The Koet

Chapter 12- Denied Belonging

Tessa

For the second time in just a few hours I find myself waking up. The time before was from a fight. This time though, this is different. This has happened before.

I am tight. So stiff. All my muscles are locked. From my toes, up my back, to my shoulders, the muscles are tight and unmoving. My teeth are sore like I have been clenching my jaw and the nerves on the back of my neck send electricity to the back of my skull. My skin feels raw and frayed, my joints like rubber. 

I focus, without opening my eyes, on my body; Trying to catalogue my injuries and current state. I am horizontal, lying on something warm but hard. I feel a cool pressure on my shoulder, a sting of a salve or something on my neck, and the familiar pull of healing scrapes and bruises. No wind caresses my skin. The smell of habituation surrounds me.

I'm confused. I don't remember anything. 

Focusing, I push my energy outwards, still leaving my eyes closed, trying to get a better sense of where I am. Jamie and I used to play a game like this. He had always been able to move with the silence of a cat, so in the dark I would sit with my eyes closed. He would move around within a hundred meter radius and I would have to feel where he was. It has always been an accomplishment of mine. Now I'm glad Ive had the practice. Waves of energy rush to me, all jumbled; bouncing off each other inside of my scull. The waves come together into a concentrated spot over my right side. 

Someone is right beside me. 

My mind shuts off; instinct awakens.

Without a sound I am up, off of my place in a blanket on the floor, and at the other side in a flash. I absorb my surroundings in overdrive. Green and Brown tarp, water Proof, quickly but sturdily held up, 6 foot ceiling, circular, five feet in radius, walls floor and ceiling are one entity. There is one opening, it is being blocked by a girl. 

Maybe 16, short: 5'2 or 5'3. Small. The only light comes from the open flap behind her, making her a silhouette. So I can't tell her expression. 

Normally I would have no problem fighting past someone, especially this small girl, but I am in no shape to fight. I press my back against the tarp, testing its strength. It barley even budges. Panic begins to rise inside of me, threatening to bubble over. I feel like a trapped animal. I lean back harder into the tarp wall and hiss as a sharp pain in my shoulder hits me. 

"Well, now that we have that over with...go ahead and come over hear so I can have another look at those injuries." The girl says gruffly as she steps out of the light in time for me to see the back half of an eye roll. 

I stand frozen, still pressing into the tarp. The girl walks forward to the quilt I had been laying on and sits, not watching her back or even taking up any defensive stance at all. She just sits and looks at me, presumably waiting for me to Join her. I feel so confused! What the heck is going on?! 

"I'm Alice by the way." she says, looking up at me. She frowns, "And seriously, you are going to want to sit. Whenever that adrenaline of yours runs out you are going to feel like hell." Dazedly, almost as if against my will, I take a measured step towards her. "There we go, that's it. Just come and sit down. Your fine."

She talks slowly, coaxing me. Almost Patronizing. It spikes my irritation. Nobody patronizes me. I immediately decide that this whole standing here plan isn't working. Glaring dangerously, I sit down a few feet away from her. 

"Yep, you might as well just stop resisting all together," the girl says almost cheerfully. She looks down to rummage in her bag for a moment. "I mean, you are like the newest member now." She breaks off staring at me. "Well, umm... I don't really know if your in Jace's Koet exactly, or even if you have been marked." She frowns, concentrating.  "But you are like super powerful and did just gain The Shade, soooooooo I guess you are where you need to be." She grins as If congratulating me.