These days, Kate walked around the Alexander compound dragging her feet. She always had heavy eyelids, but couldn't seem to get to sleep. Whenever someone asked how she was or commented on her tired face, she would simply say, “I’m just not used to Earth gravity yet.”
Just over a week had passed since Kate got back from the moon. It was normal for it to take some time to get used to the extra pressure. But something was still off.
She was carrying even more than the weight of Earth’s gravity.
She carried the burden of knowing how bad things really were, and the pressure of trying to find a way out. She decided to go to the training room where she could fight her invisible enemies. And, at least, pretend to win.
Every day she headed there to work out and release her frustrations. The last time she had been in that room before she left for the moon, she fought her brother, James. So, the first time she returned to it, the sweat and tears flowed equally.
But every time since was easier, and she started to turn it back into a room she could look forward to visiting. It was again becoming the one place she could find refuge.
The room was a perfect square with smooth, wooden floors made of bamboo that crept up the bottom half of the walls, and the staffs of her ancestors lined the top half. A river of natural elements flowed across the floor: river rocks, walnut, cherry, silver, and copper.
She used to enjoy going to the library, but lately it only reminded her of the Nekuia. Her mother was weakening, her father was consumed by his work, and the man she thought she loved she couldn’t be with.
The training room was a place untouched by the outside, a place where she could fight hard and conquer her surroundings.
When she got there, Eric dutifully took his place outside the doors. He watched over her while she fought the invisible enemy inside.
Kate rolled and tumbled on the floor, swinging her staff around for piercing blows at the practice dummies. She stabbed at their torsos and heads. She sliced at their shoulders, and hammered them at the knees. Then she started flashing, blinding and sending out bursts of lights like a strobe.
Every staff had a special property. Each member of the Alexander clan could earn a staff covered in the same skin that covered the box. The staff became an extension of the person that held it.
James could store energy and send shockwaves outward like ripples. William could store static electricity and send it out in bursts like controlled lightning.
Kate could light up a room with one thought. Each cell on her membrane was photoelectric. She could send out one bright flash of light in any direction or small, quick bursts. She could blind her opponent, disorientate them, or distract them long enough to strike a piercing blow.
Suddenly, the doors opened.
Her father entered with his staff in his hand. He slowly approached her, and without saying a word he stabbed at her torso. He wasn’t close enough, but a small bolt of electricity arced out from the end of the staff and struck Kate in the stomach. She jumped back from the shock, but quickly regained her composure and attacked.
The battle between father and daughter was on.
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