The evil fairy dummy shifted, and Ibraced myself for the attack that I knew was coming.
“Pretty words. You won’t be the first Character to die saying something like that,” Hansel said. “But not today. I’ll set you up with an easy dummy to practice blocking, but first we have a demonstration to get through—Rory, out. Chase, in.”
I let my sword dangle at my side and stepped into the crowd, still fuming.
Lena must’ve noticed. “Hansel always picks on the new Characters,” she said in an apologetic tone.
Chase shouldered through the other students, and he paused in front of Lena and me, just to smirk. I clenched the fist that wasn’t holding my sword.
“He’s just trying to get back at you for the cake,” Lena whispered.
I should’ve known that he would be good, the way he had walked in with the older students. With an easy grace, he twirled his sword around in an elaborate flourish, and he turned to the evil fairy dummy. This time, since I wasn’t the one in the hot seat, I saw Hansel signal to the dummy by flicking three fingers. The dummy attacked, and Chase let it.
With a sound like a knife getting sharpened, Chase’s sword spun up, rising directly above his head. Chase jumped up after it, kicking the dummy squarely in the chest. The dummy tumbled feet over wings over feet and crashed into the mirrored wall behind them. The glass shattered.
“Chase,” said Hansel, exasperated. “What have I told you about breaking the training mirrors?”
“Sorry,” said Chase, landing lightly. He didn’t sound sorry. His sword was in his hand.
“He jumped five feet in the air,” Adelaide said in a dreamy tone.
One of the older students shook his head, impressed. “At least six.”
I didn’t want to, especially since Chase was smirking around the room like he expected everyone to applaud, but I had to admit the move had been cool.
“Well, that’s one variation,” Hansel said, yawning a little. “Of course, if you let your sword get away from you like that, there’s a good chance you’ll have to defend yourself. Which is why Chase kicked the dummy across the room.”
“You know, besides showing off,” I muttered.
Lena snorted, and Chase shot me an evil look.
“Chase, try it again. This time, keep your feet on the ground.” Hansel gestured to the fairy dummy. Glass tinkled to the floor as it stood up. It ran at Chase. I blinked when their blades struck, and when I looked again, Chase had his sword and the dummy’s in his hands.
“ Definitely a show-off,” I said, and beside me, Lena nodded with a rueful shrug.
When the older kids and Chase paired off to practice, Hansel assigned each of the sixth graders to a specific dummy, according to their skill. He took me to a little dummy in the back. It was wizened and hunchbacked like an old witch, and the sword it swung looked a lot like a long wand. I felt a little insulted.
Hansel showed me how to block in four positions: high, low, left, and right. Then he left me to practice and walked around, correcting people’s stances and giving tips. Every once and a while, Hansel would announce that every single one of us would be dead if the war was still underway, but he didn’t bother to come back and check on me.
So, I didn’t have anything to distract me from the pain.
First, my arms started to burn. Then I started to feel it in my stomach. Soon after my legs began to tremble, the witch dummy started to get past my guard. She poked so many holes in my shirt that it started to look like lace.
It didn’t help to find out that I was the only one having trouble with the drill. Adelaide performed hers like a ballerina, rapping her dummy—an evil fairy—on the neck, chest, and leg in time with Hansel’s count. The triplets were solid fighters, able to fight with either sword or staff, and even Lena could punch holes in her troll dummy with a spear. And the other new girl in the class, Miriam, hit her practice dummy with so much force
“Pretty words. You won’t be the first Character to die saying something like that,” Hansel said. “But not today. I’ll set you up with an easy dummy to practice blocking, but first we have a demonstration to get through—Rory, out. Chase, in.”
I let my sword dangle at my side and stepped into the crowd, still fuming.
Lena must’ve noticed. “Hansel always picks on the new Characters,” she said in an apologetic tone.
Chase shouldered through the other students, and he paused in front of Lena and me, just to smirk. I clenched the fist that wasn’t holding my sword.
“He’s just trying to get back at you for the cake,” Lena whispered.
I should’ve known that he would be good, the way he had walked in with the older students. With an easy grace, he twirled his sword around in an elaborate flourish, and he turned to the evil fairy dummy. This time, since I wasn’t the one in the hot seat, I saw Hansel signal to the dummy by flicking three fingers. The dummy attacked, and Chase let it.
With a sound like a knife getting sharpened, Chase’s sword spun up, rising directly above his head. Chase jumped up after it, kicking the dummy squarely in the chest. The dummy tumbled feet over wings over feet and crashed into the mirrored wall behind them. The glass shattered.
“Chase,” said Hansel, exasperated. “What have I told you about breaking the training mirrors?”
“Sorry,” said Chase, landing lightly. He didn’t sound sorry. His sword was in his hand.
“He jumped five feet in the air,” Adelaide said in a dreamy tone.
One of the older students shook his head, impressed. “At least six.”
I didn’t want to, especially since Chase was smirking around the room like he expected everyone to applaud, but I had to admit the move had been cool.
“Well, that’s one variation,” Hansel said, yawning a little. “Of course, if you let your sword get away from you like that, there’s a good chance you’ll have to defend yourself. Which is why Chase kicked the dummy across the room.”
“You know, besides showing off,” I muttered.
Lena snorted, and Chase shot me an evil look.
“Chase, try it again. This time, keep your feet on the ground.” Hansel gestured to the fairy dummy. Glass tinkled to the floor as it stood up. It ran at Chase. I blinked when their blades struck, and when I looked again, Chase had his sword and the dummy’s in his hands.
“ Definitely a show-off,” I said, and beside me, Lena nodded with a rueful shrug.
When the older kids and Chase paired off to practice, Hansel assigned each of the sixth graders to a specific dummy, according to their skill. He took me to a little dummy in the back. It was wizened and hunchbacked like an old witch, and the sword it swung looked a lot like a long wand. I felt a little insulted.
Hansel showed me how to block in four positions: high, low, left, and right. Then he left me to practice and walked around, correcting people’s stances and giving tips. Every once and a while, Hansel would announce that every single one of us would be dead if the war was still underway, but he didn’t bother to come back and check on me.
So, I didn’t have anything to distract me from the pain.
First, my arms started to burn. Then I started to feel it in my stomach. Soon after my legs began to tremble, the witch dummy started to get past my guard. She poked so many holes in my shirt that it started to look like lace.
It didn’t help to find out that I was the only one having trouble with the drill. Adelaide performed hers like a ballerina, rapping her dummy—an evil fairy—on the neck, chest, and leg in time with Hansel’s count. The triplets were solid fighters, able to fight with either sword or staff, and even Lena could punch holes in her troll dummy with a spear. And the other new girl in the class, Miriam, hit her practice dummy with so much force
Similar Books
