The instructor’s fear followed me into the hallway. I did not understand why she was so worried. But somehow that only made it worse. “Lynne?” My voice traveled along the stone walls. No answer. I hurried toward the eastern corridor and pushed through the exterior door. Sunlight struck my face. Beyond the academy gates, the road descended toward the harbor. Students crossed between buildings. Merchants guided carts through the lower streets. No Lynne. How far could she have gone? I started down the road. Then stopped. Something moved behind the fogged glass of a nearby building. A figure rushed between the trees inside. Dark auburn hair. “Lynne?” The academy greenhouse stood behind a low stone wall, connected to the eastern wing by a covered path. I ran toward it and pushed through the nearest door. Warm, humid air closed around me. Towering palms stretched toward the glass ceiling. Vines wrapped around iron frames, and flowers I did not recognize filled beds of dark soil. Water dripped somewhere nearby. The stone path divided around a wall of broad green leaves. “Lynne!” A door slammed at the opposite end of the greenhouse. Footsteps rushed toward me. She burst around the plants at full speed. Relief rose in me. “There you are.” Then I saw her face. Her eyes were wide and unfocused. Tears streaked her cheeks. Gray dust covered the knees of her uniform, and several strands of hair had come loose around her face. Her hands were shaking violently. She kept looking over her shoulder as though she expected something terrible to reach for her. “Lynne?” She ran straight past me. She did not even seem to hear my voice. Heavy footsteps crashed through the opposite doorway. Six men entered the greenhouse. Dark suits. Hats. Shoes covered in dust. One of them pointed after Lynne. “There!” “That’s the girl from the roof!” Another man shouted something behind him. I stepped into the path and tried to block them. The largest man barely looked at me. For some reason, I believed I might actually be able to stop the hurtling rhino of a man. His shoulder struck my chest. The impact lifted me from my feet. I landed beside one of the planting beds. My back struck the stone border. For a moment no air entered my lungs. The men continued after Lynne. I tried to push myself upright. My fingers stumbled across a wooden handle. A gardening shovel lay in the dirt, its metal edge sharpened for cutting through roots. I pulled it free and stood. The large man trailed several steps behind the others. I ran toward him. He heard me coming and turned. His right hand disappeared beneath his coat. His shoulder lowered. His elbow pulled backward. He’s going to stab me. My feet changed direction before I finished thinking. His hand shot forward. A knife appeared. My arms flew up as if I were only trying to stop him from touching me. The flat of the shovel struck his wrist. Something cracked. The knife dropped into the soil. The man shouted. His other arm swung toward my face. I didn’t know if he was trying to punch me or grab me. It didn’t matter. My head leaned away. His fist passed close enough that I felt the air move across my cheek. My hands turned the shovel. The wooden shaft struck the side of his knee. His leg folded. My leg slid around and behind him. The shaft of the shovel hooked across his throat. His back pressed against me. My hips moved underneath his. My arms drove the shovel forward. His feet left the ground. For one impossible moment, the enormous man was flung upside down in front of me. Suspended in the air. Then he crashed through a glass planting frame. The panes shattered beneath his weight. He landed facedown among soil and broken glass. Then stopped moving. I remained where I was. Both hands gripping the shovel. I looked down at him. I think I was expecting to feel anxiety, horror, panic or something. Nope, nothing. Did I kill him? I stepped closer. His chest moved. Barely. But it moved. A scream echoed from deeper within the greenhouse. Lynne. I dropped the shovel and ran toward the sound. The path curved between rows of flowers before reaching another set of glass doors. Beyond them lay an enormous indoor pool. Lynne reached the water first. Her foot touched the surface. A ripple spread beneath her shoe. The water bent. But miraculously did not break. She stepped again. Then again. Within moments she was running across the pool as though it were polished stone. I stopped in the doorway. Only for a heartbeat. The five men chasing her did not. The first leapt after her. For one ridiculous moment I thought he might perform the same miracle Lynne had. He vanished straight beneath the surface. The second man ran into him. Then the third. Water exploded upward as they fell over one another. Two managed to stop at the edge. One of the two decided to run around the pool instead of jumping in. The last one stared across the pool at Lynne. Then reached beneath his coat. I saw the weapon. A gun? No. Something smaller. A pocket-sized crossbow? Lynne reached the opposite side. The man raised it. My body moved. I sprinted forward and tackled him. We fell into the water together. Cold swallowed me. The water erased every other sound. For a moment there were only white bubbles. They cleared, revealing the twisting shape of the man in front of me. My legs locked around him. One arm threaded beneath his. My body slid behind him, pressed against his back. The man twisted violently beneath the surface. He tried to point the crossbow toward me. It was impossible. I hid behind him. Not consciously. My body simply refused to be where the weapon was pointing. One hand trapped his wrist. The other started pulling at his fingers. He was larger than me. Stronger too. But somehow strength did not seem to matter. His free elbow whipped backward. His tricep struck the side of my head. Lights flashed behind my eyes. I tucked my face deeper against the back of his skull. My grip remained. His wrist turned until his grip loosened. I pried it out of his hand. The man turned toward me. I saw his face through the water. Then I drove the wooden stock into his skull. Again. Again. Again. Air burst from his mouth in a cloud of bubbles. He stopped fighting. I needed to get to Lynne. I pushed away from him and kicked toward the surface. My head broke through the water. Sound returned all at once. My own coughing. Shouting ahead of me. The sound of me gasping air into my lungs. I wiped the water from my eyes, trying to clear my vision. Lynne stood on the opposite side of the pool. Three of the men were climbing from the water after her. Lynne drew her arm back. Something appeared in her hand. A blade. At least, I thought it was a blade. It shimmered strangely, flickering in and out like light reflected from broken glass. One of the men climbed onto the tiles. Lynne raised it. He took a step toward her. Her hand began shaking. The man came closer. Lynne looked at him. Her eyes widened. Her breath caught. Whatever resolve had been on her face disappeared. The light collapsed between her fingers. She backed away. The man lunged. A door opened behind her. A girl stepped into the pool room. She wore a yellow jacket with black stripes running down the sleeves. Straight black hair framed a pale face before falling behind her shoulders. My first thought was that she was beautiful. Something about the way she looked around made it feel as though the room was already echoing with her presence. She looked at the men before her as if they were mere prey. Prey that had gravely offended her. Like a tiger seconds before tearing apart the hyenas terrorizing her cub. The first pursuer reached for Lynne. The girl stepped between them. One arm extended behind herself, forming a barrier in front of Lynne. The man hesitated. “Move.” The girl said nothing. He grabbed for her shoulder. His hand closed around empty air. I almost didn’t see her move. She shifted perhaps half a step. Something black flashed from beneath her jacket. A short wooden handle struck beneath the man’s chin. His head snapped backward. Before he could recover, the second handle caught the side of his head. He stumbled backward. She kicked him in the chest And he flew back into the pool. The second man climbed from the water and almost got his footing. She immediately whipped her arms And a black flash struck him across the jaw. He fell back into the pool. The third man stopped. He glanced at the others. Then at the girl. He approached more carefully. A knife appeared in his hand. Her eyes moved to the weapon. Nothing else about her changed. He thrust toward her stomach. She turned sideways. The blade passed across the front of her jacket without touching it. Her wrist circled. The chain of the nunchaku caught around his knife hand. She stepped past him. His arm twisted behind him. His shoulder followed. The man’s face twisted in pain. For a second I thought something was going to break. She placed her leg behind his. He tripped over it. His shoulders and the back of his head struck the tiles. The knife skittered away. The last man at the pool’s edge reached beneath his jacket. She saw it. So did I. But she was too far away. And still tangled with the man who just lost his knife. I looked down. The compact crossbow was still in my hand. I raised it. I had never held anything like it before. At least... I didn’t think I had. My thumb found something along the side. The folded limbs snapped outward. A bolt was already seated along the narrow track. My fingers settled around the grip. For one strange instant, everything became still. The man. The distance between us. The line seemed obvious. I pulled the trigger. The bolt crossed the pool. It struck his sleeve and buried itself into his upper arm. The man dropped his crossbow. He stared at the bolt. Then at me. Blood slowly darkened the fabric around it. I stared back at him. I think I was just as surprised as he was. The girl in yellow crossed the distance before he could reach for the crossbow with his other arm. For a second I thought she flew before I realized she had simply ran and jumped. Her foot collided into his head His back struck the pool tiles. And he stopped moving. No one else attacked. The men still in the pool clung to the edge, coughing. The others lay across the tiles groaning. Disarmed, but alive. The girl stood. She tucked one handle of the nunchaku beneath her arm. Then turned toward Lynne. The terrifying stillness left her face. Everything about her changed. Her shoulders lowered. Her eyes softened. She reached up and carefully touched Lynne’s cheek. “Toriya.” Her voice was quiet, carrying an accent I could almost place. “Are you hurt?” Lynne shook her head too quickly. “No.” Her voice broke. “I don’t think so.” The girl looked her over carefully. Her hand gently strokes her face. Then brushes the dust off her uniform. Lynne caught the sleeve of her tracksuit. “I did something terrible.” The girl’s attention sharpened. “What happened?” “I didn’t know.” Lynne stared at her own hands. “He lied to me. I thought it was an exercise, but there was a man beneath it, and I—” Her breath hitched. “I cut the rope.” The girl placed both hands around hers. “Breathe.” “B-but someone died.” “Breathe first.” Lynne tried. One trembling breath entered her lungs. Then another. I pulled myself out of the pool. My shoes slipped against the wet tiles when I stood. Water streamed from my clothes. The crossbow was somehow still in my hand. I walked toward Lynne and the girl. “Thank you.” I said to the nunchuck girl The girl looked up. Our eyes met. She did not recognize me. Why would she? I had never seen her before. For a moment her expression held only assessment. Her eyes moved across my face. My soaked clothes. The compact crossbow still clutched in my hand. Then... They stopped. At the tag pinned to my chest. Xu XiaoXing. Time seemed to pause. It lasted less than a second. A tiny movement passed through her face. Surprise. Then disbelief. Then... Nothing. The expression disappeared so completely I almost thought I had imagined it. Her gaze returned to my face. It felt different now. Cold. Sharp. As though she were trying to solve a puzzle that had offended her simply by existing. Her eyes moved over me again. My face. My hair. My skin. My clothes. Then back to the name. Her hand shifted slightly around the nunchaku. Without a word, she stepped closer to Lynne. Not dramatically. Just enough that she now stood between us. Had I done something wrong? “Thank you,” I said again. She didn’t answer. “You saved us.” Nothing. She simply kept looking at me. The silence became uncomfortable. “...You were incredible.” Still nothing. Behind us, instructors hurried into the pool room. Their voices filled the space. The girl glanced toward them. Then back at me. For one brief instant, I thought she was going to ask me something. Instead... She turned away. As the girl walked toward the arriving instructors, she looked back once. First at the name tag on my chest. Then at my face. Then she disappeared into the crowd. I looked down at it myself. Xu XiaoXing. Then at my hands. Dark skin. Definitely not Chinese. Right…

Chapter 6