Kamine rubbed her arms. She still felt sore from the game even though two days had passed. She rested each moment she could, spent long hours reading in bed, which meant she had no books left. She promised herself that tonight after dinner she would go searching for a library.
First, she needed to get through this lesson. For the first time in ever, there was a buzzing energy to her steps. A newfound exhilaration because she had the confirmation she needed: her powers existed. Somewhere within her bones and veins flowed the power that she longed for her whole life. Now, it was only a matter of harnessing it.
Professor Grimot also seemed more enthusiastic. He was actually standing with her, and not distracting himself with a book, completely ignoring her presence. It was a step in the right direction.
“I don’t want you to learn to use laying down as a crutch,” he started. “But I want you to be reminded of what it felt like to get your powers out, so this will be the one and only time I will allow you to do it.”
Kamine nodded. She awkwardly sat on the ground. Laying on her stomach felt too vulnerable in this environment because her face would be pressing downwards, and it would be harder to get back up. She chose to lay on her back, giving her the ability to see the Professor easily at all times.
She pressed her palms on the hard stone. The grittiness bit into her skin, and it energized her, like the rocks were fueling her up.
“Remember, it’s not about fear, it’s not about imagining it. It’s an extension of you, just like walking and breathing. When you think too hard about doing those basic things, you stumble.”
He backed away from her, giving her space. Kamine closed her eyes. Instead of thinking about her powers, she thought of her family, of the day Damien was born. Kamine had been eighteen, her mother’s pregnancy unexpected. Not that her parents hadn’t tried for another child, but many attempts didn’t stick.
Both Kamine and her father hoped that new life would bring light back to her mother. For a short time, it did. Her mother cried with tears of joy when Damien was put into her arms. Those early days were some of the happiest days of Kamine’s life.
Damien completed their family. He filled a hole that no one even knew existed. He was a happy baby who smiled at everyone and barely fussed. It was almost impossible to separate her mother from the babe. She held him constantly; her ear at his chest, listening to his heartbeats.
But something changed, one day when her mother was bathing him in the kitchen sink. Kamine heard Damien’s cries from her room, and rushed into the kitchen, since it was so out of the ordinary for him.
The scene she found scarred her. Her mother was nowhere to be found, while Damian lay in the sink with water pouring over his face. He couldn’t breathe. Kamine pulled his slippery body out of the water, and held him close. Kamine looked out thewindow, and noticed her mother was outside, standing, staring out into the fields. Another Undertaking was soon approaching.
“Stop using your hands,” Professor Grimot reprimanded.
Kamine’s eyes flew open. She didn’t realize she had her arms outstretched, as if she were reaching for her little brother, or for her mother who was already lost. It was days later, right before that year’s Undertaking, that she had taken her life.
Kamine lowered her arms again, letting go of the direction of her morbid thoughts. “Did anything happen?”
She didn’t feel the ground bend, but she also had been so lost in the memory.
“No,” he said with a huff. He came towards her with something in his hands.
“What are you doing?” she said, becoming nervous as he took her hands.
“Do you trust that I am doing everything in your best interest?”
“What?”
“Answer. Yes or no.”
Kamine didn’t understand, but those dark black eyes convinced her to agree.
“Yes.”
He grabbed her hands and bound her wrists together with a sturdy piece of rope, leaving her at his mercy.
Grimot tightened the knot enough to prevent escape, but not too much that Kamine would begin to panic. He could already see the anxiety brewing in her eyes.
He kneeled at her feet, watching her chest rise and fall, her training clothes conforming perfectly to her body. Her gaspsgrew more frantic. She needed to relax for this to work. Either nothing would happen in her current state, or she would cause mass destruction.
“Relax,” he said, placing his hands on her shins.
She tensed at his touch at first, but then her legs loosened slightly under him. Her breathing still hadn’t evened out, though. He smoothed his hands higher, to her thighs.
She snapped her attention to him. “What are you doing?”
“Massaging your thighs.” He pressed his knuckles into them and made small circles.
