We all turned and followed Jupiter out the door, even though he was halfway to our training field by now. Seth and I followed behind the other Star and Warrior and I had to wonder if Seth was as daunted as I was. I glanced over at him, but all I got in return was a cocky smile and a playful wink.

We trudged across the snow covered fields, nobody wearing coats or even seeming to be effected by the near zero degree temps. By the time we reached Jupiter, he had already spread out the weapons across the field. I almost laughed, realizing he had clearly just picked up the different swords and tossed them randomly as far as he could. He was tossing swords! I shivered to think of any poor woodland creatures that got in his way.

“We will continue to train with swords and introduce other weapons later, as I see fit. But right now, since Stella is struggling with the basic skill of protecting herself, I think this is our top priority,” Jupiter announced gruffly.

I cringed at his frustration with me and then centered myself, remembering why I needed to push myself. Jupiter was right, I had to get better.

“Let’s start Star against Star, and add more opponents as time progresses,” Jupiter instructed and I realized at some point this morning he expected me to be able to fight all three of them.

Gulp.

“Stella, Serena choose your weapon,” Jupiter waved his arm across the expanse of the field, while Nate and Seth stepped out of the way.

Serena flipped through the air and landed twenty feet away, gracefully picking up a long, thin sword before her feet touched the ground. She turned back to me with a glint in her bright blue eyes that I was honestly scared of. And then she raised her sword defensively, and poised her body for the fight, her long sinewy body stretched and ready.

Double gulp.

Schooling my trembling appendages, I backed away from her, finding a katana sword to match her nodachi and raised it in a similar pose, more mimicking her than moving comfortably into position. Serena looked like the goddess of battle, her orange hair whipped behind her as if on fire and her eyes shone with the brightness of heaven, even in the daylight. Her body tensed and she waited for me, her muscles flexing in anticipation and her eyes narrowing against me.

She was a Warrior.

I was a seventeen year old girl that felt awkward holding my heavy weapon.

I tried to mimic the grace of her stance, but my foot sank lower in the snow than I intended it to and I stumbled a little before recovering. We faced each other from across the field, neither one willing to go on the offensive and give up our position.

“Serena, you attack her,” Jupiter commanded when he realized we could wait each other out all day. I saw only a moment’s hesitation before she obeyed.

Going against every instinct, she crossed the field at a flat out run and leapt through the air, with sword strong above her head. She was not holding back. Not at all….

And for a second I really thought she would kill me.

But then my blade was moving before my brain told it to and I responded out of pure instinct to protect myself. I met her sword with a crash that resounded through the farmland, and then moved swiftly…. gracefully even…. to the side so that I could swing at her again.

The clang of swords was loud and piercing against the quiet of the winter morning, but blow after blow I met hers with a force that surprised even me. I shut off the thinking part of my brain, the part of my brain that was raised in a human world with human reactions and let the supernatural nature I had repressed for far too long take over.

I started to feel like I had the upper hand, if only for a second, but for that second I was swinging first, doing more than just reacting; I was attacking her.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see my inner light encompassing my body, even in bright daylight. Serena and I lit up the field with the blinding brightness of our inner essence. Her features blurred the more ingrained in battle we became, but her sword stayed silver and strong, slicing the air and aiming for me. The snow melted at our feet, exposing the dirt and remnants of last year’s crops.

She let out a battle cry that sent chills of fear racing over my spine, before flipping into the air to deliver the final blow. At the last second, I leapt backward into a flip of my own and midair…. mid-flip….. I connected with her shoulder pushing her to the ground and landing next to her on one knee with my sword at the base of her throat.

I stared at her for a long moment, wondering where I learned to do that and thankful for the way my hand paused. In that moment, I wasn’t training, or fighting a fellow Star, I was defending myself and the force of which I planned to press my sword into my opponent surprised me…. scared me a little.

“Good,” Serena whispered in between heavy breaths and then smiled up at me from under my weapon. “That was very good.”

Still stunned from my win, I backed away slowly, giving her breathing room and removing the threat of my katana from her neck. I stood up, shoulders heaving from exertion and pulled in my light so that I wasn’t a baby version of the sun. Seth stood next to Nate smiling as widely as he could and I got the distinct impression he was trying very hard not to cheer for me. Nate too was smiling, but more like he was relieved for my sake than anything else.

Jupiter was not smiling. Jupiter eyed me from across the field skeptically, like I had just cheated somehow or Serena had gone easy on me. If she had, I couldn’t tell….

“Again,” Jupiter announced, grinding out his consonants as if it pained him to watch this. “Nate, Seth you attack too. We can never have a repeat of last night again.”

I swallowed the anxiety that came with three skilled attackers when I felt like I had just given everything I had to win against one. But I picked up my katana and then found its sister half buried in the snow a few feet away, deciding I could at least try to match the number of weapons coming against me.

“This will feel more like how the Shadows attack,” Jupiter announced as if for my benefit. But I knew whatever his methods were Jupiter would push me and push me and push me until I was perfection…. until I was the Warrior that could protect the Earth effectively. Or until I broke and it was clear the high council had either made a mistake or been tricked into picking me.

I wiped at my brow with the back of my hand and readied myself to meet my attackers. A chill swept over me as they crossed the field. A strong enough foreboding feeling that I lost focus for a moment and looked around. There was something out there, something hidden in the dense tree line. The distinct feel of evil seeped into my blood and warned me that we were being watched.

But as soon as it came, it was gone and I was left in confusion. The other three Angels still advanced against me, not giving anything away. I must have imagined it…. I must have confused my anticipation for this battle with the dread of more Fallen spying on me.

As the four of us connected in fight, I let instinct take over again and lead the way; still I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

Or that an evil presence lurked somewhere so unseen they could be invisible to even us.

Chapter Ten

“Good morning, Piper!” I sang as I sidled up to my locker and noticed she had her cute little brunette head shoved further inside the cold metal shelves than normal.

She mumbled something incoherent that sounded like a string of curse words and tried to actually crawl inside her locker. I deposited my backpack and winter coat on a hook inside my own locker and then grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked playfully back.

“Ow!” she shouted, pulling her head out of hiding and glaring at me.

“Piper, what happened Friday night?” I leaned my shoulder against my locker and crossed my arms to let her know I meant business.

“Oh, Stella,” she cooed, reaching out for my hair. “You look so pretty today! I love it when you wear your hair down….”

“Stop it!” I slapped her hand away and gave her a more poignant glare. “What happened? And why were you trying to crawl inside your locker?”

“I was planning on just staying in there all day actually…. but fine, if you want to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong….”

“Stop stalling! What happened?” I demanded, lowering my voice so that the surrounding hall full of students wouldn’t tune into our conversation.

Although I was assuming most of them had witnessed whatever she was about to spill….

“Well, first of all, this is all your fault, Stella Day!” her hazel eyes narrowed on me. “Where did you go? Why weren’t you there? How could you have let this happen to me?”

“Calm down Pi, and just tell me what happened,” I whispered fiercely.

Piper looked at me for one more second and then gave me a decided nod. She gripped my wrist in her hand, her painted black fingernails digging into my skin and her silver stack of bangles clanking loudly as she pulled me dramatically into the girls’ bathroom. She let go of me abruptly and then walked over to the mirror to primp her straight bangs and make sure we were completely alone.

“Ugh…. he…. we…. I kind of made out with Lincoln on Friday night,” she confessed in a dejected voice that let me know exactly how ashamed she was.

“But you like him right?” I prompted, hoping to take away some of her post-make-out guilt. I silently cursed the Shadows again and vowed to become the best fighter ever just to protect my friends from slightly-tipsy-post-win-make-out-sessions.

“I don’t know….” she grumbled, turning around and leaning against the line of sinks. “I mean, I wasn’t really sure before Friday night exactly how I felt about him or us. And even when he kissed me, I kind of decided that I did like him…. but not enough to grope him in public! I don’t know what is wrong with me! I’m such a mess!” She let her head fall dramatically into her hands and shook out her hair.

“Wait,” I demanded, taking a step forward and gripping her shoulders. “You groped him? In front of the entire high school?”

“It’s awful!” she cried out. “I don’t know what came over me! And now he won’t even look at me!”

“Well, you probably stole his innocence….” I mumbled and then sucked in my lip, realizing I wasn’t helping the situation.

“I can’t help it, Ok?” she bit back. “These small town boys can’t handle me. I’m too much woman for them!”

I burst out in laughter at Piper’s expense. She was usually overly dramatic, but at least this time she had a reason to be. I sobered though when I realized she wasn’t completely to blame that night, but had to carry the guilt of her manipulated actions on her own. I wished for the first time in my entire life that she knew the complete truth about me and I could share what really happened Friday night with her.

Usually Piper was my reminder of everything good and innocent about humanity, my escape from the weight of my destiny. I had never shared my secret with her and had no intentions of destroying her rose colored glasses of the world any time soon. But today, watching my best friend flush deep crimson from the reminder of the other night, I wanted desperately to tell her that her actions weren’t entirely her fault.