AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glance over at Apollo, but he’s correcting Gabrielle. He seems to be praising her, too, because of course she’s good at this.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
Talk to me in your head, Kira. Don’t speak out loud.
Easy for you to say,I snap without thinking.Oh, I did it! How are you doing this? Can you see everything I do? Are you going to be in my—
Whoa,Cyrus says.Slow down. Vampires obtain a psychic connection with an aura when they drink their blood. I can see and speak to you whenever I want.
When I go to the toilet?I ask, horrified.
No.Not then.
But how do you know until you’ve seen?
I can’t, but you can block me. You just have to concentrate hard. But we’ll work on that later. Right now, you need to put your weight on your back foot, lower your shoulders, and lift your chin.
I do as he says. Apollo simply nods at me when he strides past.
See?There’s a hint of triumph in his voice.
Next, Apollo has us work in pairs, and Laila reluctantlyagrees to be my partner. This time we’re given boxing gloves—which stink, by the way—and learn basic jabs.
Keep your elbow up,Cyrus says.
“Thanks,” I whisper.
“For what, Belvedere?” Laila raises an eyebrow. “You know, the other students think I’m a freak, but you really take the cake.”
“What cake?” I grin. “If there’s cake, I’d like to know, because I’m pretty hungry right now.”
She just rolls her eyes.
We swap places, and I hold up the pads for Laila to punch. She’s surprisingly strong and quick. For some reason, I hadn’t pegged Laila as the athletic type.
Your friend has good form.
I know I ought to tell Cyrus to get out of my head, but I oddly enjoy him being there. I will need to practice keeping him out, though. The thought of him popping into my head when I’m on the toilet or in the shower or when I’m havingthosethoughts about Michael B. Jordan…
What thoughts? I’d like to know more about what kind of thoughts you have about other men.
Hey!I make my internal voice stern.Maybe don’t read my thoughts? Also, I can think whatever I like about other men.
To prove my point, I envision a shirtless Michael B. Jordan smiling and handing me a tub of ice cream—
Well, he is handsome in an obvious way, Cyrus admits.But I take your point and will try not to read any thoughts not directed at me.
I smile to myself. I won that one, at least.
“You look like you’re having an entire conversation in your damn head,” Laila complains. Apollo blows his whistle,and she starts pulling off the gloves. “Trust me to get the space cadet as a roomie.”
“I actually think we have a good back and forth going on here. What with your goth energy and my… not-so-goth energy, we balance each other out.”
One corner of her lips curls up. “Whatever.”
Apollo has us stand in two lines, and we take turns running to the next partner to spar. I notice a few friendly faces and some not-so-friendly ones. Gabrielle scowls and punches the pads so hard it’s like she’s trying to take my hands off.
“Hello, stranger,” Cooper says as I run to him. “Or should I say, She Who Will Be Holding Us Back.”
