ares Williams, top knifesman of my class."

I hesitated, eyeing the small boy, before taking his hand in mine. "You know my name. If you teach me better form, I won't bully you. Do we have a deal?"

He grinned. "Deal."

"Isa."

I stared at the wall. Phoenix was sat beside me, desperately trying to gain my attention. I didn't reply. I didn't do anything.

What could I do? What could I possibly say to make this better? My mother, my sister, and now my best friend were dead, killed at the hands of my merciless father. It was my fault. All of it.

Perhaps I should've died with them.

"Don't you dare think that." a hand lifted my chin fiercely, firmly, and two eyes blazed like fire against mine. Phoenix. "You are not to blame, Isa. You. Are. Not."

I looked at him. Concern shadowed his countenance, pulling his lips downwards, making his jaw work overtime. I think he was half expecting me to cry—to let loose a torrent of emotions and suffer a desperate shudder of release.

But I was cold, detached, floating somewhere between this world and the one Ares had travelled to. My thoughts were dull, hollow echoes; my mind was an abandoned, narrow street; and my heart, which was once walled with iron, seemed to constrict even tighter in my chest with every shaky breath.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, mainly for my mate's sake.

The door opened. Eric walked in, hands fisted in his pockets.

"They're here, Alpha." he said, shooting me a soft, piteous glance.

"Good. Send them in."

Ares' face flashed in my mind. His skin had been so sallow, his face so gaunt...