Galdoni (5 page)

“
So I've read.”

The doctor motioned with his fork for me to
continue. I toyed with the corn on my plate. “From the moment of
creation, Galdoni are put through rigorous training regimes which
are eventually honed toward each Galdoni's skill. We were required
to fight a personal and group battle at least once a day, unless we
were recovering.”

“
Recovering?” Brie cut in,
“From what?”

I glanced at her. “After we master weapons
training, all combat is fought with real swords, knives, or
whatever the battling Galdoni chose.”

“
Real weapons?” Jayce
leaned closer, “You mean sharpened and everything?”

I nodded and held out my left arm. A jagged
scar ran from the base of my elbow to my wrist. “It took me almost
a month to recover from this one, but they had me fighting again
the next week.”

“
That's barbaric,” Brie
exclaimed with a shake of her head.

“
It's survival,” I replied.
It surprised me how impersonally I could talk about the Academy. It
had been my entire life. Now, it seemed more like a nightmare I
could remember instead of one I had lived every day.

Even Dr. Ray looked appalled, though I know
he had seen the scars all over my body. I flexed my hands, glad to
see that the bruises on my knuckles had faded along with my blurred
eyesight. I looked up and met the doctor’s gaze across the
table.

His expression was thoughtful but troubled.
“Nikko's mentioned that he found a way to get you into the high
school if you're interested.”

My stomach clenched, but I kept my face
carefully expressionless. “Really.”

Nikko, Brie, and Jayce looked from one of us
to the other.

“
I think it might be a good
idea.”

Shock flowed through me at the doctor's
approval. “You do? I . . . I don't know if it's very smart.”

“
Why not?” Nikko piped in.
“This is your chance to live a real life. You can leave all the
Academy stuff behind and decide what you really want to
do.”

I shook my head. “I already told Brie why I
have to go back. There's no choice in the matter.”

Jayce raised a forkful of food and pointed
it at me. “You always have a choice. Besides, it's not like you can
go back like that. If you're planning for a fight, you'll have to
get into shape again. That could take a while and you might as well
put your free time to good use.”

I looked at the doctor. “You said yourself
that the Galdoni are dangerous and shouldn't be trusted. You want
one around your students?”

He chuckled. “You've already been around my
students.” His expression turned serious and he put an arm on the
table. “I judged too quickly in ignorance. You're a kid like the
rest of them and deserve the same opportunities. If anything, you
have more self-control than anyone else your age.”

“
Hey,” Jayce protested. He
knocked a cup over with his elbow and sent orange soda across the
table. Brie rushed to mop it up with paper napkins.

“
Thanks for proving my
point.” The doctor’s brow creased. “Imagine all you could
learn.”

I didn't answer because I knew there was too
much they weren't considering. They changed the topic and continued
with the meal, laughing and chatting about the day and leaving me
to my own thoughts. I finished my food in silence, thanked the
doctor for his hospitality, and left to my room with more questions
than I had the night before.

***

Jayce lounged on the couch, his fingers
entwined behind his head. “So you're like a black belt; your hands
are considered deadly weapons, right?”

I shrugged from my place on the other couch.
I couldn't sit back because of my wings, but it was better than my
bed. Sleep had eluded me the last few nights thanks to worrying
about the preparations Nikko was making. Against my better
judgment, I had finally given in to their arguments about school.
Nikko was having a heyday with the planning. I felt butterflies in
my stomach for the first time in my life.

“
I guess so. We studied so
many types of combat I don't know what you'd call it.”

“
I'm just glad you're on
our side.” Jayce picked up the open can of soda he had set beside
the couch and raised it to me before he drank.

“
Me, too,” I agreed. I
toyed with the tassels on one of the couch pillows.

Jayce chuckled. “Nervous about your first
day of high school?”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I
nodded.

He grinned. “Don't be. It's not like they're
out to get you. You'll have the advantage.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, and what's
that?”

“
You get frustrated, you
can just fly away.” He glanced at the bandages on my wings and
shrugged. “Well, soon anyway, hopefully.”

“
Hopefully,” I echoed. I
couldn’t allow myself to consider what would happen if
not.

“
Well, don't worry.
Tomorrow we'll get everything straightened out and you can start
your first day of school Wednesday.” He sat up and gave me a
critical look. “We need to get you cleaned up first.”

I hadn't been able to take a decent shower
since the attack. Thankfully, Dr. Ray had created coverings for my
damaged wings so I could have a real shower in the morning.
Obviously I wasn't the only one looking forward to it.

“
Brie can cut your hair.”
At my incredulous look, he grinned. “Don't worry, she cuts mine,
Nikko’s, Dr. Ray's, and our dad’s. She's actually pretty good.” He
gave me another, closer look and nodded. “You're close to Jayce’s
height and build, beside the wings of course. I'll take charge of
the clothes.”

I sighed. “Do we really have to do
this?”

He rose from the couch and slapped my good
knee in passing. “Don't worry, man. I really think you'll like it.
It'll be an adventure.” He left through the front door and I
watched him walk across the street to his house.

“
I've had enough of those
for one lifetime,” I replied under my breath. I pushed to my feet
and crutched my way back to the bedroom. Between the crutches and
the wings, Jayce had better come up with a pretty convincing
outfit.

***

I eased down into the small bathtub, careful
to keep the bandages at my wing joints dry. The hot water eased the
aches that had never quite gone away. It was the first bath I had
ever had, and though I had been skeptical at first, I now
understood why Brie said a hot bath could be the ultimate stress
relief. But I was still glad I didn’t stoop far enough to let her
put bubbles in the water. Jayce would never have let me live it
down.

I felt like a part of the filth that came
from my past at the Academy washed away as I cleaned my skin with
the hot water and minty soap Brie had provided. I studied the scars
that stood out in stark contrast against my skin. I again felt the
lashes and weapons that had carved their signatures into my
body.

Somehow, being away from the Academy, acting
somewhat human, felt like leaving the last bite of pain from those
wounds in the bath water. I didn’t dwell on the fact that I wasn’t
human and could never be. It was enough just to be part of
something civilized, to feel like I was at least somewhat in
control of my own life.

I scrubbed my body until I finally felt
clean. My black wings gleamed, the feathers finally clear of the
dirt and grime from the alley so that they glinted dark purple at
certain angles in the light. The bandaged joints ached whenever I
moved, but I hoped it was a healing pain. I combed the tangles out
of my black hair. It hung to my shoulders, longer than I usually
wore it, and drove me crazy by constantly falling in my eyes. Maybe
a haircut would be a good idea.

I pulled on the jeans and black collared
shirt Jayce had set out. It took some doing to ease the new slits
in the back of the shirt over my wings, but when I had it settled,
the clean cotton felt good against my skin. Dr. Ray had removed the
stitches from the gash on my forehead earlier that day; I traced
the healing line above my eyebrow.

My gaze shifted so that I stared at the
stranger in the mirror. He looked back with dark eyes, a firm jaw,
and something unfamiliar on his face. Hope. I shook my head and
turned away. I would need more than hope to get through tomorrow. I
opened the door and used a crutch to make my way into the living
room.

Brie sat by herself on the arm of the couch,
a comb and scissors on her knee and an empty chair in the middle of
the floor. Her eyes widened when she saw me. My stomach turned over
strangely at the look on her face.

“
You clean up nice,” she
said in a tone I didn’t recognize.

“
Thanks.”

I stopped by the chair and set the crutch on
the ground. Brie sat quietly for so long I finally looked over at
her. When she met my eyes, a touch of red colored her cheeks. I
frowned slightly, uncertain, and she stood up, dropping the
scissors and comb to the floor.

“
Go ahead and take a seat,”
she said. Her face was hidden by her long brown hair as she stooped
to pick up her tools.

I sat and tried to ignore the fact that I
was about to let a near-stranger close to me with a potentially
dangerous weapon. Her footsteps crossed behind me and stopped for a
minute. I jumped at the feeling of fingers lightly brushing one of
my wings.

“
Sorry,” Brie said, her
voice quiet. “You're wings are beautiful. I've never seen feathers
like these.”

She ran the comb through my hair. The
feeling made me want to stay in the chair forever and fly away and
never come back all at the same time. My muscles tensed and I had
to force myself to hold still.

“
Relax,” Brie said gently.
She combed the hair back from my forehead, her fingers soft on my
skin. “I'm not going to cut you, I promise.”

I nodded and she said with a slightly
teasing note in her voice, “Well, I might cut you if you move your
head. Hold still, but don't be so tense. Trust me.”

It took a surprising amount of willpower to
close my eyes. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The soft
snip of scissors was followed by the almost inaudible sound of hair
falling to the floor. Brie ran the comb through my hair again,
followed by another snip. She started to hum softly to herself, so
soft that I doubted she even knew she did it. The music calmed my
frazzled nerves and took the tension from my shoulders.

“
That's better,” she said
quietly.

I opened my eyes to see her staring inches
from my face. Her gaze followed the strands of hair she measured
with her fingers. She met my eyes for a second, then continued on,
a slight smile on her lips. I memorized her smile.

“
Did anyone tell you that
you have amazing eyes?” she asked as she moved around to the
back.

I was about to shake my head, then
remembered her warning. I gave a rueful smile. “Not exactly a high
topic of conversation in combative society.”

I heard the answering smile in her voice.
“Well, you do. They match the color of your wings in certain
light.”

Her fingers ran from my forehead to the back
of my hair, measuring lengths. I closed my eyes again and
concentrated on the soft touch. So little in my life had been
gentle that I had to fight from tensing against the surprise blow
my body assumed would come. I had never realized how many walls I
had up until Brie’s touch threatened to crack them all.

I became aware that the humming and cutting
had stopped; I opened my eyes to find Brie sitting on the couch
across from the chair, her brow furrowed and brown eyes serious.
“When was the last time someone cut your hair?” she asked
quietly.

I rolled my shoulders despite the pain it
brought and leaned forward to put my elbow on my good knee. I
studied the faded outline of bruises on my hand. “Never. I do it
myself.” I glanced up only to see her frown deepen.

“
Does anyone take care of
you guys over there?”

“
At the Academy?” I asked,
though it was obvious. She nodded and I shook my head. “We take
care of ourselves. Dependency is a sign of weakness, or so they
tell us.” I pushed myself to my feet. She picked up the crutch and
held it out. My hand brushed hers when I took it and I paused as a
jolt of electricity ran up my arm at her touch. I took a calming
breath and settled the crutch under my arm, then gave her a half
smile. “What would they say if they saw me now?”

“
Do you really
care?”

Her question caught me by surprise. I
glanced at her. “You are forward, aren’t you?”

She brushed her hair back from her face with
an impatient gesture. “You shouldn’t care. Really. Look at what
they did to you. They meant to send you out there to die. You don’t
have to go back. You don’t have anything to prove. It’ll be a death
sentence.”

Her words echoed the argument that had
swirled in my head the past few days. Anger at my own lack of
answers surged through me. I gritted my teeth before I said
anything I would regret.

But she saw it. “What? Tell me.”

I shook my head and turned to go back to my
room.

Brie caught my arm, her grip firm. “Kale, I
helped save your life. You owe me that much.”

The way she said my name made me turn back
against my will. She must have seen something in my face because
she let go of my arm and stepped back. I took a breath and tried to
push away the pent-up fury in my chest. I leaned against the arm of
the sofa.

“
It’s what I’m meant for,
Brie.” I ran a hand through my hair. It felt good to have it
shorter. I shoved the hand in my pocket. “It’s all I know. I’ve
been taught to fight my whole life, and now, here I sit and wait to
heal for what end? How can I do anything the way I am? Who are we
kidding thinking I’ll fit in at this school? And what happens to
you guys when we’re caught? It would have been better if you'd let
me die out there.”