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Chapter 9
Matthew was gone when I woke up the next morning. He'd probably been gone for ages, but, thankfully, I was too asleep to notice.
I got ready and went downstairs. No one even mentioned Matthew being there, which means that he had to have left ages ago because Sophie and Alex both got up somewhat early and neither would have kept quiet if they'd seen.
I was more nervous than usual to go to lessons this morning. I mean, Matthew and I had been pretty intimate last night and, while I was half delirious, he had no excuse, which could make things weird. I couldn't decide if today being a group lesson would make it more or less awkward.
Finally, Ty came and took us. As soon as we got there, Will put an arm around me.
"You look tense," he said and I jumped.
"Pffffffft, I'm not tense," I replied, laughing the infectious laugh of the very anxious.
"Of course not. That's why you're twirling your hair into ringlets."
Ohmygod. I hadn't even noticed that I was twirling my hair. Needless to say, I stopped immediately.
"Matthew would so have made fun of you," he said. I jumped again.
"What? Why would he do that?!" I squeaked. God, seriously, what is wrong with me?
Will looked at me strangely. "Because he makes fun of you for everything."
I tried to laugh it off. "Oh, yeah, right, I was totally kidding-"
"Line up!" interrupted Matthew's loud voice.
I squeaked again and scrambled to line up in between Will [because he was big] and Lucy [because she squeaked more than I did and it made me feel better]. Matthew glowered at us all, as per usual.
"Today, we're learning how to punch," he growled. Oh joy. Punching. That sounded SUPER fun. "So that none of you kill each other-" He glanced at Alex. "-or fail to practice-" He looked at Lucy and I. "-the other masters will be your partners." He looked around. "..As soon as they get here."
I tried not to let my face fall. That meant that, despite the fact that there should have been a buffer, there wouldn't be. I also tried not to twirl my hair.
A couple minutes later, Leo appeared.
"Everyone is ON THEIR WAY!" he said cheerfully, grinning as he walked over to Lucy and ruffled her hair. She beamed. Lucky. Her master is nice.
Suddenly, everyone was there. Even the masters we'd never met before.
"So, because Lucy and Melissa are both short-" Melissa punched Matthew in the arm and he smirked. "-And Leo and Alex are both tall, Alex and Lucy are going to switch masters for today."
Lucy looked like she had just been told that her birthday had been canceled for the next ten years. Alex just looked kind of wary. She could beat up Will easily, but Leo was a different story.
Matthew opened his mouth to speak, but Melissa interrupted him.
"Can't WE just teach them how to do it?" she asked, frowning at him. The other masters nodded their agreement and Matthew sighed.
"Yeah. Let's go."
Of the two masters that I didn't recognize, the woman went with Aaron [who looked thrilled] and the man went with Oliver. The man, I noticed, was totally more beautiful than Aaron. Damn.
As soon as everyone had paired up and Melissa and Lucy seemed to be bonding quite well, Matthew walked over to me and pulled me aside, as all of the other masters had done. Save me.
"Have you ever punched anyone before?" he growled quietly. I shook my head, too afraid [and awkward] to speak. "Good. Then I don't have to undo any wrong ways you've been taught." I nodded and he looked at me strangely for a few seconds before assuming the Punching Stance.
Uh, at least, I think that's what he did.
Especially since he looked at me expectantly until I had followed suit and then laughed at me.
"Your stance is flimsy, idiot," he said, relaxing and reaching to grab my arms. I went totally crimson. Thankfully, he either didn't notice or pretended not to as he positioned my arms.
I was having such a horrible time of it, though, that, when he moved my arm forward, I stumbled forward, even though I was supposed to remain still.
"Plant your feet, idiot," he growled. I tried and managed to do so. Sort of. I just wobbled when he moved me.
Finally, he'd gotten me into the Punching Stance, which involved me having both fists up and looking a bit like an idiot.
"I look stupid ," I whined.
"You always look stupid," he said as he took his own stance. "Now, punch me."
I looked at him. "...You never told me what to do."
"I know."
I really hate when he does that. Sighing, I curled my fist up and prepared to "punch him."
"No," he said before I could even start. I gave him a Look.
"...What?!"
"Put your thumb on the outside or you'll break it."
I looked at my fist, with my four fingers curled around my thumbs and sighed, moving my thumb so that it was on top.
"Am I ready now?" I asked him. He nodded. So I sort of threw my fist at him. He laughed entirely too meanly as he blocked it easily.
"You're going to want to turn your fist, like this," he said, demonstrating slowly with his own. I tried to mimic him.
"Good," he said. "Now punch me."
"Er." I did exactly what he showed me and he gave me a Look.
"You couldn't even kill a FLY with that application of strength. Come on, idiot. Punch me."
I eyed him. But, nonetheless, I steeled myself and put some force behind my punch and punched Matthew. He laughed again.
"You suck."
"YOU'RE JUST REALLY STRONG," I whined.
"No, you suck."
I stuck my tongue out at him. He reached over and whacked me on the head. I was about to respond when it occurred to me that nothing was awkward at the moment and we were, in fact, getting along well, considering how we usually got along.
I was totally blushing when Ty appeared and all of the masters snapped to attention. Confused, the rest of us followed suit.
"It has come to my attention that there is a young man who will be coming into his powers very, very soon."
...Ok, Ty. That's great. What would you like us to do about it?
"However, he seems to be shielded from me."
Matthew looked up.
"What do you mean? How can anyone shield someone from you?" he growled.
Ty shrugged. "I cannot say. But I need you to find him."
"So we're going on a wild goose chase?" Melissa asked, raising a blue eyebrow.
"Are we splitting up?" Leo asked.
"What do we do about the apprentices?" Crystal asked.
"Hush," Ty said and everyone fell silent immediately. I glanced at Lucy, who was looking startled. Ty continued. "We have narrowed his location down. He will be turning eighteen in thirty-three days. We must intercept him, somehow, before then." He pulled a large envelope out of absolutely nowhere and then looked around at all of us. His gaze finally seemed to settle on Lucy.
"Lucinda, come here, please." Looking very startled now, she shuffled over and eyed him warily. He held the envelope out to her, indicating that she stick her hand in. We all watched her pull out a small piece of paper and then squint at it. After a minute or so, she looked up at Ty, confused.
"Is this a prom ticket?"
"A what?" Matthew asked, glancing at Ty, who nodded at Lucy.
"A prom ticket," I said loud enough for Matthew to hear. He turned to look at me.
"...What's that?"
"It's a dance."
"...Oh." He looked revolted. Ty continued.
"There must be at least one master in attendance. You may all decide." And then he left.
"I wanna go!" Lucy squealed, looking at Leo.
"Of course we can go!" Leo said, grinning roguishly. She beamed.
"Ooh, me too!" I said and Lucy squealed again.
"Shut up, we have more important things to do," Matthew growled, in a bad mood again. And then he proceeded to drag me away again and had me punch him in the arm until he could feel it.
How fun.
*****
When we all finally got back home, most of us took a shower. I, graciously, allowed everyone else to go first and, by the time I got out, there were people in my living room.
WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?
There were two girls and two masters, I noticed, as I walked in. One of the girls was pale with freckles and a shock of wavy, red hair spilling down her back. The other one was totally opposite-she was black. They looked really odd next to each other. I wondered if they'd known each other before but, by the way they were standing, I figured they didn't.
"..Hi," I said. I noticed that Matthew was there, too. Because he's always there, apparently.
"Hello, Rose," Ty said in that voice that he uses whenever he's about to tell me something I'm not going to like. I looked at Matthew to see what he was thinking, but he was scowling off into the distance. Of course.
"This is Bella and Emily." He gestured to them, not telling us which was which.
"Hi, Bella and Emily," I said, waving lamely. Matthew turned to glare at me. "I'm Rose," I added quickly and he returned to scowling into space.
"Would you like to show them to their rooms?" Ty asked.
"I'd love to," I grumbled, beckoning them after me as I started up the stairs. "You guys can each have your own room," I told them as we climbed.
"Great," the red headed one said. "Rose, right?"
"Yeah," I said, turning and looking for an empty room. "Which one are you?"
"Emily."
"And I'm Bella," the other one said.
"Nice to meet both of you. You can have-"
"Rooooose!" whined Lucy's voice from the top of the stairs. She was followed by everyone else who lived in the house.
"...What?" I asked.
"We were just kicked out of the first floor," Alex said, bringing up the rear. "Something about ‘important matters.'"
I frowned. "Oh. Ok." Turning back to Emily and Bella, I chewed my lip. "Well. One of you can have that room, next to Oliver and the other can have the room next to Sophie..."
"I'll take the one next to Oliver," Bella said, looking dutiful and dragging her bags in.
"Then I guess I'm next to...er...Sophie?" Emily asked, looking around. Sophie waved from where she was standing next to Will. Emily waved back.
"It's that one," I said, pointing. She nodded and started that way. I figured we'd all introduce ourselves later, so waved goodbye to the crowd on the hallway and locked myself in my room. I think I deserved some alone time.
Clearly, Matthew did not have the same idea, since, after I was in there for about five minutes, he came materializing in.
"What?" I asked from bed, pulling off my headphones. He came and sat.
"What are you listening to?" he growled almost pleasantly. I stared at him. Conversation? Weird.
"Uh. Holst."
"The planets?" he asked curiously. I stared at him and nodded. He chuckled. "They had just been written last time I visited."
"Oh. So. Did you..know him?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Met him once. He was the neighbor of one of Leo's students. He was..nice."
My eyebrows flew up-that was pretty impressive.
"Wow."
And then we were both silent. For at least two minutes. Two long, long, awkward minutes.
"...So," I finally said. He looked at me. "Was there something you wanted?"
"...Well, Ty told me not to make it seem like I only talk to you when I need something." He looked away.
I laughed and he turned to glare at me, so I tried to stop laughing and ended up covering my mouth.
"So, what did you come to say?" I finally asked, hand still over my mouth.
"Ty says that more are coming."
I stopped laughing then and frowned. "More?!"
He nodded. "Ty says that things are getting out of hand."
"...Where?! Where are they getting out of hand?" I demanded.
He shrugged. "But he knows what he's talking about."
I sighed and flopped back onto my pillow. He shrugged and opened his mouth to say something, but my phone started ringing. I reached for it as he, confused, stared around for the source of the music.
"Hello?" I asked, not checking the caller ID because Matthew was still flipping out.
"Hey, babe."
Oh god. It was Steve. I glanced at Matthew and prayed that he didn't have super hearing that he hadn't mentioned before.
"Hey," I said, trying to sound flirty enough for Steve but not flirty enough that Matthew would notice.
But Matthew totally noticed and, as our conversation progressed into dinner plans for a few days from then, his scowl took its usual place on his face and, by the time I'd hung up [with an embarrassingly mushy goodbye that I did not instigate and will never describe as long as I live], he was standing up.
"I'll see you at noon," he growled. I nodded, too embarrassed to say anything, and then Matthew was gone.