The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get

In the gym, I started by doing some stretches. I didn’t want to hurt something that could impede me walking down the aisle. It was a little silly since nothing I could do would be permanent, but it was part of my routine. After I got my shoulders loosened up and cracked my neck a few times, I was ready to go.

  The rest of the guys took seats in the folding chairs they managed to set up along the walls of the gym. There was also a small group of trainees who’d decided to stick around to watch the fight. Mak and I took our places at opposite sides of the mat.

  “How do we do this?” he asked.

  I was pretty sure I remembered hearing that he’d been through training, so he should’ve known how to proceed. I imagined our little matchup was a little different than the battle training he’d gone through, but the general way things worked remained the same.

  “You’ve been practicing with the others right?” I responded.

  “Of course, but they’re guys, so it’s a little bit different. Plus, I didn’t use magic against them.”

  “Really? I didn't know the fact that I have boobs makes it so I can’t fight a guy. You do know there isn't a person in this organization who hasn't gone up against me at least once, right? Granted, I’ve been out of things for a couple months, so there may be a few newbies who still need to go through my special one-on-one training.”

  “If you say so,” he said, and threw a red energy streak at me.

  I’d never really figured out the difference between the blue, red and green energy I’d faced, because it all felt about the same when it hit you. I liked to think it had to do with their mood. I hadn’t figured out how that really matched with the colors, but I thought there had to be a reason for everything.

  I didn't allow it to actually hit me. Instead, I held out my hands and reformed it into a ball between them. It didn’t matter who threw it, or what color it was, I could control all forms of energy.

  “The red energy is always my favorite,” I said, tossing it up like a ball, but not letting it touch my hands.

  I didn't think it would hurt me while it was in my control, but it was always smart to be on the safe side. I quickly imagined the ball away and it disappeared. I hadn't technically done that trick before, but it was pretty cool that I could.

  Mak started getting into it and throwing practically everything he had at me. He began with a rainbow of different energy balls that I ended up turning into a literal rainbow and sticking in the corner of the room. Then he proceeded to try the elements against me.

  He had to be even stronger than I thought, because he seemed to have no problem controlling all of them. He started with fire, which was pretty silly on his part. Those days it wouldn't hurt me, even if I let it hit me. I just called it to my hand and put it out.

  Obviously remembering fire didn't work for me, he moved on to water, thinking that would be a better option. He caused water to pour from a bucket that appeared over my head. I redirected the stream to splash the guys standing, or sitting, by. Hopefully Mak was starting to realize that if I could sense it, I could move it.

  He tried a sneak attack of wind, that was pretty quiet, but I still felt the pressure change in the room as he wrapped a cyclone around me. Being in a twister was invigorating when you had no worries about it hurting you.

  I couldn’t actually see the wind around me, because it was clean and clear, but the pressure was nifty. I could feel him speed it up, trying to unnerve me, but I just kept it off me and eventually lifted myself up in the air, so I could pretend it was taking me away.

  “That’s awesome,” I said when he finally toned down the air. Before then, I didn’t think anything I’d say would be heard over the noise.

  “Let's see how quick you really are,” he said, turning himself into his smoke form, then rushing at me.

  My berserker training kicked in, and I moved around in super speed as he tried to hit me in his mostly invisible form. He wasn’t as see through as the air he’d tried to use against me was. There were little puffs of gray and white smoke, so I could get a sense of where he was.

  Somehow my two months off didn't hurt my skills at all. In fact, I seemed to be moving quicker than I had in the past. I wondered if part of it was remembering Scott. Maybe something in that moment triggered some switch. I didn’t really know what else could’ve improved my skills while being comatose.

  Whatever it was, I couldn’t help but think it was awesome. Mak continued for a couple more minutes, but he never really came close to hitting me, which was a little sad. As fun as batting away all his tries could be, I wanted a challenge.

  He reformed back across the mat from me. Neither one of us had broken a sweat. I pondered calling someone else into the fight to make it more interesting.

  “Wow, you’re even faster than the berserkers in battle. That’s amazing. Let's try this,” he said, making about thirty knives appear out of nowhere. I’d gone up against ice daggers before, but even I tended to try to stay away from the receiving end of a throwing knife.

  “I don't know about this one,” Nate said, getting up. He liked to think he had the power to veto things, but I could usually talk him out of it.

  “He’s right, I’m faster than I used to be. I want to try it and see if I can block them all,” I told him, using a voice that let him know there wasn’t any room for questions.

  “I’m afraid something has scrambled your brain a little, sis,” Rick said. “Those look like real knives to me and no sane person would allow them to be thrown at him or her. We should probably call a doctor in to have a look at you if you’re seriously thinking about going through with it.”

  “No one said I was all that bright. Sure, one of us had to be the smart twin, but even this little lapse in judgment still has me on top in that category,” I remarked. “Go ahead, Mak. Let's see if you can shish ka-Avery. I think I have a pretty good chance of coming out of this without any extra holes in my body.”

  On my command, he let them fly, not even bothering to say a word to let me know he was. Having that many knives flying straight at you gets your adrenaline flowing. The distance was only about fifteen feet away, so there wasn’t a lot of time for thinking.

  I took a deep breath and just before they got to me, I thought of myself standing right behind Mak. I didn't know why that thought came to mind instead of stopping the knives or levitating to the ceiling, but that was what I thought.

  Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, I was behind Mak and everyone was staring at the spot I’d vacated. The knives had all continued their paths and clattered to the ground when they didn’t find anything to penetrate. Wow, was all I could think.

  I’d said spells before to teleport, but I hadn’t done it by just thinking about being in a different location. I knew it should theoretically work because of my telekinesis, but I was always surprised when I did something unexpected.

  “Where did she go?” Mak asked. Evidently his spidey senses weren't strong enough to pick me up behind him.

  The crowd looked at him and saw me standing there. Most of them knew I was there, but their eyes had been too busy watching the knives. I raised my pointer finger to my lips, indicating they should be quiet.

  “What do you mean where did I go? I’m right behind you, silly,” I shouted, causing Mak to jump off the ground, and then spin around.

  “I didn't think you had the ability to move around like that without saying a spell,” Mak said.

  “I didn't, or maybe I did, but never used it. I also didn't have that sixth gear of speed before today or the ability to make things just disappear. If you hang around me long enough, you’ll find I’m always developing. It's one of the benefits of spending time with the super cool crowd.”

  “You really should start up that circus sideshow act, baby girl,” Rick said, knowing I hated even hearing the word circus. “You could make a killing.”

  “Totally,” Kyle agreed. “I was on the edge of my seat for that one. You let the knives get practically right on top o
f you. How did you know you’d be able to transport yourself?”

  “I didn't.” I felt like I’d been using those words a lot. “In fact, it was kind of weird. Right after I envisioned myself behind Mak, I wondered why I didn't try options that I knew would work because I’d used them before. Somehow, I just knew that I’d be able to do it. Do you have any more fun experiments we could try? How about if we play Avery versus two jinn? That sounds like fun to me.”

  We had Manny available and sitting right in the room with us. Glancing over at him, there was a little bit of excitement on his face, but fear was the main emotion I saw. I wasn’t sure if he was fearful of hurting me or me hurting him, but I knew I could talk him out of whatever bothered him.

  “Not today, sweetie. I think you’ve done enough and proven what a bad A double S you really are. We need to get to bed, so we can be ready for all of tomorrow's preparations. The wedding will be at four-thirty, so I expect you guys to all be ready,” Nate said as he dragged me out of the room, not even allowing me to call an end to the match. I was just taking a little break.

  I knew he was right about needing to rest up. Frannie was planning something that I was afraid would surpass even her wedding. I hoped ice sculptures couldn’t be built on short notice. If I had to see myself in ice, I was going to melt it on the spot, whether it caused a mild flood or not.

  After changing into my pajamas and savoring the feel of my real bed underneath me, I rolled over to face Nate.

  “How often did you climb into bed with me at night while I was in my coma?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.

  “Every night. I can’t say that I slept very well each of those nights, but I enjoy talking to you when you don’t have the ability to talk back and undermine everything I say.”

  I loved the smile that lit up his face. I couldn’t let him get away with saying that, though, so I smacked his cheek gently.

  “Any more comments like that from you and you may find yourself a little lonely at the end of an aisle tomorrow.”

  “We both know that’s a lie,” he said, kissing the tip of my nose. “I’m the one who’s said all along I don’t care if we have a traditional wedding. As far as I’m concerned, I can tell you what I was going to say during the ceremony now and we can pretend tomorrow is just another day.”

  I snorted. “That’s a great idea after Frannie invited half the world, and I opened my big mouth about letting the media in.”

  “So? We’ll make sure everyone gets fed some cake and I’m sure things will be fine. Let’s get some sleep and see how things go in the morning. You may just come around to my thinking after you see all the cameras.”

  Nate kissed my lips, but didn’t try to take things any further, which was welcome, yet not. The man always conflicted me and I knew I had a big decision to be made about how we were spending the next night. Thankfully, I was sleepier than I thought and drifted off before I had to put a lot of thought into it.