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“Fear a girl who can’t even kill a spider?” My lips turned down.
“Only because you haven’t trained yet. Once we get started, you’ll learn how to defend yourself, and if you have the right kind of magic—which, if you’re the messovenata, is almost guaranteed—then you’ll be able to fight.”
“Learning is all well and good, but it doesn’t suddenly make me brave.”
Mizuki patted my arm. “I think you’ll find you’re more courageous than you know. It sometimes just takes the right moment to realize it.”
Her optimism didn’t rub off, so I changed the subject. “How come some of the reapers have guns and swords? Shouldn’t the reapers all wield scythes?” I’d assumed Williams was an anomaly, and those residing in the castle would follow Cain’s model of fighting.
She laughed. “It’s more about what weapon they’re most proficient with. For some, like Cain, they prefer the reach of a scythe. Others like the aim and distance of a gun. Barron feels he gets more out of a sword.”
“When you say I’ll learn to fight, do you mean with weapons?” Because I’d been known to cut myself with a paring knife.
“Yes. You’ll be taught the basics of defense and offense. Then, if you show a knack for a particular style of combat, you’ll get more intensive training. You’ll also learn how to wield magic. Once we discover which element you’re strongest in, we’ll be able to fine-tune your learning to use it to your best advantage.” She made my learning sound like a foregone conclusion.
“I should warn you, I’m a tad clumsy and suck at sports,” I admitted. “I got benched in dodgeball because I couldn’t seem to stop getting hit in the face.”
“We can work on that.”
“Do you know how to fight?” I countered.
“Yes, but it doesn’t do me much good. Unlike you, I can’t see demons, just the fog.”
“I don’t understand how Nova and those two other witches can help. If they can’t see, then how can they fight?”
“There are ways. Even without sight, if they know an area is clear of reapers, they can throw fireballs, blow wind to knock the demons down, strike with lightning. Helen is quite good when it comes to casting a sluggish spell that slows the demons down.”
“They came after me in sunlight,” I confided. “And people saw them.”
Her eyes widened. “They must have been desperate.”
“They were something all right,” I grumbled, staring down the hill. We remained outside, our elevation giving us a view of the forest and the worn dirt path leading to the dais below.
“Want to go inside and start some of your magic testing, or are you too distracted?”
I wanted to find out if I had any special mojo, but at the same time, I worried about Cain and, to a lesser extent, Williams. They’d both risked their lives for me. I wanted them to survive. “I don’t suppose we could wait a bit?”
“Sure.” She plopped to the ground cross-legged.
Me, I remained standing and gnawing a thumb. “Gotta ask. How come Cain had me bring a message in person? Wouldn’t it have been smarter to have texted an SOS? What if I’d not made it to the castle?” I’d come close to getting killed.
“Texting isn’t always reliable. It could also be by giving you a task he hoped to spur you rather than for you to give in to fear.”
The latter seemed most likely. “Yeah, we were kind of in the thick of shit.”
“I’m glad you made it out.”
“Me too. Think the guys will be okay?”
She snorted. “It will take more than a demon ambush to take down the deadliest duo. Cain and Vance used to be unstoppable when paired together.”
“They knew each other well?”
“The best of friends.”
“Are you sure? Because they sure didn’t seem to like each other.”
“Not anymore, they don’t,” Mizuki confided.
