The Spirit Guardians Book 1: Enlightened

Chapter 4

Thin rays of sunlight slid across Cassie's bedroom in the morning. Outside, she could hear the quiet chirping of birds. As she rested peacefully in the comfort of the soft bed, she felt at ease despite all that had happened.

That was until a knock echoed on the door.

"Cassie, get up!"

The young girl groaned and shoved the pillow over her head. She was far too exhausted to get up now. Her eyes were already drooping again, and sleep was so close...

The door opened, though Cassie ignored the footsteps, trying to get back to sleep. She felt two hands shove her.

"Come on. You need to train," Marc urged.

"I need to sleep," she mumbled.

"Get up," he repeated.

"No. Just...just give me five more minutes," she said, her eyes slowly drifting shut again.

It went silent, and Cassie hummed, already beginning to doze off back into a peaceful sleep. She shrieked suddenly as her back became soaked with cold water. She sat up with a gasp.

"What the hell was that for?!" she demanded of the boy standing in front of her.

"You need to learn to get up early," he said, turning around and stepping out of her bedroom.

She grumbled angrily as she rummaged through her drawers until she could find some of the workout clothes that Lillian had found for her. She reluctantly slipped them on, wishing she could go back to bed, but her growling stomach convinced her to at least go into the kitchen.

Marc was sipping on a cup of coffee as she went through the cupboards for some bread. Five minutes later, and she was nibbling quietly on a piece of buttered toast.

"How many workout clothes do you have?" Marc wondered.

"I think just two pairs," Cassie murmured as she bit into her toast.

"Well, you can buy more when Lillian takes you shopping," Marc guessed. "Finish your toast so we can head out."

"You're kind of bossy. Do you know that?" she pointed out.

He nodded and set his coffee cup in the sink before heading outside. Cassie retreated to her room for a moment to grab some shoes, though the choices weren't looking too satisfactory. There was her old pair of white sandals that she had come in, though they were caked in blood and dirt. There was also a pair of gray Converse that were worn. They had apparently belonged to Irene for a little while.

Cassie sighed and guessed the Converse would have to do. She slipped them on and met Marc outside. Miguel was also standing nearby in workout gear, and she realized suddenly that she would most likely be worked twice as hard then.

"All right, took you long enough," Miguel said.

Marc clapped his hands together. "So how much in shape are you? Do you play any sports?"

"Uh, no..." Cassie's voice trailed off. "I'm not very...athletically-inclined."

"Okay. You can start out with fifty jumping jacks," Marc commanded.

Cassie's mouth hung open. "Fifty?" She ignored the chuckles from Miguel in the background.

"Go," Marc ordered.

"Fine," she grumbled, beginning to move her arms and legs in a jumping back position. At first her body moved well, and she figured it wouldn't be too hard, but by the thirtieth, she was already beginning to sweat, and a knot had formed in her right side.