She spun hard and hit the practice dummy with all her force, absorbing the repercussions from the impact. Then she dropped to her knees and tumbled forward. She rolled out and stabbed the dummy in the far corner of the room.
The cameras were off. The sensors were black. No one was allowed to observe Kate’s routine. To give away taped footage of an Alexander practicing techniques was like handing a thief the blueprints to the bank.
She had the training room to herself.
Kate slipped around the back of the practice dummy and began removing the control hatch door. She crawled in, lit her small lamp and closed the door behind her.
The crawlspace was tight, but passable. She continued down about twenty feet to an intersection. She pictured the schematics in her head before turning to the left and quickly continuing to the end of the passageway. To her right was another small hatch door. She loosened it and slowly pushed it aside.
Omari stood before her. He made no quick moves. He made no statements.
He simply took the hatch door from her hands and placed it back inside the wall. Then he opened the door to the room and motioned for her to exit.
She headed back to the training room to retrieve her staff, but Eric was waiting in the hallway with the staff in his hands.
She didn’t know if he had turned on her or was only going along. He was supposed to be her lookout. He was supposed to help her escape, for just a bit.
Maybe it wasn’t his fault. Maybe he got caught, too. Kate couldn’t tell when she passed him. He was stoic. He was like Omari, like her mother.
“I know you don’t remember, but you and I fought in our youth,” Omari told her.
She turned back to him, “we’ve never sparred.”
“We have. At age seven, you stood before me with your first skin staff,” he said. “It lit up like the sun in your hands.”
“I don’t remember.”
“It took months for the echo of that flash to go away.”
“I remember the first time I held my staff,” she said. “I don’t remember sparring.”
“We didn’t really spar. Your light blinded me and it was over.”
“Why does this matter?” she demanded.
“Because I’ve known you a very long time,” Omari responded. “If you’d paid attention, you would have expected me to be waiting.”
Kate didn’t want to remember her past with Omari. She was angry. But as she walked down the hall, she desperately tried to remember their first meeting.
•••
Io was the fly, annoying but easy to smash. She was not physically impressive to James. She was not even smart enough to figure out he had ordered Yori’s murder. But, Io kept asking questions. She kept talking about the imperfections.
All the small mistakes that others made were slowly pulling back the curtain on James. He felt slightly vulnerable. No one could ever prove it, but even the shadow of a doubt was too much. Something had to be done.
“Tell me about the new guards,” Ceres wondered.
“They have agreed to give their lives to this family, to me.”
“That will be of use,” she said.
“Yes, it will,” James agreed. He thought of one officer in particular. One that promised he would give his life to see James in power. James never told him about his plans. James only told the officer one day he would give him the chance to prove his devotion. But that day was not today.
“What can I do?” Ceres asked as the two sat in her office.
“Talk to my mother,” James said. “Tell her I mean to impress her.”
“That you are desperate for her approval?”
“Yes.”
“Are you?” Ceres asked.
“Am I what?”
“Hoping to impress her?”
“It’s too late for that,” James stated.
“Never underestimate a mother’s desire to enter her child’s inner circle,” Ceres said. “It’s never too late.”
“Very well,” he said. “I will impress her.”
Ceres paused. Somewhere deep within him was the child that only wanted his mother’s approval. She knew James had a desire to please his mother. He wanted her to love him, to trust him. And everyone knew she did not.
This brought him closer to Ceres. It also invited distrust. But her pity outweighed everything else.
“We will have our day, nephew.”
“When? When will it happen?” he asked.
“Patience. All the pieces are starting to fall into place,” Ceres reminded him.
“You’re right,” James said. “It feels so close, like it’s just out of reach.”
“He who lies in wait for his enemy will be victorious.”
“Perhaps,” James said.
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