Lost Girls(50)

She leaned toward the announcer’s microphone and said, “I choose Odette, leader of the Swan Team, as my opponent.” She took off the necklace that proclaimed she was a flyweight, the same as me, and for the first time I understood—we were in the same weight class and she wanted to fight me.

Fear zipped through me, stirring other emotions along the way, primal feelings that couldn’t be expressed in words.

“No, you can’t!” Dylan yelled, trying to stand in my way, but I walked around him, the crowds parting easily, just like they did when he and I walked through the halls at school. Behind me, my team started the chant, Odette—Odette—Odette, until it echoed through the room, so loud it became a drum that said da-dum, da-dum, da-dum. Not many people were cheering for Komodo, though, and anger flickered in her eyes, as if she knew I’d made a huge mistake by coming here tonight. The expression on her face said she hoped I would be weak, that she would have an easy win and an opportunity to destroy my unbroken title.

Fear stuttered through me as I stepped onto the stage.

Every inch of me was praying she was wrong.





Chapter Twenty-Eight


Everything changed the moment I stepped onto the stage.

The cheering crowds faded away. Everything beyond the edge of the platform blurred and became meaningless. I was only vaguely aware of the smoke bombs that proclaimed our rival team colors, billows of white for the Swan Team to my left, clouds of purple for the Dragon Girls to the right. For a brief sliver of time, Komodo and I leaned toward each other, our bare knuckles touching in a short fist bump before the fight actually began. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my chin, hoping that was a defensive stance, but I wasn’t sure. She gave me a threatening look, and maybe to the rest of the world it looked scary, but I could tell a small part of her was worried.

I needed to bring the worried part of her to the surface. I had to shake her confidence.

But I had no idea how to do that.

We started circling each other. She feigned a punch with her left fist; when I dodged it, she gut-punched me with her right. She leaned in for another double jab, a heavy-hitting right-left duo, and I somehow managed to block the first punch, but took the second one square in the chest. I stumbled backward, sucking air through my teeth, knowing I had to keep her away from my ribs.

She was out for more than blood. I could feel it.

She wanted me on the ground, her foot on my throat.

The crowd roared as I staggered away from her, trying to get my balance. Trying to remember what I was supposed to do. Dylan and Lauren were down there yelling fight tactics at me. I wanted to tell them to shut up, to tell them that they were giving away any advantage they might’ve been giving me, but I didn’t.

Because I didn’t have an advantage. Not without my memory.

I tried to analyze the scene. I had to beat her standing or this was going to be over too soon and I would end up flat on the mat. Her shoulders were broader than mine, she was shorter and her weight was centered low, all things even I knew would make her better at fighting on the mat. I ducked her next sloppy swing and managed to land a blow to her gut at the same time. She stumbled, then righted herself quickly.

Komodo moved in for a quick grab and jab, her left arm pinning my right fist against her shoulder, leaving her right hand free to slam me in the side and the back. One punch was all she got, though, before the same instinct that took out Janie roared back to life. I kneed Komodo over and over—groin, abdomen, groin. She crumpled away, tried to catch her breath.

I leaped at her, surprised when my first kick struck her neat in the jaw, knocking her head sideways and putting a glazed look in her eyes.

Puffs of white smoke drifted onto the stage, an anthem of my name along with it.

Odette—Odette—Odette—

It distracted me and Komodo looped an ankle around my knee, pulling me forward, trying to make me fall. I grabbed her around the waist—imitating a move I saw Dylan make—and when we tumbled to the ground I kept my momentum going, flipping her over me until she was the one who thudded to the floor. Meanwhile, I continued to roll until I was back on my feet. Two swift kicks pushed her far enough away that she couldn’t pull me down again. Then when she finally stood up, I jabbed, punched, and kicked until she wavered, her knees weak, a sick expression on her face.

My skin tingled, my blood scorched my veins, and I became more than human, I became a Swan Girl, able to fly high above the earth, wings catching the wind and the sun.

I was back in the game and my opponent was seconds away from kissing the mat good night.

I did a roundhouse kick, mainly for show, feeling the cheers from the crowd more than I heard them. My heel caught the side of her head and she fell back to the ground, her arms shaking and trembling, her eyes blinking. She wasn’t unconscious, though, and she didn’t say, I give, the words that could end our fight. Still, I knew she could be seriously injured if we continued. Seeing her on the mat bothered me more than I expected; it sounded an alarm inside my skull and the muscles in my arms started to tremble, almost as much as hers. I couldn’t hit her again. I just couldn’t.

For an instant, I saw Nicole Hernandez on the mat, those pink streaks in her hair drenched in sweat, that Pink Candi logo on her shirt stained red with blood, someone relentlessly pummeling her face. No, this isn’t real, it’s not happening now. I can’t handle a Big Trigger, not here. I shook my head, hard, until Nicole disappeared and I saw Komodo on the ground instead.