Catch Me When I Fall (22 page)

Catchers and Weavers stood and filed out of the room or evaporated to their locations across the globe. A tap on my shoulder made me jump, and I turned my head to see Bartholomew sitting behind me.

“I need you and Kayla to come with me.” He disappeared without another word.

Giovanni was waiting for us when we appeared in Bartholomew’s study.
So much for being in his office.
Seeing Kayla, he walked up to her and took her hand.

“Miss Bartlett, I presume. Nice to finally meet you. I trust you are enjoying your stay?”

I raised my eyebrows. He spoke as if this place was a luxury hotel, not a safe haven.

“Yes, thank you.” She replied with grace, but her other hand gripped mine tighter, and I gave it a squeeze.

“Good. Daniel, we need to talk. I want you to lead the task force assigned to destroying this warlock when his location is uncovered.”

The fact that he felt me capable of such a feat was flattering. But I had Kayla to worry about. I couldn’t be responsible for training a strike team. “Surely there’s someone more qualified, sir.”

Giovanni shook his head. “On the contrary. You are one of the best Catchers we have ever had, and your ability to strategize far exceeds those who have been in the field longer. Even Samantha, your understudy, has benefitted from your training. She’s stronger, more agile than many four hundred years older than her. I know you can lead a team to follow the three Magus into the warlock’s den.”

I held up my hand. “Wait a minute. You want to involve Kayla and the other two? No way.”

“Daniel, we need them. This is a
warlock
we are chasing after. We have swords and guns, but he has magic, charms and spells. If you go up against him, you’re going to need individuals capable of taking him on at his level. To go in without them would be suicide.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. What he said made sense, but I
did not
want to get Kayla involved. I promised I would keep her safe, not lead her to right to the enemy.

To my surprise, Kayla spoke. “If we help him, do we have a chance?”

“Kayla—”

Bartholomew cut me off. “Yes. He is much older and much stronger than you individually. But when combined, you three could be as strong as him. Trishna is ready to come work with you three, to ensure you’re prepared.”

“Then I’m in.”

“Kayla, no. I’m not letting you risk your life for this,” I said.

She turned to me with narrowed eyes. “My life is already in danger, Daniel. And besides, it’s
my
life, not yours. If this is what it takes to get my life back, then I’m doing it. And you can’t stop me.”

Wanting to argue, I ground my teeth, but her jaw was set and her gaze unfaltering. There would be no talking her out of this decision. There was no choice. I turned to Giovanni. “Then count me in, too. We’ll start training tomorrow.”

As soon as we got back to my room, I closed the door and turned to Kayla. “You shouldn’t be doing this.”

“This isn’t just about me anymore! Two of your kind died protecting another girl”—she took a deep breath—“
witch
like me. How many more are going to die because of us? I won’t stand back and let you walk into that warlock’s hideout knowing I might never see you again. I won’t let you die for me.” Her fists clenched at her sides, and her eyes filled with tears, her lips tight.

With a sigh, I pulled her into my arms. Her unfaltering courage was both unnerving and impressive. “All right. But tomorrow, I want you to join us at training. And I want to be there with you when you work with Trishna. If you’re going to fight alongside me, I want to know you can protect yourself. We’ll do this together, okay?”

She looked up at me. “Does that mean I get to fight you?” Her face split into a mischievous grin.

“Probably. But don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you.”

She shoved me away from her with a smile.

ur training room was in the basement of the mansion. It was the entire width and length of the building and could fit upwards of five hundred people at one time. The walls and floors were covered with wrestling mats, and different stations were set up for different purposes—weight training, cardio training, hand-to-hand combat, etcetera. There were even shooting ranges for guns and bows. For the longest time, we’d only trained to fight off the dark spirits of the world. Now we were going to be taking on creatures completely different—
living
creatures. The training center took on an anxious feel when I entered the room.

It had been so long since I was here, I almost didn’t recognize the place. Our old machines had been replaced with newer ones, and the weaponry at the back had been freshly stocked. All around, Protectors trained. Catchers instructed Weavers how to protect themselves, and they prepared to take down creatures we’d only read about in lore. We knew how to fight the Magus, but we’d never had a reason to—until now.

Seth carried long, wooden poles across the room. With my right arm clean of gauze, I jogged to him. “Training’s not for another thirty minutes. You don’t have to help me set up, mate.”

Seth handed me half the stack. “I know, but if I’m not down here helping, I’m up there thinking. And I don’t want to be thinkin’ right now, man.”

Couldn’t blame him. I didn’t want to think about our reason for training either. Together, we carried the poles to an open area in the center of the room and paired them. After a few more trips of carrying sheathed daggers, as well as ankle and wrist weights, we were set.

Soon after, Samantha and Tabbi led Kayla into the room. Kayla had styled her hair into a ponytail, and she wore workout clothes that hugged her curves. I took a moment to stare at her body—her tank top stretched slightly over her breasts, and her gym shorts stopped halfway down her thighs.

“Quit staring,” Seth said. “You look like a drooling ape.”

I coughed, the heat rising in my cheeks, and elbowed him in the arm. He laughed.

Eight Catchers followed them through the door, and Seth waved them over to us. Four of them had been in Giovanni’s office earlier—Lian, Lucca, Vasin and Hakan were overseeing the protection of the other two witches. Lian was a Chinese girl, about seventeen, and was the best martial artist we had in our entire ranks. Her sixteen-year-old understudy, Lucca, was Italian and had been raised in a farming village. I remembered him from Samantha’s training. He was incredibly strong.

Vasin, an Indian born in the 1700s, was Hakan’s mentor and the oldest of the group at twenty-one. Hakan, a fifteen-year-old Native American, also had trained with Samantha. Besides the fact they had Protected one of the other witches, they were a fierce pair. I was glad to see Giovanni had pieced together a strong team.

The others introduced themselves as Lizzie, nineteen and from Germany, and her understudy, Brian, from America; Irene, eighteen, from England; and, to my chagrin, Ivan, also seventeen, like me. Though, given he was the remaining Protector from Adelynn’s team, I wasn’t surprised Giovanni had assigned him to the group.

“You’re all on the strike team Giovanni assembled, correct?”

“What do you think,
debil
,” Ivan replied.

Great. This was going to be fun. “Then, I’m sure you’re all aware of Giovanni’s plan for us. Once the location of the warlock is determined, we will accompany the three Magus to take him out. Therefore, it is extremely important that we’re all able to trust that we’ll have each other’s backs.” I made a point to stare down Ivan. He glared at me.

I continued, “That’s what these training exercises are for. Not only will we be practicing and perfecting our fighting skills, but we’ll learn how to work as a unit so there’s no weak spot. I’ll also use what I see to name my second-in-command. This person would take my place if I were to fall.”

Kayla watched my every movement, hanging on every word. At the mention of my possible death, her face fell into a deep frown. I looked away from her before I lost my momentum.

“There are wooden poles on the floor. Grab one and pair up with someone, preferably someone whose fighting skills you do not already know. I want to see quick response time, endurance. I want to see your ability to pay attention to the tiniest detail, so avoid hitting each other’s hands. Take a moment to stretch, and then we’ll begin.”

I walked over to Kayla and Tabbi. “Tabbi, you’re not on the strike team, are you?”

She shook her head. “No, but I want to be able to protect myself.”

“Then, stay here with Kayla. Take it easy today, yeah? Watch the fights. Try to absorb some of what they do. Tomorrow when they’re training in their teams, I’ll work with you two. Sound good?”

They nodded, and I took Kayla’s hand in mine, giving her fingers a squeeze. I leaned in to whisper in her ear, “You look great in workout gear, by the way.”

She shoved me playfully and blushed. I smirked and turned to my team. “All right guys. Take a stance. And, go!”

The room filled with loud clicks from my Catchers’ fights, and I watched from a distance, waiting a few minutes for them to tire a bit. Seth hit Vasin’s hand with his pole. “Watch the hands, guys. You need to see everything and strike only where appropriate.”

Circling the group, I first observed Ivan and Lucca’s battle. Ivan had helped me train Lucca and Samantha’s group before we’d all been assigned our understudies. Ivan had taken him down pretty easily at the time, but now they were both strong, fast and agile. Lucca held his own. In fact, he was a little faster than Ivan given his smaller size, and he managed to land the first blow. Ivan winced when Lucca’s pole smacked him in the side of the thigh.