Chapter 9

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"Lyanna! Lyanna wake up! It's 6:40 and we're going to be late to breakfast!" Valerie yells loudly in my ear, shaking me awake. I open my eyes groggily, squinting against the bright sunlight coming in from the windows. 

"Wait...what? When's breakfast?" I mumble. Valerie sighs impatiently. "Breakfast starts at 7. You have to go put on your clothes. Right. Now. You're going straight to practice afterwards." 

"Oh!" I exclaim. Practice. Adrius. I bolt upright from bed, rushing over to the shared closet against the wall. Aveline's bed is empty. I assume that she's gone to the common room already. 

There's a section labeled with my name in big, cursive letters on the right side of the closet. I grab a pair of black jeans and a navy hoodie, running my hand over the unbelievably soft texture of the fabric. I'm about to put the hoodie on when Valerie yanks both pieces of clothing out of my hands.

"Lyanna, what are you doing? You're going to practice, and practice means actually exercising. You absolutely cannot wear jeans and a hoodie." She stomps over to my side of the closet, picking out a pair of tight ankle length leggings and a cropped, white tank top. I stare at the outfit she dangles in front of me.

"Put this on!" Valerie says, smiling widely. "It'll look cute on you, and it's what you're supposed to wear." I wrinkle my nose in disgust. "Fine. But only because we're going to be late and I don't want to spend time arguing with you." 

I toss the clothes onto the bed, and hurry over to the bathroom. There is something I need to do first. Something I haven't done in eight years. Taking a deep breath, I turn the doorknob, and step into the small space, closing the door behind me. I flick on the lights, and summoning every ounce of bravery in my body, look up and into the mirror. 

This is the first time I've looked in a mirror ever since my parents were murdered and I ran away from home. It's not that I didn't have access to a mirror. I was just...too afraid of what I might see. What everyone saw. A monster. After the first few years, I just no longer paid attention to how I looked. It's not like anyone cared anyways. 

Now, I lean closer to the large oval shaped mirror. My cheeks are slightly sunken, my jawline visibly sharpened. My eyes are a deep, rich brown, and my hair is of a lighter shade, more of a sandy brown. My lips are pink and full, and I curve them into a small smile.

I had almost forgotten what I looked like, I realize. 

I hear Valerie calling my name, and I remove my gaze from the mirror. I quickly brush my teeth and wipe my face with a wet towel, then dash out of the bathroom. I tug my new outfit on, and I don't even have time to look myself over in the mirror before Valerie bursts into the room again. She grabs my arm and pulls me into the common room, then out of the door. Adam, Everett and Aveline are already ahead of us, chattering loudly in the hallway.

We enter the cafeteria just as bowls of cereal appear on our table. I finish mine within minutes, then make an excuse to head to practice early. As I head out the doors, I bump right into someone's chest. 

"Oh, hey there," Adrius says. "Want to walk to the training room with me? We can start our session early since it's your first."

I mumble an apology for not being careful enough, and he waves it away. "Wait...don't you need breakfast?" I ask him.

He laughs and shakes his head. "No. I usually have breakfast by myself, in my office." He hesitates for a moment. "Or my room. Depends on my mood."

We walk in silence until we arrive, and he scans his thumb on a small pad located on a wall. Once his identity is confirmed, the wall melts away, and a glass door slides open. Adrius gestures for me to enter the room, and I marvel at the complex machines inside. There's also a variety of weapons on one of the walls, from rifles to pistols to wicked looking knives with sharp blades and carved hilts with intricate designs on them. I run my finger along one of the wooden hilts, marveling at the workmanship. 

"Hey," Adrius calls from across the room. "Don't touch that yet. You'll get your weapons later. Now come over here so I can teach you how to actually use them."

To my utter astonishment, he hands me a small handgun. It is coated in a bright silver paint, with TCD engraved on the barrel. It feels light in my hand, and it fits my grip perfectly. I have never held a gun before, even though I've seen plenty of them.

Adrius then picks up a small, oval shaped remote and presses a small button in the center. A display appears in front of me, a simple black circle with a red dot in the center. He positions himself behind me, and puts his hands on both of my arms, arranging them so the gun barrel is pointed towards the target. 

"Welcome to your first target practice." He says in my ear. I tense a little, not just because of the closeness of his body but also because I'm about to fire a gun for the first time. He taps lightly on a small, dark disk on the side of the gun. "That's the safety. You have to click it before you fire." His finger moves to the trigger. "This, is the trigger. Right before you fire, remember to always plant both feet on the ground and hold the gun with both hands or else you're going to stumble or fall from the impact." 

I nod at everything he says, my heart racing with both fear and excitement. I wonder how the soldiers felt when they fired the bullet into my father's brain. I wonder how they felt when they shot the Abnormals to drag them back to their sick experiment labs. I wonder how they felt when...

Adrius's voice brings me back to the present, startling me out of my thoughts. It's so ironic that I can control other people's minds, but not my own. 

"Now, brace yourself," Adrius warns me. "Plant your feet firmly on the ground. And...fire."

I press down on the trigger too hard because I have no idea how much pressure I should apply. The recoil is not as strong as I expected, but because I am too frightened by the loud bang and the gun that kicks back into my shoulder, I fall backwards into Adrius, and he catches me around the waist. 

I breathe in short, ragged gasps, my palms sweaty as I turn around and hand the gun back to Adrius. He lets go of me abruptly, and grins widely. It's a cute, boyish grin, and I can't help but notice his dimples. I smile back tentatively. "What are you smiling about?"

He gestures to the display behind me, and I turn my head to see where my bullet struck. It's the red dot, the center of the circle.

Bull's eye.

Abnormal {Book 1: Completed, Book 2: Ongoing}Where stories live. Discover now