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“You know I’m not an official Sentinel yet,” Kallie said as she dropped her bow. “I haven’t undergone my final Trial.”
“Me neither,” Zahra said with a small smile. “So, how do you want to do this?”
Kallie decided the best thing to do was for them to go to one of the training rooms. Once they were there, Zahra showed her what she had learned so far from Sloane, and within a few minutes, Kallie had devised a work schedule.
Despite their rough start to getting to know one another, both of them realised pretty soon that they had a lot in common.
After an hour of throwing knives, Zahra stopped. She flexed her arm while she watched Kallie throw. Her aim was accurate each time.
“You must hate me,” Zahra said softly as she watched the other Akrhyn practice.
Kallie threw her last knife, smiling to herself as it landed with precision on the spot. “I never hated you,” she admitted as she turned to the Principal’s daughter.
“How long were you assigned to me at school?” Zahra asked as she rubbed her shoulder, hoping to ease some of the ache before the stiffness set in.
“Two years,” Kallie said as she watched Zahra. She saw her eyebrows rise in surprise.
“Harrian’s wrath, that’s a long time.” Zahra started to put her knives away, but Kallie stopped her and told her she needed to clean them and give them a light polish. “Why?” she questioned. “Sloane never made me do that.”
“Because Sloane is a Sentinel who patrols and who has a trainee Sentinel clean all his gear for him,” Kallie said with a light laugh. “He’s terrible at weapon maintenance.”
“How do you know this if you were watching me for two years?” Zahra asked as she caught the small tin that Kallie tossed her. “Do you spend time with him?”
“Not much.” Kallie shrugged. “Since we’ve been back at Headquarters, Tegan and Michael have been training the four of us who were sent to guard you. They believe we should be sitting the final Trial soon, and they wanted to help get us ready. Sloane was mostly at the training. We’ve been very lucky.”
“You attended the same classes as I did?” Zahra said in confusion as she wiped her blades down. “I can’t believe I never even knew there were other Akrhyn there.”
“You knew,” Kallie said and then turned away in horror that she had said it out loud.
Zahra drew herself upright and crossed her arms belligerently as she regarded the other female. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, Zahra.” Kallie sighed in disappointment. “We’re Akrhyn, we know one another. Sure, you may not have paid attention towhowe were, but you know better than anyone, there was no way in shade your father was leaving you unprotected.”
“I didn’t know it would be four of you, or for two years,” Zahra muttered. “I was never in danger,” she added stubbornly.
“Weren’t you?” Kallie asked her softly and felt guilty when the other Akrhyn paled and tears welled in her eyes. “I didn’t mean that, Zahra, I would never mean that,” Kallie said quickly.
“I know.” Zahra gave a bitter laugh as she rubbed her nose and sniffled. “If you were to ask me a few months ago if you were being amean girl, then I would have been like, yeah, Kallie’s a bitch.” Zahra shook her head slightly. “Truth is, I didn’t even know you then, but I would have called you it anyway.” Zahra dropped her knife roll and then sat down on one of the mats. “I did know there were Akrhyn in the school, how could I not?” She gave a disgusted snort. “And yes, I took chances that I wouldn’t have taken had I thought dad hadtrulygiven me that freedom that I craved. So I am a horrible person, and I deserve the judgment that I get now. I’ve always been spoiled.” Zahra looked at Kallie as she sat beside her. “I never thought I needed to apologise for being spoiled.”
“You don’t need to apologise for the fact your father and brother love you, Zahra,” Kallie said as she drew her knees up to her chest. “You’ve been childish,” Kallie continued even though she heard the sharp intake of breath from her right. “You were selfish, not spoiled. But I think being home, seeing the bigger picture, and I don’t mean to hurt you, but from what you went through, I think you’re actually better for it.”
“It was horrible,” Zahra said, her voice low. “I still can’t sleep properly.”
“I said you’re better because of all of it, Zahra, I never ever said you deserved it.” Kallie reached over and took Zahra’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “No female deserves that.” She looked at the Principal’s daughter and considered her for a moment. Zahra sat with her head bowed. She was only now beginning to take care of her appearance again, and Kallie realised how utterly alone she was. “From being in a human school, we didn’t all suffer, you know,” Kallie said with a sly smirk.
“How do you mean?” Zahra asked as she raised her head to look at her curiously.
“Well, Jax and Gable are now completely addicted to human television shows, the one with zombies, though they pretend they aren’t, but I know they both have the boxsets.” Kallie smiled as Zahra started to laugh. “And you aren’t the only one who kissed guys in the janitor closet,” Kallie told her with a wink. “And Briony now does a mean manicure,” she finished as Zahra’s laughter rang out over the training room. “You want to come get your nails done?” Kallie asked as she stood and offered her hand to the Akrhyn on the floor.
“Would she mind?” Zahra asked hesitantly as she looked up at the dark-haired female who was showing her unexpected but welcome kindness.
“No, she’ll think it’s winter festival all over again,” Kallie said with a smile as Zahra took her outstretched hand and got to her feet. “I’m warning you now though, Briony may talk a little bit too much about her relationship status.”
“Oh.” Zahra flushed. “That’s okay, my friends—no, thegirlsI used to hang out with—always talked about boys and stuff. I’m okay with it.”
“Yeah?” Kallie looked over her shoulder to Zahra as they left the training room together. “Because Briony is seeing Michael, and I warn you now, there may be some things you never, ever need to know about what your brother can do with his tongue.”
Zahra stopped dead in her tracks, and then when Kallie waggled her eyebrows at her, she burst out laughing.
