To Cut Blood Ties

Chapter 8: The Losing Victor

June 17, 2016

Paradise Valley, Arizona

7:12am

"I guess we are the early birds," Alice turned to see Kelly coming up behind her in the gym. They were the first ones to arrive, and it would probably be several minutes still until everyone else arrived.

"I guess so, how are you doing?" Alice asked, taking a swig of water.

Kelly set down her own water bottle. Alice admired the change in her body that had happened in the weeks of training. The extra weight hadn't fallen off, only transformed into incredible muscle that heightened her natural curves and gave her a strength that most women couldn't match. Kelly straightened and smiled at her, "Everything's good. You know, except for the fact that I legit have no life anymore except to, you know, come here than go home and sleep."

"I know that," Alice laughed quietly.

There was a moment of silence, and for Alice it wasn't uncomfortable. For Kelly it wasn't the same. And she revealed this when she said, "You know, I wish I could hate you for finding a cheat to advance yourself."

"Wh – I – I don't get – what?" Alice stared, her mouth forming a perfect "O" shape.

"The symbol or whatever is on your face," Kelly pointed. "And whatever is does to help you against your brother. I wish I could feel some sort of negative feeling other than jealousy towards you, but I understand why you had to do.... whatever it is you did. But you're doing so well, and I just know, I just know, that you are going to graduate to become a soldier and it still is doubtful that I will even be able to move on."

"Don't say that," Alice admonished. "You've improved a lot, I am sure you will advance."

"I hope so, I am proud of you being able to do what you have done. You see, my mom is human and my dad is a fourth generation warlock. And so, I remember growing up and hearing about you. So, that makes me happy that you are doing better because there was so much discussion about you. I just wish I could feel more confident in my abilities," Kelly turned from Alice as the gym door opened and Sam walked through with a group of trainees behind her.

She was quietly grateful of the distraction, as she didn't know what to say. She wasn't fully confident that she herself would graduate, and she had no idea how to provide comfort to someone who also had similar sort of feelings. Alice took a step back, and in the next five minutes every student piled in to the gym.

Sam took her place in front of the class and clapped her hands twice to catch everyone's attention. "Okay, today is going to be a pure group exercise. You're going to get your practice swords straight away and George will enter and you will go through your regular exercises but he will be irregularly engaging one or two of you in combat. There will be no breaks. Make sure to push yourselves and if you feel fatigued, just keep going. This will be a challenge for you. Embrace it."

Silence met her words. There wasn't an excitement; just a sort of grim determination. After a moment of stillness, everyone began to move to grab his or her practice swords. Alice walked forward to grab hers but Sam's hand wrapped around her bicep before she could. Alice began to turn but Sam was whispering in her ear before she could. "You are not going to be joining today, you need to go to the private room of the gym. Get your real swords and go."

Alice then turned towards her with wide eyes before meeting serious brown eyes. After a moment she nodded and left the gym to go back to her room and grab her swords. She didn't have to go back through the gym; the entrance to the private room of the gym was a secret, hidden door not far from Jason's office door. Alice walked up to a blank part of the wall and ran her fingers along it until she felt the notch in the wall and she dug her fingers in to it, pulling so that the door slid sideways and she slipped through, closing the door behind her. The private gym looked much the same as the regular gym but the only difference was instead of a dozen or more trainees, Jason stood in the center of the room.