Ch. 121: Training Day

CHAPTER 121
Rachel~
My mom had looked at me very strangely when I had finally come home late last night. She said she understood that I was getting older, and that it had been my birthday, but she wasn’t all that happy with not having seen me much at all.
So when I told her at breakfast that Ally was picking me up to go to the beach, she put on her twisted mouth, contemplative face.
“Okay, Mija, but not as long today, okay? You have school tomorrow. I want you home by 7pm so we can have dinner together,” she conceded.
“Thanks mom!” I said excitedly.
She kept giving me strange looks last night and all this morning. Like she was trying to figure me out. Did she know how much my life had changed?
“What?” I finally asked her.
“You just seem… so happy,” she concluded.
I choked on the water I had taken a sip of. “Is that bad?”
She thought for a second and then said, “No. It’s really nice.”
I thought about telling her everything. I wanted us to not have this big gaping secret between us. But I wasn’t sure how much to share.
“You’ve been a little distant since Christmas, but,” she looked at me, “now you seem - lighter.”
I smiled, guilt making me sweat a little. What harm could telling her a little do?
“I, uh-” I started and stopped. My eyes went down to her slippers, and back up to her face. She was giving me quiet focus to continue. “So, I actually broke up with Sean.”
She smiled broadly. “Oh good!”
She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh I’m sorry.”
I burst out laughing. “No, no, it’s okay. He was kind of…” evil, manipulative, “a downer.”
“And?” she said, expectantly/
“And… what?” I asked her, guessing she was going to ask me why I was so happy after a breakup.
“Is it Jake?” she asked at last.
I couldn’t hide my red face in time.
“I knew it,” she said, wiggling a little like a mini happy dance.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What do you mean? How could you know?”
“I always noticed the way you two looked at each other. And then when he and his friend came looking for you… he had his very tall friend ask about you, but I saw his face. So - a mother just knows,” she beamed proudly.
Well, color me: impressed.
“Plus I saw him drop you off last night,” she adds, looking away and taking a sip of her coffee.
“But you were asleep!” I waved my napkin at her.
“Pretending,” she said slowly like a lyric in a song.
My jaw just dropped a bit. I turned away, embarrassed. I guess I’m not the only one around here who can keep a secret.
“Yeah dude, it was so gross,” Meg said while rounding the corner. She picked up a poptart, bit a piece off, then added, “Seriously. Ew.”
She walked back to our room and my mom just looked at me and shrugged.
Before I could ask her to never mention that again, I got a call on my phone from Ally. They were outside and ready.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” I say before hanging up.
My mom stood up from the table and collected a few things while I grabbed my jacket. I bent down to put my shoes on by the front door when she walked back to her room. But not before saying one last thing-
“Tell Jake I said 7pm.”

It’s odd heading to Jake’s house - er, packhouse - this way. The last and only other time I arrived was on his back. From the south. While he was on fire. And this time I’m just in the backseat of a car Nick is driving, seated next to Kyle, while Nick and Ally hold hands across the console.
It’s sweet really, just a total contrast to yesterday’s urgencies. We pull off the highway and head up street after street until we hit an area that is mostly dirt road. Nick rolls down his window and waves at the female guard out on duty. It strikes me again how intense this place is. People running around with all kinds of jobs, with my mate responsible for it all. And has he explained to me that I’ll be responsible for it one day too. Theoretically. If they can get past the racism. Or species-ism? What do you even call that?
We pulled up to a row of other cars. And the visual of my door opening refocused me.
“Hey,” Jake said, shyly, one hand stretched out for me, palm open.
“Morning,” I beamed at him and put my hand in his. Electric.
We walked out to some field I was unfamiliar with, never dropping hands. We slowed down as we neared the center of this field and then to a complete stop. That’s when Nick opened up a backpack he had on and pulled out a tarp of some kind. He and Ally spread it out. It was like a huge picnic blanket.
“We’ll check in on you later?” Nick asked Ally and she nodded.
Kyle was already sitting cross-legged on the blanket, averting his gaze from the whole thing.
“Soon,” Jake says succinctly.
The word is short, but the promise is so much more. I smile at him and he lets go of my hand but not before placing a chaste kiss on my forehead.
I know I’m beat red when I finally sit down. I watch him go. Jake and Nick seem to shove each other playfully and it makes me smile. With all the weight of his position and with everything that happened yesterday, at least he’s still in there somewhere.
“Okay,” Kyle cuts in abruptly, cracking his knuckles. “If you two are done ogling your puppies, it’s time to get down to it.”
I look over at him, my eyes not missing how Ally rolled her eyes at the words.
“Yeah, yeah fae boy,” she retorts before looking at me with a serious gaze. “Okay,” she breathes out slowly and steadily. “Are you ready to begin?”
“Yes,” I say simply.

I was not ready.
“Rachel,” Ally says with warning in her voice. “If you can’t focus on this, then we can’t begin to grow anything at all…”
“Ugh,” I let out a frustrated groan. “I just can’t focus on ‘nothing.’ How can I think about emptying my mind? Then all I keep thinking about is how I am trying to empty my mind. It’s a vicious cycle.”
Kyle opens one eye to look at me disapprovingly.
“Are you sure I can’t start anywhere else?” I plead.
“Come on, we’ve barely been at it,” she gently nudges me.
“Al, it’s been almost an hour. I don’t think I can do this. It’s just not happening!” I exhale with frustration.
“You’re really harshing my mellow with these hysterics,” Kyle mumbles out, his eyes still closed.
I look around for something to throw but only find my shoe. So I threw it at him.
“What the-!” he exclaims when it hits him.
Now I’m smiling proudly. “Kyle, you know, you’re like really harshing my mellow, dude,” I say in a low ‘man’ voice.
He laughs. “I totally do not sound like that.”
Ally and I look at each other and laugh.
“I do not!” Kyle yells louder, getting red in the face.
“Kyle - I mean you can… sometimes…” Ally starts.
“-sound like a hippie,” I finished for her in a perfunctory tone.
“Women,” he says and stands up to stretch.
“You know, maybe that’s a good idea,” Ally thinks aloud.
“Sounding like a hippie?” I ask her.
“Taking a break,” she says.
“Now you’re speaking my language!” I say loudly and fall back on the blanket, stretching out.
“I think you three need to leave,” someone said from above.
I turned my head and blocked the sunlight with a hand to see who was there.
“I’m not sure who let you in here…” this man said.
He looked vaguely familiar.
“We’re guests of the Alpha,” Ally said for us, her tone clear and sure, like she’d said this a million times.
He scoffs. “I highly doubt that. You need to go.”
“Feel free to confirm with him,” Kyle said lazily while rolling his shoulders.
“Are you talking back to me?” he asked, voice rising.
The tension makes me sit up. “Sir, I’m sorry, but my friend here is correct. We are guests of the Alpha, here to train.”
“Train?” He raises an eyebrow and sneers. “Spy on our training and share it with whatever coven or conclave you hail from?”
Okay, now I’m very confused.
“We are here to train and prepare for the next time The Collective attacks,” I say in my most soft but clear tone.
“Yeah, right,” he snickers, and gestures to two guards heading our way.
The guards get closer and the man tells them, “Escort these three… things off the territory.”
He must have some authority around here because they didn’t hesitate to put a hand on Kyle and I.
“I’m sorry, there’s been a mistake. Just let me call Jake-” I start to say while fishing in my pocket for my phone.
“Hold it right there!” The guard closest to me pulls a gun.
An actual gun.
My blood freezes.