The Return (Titan 1)

Wrapping the scarf around my neck, I hurried after him. We didn’t talk as we made the trek outside, and I immediately huddled down in my hoodie. The wind whipped across the courtyard, catching thin wisps of hair and tossing them around my face.

The boys hadn’t taken me to the training facilities that were situated just beyond the library, so I was eager to see what they looked like inside. As we passed the library, the tiny bumps on my skin returned, and I couldn’t fight the urge to keep my gaze on it once again. Something stirred inside me restlessly, and I figured maybe it was a sign of needing to gobble up an armful of books to pass my extra time. Or maybe it had to do with the fact I had spent many weekends inside the tiny library back home.

“You’re going to trip and break your neck before we even get started,” Seth commented.

I forced my gaze toward him. “Whatever. I’m not a complete klutz.”

His shoulders shook with silent laughter, and my eyes narrowed. “Soon I’ll be able to kick your ass,” I warned.

The laughter was loud and clear now. “Yeah, keep dreaming, Sweet Cheeks.”

“Sweet Cheeks?” I caught up with him. “That’s the worst nickname ever.”

“Then Joe.”

“How about just ‘Josie?’”

He cast a glance at me as he veered off onto a walkway leading up to double doors at the back of the large, square training building. “That’s boring.”

“Then I’m going to call you ‘Sethie.’”

Opening the door, he tipped his chin down. “I like that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, there’s no fun in that, then.”

He chuckled. “Figured.”

The hallway was wide and traveled the length of the building, ending in a burst of sunlight that came through large windows. On each side of the hall there were doors every thirty or so feet. No windows on any of them.

“It’s early. Most training classes start in the afternoon, since the students do academic classes in the morning,” he explained, walking toward the fourth door on the left. “This room is going to be ours. Get used to it, because you’re going to be in here a lot.”

That didn’t sound good, but as he pushed open the door, I got my first look at the inside of a Covenant training room.

With wide eyes, I stepped further inside as Seth closed the door. Tile covered the floor at the entrance, but thick blue mats took up over half of the room. Three fleshy-looking dummies sat to our right, and as I walked up to one of them, I ran my finger along the deep slashes across the thing’s chest. There were cut marks everywhere—neck, arms, shoulders, legs.

“Sentinels use these for target practice.” Seth’s voice was so close that I nearly jumped. “They train mostly to fight daimons. As long as you have a titanium blade, if you get them anywhere on their body, it does the trick.”

“Stabbing people,” I murmured, shaking my head. The very idea of shoving a sharp, pointy object into someone wasn’t something I could comprehend.

One second I was staring at the dummy, and then the next I was staring up at Seth. He’d whipped me around that quickly. “Daimons are not people, Josie. That is your first lesson. There is nothing humane about them. They thrive on aether, and they are cruel, dangerous creatures.” His eyes flashed a fiery amber as he stared down at me. “You need to understand that.”

“Bad choice of words,” I said.

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “Do you understand, Josie?”

My heart turned over heavily. “I get it.”

I didn’t wait for him to respond. Turning around, I headed toward the mats as I unwound my scarf. When I got a good look at the opposite wall, I almost did trip over my own feet.

The entire wall was covered with stabby things.

Knives. Blades. Daggers. Swords.

Honest-to-God swords—like Samurai swords and something King Arthur might’ve pulled out of a rock.

I’d seen Seth with daggers and I totally got that they were the things that had inflicted the damage on the dummies, but seeing all of them up there was like reality had kicked me in the face.

“I’m not just learning how to defend myself,” I said, my gaze traveling over all the sharp objects. “I’m learning how to kill things.”

There was a beat of silence and then, “Yes. Are you still sure you want this?”

I drew in a shaky breath as my throat thickened. This was my life now. That was my reality, and it felt like the floor moved under my feet for a moment as I stared at the silvery dagger in the center, the one with the five-inch blade and thick, cross-style handle. Could I kill something?

The answer weakened my knees.

I had already tried to kill someone—or something. Hyperion. When I’d pulled that trigger and shot him in the back, it hadn’t been a love tap. God, what would my grandparents think of this? They were live-and-let-live kind of people. And they were dead.

A sharp pain sliced through my chest. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

A moment passed and then I felt his hand on my shoulder, turning me away from the wall of death. “Good news is, you aren’t anywhere near close to touching a single thing on that wall.”

I shot him a look.

“What?” His tone was light. “You’d end up cutting off five fingers and a foot if you started messing with those things right now.”

“Your faith in me is staggering.” I tugged off the hoodie, dropping it on the corner of the mat with my scarf.

He smiled as he stood in the middle of a thick blue mat. “The first thing you have to learn, before we can move onto anything, is how to correctly take a fall when you’re knocked down.”

“There’s a correct way to fall?”

His golden brows rose as his lips twitched. “Yes, there’s a correct way. And that way allows you to absorb the hit with minimal impact and also allows you to get right back on your feet.

And that’s the most important thing, Josie. If your enemy gets you on your back and keeps you down there, it’s over.”

“Okay.” I reached up, tightening my ponytail. “So that’s what I’m going to learn?”

“That’s what you’re going to start with, then we’ll end practice with running.”

My lips curled. Running? Ugh.

“You need to build up your endurance. That’s the easiest way to do it.” Seth stretched his arms above his head, back bowing. Joints cracked. “To take a landing correctly, you roll your hips in and keep your chin tucked down. This will cause you to take the fall on your upper back.”