Chapter Fifteen
Neith
“Exactly. It’s not what they would have been doing, but it is the best option they have in this realm,” Raiden adds.
Something occurs to me, so of course I veer the conversation off in a different direction, “Wait, so if I went through these tasks and didn’t die,” several growls sound throughout the gym but I ignore them and continue to ask my question, “we would all become an Elite team and get these extra perks? I know that seems like an obvious question but if I am the one that is going through it and doing the trials why does the whole team get the perks?”
“Because the team will be going through trials as well when they have to join you on your tasks, the whole team is being tested, not just you,” Reed replies.
I nod, “Okay, that makes more sense. So, we would all be named on the scroll as the perfect team and get the perks?”
“Yeah, I think so. It’s been neigh on a decade since the last one, and they don’t really talk about what the perks are. Which makes sense really, it wouldn’t be wise to let your enemies know what your strengths are,” Raiden points out.
“No, it wouldn’t,” Griff replies.
“We don’t really know much about any of it, do we?” Ransom says with a frown, looking worried.
River shakes his head, “I have only seen one and heard bits and pieces here and there. Presumably, if it happened, then we would know more.”
“I can do some research and see what I can find out about it. Hopefully, I can find some more solid information than the maybes that we currently have,” Raiden offers.
“That’s a good idea.” Evander agrees.
“So, if these jackasses do start it off, then would we be able to talk to the new Elite teams, or are they as elusive as the originals?” I ask, returning to my original line of thinking and hoping that they manage to follow where I’m trying to go with it.
Raiden shakes his head, “It’s not likely, but as far as I know, they are only hard to get hold of because of their current jobs, not because we don’t actually know who they are.”
“So, it would be possible?”
Raiden shrugs, “I don’t see why not. As I said before though, the Choosing is very rare these days, and they would be pissing a lot of people off if they pulled in a person that was known to be human.”
Now that I am calm and not freaking out, the name seems familiar to me, and my eyes widen as I ask for clarification, “Wait, what is it called?”
The guys share a look, and Griff answers, “The Choosing, why?”
“Shit, I watched one of them with Dimitri; it looked brutal, if I am being completely honest. If I got pulled into one of them, I think it would be safe to say that the odds would definitely be stacked against me,” I say, frowning heavily.
There has got to be something wrong with the way that I’m made though because I can’t lie to myself and there is a fissure of excitement that goes through me, at the thought of taking part in the Choosing. I had a similar feeling when I watched it with Dimitri.
“Ty is trying to dissuade anyone from actually triggering the Choosing. He thinks that seeing you with our team and how well we work together will make people back off, and if they don’t, they will only offer you a place on their team and not trigger the Choosing,” Evander explains.
“We hope,” Griff adds drily.
I have to admit that I’m with Griff on this one. I am not sure that Ty’s idea of practically parading me in front of all the other teams that may or may not be interested in recruiting me is a good idea. Not that I know how, he is planning to make sure that any teams that may be interested see me in a happy team with Evander and the others.
“How is he planning to make sure that the teams that are interested in me see that I’m happy with your team?” I ask.
“He needs us to head into the training academy on Monday anyway, so he thought that would be the perfect opportunity to bring you,” Reed says.
I smile, “Okay sounds good. Since I am on your team now, I probably should learn about everything that entails, and I know from the brief conversation that I had with Navy that you guys do stuff at the training academy. It would be good to see what exactly you do, although I don’t know how I would be able to help in that situation, I haven’t had any formal training.”
River frowns, “You haven’t?”
I shake my head, “No. I think they were hoping that I would get myself killed before the deal had run out, and then I wouldn’t be their problem anymore. Unfortunately for them, I learn really quickly, and when the subject is something that I am interested in, then I throw everything into it. I have learned enough over the years and studied enough that I am extremely well versed on the human laws and most of the supernatural ones.”
“That’s impressive,” Reed compliments.
“You shouldn’t have had to learn that yourself though,” Evander frowns, “if you weren’t who you are then you could have easily been a danger to yourself and others.”
I nod, “I know, that’s why I learned what I could. There were a lot of things that I shouldn’t have had to do.” I change the subject, not wanting to get too into that statement, “What is it that you do at the academy?”
“Why don’t we go and grab some lunch, and then we can explain a bit more about what it is that we do?” Ransom suggests.
“What’s the time?” I ask, surprised that it’s lunchtime already since, as far as I’m concerned, we only just had breakfast.
“It’s just gone one,” Ransom replies and then adds, “You were beating that punching bag for a while.”
I wrinkle my nose and then smile sheepishly, “Whoops.”
Raiden chuckles, “Don’t worry about it. You must be hungry after that workout though, let’s go grab some food.”
“Erm, I am but first I need a shower, I feel gross,” I point out.
“Yeah, you do stink a bit,” Evander teases with a grin, and I chuckle, smacking him on the chest as I move past the mountains of man muscle that had surrounded me.
“I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen.” I say, choosing not to insult Van back; I’ll save it up and get him when he least expects it, like an adult.
I’m not entirely sure that is what an adult would do, but as I am technically an adult, and I would do it, I’m going to say that it is the adult thing to do.
Wow, that sentence was just slightly convoluted.
When I get to my room, I rummage through my clothes to find the cleanest set and realize that I have no clean underwear, although my bra is still good. Going commando it is, I guess. I take a quick shower, making double sure that I don’t actually stink, since that is a major concern of mine. It takes me no time at all to get it all done and as I begin to leave my room, I turn back around and grab my report from the desk to give to Evander. I really hope that Raiden is still okay to take me into town because I need supplies and to find out where their washing machine is. Although the location of the washing machine has nothing to do with Raiden taking me into town, it’s just a stray thought.
This is of course the thought that is playing through my mind as I walk into the kitchen, which means the first words out of my mouth sound really out of left field to the guys.
“Hey, we haven’t got much. We need to make a trip to the store to grab some more food, but we have enough supplies to make some sandwiches. Help yourself,” Evander says.
My mind is still focused on what I was thinking about when I walked in so instead of replying I ask, “Where’s your washing machine?”
River, bless him, doesn’t skip a beat or look at me slightly confused like some of the others are and simply answers, “It’s through that door there. We should have probably shown you that when you first arrived.”
“Thanks,” I smile, and then head over to the counter where they have loads of different fixings for sandwiches laid out. “To be fair, a lot has happened since I first arrived.”
River nods, “Yeah, that’s true. I don’t think we have ever been quite this busy.”
“You’re welcome,” I smirk. I quickly throw a sandwich together and then join the guys at the table.
I’m about halfway through my sandwich when Griff starts the conversation from the gym back up.
“We were explaining about what we do at the training academy,” Griff says, clearly wanting someone to carry on the conversation.
Doc nods, “Yeah, we were.” He looks at me and then starts to explain, “We teach classes. Most of us have a class, but they are flexible since we are an active team. Many teams help to train the recruits, which can range in ages, Navy is probably one of the oldest recruits but not by much. If I remember correctly, she is around your age, and there has been an influx of recruits in that age range recently. There are, of course, some people that teach at the academy full time. We can’t risk leaving the place without any instructors if everyone happens to be on a job.”
I nod, swallowing the bite of sandwich that I have just taken and reply, “Yeah that makes sense. So, what do you all teach?”
Doc smiles, “I teach a medical class that deals with a variety of different supes and their needs if they are injured, as well as the intricacies of human healing. It’s important that the recruits know how to heal without using magic, you never know what could happen, and if for some reason they find themselves without their magic then I think that it is important for them to know how to stop bleeding and that sort of thing.”
I nod, “Absolutely. If they come across a human as well, they will need to know how to heal without magic as not all humans’ systems are accepting of being healed that way and it can cause more problems.”
“Exactly,” Doc replies with a smile.
“I teach a class with the shifters and how they can use their talents to help at a crime scene. There is more to it than that, but that’s the basics of what I do,” River explains.
“I teach flight and combat whilst flying,” Griff says. Apparently deciding that is all the information that I need.
Raiden clears his throat, gaining attention, “I teach weapons, pretty much every weapon that you can think of, and ways to incorporate your magic into them so that they work in your favor.”
“Nothing to do with the spirit realm?” I ask curiously.
Shadows cross his features, and he replies with a shake of his head, “No, reapers tend to make people feel uncomfortable, so any mention of our magic doesn’t tend to go down very well.”
“Fucking idiots,” I reply, rolling my eyes.
Just like that, the shadows disappear, and he chuckles.
“I teach advanced magic and warding,” Ransom says. “Obviously, I tone down the strength of what I am able to do.”
“We all do,” Evander replies, “We are all stronger than the norm, and although everyone knows that, no one knows to what extent, and we need to keep it that way.”
I nod, “Got it. No bragging about how awesome you all are.”
That makes them all chuckle, which in turn makes me smile. I like listening to their laughter. There is something rich and warming about it, it gives me the happy feels.
“Thanks, Neith. I teach the water supes, both in and out of the water. How to use their water in a combat situation, and their shifted forms as well,” Evander replies, answering the question that I was, of course, going to ask him next.
“That’s really cool,” I reply. Looking at Reed, I raise my eyebrow in question.
He smiles, but there is no warmth in it as he replies, “No one would take a class from me. My power is too much for them, and it makes them wary.”
“That’s why I am the weapons trainer instead of Reed, even though with his mastery of swords, he should be teaching the sword classes at least,” Raiden adds.
“You are just as skilled as I am with a sword,” Reed replies.
“Their loss, I still don’t get why people are scared of you,” I say, as I take another bite of my sandwich.
Reed’s smile is genuine this time as he replies, “I know.”
“As I said before though, I don’t think I would be able to offer much in the way of helping to train people, not in the official ways anyway.”
“You may find that you have more to offer than you think you do,” Griff says, “especially since you are human. Well, technically.”
I nod, “Yeah actually that’s a really good point. Although I’m not sure that I can offer a true human perspective, not only because I don’t share the views or fears of most humans. Even those who do like supernaturals and work and live alongside them seem to have a natural in-built fear, or I guess cautiousness is a better word for it. I don’t have that. I have never had that.”
“That’s probably because you are actually a supernatural yourself, so they don’t feel ‘other’ to you like we do to humans,” Raiden suggests.
I nod, “Yeah, you are probably right. That doesn’t really help with my place at the training academy.”
The guys all look thoughtful for a moment before Evander suggests, “Why don’t you shadow us in our lessons for the moment so you can get a feel of it? You said you didn’t get any official training with HID so there might be some things that you can brush up on too.”
I smirk, “That was a really clever way to say that there may be gaps in my knowledge and it would be a good idea to figure that out.”
Evander grins, “Well, you do need to learn some of the protocols that we use at SID since they are different from what was used at HID.”
I nod, “Yeah, you make a really good point. I don’t want to make a silly mistake and embarrass myself or mess something up and compromise a situation.”
“I’m happy to have you in the classes; it will be good to double-check where you are with the physical training as well,” Griff adds.
“I should be reasonably okay with that sort of stuff. As far as I am aware, the only thing that I need to brush up on is my sword skills, but I could be wrong, and there may be other things that I need to work on,” I reply honestly.
“We should probably get you training with that enchanted sword of yours. You said that you were rusty,” Reed suggests. “Training with an enchanted sword is different than training with a normal sword. I feel like it will be even more so with your one since it seems like it has quite a big personality.”
I nod, “Yeah, I am rusty with normal swords, and I would love it if you could give me a refresher and some extra training. For some reason, I think that my sword is going to give me more trouble than it is going to help me.”
Raiden frowns, “I think that you are probably right about that. It would be better if we had some more knowledge about where it came from. Even if we knew what realm you picked it up in, that would help us figure out how it works and if there are any special gifts it has. Even if there are commands that are supposed to be used in a particular language.”
My eyes widen, “Holy crap, I had no idea about any of that. I think while Reed is teaching me how to wield the sword, could you teach me everything that I need to know about them history wise and all of that sort of thing, please?”
Raiden nods and smiles, “Absolutely, I haven’t looked at the subject for a while, so it will be interesting to have a look at it again.”
“Thank you. It isn’t a subject that I ever looked at.” Turning to Reed I add, “It might be best if I practice with a normal sword for a bit and get a feel for them again.”
Reed nods in agreement and opens his mouth to say something but gets interrupted by Van.
Evander chuckles, and everyone looks at him questioningly, he shrugs and explains, “I’m sorry, I just find it really hard to believe that you are that rusty when it comes to fighting with a sword. You always had a knack for it, no actually, it was more than that you were a damn natural and I’d bet on par or even better than Reed is.”
“Seriously?” Doc asks, sounding shocked.
Evander nods, “Yeah.”
“Well, now I want to sit in on that training session with Reed,” River says, bouncing in his seat.
I smile, “I haven’t fought properly with a sword for a few years. I am very definitely rusty.”
Evander shrugs, still smiling, “I think that your definition of rusty and everyone else’s may be slightly different.”