Academy Of Beasts X by Fanning Becca

Author:Fanning, Becca [Fanning, Becca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“Again!” Dracus shouted.

I lowered my foot to the ground so I could feel like a normal human being again on two feet.

“I’m trying my best here,” I said through gritted teeth. “Do I need to remind you that this is an extra session, that I don’t actually have to be here?”

Dracus had summoned me for an impromptu training session on Thursday afternoon after class. I had accepted since I had thought it might do for me what the run had done for me the other night. Boy, had I been wrong. I was more tense and anxious now than ever.

“I said, again,” Dracus said. He spoke slowly, his words measured. He was biting back his frustration. There was no pleasing him today. He was in a particularly foul mood.

I took a deep breath and released it, steadying myself. I bent my knee and grabbed my foot at my hip. Carefully, I pulled up my leg so that I was standing in what Dracus kept calling the dancer’s pose.

“And now, up!” he said loudly. I pulled my leg up as he said, trying to keep my balance. I was focusing on one spot, as he had suggested. I was mindful of my body, where my line of gravity was to keep my balance. I did everything he told me. And I lost my balance, letting go of my leg. I took a step to the side to compensate so that I didn’t fall.

Dracus shook his head and turned away from me.

“I’m doing a hell of a lot better than anyone else would,” I said. “This is hard stuff and you’re expecting me to get it right immediately. Some yogis practice this stuff for years.”

“It’s not Yoga,” Dracus said without looking at me.

“It’s the same concept. Combining the meditation with balance and all that.”

Dracus glared at me. “This is to strengthen your core, so that you can move your limbs independently of each other. So that when you fight, you’re stronger, better, faster.”

He sounded like a song. I didn’t point it out. He wouldn’t know the song. And he wouldn’t care.

“Again,” Dracus said.

“Dracus,” Theo interjected from the side. He’d been watching the session without saying anything. I had forgotten he was here.

“What?” Dracus snapped.

“I think she’s done enough for today.”

Dracus became red in the face. He looked like he was going to explode. Theo didn’t cower or anything, which I would have done. He clenched his jaw and wiggled his fingers at his side, a sign that he wanted to ball his fists. But that would be disrespectful to Dracus. Theo and Enrique challenged each other a lot and fought gruesome fights sometimes. But he wasn’t going to go there with Dracus.

“Fine,” he finally said.

Theo was as surprised as I was that it had worked.

“But,” he continued, “if she gets attacked and she can’t defend herself, that’s on you.”

He turned around and stormed away. I hadn’t even had a chance to fight with him, to argue and scream and shout right back, which was exactly what I had wanted to do.

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