MORTALS

/15: I Break Barbie's Nose

A little while later, the rest of the Coteries came in. Once we were all gathered, Graves came back. We all sat on the benches (which resembled school bleachers) and listened to him talk.

"Good morning agents. My name is Coach Warren Graves, and I will be your training instructor for the year. In your 'line of work,' you will need to hone your physical skills. One method of combat you will need to learn is hand to hand, no weaponry. That's what we will be doing today."

Graves walked over to one of the sparring mats.

"I will be dividing you up into groups. No, you will not be with your Coterie. As this is your first lesson of the year, you will start by getting to know each other. To do that, you will need to be outside your Coterie. Now, I will give you a number based on your attendance."

Graves consulted the clipboard he was holding, which probably had all our names.

"Abbott, Alcott, Aldrich, and Allard. You're Group One, at the first mat. Bai, Bell, Burris, and Champson, Group Two, second mat."

I stood up, along with three other guys. Daniel's group had already gone to the first mat. I mouthed 'Good luck,' as we passed him.

When we got to our mat, I didn't really know what to do. I played the introvert card and stood off to the side while the other guys introduced themselves. After a few minutes, one of them called me over.

"Everly, right?" He asked. I nodded mutely. "Come join us."

I walked the short distance to the rest of the group. The guy who called me over introduced himself.

"Um, so my name is Lian. Lian Bai."

"I'm Carter Burris."

"August Champson." The last guy said. "Nice to meet you."

I nodded my head in greeting. .

Based on his name, I gathered Lian was Chinese. He was of average height, which I was happy about because Carter and August looked nothing short of giants compared to me.

Carter was tall and had darker skin, his hair shaved pretty close to the skin. He was somewhat built, so I thought he would make a good teammate for sparring. I liked a challenge.

August looked like a fourteen year old Ron Weasly. Seriously, he had the same lanky build, the freckles, and the ginger hair. The only thing was he didn't have the accent.

"So, we did an icebreaker just to get to know each other a bit before we beat each other up, so why don't you give it a go?" Carter offered.

I cleared my throat, unsure of what to say. "I'm Everly Bell. But you somehow already knew that, which makes me wary and now I'm a little freaked out." I rambled honestly. "I didn't get a letter, like the rest of you, instead I was kidnapped by my Coterie, who are also my best friends, after I ran away from home." I looked at the others, who didn't know what to say. I delivered my 'backstory' in such an emotionless tone that you might've thought I was bored.

Great start to the year, Everly. Make everyone think you're an emo teenager.

"Okay."

We waited in silence while Graves called everyone into groups. Pretty soon, half the kids were in groups of four at the mats and the other half were still on the bleachers.

"Okay." Graves called out. "I'm going to keep assigning groups. There will be two groups at each mat, each group has four people.You will rotate people until each person has sparring at least two people from the other group. Hale, Harper, Hazelton, and Kessler. Group Five, mat four. Lattimore, Lynch, Maddox, and Murray. Group Six, mat three. Norris, Ogden, Davenport, and Piper. Group Seven, mat two."