Kindling (7 page)

Well, I doubted it. They were standing at the entrance. Perhaps if they moved we could have run, but luck was not with us. Vest Boy spotted me and I saw his lips move into a wicked grin. Like Heike, I’m pretty hard to miss in a crowd of short people, I guess. Vest Boy pointed me out to his three friends.

“Shit,” Braith said. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

“Do we fight?” I asked. He shrugged and shook his head. “I can fight. I’m not a weakling.” He didn’t answer. “I know how to fight,” I said again and he shushed me. He shushed me! I was getting more upset. “Can we call my papá or Heike, then?” I hissed. But we didn’t have time, because Vest Boy and company walked towards us.

“You weren’t invited,” Braith said when Vest Boy was close enough.

“Braith,” Vest Boy says. “You’re still Heike’s puppet?” Vest Boy grinned.

Braith glared at him. “You need to leave, Micah,” he whispered.

“Braithy, Braithy, Braithy,” Micah said. “You need to join my side. I’ve never felt so ...” he paused and grinned. His eyes widened and he licked his lips. “Alive,” he hissed.

“Fuck off,” Braith said.

Micah ignored him and looked at me. “We weren’t properly introduced. I’m Micah, my dearest. And you are ... ?” He extended his hand to me but he was supremely creepy and freaking me out. No way was I shaking his hand.

Braith stepped in front of me. “Don’t tell him your name,” Braith ordered. He glared at Micah. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a party, isn’t it?” Micah grinned. “I wanna dance.” He shook his shoulders and swayed side to side. The guys behind him chuckled a bit. “There’s some lovely girls here I’d like to have a go with.” He looked at me and his eyes narrowed.

“You know who is next door, right?” Braith asks. “Because when he finds out you’re in here he won’t care how many strikes you have. You’re head will roll before you can even run.”

Micah hesitated just for a moment. For a brief flash I saw fear on his face and his grin soured. He pursed his lips for a moment and licked his teeth, but I guess he must have realized that there was no way to get to Heike. We were alone, at least for the immediate few moments.

“Listen,” I said, trying to break the tension. “I don’t know who you are or what’s going on, but you should leave. I won’t tell Heike, Braith won’t tell Heike. Really, I swear. Just leave and everything will be cool.”

Micah and pals all laughed and I felt like I was making the whole situation way worse. Before I could think of anything else to do or say, Micah grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. “Not before a dance with the birthday girl,” he said. He gritted his teeth and licked his lips. I could feel his breath on my neck and cheek and then he leaned in and it looked like he was going to tongue me.

Now, at this point, you’re probably wondering why I have not broken out my martial arts that I have previously bragged about. I could have just beaten the crap out of these guys, right? Well, not really. First of all, that morning my papá and I could have taken Micah and Leather Boy on the mountain, but my papá didn’t do a thing despite him being oh-so-obviously afraid. That told me these guys were potentially dangerous. Secondly, these guys didn’t do anything up until this moment that physically threatened me. I didn’t really know what was happening on the mountain that morning and it could have all been blown way out of proportion. I trusted my intuition, but I couldn’t just beat up any person that made me uncomfortable. I respected my training too much to just start beating people up whenever I felt like it. I was trained to use martial arts as a defence tool, not as a tool to beat up random guys that make me uneasy.

But, when Micah grabbed my arm and basically tried to sexually assault me, sirens went off in my head. I was being threatened and it was time to kick his ass. Plus, he had this wild look in his eyes. I can’t describe it, exactly. It was this fierce, feral hunger and anger that made me think maybe my life and the life of my friends could be in danger.

So, I did what anyone would do in my situation. I elbowed him in the throat. He pushed away from me for a moment, surprised at my strength. I knew I didn’t look as strong as I was and I used that to my advantage.

“Now, gentlemen,” Micah said. He nodded to his cohorts.

They circled Braith and I and, after a few moments, attacked. “Holy crap!” I heard people yell. The music stopped playing as we threw punches and kicks at each other. I felt like I was in a really bad martial arts film where the hero keeps beating people up but more and more people just come to fight. Except the guys fighting me were all the same, over and over they came at me.

Now, I can’t say I wasn’t frightened, because I was. I had never been in an actual fight before, so I didn’t know if I was fully prepared for what happened. But, it’s weird to say, fighting felt amazing. It was like my muscles were living for this day, when I would fight for real instead of just against a sparring partner. And I was pretty awesome. I focused on delivering the most direct and ruthless blows I could think of because, honestly, I was scared not to. Micah and his companions were fierce and didn’t seem to weaken. They didn’t care that it was an unfair match of two-to-four.

And, then I realized, they were trying to kill me. I didn’t know why they wanted to kill me, but they fought with such ferocity that it was the only thing I could assume.

Their anger spurred my movements. I had to beat them or I would die. And, I was pretty damn impressive. When one guy threw a punch, I deflected it with ease and back kicked a guy behind me. When they came back at me, I ducked and flew around them and rolled over top of them and then seamlessly went into a spin to kick against one of their knee caps and then flipped over another one to kick him in the groin. I used Micah’s thigh as a step to wrap my legs around his neck to bring him down. When they tried to pull me, I flung myself towards them and twisted them onto the ground. When another jumped at me, I crouched and swept my foot to make them fall. It was a beautiful and horrible fight at the same time.

If I’m going to be perfectly honest, I felt awesome. I felt like Neo from the Matrix where’s he’s fighting off all of those Agent Smiths in the playground and nothing he did phased the Agent Smiths but he could handle it because he was so well prepared. And, I was well prepared, so the fight felt like a dance I had practiced time and again and memorized until it was second nature to me. It was easy. They kept coming at me and I kept giving them everything I could.

We were all bloody and sweaty and probably would be in a lot of pain after the adrenaline left but we all kept at it, four against two, and Braith and I were doing pretty damn well. I didn’t even worry about my skirt flying up - I had remembered to wear those little shorts (who was laughing then, Allie!) under the skirt so I was free to move with the fluidity I had been taught. But, all the time I kept thinking that it wasn’t right. That fight couldn’t have been real. I had to be a dream or something. I felt bones break beneath my punches and kicks and I know I snapped a few arms and cracked some knee caps and blood sprayed over my dress when I broke someone’s jaw, but they never seeming phased. They kept coming and never slowed.

Now, I can’t tell you what exactly was happening around us at the party. I was way too focused on my opponents to really care about my guests but, the music had stopped and people screamed and yelled. No one tried to stop the fight, I suppose because it looked really bad. I didn’t blame them: it
was
bad. People were running for the doors and the lights flicked on.

Suddenly, Heike came out of nowhere and delivered a blow to one of the guys who was about to attack me and, just like that, the fight was over. “Stop,” his voice boomed and reverberated across the hall. It was all he needed to say, because I got the feeling that no one disobeyed Heike when his voice sounded like that, roaring and reverberating throughout every point of a person's body. His eyes, clear blue-grey like crystal, burned into Micah. If I didn’t know who his anger was directed towards, I would be terrified.

There were still a few stragglers from the party and they immediately ran. Like, zoomed out of the hall. Heike didn’t even glance their way. When they had gone, my papá came in and hugged me.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. I nodded. I was too overwhelmed and to speak. My body was shaking from the adrenaline and my heart was pounding.

I’m proud of being this well-trained a fighter and I’m proud of the muscles I have worked on for my entire life. I’m proud that I have learned intricate defensive moves as well as some pretty fatal offensive ones. Even during a friendly sparring match I had accidentally broken my partner’s ribs.

But, Micah and his friends looked no different than they had before the fight - even their styled hair wasn’t messed up. They look like they had been strolling through a park or something.

I was stunned. I felt their bones break. I still had their blood on my knuckles and, I looked down to make sure, but it was also sprayed on the front of my dress. I knew I split at least one of their lips and knocked a tooth out – I felt it fly at my leg – but there was nothing to show for that. They literally had not one wound, not one broken bone or bruise. Only Leather Boy had a red welt and long laceration on his jaw. It was the only evidence of a fight and, I thought I was going crazy, but even as I stared at it, it faded and disappeared.

“Are there more of you?” Heike asked Micah. He grabbed Micah’s jacket collar and pulled him close. “Answer me and maybe I’ll let you live,” he spat into Micah’s face.

“Nah, we’re just a present for your kid,” Micah mumbled.

“Who sent you?” Heike growled. Micah set his jaw and refused to answer. “Who sent you?” Heike held Micah close so only his toes touched the floor. Micah swallowed hard and his face paled. I didn't know what Heike could do, but I was sure it was not going to be pleasant for Micah and his friends.

“Wait, wait, Heinrich,” my papá warned. He put his hands in front of Heike, who wouldn’t break his gaze from Micah. “Not in front of Catalina. Don’t do this in front of her. She doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”

I agreed: I didn’t have any clue about what the hell was going on and, I’m sure I looked as shocked and confused as I felt. Heike looked away from Micah and glanced at me. His eyes turned from hot anger to sadness and he blushed. He nodded to my dad and then to Braith.

“Braith, take Katja home,” Heike ordered. He dropped Micah to the ground. Heike moved his neck to the side and it cracked.

Braith nodded and my papá kissed me goodbye. My grandfather came into the room, the lines of his face rippled with anger. He looked at me and his face softened a bit. “Estás bien?” he asked. No, everything was not okay but my voice seemed to leave me so I nodded anyway. “Okay, Braith gonna take you home.” He kissed me and said to Braith, “You gonna explain to her things?”

“What I can, sir,” Braith said.

We walked out to the hall and my mother was waiting for me. “Oh, Catalina,” she said. I must have looked awful, because she looked terrified. “Did they hurt you? I didn't think they could come when Heike was around.”

I nodded and cleared my throat a few times. “I’m fine, mom,” I whispered, although I wasn’t positive that was the truth. “I don’t know what’s going on.” The adrenaline was slowly fading from my body and every nerve pulsed. My mind was in some sort of shock and I could hardly even think.

“I’ll walk her home,” Braith said. “And explain a few things.” I could tell that my mom was about to protest, but she stopped herself and nodded.

“You call me if you need me, okay?” she asked. “Heike and papá ...” she trailed off, but I nodded. Mom unzipped her purse and rummaged around for a moment. She pulled out a pair of slipper socks and handed them to me – I looked down and was surprised my shoes were missing. I was in a haze as I slipped them on my feet. Braith touched my elbow and I let him lead me out the door. If my mind was clearer I would have put up more of a fuss, but I think I must have been in slight shock because we walked for nearly a mile in a bewildered silence.

A block away from my house my mind started to regain clarity. My adrenaline stabilized and I realized I had just gone through a fight with four strangers and I hadn’t any clue why random assholes were trying to kill me. I though somehow Heike, my papá, and Braith were all involved and I was sure they knew things I wasn’t being told. So, I momentarily flipped out.

“What the fuck just happened?!” I screamed. My voice echoed in the empty street and startled Braith. He jumped and clutched his chest.

“Holy shit!” Braith yelled. “Oh my god, Kit, give me a heart attack!” He yelled back at me. We stopped walking and he placed his hands on his knees. I didn’t feel too bad for scaring him - I had, after all, just been through a serious fight that he obviously knew something about - but I let him recover from the scare before I demanded anything else.

He straightened up. I noticed he had a gash in his head from the fight. He also had some bruises growing on his jaw. In fact, his whole face looked pretty beaten up. Yeah, I totally didn’t pay him any attention and I’m sure I probably looked just as bad. Thankfully, I couldn’t really feel anything yet, although I knew I must have a bruised rib or something. My right side hurt awfully bad.