Storm Forged (The Darkest Storm Book 1) by Patrick Dugan

Author:Patrick Dugan [Dugan, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falstaff Books
Published: 2018-05-28T22:00:00+00:00

21

The next morning, we made the decision to take off the dampening bracelets and let our Gifts manifest. Before the war, kids would begin to exhibit their Gifts around ten to twelve. Being older, Waxenby thought we would change faster.

We dropped into a routine as the days wore on. Start the day at seven a.m., run the track, hit the weights, wash up, and eat breakfast. After a couple of hours off, the afternoon was all testing to see if our Gifts were manifesting. Marcel and I cooked dinner most nights, and Abby helped where she could. The summer at The Secret Lair made the transition easier since we’d been working in the kitchen. Jon and Wendi cleaned up after, making jokes none of us understood. Seeing them work together displayed how effortlessly they revolved around each other. After, we watched old movies or hung out talking about training. Nobody mentioned school; I think all of us understood we’d never return for senior year.

Jose, the Grim Reaper, was our workout coach and sparring partner. He taught us combat techniques, dirty fighting, and generally thumped us pretty good. He also taught us to use the knife always strapped to his hip, but on the training dummies. It turns out Gifted have better reflexes, heal faster, and have a much higher pain tolerance than Norms if we aren’t collared. Morning bruises were gone by dinner, which would’ve come in handy when I was Brunner’s punching bag.

Waxenby let Jose help after we all agreed to keep to first names and we didn’t talk about anything but training with him. Jose was a murderer and assassin, but he knew how to fight.

A couple of weeks into training, I sat on a bench outside the boxing ring, watching Jon get his ass handed to him. The ring was padded to help soften the landings, but they still hurt. Jose’s faded denim shirt and knife belt hung over the turnbuckle. Jose’s knife had become an extension of him, his weapon of choice. None of us could be seen as a threat, so why bother carrying it? I watched Jose goad him into losing his temper, and after that, it was all over but the bleeding.

“Can I sit here?” Wendi said. I was so focused on the training I didn’t hear her approach, a habit I needed to break before it broke me, or so I’ve been told by Jose.

“Sure thing.”

“Jon’s so angry. I don’t know how to reach him. He’s never been a hothead.” She shook her head.

And the award for understatement of the year goes to… “Jose is good at getting to him,” I said instead. And getting to me, I admitted to myself without it coming out of my mouth, for once. I let the silence lengthen like the shadows as the sun set.

Breaking the silence, she brought the light back to help the healing. “Tommy, I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you.” She put her hand up when I started to protest. “Brunner hurt me.

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