Chants: Chapter 4 - Training

A Fantasy/Adventure book about a 17 year old girl who wakes up to find everyone she loves is missing and the whole world, at least until she meets a mysterious figure in the shadows.....

They had let go of each other now, she had hoped for someone to say something but it didn't seem that anyone was going to.

It was August that spoke, "The necklace was the tether of the spell, something connected with your emotions works the best."

"What was your tether then- I mean if mine was the necklace.", she looked at Theo, she was almost eye to eye now she had stood up, even though he was still sitting.

*   *   *

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He didn't say anything at first; he looked down at a large silver ring with the same Earth design on it, she had remembered when he gave her the necklace, he kept a matching ring to connect them.

"August told me when I bought you in, initially, I thought you were a shifting demon-",she looked at him angrily,"-but- then just before I killed you, I saw that you were breathing heavily and demons don't breathe once they've shifted.". Neither of them realised that August had left the room whilst they were talking, Cami felt a smirk curl around her lips but she let it come through, she'd suppressed too much these past days. She slowly approached the window. Even though the light was on in the room, she saw the night was still lingering. The streetlamps, casting a damp glow and the terrace houses suggested that they were in the middle of a busy town, but alone still. There was still dew on the grass outside and the cold chill coming from the broken window reminded her of home. It was winter here so it was below freezing at night, this was clear from the lack of insulation. Even she appreciated the size of this place, it must have been at least 7 of her small terrace house put all together. She'd seen a glimpse of the garden (well it was more of a field to be honest), when she had jumped out the window. It was set out for what looked like boxing or something, it had circles painted onto the grass which looked like fight circles, then had closed off areas in the corner. Maybe for more private training, she thought.

"What are you thinking about?", Theo had moved up next to her and was looking at her curiously. As if he were trying to read her face, letting it tell him what to say next.

"My whole world is different, there's a fighting going on in my head, half of me wants to run screaming and find my old life again-", he looked at her alarmingly, as if to say, don't even think about it. She quickly assured him.

"But then I remember everything about how I knew you, and trusted you like you trust a brother, and my parents laughing with August."

"I can't ever hope to understand what such a big change must do to you, I was brought up in the world of magic and demons and us, the Angels- but you have lived two completely different lives."

"And I'm still deciding which one is real. It feels like a dream.". She bowed her head down slightly and continued to stare out of the window. She looked up, startled to find that Theo had taken a piece of her long, brown curly hair and tuck it behind her ear, she felt her heart beat faster and she lost her breath for a second- "This is real Cami, I'm real, I'm here with you.". He chuckled under his breath, "Come on, I want to show you something.". He took her hand and led her out of the room.

*   *   *

He was taking her out through what felt like thousands of grand corridors. Finally, they reached a set of doors similar to the ones she'd seen at the Library. Theo stopped slightly at the mahogany doors and she saw a grin curve his lips. As if to say, You wait until you see this.He pushed both of them open and nudged his head forward, telling her to go first.

She immediately knew why he had smiled, any boy or even man would love this. She assumed it was the weapons room, it had blades and spears and bows, all carved with different chants. She even saw hair pins that looked like tiny daggers. He had to do a small jog to come to her side, she had wandered off into one of the corners. She felt a hand grasp her arm and pull her away towards an open archway grabbing two wooden sticks as he left, they too had inscriptions carved into them. The arch had let them out to the field she had thought about, Theo was dragging her out to one of the closed off corners she had noticed before.

The sun was peering over the horizon now but the night still hung in the air, the water from the grass seeped into her boots stinging her feet.

*   *   *

They were in a circle closed off by trees and hedges, Theo had dropped a stick at her feet.

"Now, I don't know how much you remember about training but you always were a quick study,

and better than me I might add. So I'm a tiny bit scared to be honest

try and strike at me, use every ounce of hatred in your bones. It will come more naturally when fighting a demon, its in our blood to hate them. However, you obviously don't hate m-" Shock rushed to his face, at that she had struck at his front, to unsettle him. Then returned with a blow to the back of the legs, as if to spite him for the night he took her. He fell to the floor crashing onto his hip and shoulder, it look like it hurt and she automatically felt bad but pushed it aside and instead replaced it with a slightly menacing smirk and moved the spear to his throat.The smirk was quickly replaced by a chuckle from both of them.

"See, I told you that you were always better than me!"

"And I told you that you need to work on your footwork, do you remember that ?" She had helped pull him to his feet and they had both moved to the side seat for a moment.

"I do, it happened just like that as well. You tripped me up then told me I needed to work on my footwork and hesitation."

It was just like old times, they were sitting doing nothing when they were meant to be training. But this time, there was something else there that hadn't been there before. A tension, new tension between them.

Theo obviously felt it to, she hadn't realised until she looked up, he had been staring at her, trying to do that thing where he read her face. It was what he did when he wasn't sure what to do next. He was annoyingly good at it. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

And before she had a chance to say anything he pulled her close and kissed her, it was unexpected and awkward at first, then they eased into it and it felt as natural as breathing. Like she couldn't live without it.

He brushed his hand over her cheek and pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. They let go of each other but said nothing.