The Black Coats(25)

“My legs feel fine.”

“Well, take a rest, take another drink, and we will resume in a moment.”

Thea groaned. He was obviously not interested, but a little crush was probably inevitable. She surely wasn’t the first one to notice him. “Really? Again?”

“You did not complete your task. You were supposed to catch me, and you did not.”

“I kind of did. I mean, I almost did,” Thea shamefully answered.

“Almost does not mean anything in this world. You either deliver justice or you fail.”

“That is very black-and-white.”

“Justice must be; otherwise, it becomes impossible.”

Thea raised her head to look skeptically at his face. “Sahil, seriously, who are you?”

He shrugged. “I am no one important.”

Thea narrowed her eyes. “That’s not true. Do you live at Mademoiselle Corday?”

He nodded. “I do. I live in the south wing, just above the Haunt.”

“Do you go to school?”

Sahil smiled at her curiosity but didn’t say anything. Thea wiped the sweat off her brow. “I’m sorry. I’m just curious. What kind of person lets a bunch of girls beat on him just so that they can gain entry into a society that beats up other men?”

Sahil’s smile disappeared. “The kind of person who was born to believe in the cause.”

Thea rolled her shoulders, feeling the muscles cramping from her recent tumble. “You avoided my question. Do you go to school?”

“I am homeschooled, here at the house. And before you make assumptions about that, you should know that I am probably smarter than you.”

Thea shook her head. “Of that I have no doubt. I go to Roosevelt.”

Sahil laughed, a careful sound, as if he didn’t laugh often. “Oh, that is not a great school.”

Sahil shifted his weight back and forth, his body tightly wound. He reminded Thea of a panther. “How do they feel now? Your ankles?”

Thea tested her ankles; there was no pain. She was stronger than she thought. “I think I’m okay,” she said, a little surprised.

“Great! Now let’s talk about what to do when you do actually catch someone. You need to know some fast disarming techniques. You almost grabbed me by the collar, which was a horrible idea. If you would have done that, you would have attached yourself to me at my speed and when my feet get yanked out from under me . . .” Suddenly, he was behind her, pulling back on her collar.

Thea couldn’t breathe, but he was prattling on like nothing had happened.

“Now, instead of yanking on a coat or a collar, which he can easily slip out of and will also pull you off-balance, pretend you are a defensive lineman on a football team.”

Thea grinned. “I have no idea what that means.”

“Run from me,” he ordered.

Thea had taken three quick steps before she felt his hands close around her waist. Then she was pushed violently forward into the ground. “Use your forward momentum,” he explained, “to subdue your subject quickly. You will have a few seconds to take advantage of his discombobulation. Then you begin processing him just as you would any other subject, applying the self-defense techniques you will be learning with Nixon.”

Thea’s face was pushed up against the dirt, and she had a leaf in the corner of her mouth. She was embarrassed at how easy she had been to take down, and feeling feisty. “Discombobulation is a pretty big word for a homeschooled kid,” she spat.

Sahil roughly set her back on her feet. “And you are pretty slow for a track star. You need to be training more at home.” Sahil crouched down. “Now I am going to run back to Mademoiselle Corday. It is getting late. You will chase me, and you will catch me this time, because you are going to run from here”—he reached down and patted her legs—“and not from here.” He tapped her head. “You cannot move forward when you are stuck somewhere else. Grief can hold you back from the places you are meant to go. It is something you will always carry with you, but something you must also leave behind.”

Thea sighed. “Thanks, Yoda.”

Sahil turned his back to her. “I am tasked with unleashing a fast-and-furious Thea, so you will listen to my words. Also, once again, make sure you look at your surroundings when you are running. That is how you fell, by not being aware of the changing landscape.”

Thea barely heard him speaking as she focused on the strength pulsing in her legs and in her lungs. She would catch him. She had to. He left her side without another word, plunging away from her. With a deep breath, Thea Soloman let the memory of Natalie and the bat float away from her like a balloon into the sky.

Then she flew.





Eleven


“Crap.” Thea’s eyeliner wasn’t going on straight. In fact, every time she tried to do a smoky eye she ended up looking like a sloppy version of Cleopatra. Her mom had bought her all new makeup for her date, unable to contain her embarrassing, over-the-top joy that Thea was going out with a boy—a soccer player! Instead of trying again, Thea hastily wiped her eyes with a cloth, dashed on her new mascara, and dotted her cheeks with a pale cherry blush before heading downstairs.

Her parents were waiting in the foyer, trying to look busy—her dad tapping on his tablet, her mom pretending to rearrange some yellow roses in a mercury vase. Thea sighed as she straightened her navy dress and threw a pair of turquoise bangles in her ears. “You guys. Seriously. I’m not going to prom.” Thea raised her hands in surrender. “Everyone in this house needs to calm down and eat some protein.”