Chapter 9

Kelly hiked up her mid length skirt and ran as fast as her legs would allow across the uneven ground, scattering butterflies as she went. The underbrush kept tangling around her feet and legs and if she was one to cuss she would certainly being doing it now.

She was almost on top of Donnie but so were his attackers. She locked eyes with the lead aggressor as if to say don't even try it and bunching her upper leg muscles, mid stride she dove through the air low to the ground, leaping over Donnie cat and grabbing him in her arms as she rolled with her momentum.

She couldn't have known he was in the process of turning into a boy when she did it so instead of a smooth fluid motion they landed in a heap at the feet of the sneering cats, surprise though she let loose four blades before they could blink giving her and Donnie time enough to spring to their feet and disappear in the cloud of Monarch's.

She rain with Donnie's button down shirt collar in her hands practically dragging him as he hissed and growled at their pursuers. They only had seconds to make it to the travel glyph.

Kelly got their first and shoved a surprised Donnie in the center sending him through first and as soon as she did the fullbloods skid to a stop just a few feet away from her. They were breathing heavy, not from excursion she guessed but the thrill of the hunt.

They were so hell bent on their mission that they hadn't even bothered to remove her daggers that she had strategically thrown at them to give her and Donnie the time they had desperately needed.

They took a moment to remove them now and dropped them dramatically to the ground. They were letting her know with their actions that her resistance was futile. They could do this all day. It was nothing but fun and games to them, which meant only one thing: the only place Donnie was assured to be safe was the school.

Then each Cait opened a door to the Umbra Road and side stepped through nonchalantly. When they disappeared she went to retrieve her blades and just as she stuck the last one back in its sheath George came strolling along with the rest of the class. None the wiser.

He looked her up and down when he stopped in front of her to take in her sorry state and said, "Child you look like you went spelunking for some of those mushroom. Are you all right?"

Quick as a flash, she lied through her teeth, "Of course George, I just got a little overzealous. You know how it is first day and all."

He looked her up and down and then looked all around to say," Kelly you seem a little empty handed for someone who looks like they worked very hard."

She smiled a sweet smile and pointed to the baskets her and Donnie had left on the other side of the field. She ran over breathlessly and grabbed them up. Running back she showed the teacher that they had retrieved every specimen. He looked please like maybe they had been the only pair to do it, yet he still looked perplexed.

"Kelly where is your travelling companion?"

"Oh Donnie," she said with a reassuring smile, "He was feeling sick at his stomach so he went back to visit the commode. He should be waiting for us back at school."

George fixed her with his shrewd brown eyed stare, but she didn't even blink, "Good in that case, "he consulted his watch, "We'll have to save our discussion about the properties of these fungi until next class. Everyone line up to travel back."

He looked at Kelly again and said," You better go first Kelly you must have fallen into a bramble bush it sliced your face pretty badly."

It wasn't until he pointed it out that she finally felt the sting of the cut on her face. Hhm, she thought, must be the adrenaline. When she brought her hand back into view there was indeed a generous amount of bright red blood on her fingers.

Curious, she thought, one of the Cait must have gotten close enough to slice her, which meant he was close enough to have sliced her throat. She shivered with the left over adrenaline in her veins; at least that's what she told herself.

And stepped through the travel glyph once on the other side she quickly alerted Donnie to the fact that George had miss the show and they waited for the rest of the class to travel through.

Just as the last person came through the bell rang to signal the end of class for the first day but before she could walk out the door George called out to her and said, "Make sure you get some troll bile before training you can run into a lot of nasty things on the Amazon River Basin.

Which made her wonder how much had he seen and did he know more than what he was letting on?

She and Donnie knew one thing: if it was found out that they were knee deep in Liam's troubles again Tuma would make good his threat of last year to inform the council. He had promised them that last spring when they had all barely made it out of the killer library, and if George knew something he might just be keeping it to himself to keep them safe.

Or maybe she was over thinking it, she thought as she entered the magic gym for training and went to the girls changing room to suit up in her spandex jump suit.

A she undressed a clump of grass and dirt fell right out of her tangled hair and on to the floor. Taking off her clothes revealed the damage done to them. Her blouse had a big old grass stain all over the back and her skirt was ripped.

Then she remembered with an unhappy sigh the hat Donnie had given her. She must have lost it during the struggle and it was now gone for good in the remote location. It would probably end up as a nest for some strange creature or another.

Well if she was beginning to learn anything from these experiences it was that it pays to dress like the dweebs, but she drew the line at wearing jogging pants. She would just have to make sure from now on it was tight but flexible fitting fabrics and totally expendable clothes. No more designers for here until they stopped the feline freaks.

When she exited the locker room Knight was waiting with a drought of troll bile and handed it to her without a word. She took it and swallowed it in one gulp before taking her seat on the mat for mediation.

As she sat down to mediate she found it hard to clear her head. So many thoughts were running through her mind. Today the Caits had ignored her completely and had gone straight for Donnie, which was proof enough for her that they were truly after him, but why would his own kind want to eliminate him? Given how fullbloods feel about Halfbloods, why would they even waste their time?

She had to admit as well that the Caits hadn't really meant to hurt her either -- judging by the slash on her check. They could have aimed much lower and sliced her throat. Could Liam still think he has claims on her? Does he really believe the Ankh is out of reach?

If so then she truly is the best person to guard Donnie. The Caits wouldn't dare risk seriously injuring her if that was the case. Could they be working together after all, and to what end? So many questions and too few answers in every scenario she could imagine.

The chimes rang to signal the end of mediation and she stood up in one fluid motion, making her way to Murakami's mat. The ancient Japanese Kitsune was her trainer. Kelly studied shurikenjitsu a formal Japanese martial art form that focuses on throwing weapons as well Jujutsu which teaches hand to hand combat.

Quinn and Ray are both in her training session along with other halfbloods from different years. Kelly looked around to see that they had a new comer a scared looking little twelve or thirteen year old. She must have become enlightened while on summer vacation. As Kelly kneeled on the edge of that mat she wondered how that worked.

How did the council always know when you developed your powers? She could still have at least one magical parent that would recognize the signs, but most of Kelly's kind had no magical parent to speak of. As it turns out Fullbloods are pretty self-centered and usually abandon them if not right away then in time.

The stigma of having a halfblood child is too great in many magical cultures. Sometimes she wondered if that was the excuse her mother told herself or even if her mother ever thought of her at all.

Kelly took a closer look at the young blonde skinny as a rake teen trying to determine what manner of magical being she was but there were no tell tale signs -- there often weren't. Even if there are, a glamour spell is usually involved.

Lauren mentioned to her once when she came over to her house before going to club NYX that her appearance when she developed her fae affinity doesn't even remote resemble a human, so she is constantly glamoured. When Kelly demanded she show her true form, she flatly refused, which made her wonder if she was secretively hideous. Maybe that was why she didn't show her true self not even at the club.

Many of Kelly's kind choose not to hide at the club. Which leads to some interesting experiences she was sure, but she wouldn't know. She knew about her reputation of being promiscuous, heck she had cultivated it, but it wasn't true. She'd only ever been with Xan, not that she'd advertise that, god forbid.

She danced and cozied up to other creatures on the transference wall upstairs, but she'd never taken one up on the offer of going home with them. Even with Xander it had taken her several months before she was comfortable enough with him.

When Quinn elbowed her and stage whispered, "Earth to Kelly, "from the side of his mouth, she jumped.

Apparently Ms Murakami was instructing her to take the mat. She imagined they'd all get some mat time today given the summer off. No doubt the kitsune wanted to see if they had been practicing their Kata or if they lost most of what they had learned last year, not her. She had practice on her and Xander's adjacent beach every morning before breakfast.

She smiled when she remembered the challenge matches she and Xander had had in the sand and surf. Xander studies WMA which is just simply Western Martial arts his instructor is the no nonsense Alchemy teacher Knight the once and noble Galahad, the finder of the Holy Grail, and talk about a task master.

At the thought of Xander, Kelly's glance drifted over to Knights mat, of its own accord, to see that Xander was sparing with Donnie. Donnie practiced ITA a Martial art form passed down since feudal times in Italy. The Cait and demigod where locked in battle. Striking and kicking each other in the same manner as countless soldiers in medieval times. She smirked when she saw Donnie throw Xander to the mat resoundingly, but he was quick to follow.

Kelly's mind and attention had obviously been elsewhere and Murakami threw her to the mat painfully because of it, she hadn't even been able to break her fall. She done it none too lightly too and Kelly was finding it difficult to catch her breath as the wind had been knocked from her lungs. Murakami was probably frustrated thinking she had slacked off, even though she hadn't. Final after being thrown several more times Murakami stood up finally letting Kelly go. Realizing she was being dismissed, she sprung from the mat to bow to her sensei showing all the reverence she could muster.

As Kelly sat down feeling like a complete loser she watched the young girl take to the mat. Not surprisingly, she moved faster than humanly possible. Anyone could see she had no formal training but with her speed and agility she would be a worthy opponent before long.

The new girl would have the next week to choose a martial art form and weapon. After that her trainer would be fixed throughout her high school experience. Kelly had done the same. She had tried every form and every weapon her first week, but she kept returning to the throwing knives. There was just something about how they made her feel. It was oddly thrilling to throw them across greater and greater distances and still to hear the satisfying thunk of them hitting their target. It helps as well that she has an affinity to never miss.

Once hand to hand training was complete everyone broke off into their weapons training. And Kelly headed for the range. Any weapons master that consisted of projectiles went to the range. The others went to the field.

She watched as Donnie and Zach broke off from their training session to head to the field as Xander started walking in her directions. Because she wielded throwing knives and he wielded guns, Quinn wielded throwing stars, Megan used a cross bow, Kyle uses a sling shot, and Connor a bow and arrow they all trained together for weapons under the tutelage of Murakami and Le Fay.

Rayden duel wields a Katana and Wakizashi (a smaller version of the same sword), Zach wields a broadsword, Ryan wields an Egyptian sword called a khopesh. So they all went to the field together with Ameera, Ryan's mother, and Knight, and Donnie who dual wields Italian daggers, and Lauren who uses steel fans went with them.

The other melee weapon wielders like Olivia who wields a whip, CJ who uses nunchucks, Brenna who wields her shaman stick like a bo staff, followed Ms Long.

Cameron and Travis didn't take part in weapons training. One because he refused to do it and the other because it was a danger to everyone else if he did. Cameron was truly terrible at every weapon he tried. The boy was an absolute menace and should stick to what he knows best – potion making. He'll have a bright future with the guard if he does. He's an extremely gifted alchemist. Lord knew he's save their bacon a time or two.

Kelly took up her post in the far stall closest to the exit she watched as Xander took the one furthest from her. Was he actually afraid she'd miss accidentally . . . on purpose? She sighed deeply and started when he looked her way. No way she wanted to give him the impression she was pining for him, but was she? Kelly my dear she chided herself. You had best get over it – because that boy is gone, gone, gone.

Phew! Donnie and Kelly barely made it back alive.

Poor Kelly, though, I think she's finally realizing that Xander's is truly gone, and she'll never know why.

But if she's come to accept it then what will that mean for her new admirer.

Tune in tomorrow to find out!