The Madness Project (The Madness Method) by Bralick J. Leigh

Author:Bralick, J. Leigh [Bralick, J. Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

I sit in an ancient beech tree under the storm-torn twilight, watching the children playing in the enclosure. Hayli refuses to Shift back; she has given me the entire day to explore the world. I think I understand why. She saw Shade through my eyes, standing on the rooftop like he meant to fly, and the image of it still has her terrified.

I can see Shade now from where I perch. He is smiling, but I can feel the weight of his sadness—and something like loneliness—even from my spot so high above. He talks with the little wide-eyed boy Bugs, swinging his arms and moving about like a dancer. I cannot hear his words, so I drift to a lower branch.

“Keep your hands up,” he says, taking Bugs’s hands and holding them up by his face.

Bugs moves, circling around Shade, keeping his hands where Shade has put them. I can see his face now. I can see the dark patches of blood on his shirt, the shine of a bruise under his eyes.

Bugs is always getting beat up, Hayli whispers to me. Doesn’t know his own size.

“First rule of fighting,” Shade says. “Don’t ever let them get a free hit on you. Always make them pay for it.”

“Can you fight with weapons too?” Bugs asks, shadow-boxing as Shade looks on.

A knife flashes in Shade’s hand under a sudden glimmer of lightning. He contemplates it, twirling it back and forth in his fingers. “Yes,” he says.

“What kinds of weapons?”

“Hands up,” Shade says, tapping the boy’s elbow.

He hasn’t answered Bugs, and I can see the boy’s frustration. He mimes a punch, then lands one solidly on Shade’s arm.

“What weapons, Shade?”

Shade smiles, batting the boy’s arm aside. “A weapon is no more than an extension of yourself. If you can master yourself, you already know more than most folks who pick up a weapon without respecting it.”

The boy’s eyes widen, then he aims a few phantom strikes at Shade’s stomach. “That dan’ mean you can use a sword, though.”

Shade doesn’t deny it, but asks instead, “Know what the second rule of fighting is?”

“No, what?”

Shade catches Bug’s arm and crouches in front of him. “Don’t fight unless you have to.” He stares at the ground, pondering a moment, then he smiles and says, “Maybe that should be the first rule.”

“But that dan’ sound very brave, Shade.”

“Brave? What is brave?” Shade asks, giving him a stern look. “You stay alive, Bugs. That’s what matters. Fight when you have to, but know when it’s smarter to walk away.”

Bugs turns his head aside, and I think perhaps he mutters something, because Shade takes his other arm and gives him a little shake.

“You understand?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“All right. Go clean yourself up.”

He stands up, watching Bugs scamper away, then he puts his hands to his head and turns a circle, his face tipped toward the lightning, the knot of pain on his forehead.

Go on, Hayli, I say to the girl. Go before he escapes again.

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