The man who had flown past me righted himself. He and the three others regrouped and charged. For a moment, all I could see was a tangled mass of men punching and kicking. Moss green glowed out of the cracks between their bodies, and all four went flying backward. The woman, whose skin now looked rough and rocky with the same moss-green color, struck a pose, looking down her nose at the four on the ground.
I jumped and clapped.
“You really are a pit fighter?” one of the men asked.
The woman turned to him. “I’ll keep beat’n on you if you're still not sure.”
Brody groaned and grabbed my wrist, already turning back in the direction we’d been going. As soon as his skin touched mine, he stopped, his grip tightening, and his eyes widened.
“You’re a woman,” he whispered.
I scowled. “Let go of me.”
I pulled back, and Brody’s grip tightened.
A blur of moss green shot to my side. The woman gripped Brody’s elbow, digging her thumb below his joint, and rotated his arm up as though he was a toy. Brody let out a yelp and released me, springing back.
His cheeks turned red. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
The woman pursed her lips. “Grabbin' anyone’s wrong. Man, woman,” the pit fighter furrowed her brows at me, “or runt.” She shifted her gaze to a tall, muscled man she’d trounced, trying to brush mud off his black slacks. “Or posh family princess.” She turned back to Brody. “You’re lucky your friend here isn’t a woman. I’ve a special spot in my heart for men who beat the fairer half.”
Brody turned white and glanced at me.
I wrinkled my nose.
As much as siccing the pit fighter on him sounded fun, he was just a kid who hadn’t done anything wrong. He looked ready to pee his pants, and I still needed to get keyed into my housing situation. And keep up my ruse as a man, apparently.
“Why a special place for men who abuse women?” I asked, making my voice as gruff as I convincingly could.
The pit fighter studied me. “Because we’re not objects.” She faced me fully and squared her hips. “We aren’t baby-makers for your bloodline. We don’t exist for you to sink your magic into and leash.”
I shrank back. Her words made my lower back ache. The three spots flared unhappily as the three men who’d tried to hurt me in each scenario flashed across my memory.
The man in dark camo, with coal-black hair and yellow teeth, that sparkled with gold.
The druid, with his long sage green dreadlocks and flock of followers.
And Gandalf, with his trusting face and twin boys.
What if the spots on my lower back weren’t from the delusions, but the people in them? I didn’t like that at all and focused on the pit fighter to keep myself in the moment.
“We’re a wee piece of the population.” The pit fighter didn’t back down. “But our gender doesn’t give us value.” She spat. “Pigs, both of ya.”
She lunged for Brody, who flinched back before she pulled up short and cackled. Her muscled ass swayed as she walked away from us.
“Where’s a gym when you need one?” she called out to her two remaining attackers, limping together ahead of her. “I’m all fired up and need something worthwhile to lift.”
I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing, though if I’d truly been a man, I might be cowering. The spots on my lower back still throbbed, but I’d had them for ‘not months’ now, and I let the pain and uncomfortable thoughts fade into my truth: none of this was real.
One of the guys pointed to the side of a building, and I saw the word ‘gym’ carved above the door.
The pit fighter slapped her leg. “Ha, right there. If it’d been a snake, it would’a bit me.”
She waltzed into the gym, leaving a void of personality in her wake.
A square of light-blue cloth with a white sleeping cat sewn in the middle of it fluttered in the breeze. Now that I thought about it, I’d seen that same flag in Hope’s office and dotted around. It would make the gym easy to spot a second time. I wasn’t much of a fitness person, but I could give it a shot. If it gave me a shred of the pit fighter’s confidence, I’d be over the moon.
I turned to Brody and crossed one arm, resting my elbow in the opposite palm to drum on my cheek.
