AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rick goes over to her at the cabinet, and they talk about how she will demonstrate. Rick wants to stand against her, I open my mouth to let him know I think that’s a bad idea, but Jade is quicker than I am.
“No.” She tells him and takes a step back from them. Her eyes dart around before landing on one of the BOBs we have down here. “I’ll show you on that.” She points to it while Rick and Zander’s eyes follow her finger.
“That doesn't show us what you can do in a fight, Jade.” Rick tells her. Her shoulders sag, but she nods nonetheless.
Zander and Rick talk about who will go against her with each weapon, and they seem to have it all worked out before long. Jade hasn’t moved from her spot on the mat, and it’s as if she’s frozen in place. Neither of them seems to notice, though.
Rick grabs another staff and goes to stand in front of her.
“We’re going to rotate out based on our weapon strengths.” He tells her, but she stares straight ahead as if looking through him.
“The goal here is to take us down to the mat or disarm us as quickly and effectively as possible.” He continues telling her, and I’m not even sure she’s listening. “I don’t feel like it should be said, but just in case, I want you to know you’re not actually in danger with us, Jade. This is about learning, not hurting you.” Her eyes refocus on that as if she just realized he was there. She stares back at him for a moment before she gives a firm nod and drops into a fighting stance.
“On my mark,” Zander says as he moves to the edge of the mat just a few feet away from where I am. “Three, two, one, fight.” He yells, he doesn’t seem concerned about this in the least, and I start to feel like maybe I’m overreacting. Rick is usually our overthinker, looking at everything from every angle and making sure there is minimal risk. He must have a reason if he’s pushing for this to happen.
We watch them as they stand there, waiting for the other to make the first move.
Rick caves first. Moving forward, he brings up his staff high as if to strike her in the head, but it’s a fake-out move. After years of fighting these guys, we all know each other’s movements and maneuvers, but Jade doesn’t, so it should be effective.
Jade doesn’t flinch as he brings the staff through the air in a high arch and doesn't even try to block it. I hear Zander suck in a sharp breath from beside me but don’t dare to take my eyes off them to look over at him.
Before the hit lands, he pulls back slightly and moves his arms down so the hit will land on her legs and take her to the mat. I’ve seen Rick do this enough times on the mat and in actual fights to know that most people don't expect that in the heat of a fight, taking each move for what they see coming and not what could be.
I watch as the staff gets closer and closer, fighting against myself to shout and warn her because she still isn’t moving.
Her staff is there at the last possible second, successfully blocking his from making contact. I didn’t even see her move. Then, as quickly as she stopped his hit, she slams the end of her staff into his chest, causing him to stumble back a step before she sweeps his legs out, just as he had intended to do to her.
He lands flat on his back on the mat.
The room is entirely still as we all look on. Rick is on the ground. She put him down in two moves and in less than two minutes at that. Zander breaks the silence first, and really that’s not surprising. He whoops and claps for her. It seems to shake her from her concentration, and she rushes forward to offer Rick her hand.
He grabs it, and she helps haul him up. “Are you okay?” She asks even before he’s standing, her voice a few octaves higher than it usually is. When he’s standing, he gives her a nod and she lets out a breath of relief as she drops his hand.
“That was impressive,” he tells her as he rubs at the spot on his chest. Her eyes dart down to his hand and back up to his face. “I’m fine. I was just a little caught off guard, is all.” He reassures her as he drops his hand.
Zander finally loses his cool and runs over to her, wrapping her in a tight hug. She goes stiff at first, but after a moment, she seems to melt into him. He didn’t seem to notice her momentary fear, but I see that Rick caught it just like I did.
He turns to me and lifts a brow, and I just shake my head. I got nothing with her. She’s all over the map, and I don’t know what parts of her are genuine and what parts are an act or a mask. She seemed genuinely concerned that she hurt Rick and doesn't seem to want to fight us. Maybe she’s not such a threat, or perhaps that’s what she wants us to think.
* * *
We continuelike that for the next few hours. We each take turns fighting against Jade with weapons we’re good with, but nobody can best her. We can’t even last for more than a few minutes.
We went through the first two weapons cabinets, and true to her word, she could use everything. Rick moves to the third cabinet looking over what’s left, and I keep an eye on Zander and Jade. He’s standing with her at the center of the mat, just a few feet from me, his smile still in place after watching her take down Rick the first time. He didn’t even lose it when she took him down.
He’s talking to her in a low voice, and after a moment, she lets out a yawn that she tries to hide behind her hand.
“We should call it for the night, Rick.” I yell over to him. He looks down at his watch before turning back to face us.
“I didn’t realize it was so late.” He says as he goes and closes the cabinets back up, making sure everything is where it belongs, before putting his thumb on the pad on the far wall to reengage the locks.
I watch Jade as he does this to see if she's watching how we store the weapons, but her attention appears to be on Zander. Well, as much attention as she has while looking like she might fall asleep while standing here.
Rick turns and walks back to them as I do the same. He catches my gaze for a moment, and I know what he's saying without telling me.
All of this may have been to gauge her skills, but we can still kill two birds with one stone by giving her access to weapons and seeing what she does with that information. If she’s going to be a threat, we need to know so we can handle her before she gets too deep into our lives and too close to Zander, to do damage.
Okay, more damage. Anyone with eyes can see that Zander is already in too deep here.
