“Arienna,” Gallagher snaps.
I hurry forwards. My eyes go back to the other group, but I can’t see Fabia, Lief, or any bits of his severed penis.
I expect Echo to blow her whistle, to stop them while she gets a healer to reattach his dick, but she never does.
A giggle rises up inside me.You go, Fabia.
A warmth blossoms over the pain as I realise everyone else in her group has her back.
Why couldn’t Richard have shown me this part of Raza? The love beneath the hate? The loyalty behind the violence?
Focusing on Gallagher, I listen as he talks us through what we will be doing next. Half of us will be attacking in structuredsteps, the other half defending a certain way. All morning we do different sequences, and after lunch, sitting outside as we watch Echo’s squadron continue to fight each other, we go over what we learned in the morning.
We stop at the next whistle. Standing in line with the others, my chest rises and falls with a comfortable pain.
Gallagher stands in front of us. “Make a circle,” he says and I move alongside Stevie, Nolan, and Frances as we all surround him.
“Squadron Phoenix, Squadron Griffin,” he commands.
Stevie ushers me forwards, coming with me, as do Nolan and Frances. Four other kids step out from the other side of the circle. We all join in the middle, and I smile at each of them.
“At the whistle, you fight. When your back hits the floor, you’re out. Last team standing gets an earlier tea.” Raising his fingers, he blows.
My eyes wide, I stand still in shock as two kids from the other team launch themselves at Stevie and Frances. The other two run right at me. The blue-haired girl ducks low at her waist. Her friend jumps onto her back without missing a beat. Launching into the air, she twists and kicks me in the face.
My head snapping to the side, I fall to the ground with a yelp.
“Don’t land on your back!” Nolan cries as he charges past me to punch the blue-haired girl in the face.
I try to scramble to my feet, but the face-kicking cherub jumps, flaps her wings, and knees me right under the chin. My eyes roll back in my head. I’m not sure what happens after that.
“You okay?” Gallagher asks as he holds a healing wand to my chin.
Working my jaw, I nod as I sit up. “Did we win?”
His eyes laugh as he shakes his head. “You weren’t out that long.”
“You call that a beating!” Frances screams behind him. I look over Gallagher’s shoulder to see her getting held by two members of the other team while the third –the same one who kicked me– punches her in the gut.
The fourth is fighting Stevie. “My mum hits harder than you!” she shouts as she takes a fist to her face.
“They’re so violent,” I whisper.
Nolan crouches beside me with a busted lip and an ugly bruise on his chin. As Gallagher starts to aim the wand at him, he shakes his head.
“I’ll bet you a gosberry Frances gets out of that,” he says to me.
“Don’t take that bet,” Gallagher cuts in before I can nod. “Frances is a masochist. She’s just getting warmed up.”
“Aw,” Nolan complains. “I could’ve got an extra gosberry tonight.”
“You eat as many as you do, and you’re going to turn bright red.”
Nolan shakes his head with all the confidence of a six year old. “I’m going to turn into Jace.”
Gallagher stands. “Train harder and you just might.”
As he moves away, I catch Frances’ eye. She grins even as another fist slams into her gut. Snapping her foot out to the side, she kicks the girl holding her in the knee. Her leg buckles, and as her enemy stumbles, Frances rips her arm free. She spins towards the other kid holding her, ready to punch her in the face. At the same time, her foot kicks out again, nailing Face-kicking Cherub in her stomach.
