I slept in this morning. Oops! But that's okay, it happens to the best if us! It's too hot, I'm too sleepy all the time now. 

Anyways!

I love you, yes you, yes, you. The cutie reading this. Yes I'm talking to you silly! I love you! I hope you're enjoying my story, and if you do vote and comment, it really does help. If you don't feel free to reach out and let me know what you think I need to work on. 

The list you can play:

Bones by Imagine Dragons

Moving in the Dark By Neon Trees

One Thing by Finger Eleven 

lovely By Billie Eilish feat Khalid

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I am standing awkwardly in the entrance of the shed, observing Milo's setup of dummies. "Do you want to start with the elephant in the room?"

"I remember when the English language was populated, but I cannot stand the insufferable expressions." He only glances at me.

"Let's make this easier." I let out a low sigh. "How about you tell me how you want me to put it?" He continues without an answer. "Before we start, would you like to discuss what happened a few months ago? Why you want Nya down here too? The reason you could not even glance at me, or don't practice with me?"

"Because you're a human?"

"This is dumb. You're supposed to be a grown ass man."

"What are you implicating?" He grunts, giving a dummy a hard shove into place.

"Do you need a refresher on what happened?" I monitor him, but he persists in setting up. "You pinned me against that wall-"

"I remember," He snaps, looking back at me. "Yes, I remember, there's nothing to discuss. I lost control, that's all."

"And?" I wave my hand, encouraging him to keep going.

"And what?"

"You're..."

"I'm what?" But he turns away from me.

"Come on, you're 20? Plus, a century or two?" I joke. "Did anyone teach you manors?"

"I'm not in the mood to engage in immature games, if you need to express something, then say it directly or remain silent. Either way, we need to get started."

"Jesus, is this how you talk to all the girls?"

"Humans? Yes." He keeps his back to me. "We're going to practice stabbing. You've been getting better with Nya, not good enough to go against anyone, but if you're able to attack when their guard is down." He contemplates that. "If they seem lifeless, like in a state of sleep, or with their guard down. You must know how to penetrate skin, muscles, and bone. Our bodies are rapidly repaired, so you need to get in the heart basically as soon as you pierce the skin. The heart is-"

"On the left side. I know this."

"Not exactly," He faces me, putting his hand over his chest. "It's in the center, but off to the left." He slides his fingers down the middle of his chest. "Now the sternum is in the middle, protecting most of the heart, and to me it's like punching through plywood, but to you, you couldn't break it, not even most humans. You," He presses his fingers down his ribs. "you'll need to aim for right between the third and fourth rib, that way you don't get blocked by bones. But easier said than done, it's still hard to punch through that much, and you can't count the ribs on every single person you're going to stab." I glided my fingers along the center of my chest, sensing the bone, then I shifted to my collarbone, and started counting down. "And women are a little more difficult because," He clears his throat. "As a result of the extra padding."

I drop my hands when I realize what he is saying. "Oh. I get it."

He pats the dummy. "This guy has steel rods that act as ribs, now they are tougher than bones. By any chance, I believe you're ready to break bones. We can practice on something meatier, but right now I want you to practice sliding between them." He comes over to me, putting a cold silver stake in my hands.

"What about from the back?" I beam up at him when he's right in front of me.

He grimaces. "That was a cheap shot, and impossible, the back is too tough for someone like you, there is much more protection from the back. The muscles alone would stop you before you get to the heart."

"Admit a human outsmarted you."

"I would if a human did. But you, child, did not."

"Okay, old man, believe whatever you wish. You lost control because you couldn't stand, I won, and I remember you said you would go out in the sun if I won."

"If I genuinely had confidence in your ability to do that, I would not have..." He twists away from me, letting the frustration his tone held out in a low breath. "I'm not going to talk about this with a weak girl."

Anger flair in me as I glare at him. "I'm not as weak as you think I am."

He looks back at me and down as he shakes his head. "Mentally, perhaps not, but without training, muscles, and abilities, you lack the necessary tools. Humans are weak, the only reason we evolved was due to weapons, and then we got guns, tanks, and bombs. That won't take down a kite. Well, perhaps a bomb, but kites evolved to use our hands and our teeth, we feed on life to stay immortal, you're lucky Levi is backing you up, most humans that find out about kites don't live long."

"Am I also lucky that he won't let you go berserk on the town? How much you hate humans, you love to leave them alone."

"I don't hate humans. What gives you the impression I would go 'berserk' on the town?" He does air quotes.

"You're not a kind person? You hate me, you hate humans, you hate weakness? Even Jason said you were a killer the night of the battle."

"Jason shows a complete absence of understanding in his discussion. If he truly possessed knowledge about stories regarding me, he wouldn't have made threats towards me. I hold no animosity towards humans, and when it comes to weakness, I don't allocate any time. In the 100s lifetimes I've lived, I've accomplished more in my time on this earth than you'll ever do in your extremely short life. I don't want to be around the weak and don't get me wrong, there are a lot of weak kites and I rather not interact with them either."

"But you're emotionally weak." I shrug, positioning myself in front of the dummy.

"Maybe to you who experiences every emotion simultaneously," He mumbles.

"At least I feel." I glare back at him.

"You let that cloud your judgement."

"You're so childish!"

"And you're obnoxious."

I throw the stake at the dummy, missing by a foot, it bounces off the wall behind it. "Why are you nice to me sometimes, and can't stand me the rest of the time?"

He gazes at the spot where the stake lay. "You can't throw it! You have to stab him. If you throw it, you'll hurt yourself or me."

"Answer my question!" I step in front of him, directing his gaze towards me.

He walks past me to snatch up the stake. "You must be a spirit worker or something, because you give off pleasantness, that's why you probably have no trouble making friends. I know a lot of spirit workers; they are the same way." He places the stake back in my hand and plops down on the mat. "Don't throw this again and don't make me regret training you."

"I have friends because, unlike you, people actually like me." I run at the dummy, thrusting the stake into its chest with both hands, hitting something hard. The sensation of metal gliding across metal scrapes my arm, prompting a frustrated scream.

Laughter interrupts me. I glance at Milo, who is howling with laughter, tears filling his eyes. When the laughter began to subside, he looks at my pout, and a new bubble burst out of his mouth, he had to support himself in his sitting position.

"Can I stab you?" I ask apathetically.

"If that's your tactic, then go right ahead. You should have seen your face." He wipes his eyes and pushes himself up to his feet. "Stand in front of the dummy." I pull the stake out of the dummy and face it straight on. He comes up behind me. "Count the ribs." His rough fingers slide against my wrist as he lifts my hand and presses it to the collarbone, pushing my fingers down to the first gap. "One." He lets go, and I began to count the gaps. "Two, and three. Stop there. How does it feel?"

I exert pressure on the chest, sensing the limited amount of space I have, much less than anticipated. "It's not wide enough for the stake."

"That's okay," He's in my ear now, his hands are on my hips, positioning them at an angle. "the stake will push the ribs apart, a lot less pressure than breaking bones." He taps the back of my left foot with his. "Slide this foot back, you need to keep your balance."

"I'm left-handed."

He thinks about this for a second, then he repositions me, tapping the other foot. "Then this one goes back." I do as he says and push my foot back enough so I can't get knocked over as easily. I hold the stake up. "Good, now try again." He takes one small step away from me.

I inhale and dab it in, piercing the skin once more and hitting the metal. "I can't do this." And I let out my breath.

He reaches over and pulls out the stake. "Here," He puts it in my hand, positioning it so it points out, not in, then he wraps his fingers around my wrist gently. "Don't go down like that, jab it straight." He jabs it slowly with me. I turn my head to observe him from behind, he is quietly discussing the proper technique, his gaze fixed on the dummy. "Ready?" He looks at me, noticing how close we are, and pulls away. "I think you can get it now."

Nodding, I try it the way he showed me, it went about a half an inch in before it gets caught. I give one more shove, but it doesn't budge. "It's not working."

"That's okay." He walks around me. "Don't move, remember this. When you get stronger, I want this to come to you naturally."

"I feel like an idiot." I turn my head enough to see him before he moves behind me.

"You look like one too." I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Now who's obnoxious?" I stand up straight.

I could sense the energy he emitted, the shrug with a smirk even if I couldn't perceive him. The idea of a spirit worker genuinely appeared to hold merit, as I always had this intuition about others' emotions or their ability to experience them.

"Let's do it again." I become frustrated every time I experience that unpleasant metal scraping against metal. We keep at it until my arm is tired, or, how he would put it, when I complain of my arm hurting too much.

"Fine then, let's run some laps." He throws up his hands after I complain about my arms.

"Laps? Like running around this building? Like if I was in school?"

"I guess? I've never been to school, but I've seen movies." He's moving the dummies back into storage.

With a laugh, I watch him. "I don't picture you watching high school dramas."

"I have a prior that did."

"Prior?"

"Someone I was in a relationship with, and no longer am."

"As in, you dated them?"

"I guess?"

"You? Dating?"

"Yeah? You should stretch."

"You? Dating?"

"Why is that strange to you?"

"People stand you enough to want to date you?" I smile. He rolls his eyes at me, and we begin jogging.

"Kites have relationships."

"That's not my problem, it's them wanting to date you. Someone put up with the brooding, and mood swings willingly." I huff out.

"Plenty have."

"Lady's man over here." I tease.

"I mean, I've been around long enough to have enjoyed the presence of people."

"People? So not women?" I throw him a side glance. "I mean, I don't judge, I just didn't expect that from you." But of course, he doesn't respond. "How does that work anyway, with the eternal life thing?"

"We don't mate for life. There are some that might find someone they will love until they die, they'll take the honorable death with, but most of the time you are with someone for a few decades and decide to move on."

"Have you ever loved anyone you thought you'd take the honorable death with?"

Once, an exceedingly long time ago.

"Whatever happened to them?"

"You'll likely meet her at some point, she possesses immense power and wields significant influence over our kind."

"Do you still love her?"

He doesn't answer, he picks up his speed, and I try to match him, causing him to pick it up again. I sprint past him, for a few brief moments I feel powerful, but then the momentum wore off, and I slow to a stop. I raise my hands and fold them behind my head, puffing, with a wide smile on my face. "Outran you."

"First, you know for a fact you cannot outrun me." He showed no signs of being out of breath. "And second, it's not about speed, it's about how long you can keep it up. We need to work on that, your arm strength, and all-around agility. We should begin with combat, that will be incredibly beneficial, and some type of cardio. Do you think you could climb a wall?"

With my hands on top of my head, trying to catch my breath, my gaze falls upon the smooth surface of the wall. "No, can you?"

"Like a rock wall?"

"Oh, I did that in like the third grade, yes."

"Without a harness."

I drop my arms. "Oh, then no."

"So, body strength is on the list." He sighs. "Pull ups?"

"As in more than one?" He actually grins at that. "No."

"Anything you're strong at?"

I think for a moment. "Swimming, I guess? I mean, I wouldn't drown, I know a lot of the strokes, and I was on a swim team in California for a few years. Why are you giving me that look?" He is looking at me without blinking.

"Because swimming exercises all your muscles in your body, that'd be a perfect way to start off things. But who has a pool?" He starts to pace.

"This might sound dumb, but you do? It's in your backyard."

"Indoor pool." He glances at me without stopping. "I think I know who, but I'll have to ask, I'll have Nya tell you."

"Or you can call me."

"Only three people have my number."

I pull my hair out of its pony, and let it spread across my shoulders. "Nya, Levi, and? Now what?"

He had stopped, and is now looking at me again, his eyes lingered on where my hair curled near my collarbone, but he looks away quickly. "We'll meet up later this week."

"What's wrong with you?" He looks back at me. "I don't want to play this back-and-forth game each time we meet. It was fun this time, but it's getting old."

He looks at me, then back at my hair. "I like your hair."

"My hair?" I pinch at it. "Why? Just my hair?"

He shakes his head. "Why do you always say what you are thinking? It's really infuriating, can you imagine what would happen if I did that, you'd probably be in tears."

"If you want to impress a girl, simply tell her she's beautiful because, let's face it, hair is just hair." I tease, and he turns away from me.

"Be sure to enjoy this, because when I see you again, I won't be as kind."

"But, I like your eyes." I take a step towards him. His eyes avoid meeting mine, instead scanning the ground and the wall, never glancing towards me. "They kind of glow, it's spooky, but it's nice. I know everyone's eyes glow, but your green eyes look nice. That's how you give a compliment."

"Okay." His voice is low, a sheepish tone twined in his words.

"I remember when I saw them the first time, do you?" He nods in a slow manner, indicating that I embarrassed him. "The night I moved here, you were down the hill, why?"

"Jason had left, and I was looking for him." He sighs and looks back to me finally, for only a second, his eyes so bright they remind me of stars. Slowly, he reaches out and pushes the hair from off my shoulder, letting his hand slide down my arm slightly, stopping right above my elbow. "I hurt you, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, and I should have apologized sooner. I'm ashamed of my actions that day, that's why I was afraid to be around you. That, and I tasted your blood, and I thought that I can't lose control like that, not again. I was scared of myself, and I was angry at hurting you."

"Well, this human is okay." I try to catch his eye, but he makes it a point to keep his way from mine.

"Levi was mad at me, it was like I was a child. I hate when he talks down to me like that, but I did deserve it."

I take his hand, letting them drop to our sides, my index finger still holding his pinky. "Well, you were an ass that day."

"But you don't forgive me."

"I want you to prove you're worth being forgiven."

He finally looks me in the eye. "That's fair, I'll try."

My phone rings loudly from my jacket across the room. I drop his hand, going over to it. Charlie's face pops up on my screen, after a moment of hesitation I decide to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, girly, what are you doing tonight? I noticed you and Nya off last night, and I wanted to see if you're doing better."

With a glance up at Milo, our eyes meet as he watches me as I walk slowly. "I'm doing a lot better. I was going to meet up with Abe tonight, I told him I'd buy him dinner because I owe him. You and Harper should join."

"And you'll pay for all of us?" She laughs.

"Oh yeah, because I have that kind of money." I joke back.

"Sure, I'll ask Harper, but we're in. Where and when."

After I give her the information, we say our goodbyes. "I should go and get ready for this." I turn to him. "When do you want to meet again?"

"Wednesday, Nya will inform you about the house we are gathering at, so be on the lookout for that, and remember to bring a bathing suit. But finish your homework before you come over."

"Okay mom." I turn to go down the tunnel. "See you then."

"Columba," He calls out hesitantly, and I turn back to him. "I don't hate you; I don't know why you think that."

"Maybe you're mean to me?" A grin appears on my lips.

"I don't hate you. And I'll see you Wednesday." He turns his back towards me and starts to clean up after us.

I take him in for a moment. "Yeah, see you." I turn and head towards the tunnel.