Chris steps back in Beaver’s direction.
Beaver’s thoughts slip. Instead of backing down, he wants to show that he’s smarter than us. “Sir, maybe you can set up a demonstration and show the recruits what this special skillset entails.”
Chris smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. There’s a reason why Chris is one of the Leads. “Of course. I think a demonstration would be appropriate.” Chris spins and motions for Sixes to step forward. He whispers in her ear.
She nods and stands near Luke. Holding out both of her hands, in a blink of an eye, she carries a laptop, a tablet, and a smartwatch.
Beaver’s mind swirls in confusion. Suddenly, he realizes his watch is no longer on his wrist.
Chris holds up the devices. “Do these items look familiar to you?”
He doesn’t want to answer. A mixture of fury and fear fill his mind. His breath quickens. He knows he’s caught. Chris holds the evidence.
Jessica, come toward me. He’s getting a little twitchy. I think he might attack you,Luke warns.
Before I take a step, Beaver lunges toward me, lifting a small knife to my neck. “Don’t move!” he shouts. “No magic. No one act like a hero. If you value her life, you’ll do exactly what I say and let me leave here with her unscathed.”
Luke inches forward. Other recruits shuffle in, surrounding us.
He presses the knife deeper into my skin. A small trickle of blood forms. “Get back! I will stab her in the throat.” His panicked mind is fully open now. He really wants to stab me in the throat. He hates me so much, but for some reason, they instructed him to bring me in alive.
Does he know where Shadow is? In my peripheral vision, Elijah moves, enough to distract Beaver. I drop to my knees, throwing my elbow back and catching him in the balls. He hunches forward instinctively, and I use my shoulder to lift him up and over me, slamming him onto his back.
All the men rush toward me to help. I push everyone back with the force of wind. We need more information. He won’t talk in an interrogation room. Someone warned him that if he was caught, they would kill him, if the guards don’t kill him first.
I wield the knife out of his hand and slide it across the floor. “Get up, you big-toothed bully! You owe me a fight, and I owe you some broken bones.” For good measure, I kick him in the ribs.
He groans, rolling to his side, and swiftly gets to his feet. Wincing and holding his ribs, we circle around each other.
I open my mind link so everyone in the room can hear his thoughts and mine. The speed of the wind increases, creating a hurricane. Everyone backs away, leaving us in the center untouched.
Beaver looks around. No one can get in, and he can’t get out.
“Just you and me, friend,” I taunt.
He shakes his head and laughs. “We’re not friends, and you definitely won’t beat me.”
His memories of hitting me and breaking my ribs catch me off guard and blindside me. He wants to hurt me, to prove that he is the better opponent. He always knew I was a girl. From the very beginning, he wanted to destroy me for even thinking I belonged in a man’s world. His disdain for me doesn’t just stemfrom me being a female but because I have something that he will never be able to possess—magic.
“You can’t stand it. Can you? I’m smaller than you. Stronger than you. Smarter than you, and it pisses you off that I'm a girl. Doesn’t it? That’s why you always blindsided me when you attacked. You couldn’t stand it when I got the best of you.”
“Stop playing and fight!” he roars. Eyes red, elongated canines, he looks like a cross between a beaver and a walrus.
Wow, the heavens must have scraped the bottom of the genetics barrel to make this guy.
“Fight!” he shouts.
Slowly, I circle around him. “It was you. Wasn’t it? You tried to frame me for murder.” He rushes forward, but I spin out of his reach and elbow him in his kidney. I punch his face and kick his chest, creating space between us.
He spits blood at me and then wipes his lips. It wasn’t him.
He wishes it was, though. He watched me, spied on me, placed cameras strategically around the campus, and reported everything he saw to his… uncle? He doesn’t really know much else. Throwing my head back, I laugh. He thinks he’s important, but they just used him as a pawn. “No, it wasn’t you. You’re not smart enough to come up with that idea all on your own, and they know that. That’s why they used you to gather information and report it to someone else.”
He snarls, exposing his big, yellow teeth.
“You should really see someone about those teeth, my friend.”
He charges forward, swinging his arms like a madman.
