Angel Gifts

Scarlett began to stir from her dream that was just a distant memory. Her mind was pestering her to wake, but her body demanded more sleep. She rolled over, slightly opening her eyes, and was relieved to see that the sun did not rise yet. The bridge of her nose had faint freckles scattered across skin tanned from years in the sun. She forced her eyes open and pale blue eyes welcomed any light that reached it, but there was barely any that streamed through her skylight.

Her eyes were identical her mother's. They had been crystal clear with a tint of blue, the color of the glaciers that formed on the ocean in the winter. They still had flecks of silver around the outer ring of her iris. Her long caramel hair was spread out across the bed and covered her face. She twisted on her side and let out a groan.

"Whoever wanted us up for breakfast before sunrise was a complete idiot." Scarlett mumbled and rolled out of bed. She pulled her clothes on, an all black outfit that was thin, despite how cold it was in the morning. Scarlett threaded her belt onto her pants and hooked her throwing knives on it. Eight in total, four on each side. She put on her boots with one hand while trying to find her ring with the other.

Having slipped her ring onto her middle finger, she slipped two six inch knives into each boot and grabbed her black coat that covered the knives on her belt. She placed a necklace with a crystal pendant that matched her eyes on her neck as she walked out the door.

She knocked on the door right beside hers softly and when there was no response she kicked the door and shouted, “Rae, get up!”

A grunt was her response so she went to the next door. “Jocelyn.” A loud crash was emitted from within the room and Scarlett winced.

“Diana,” Scarlett knocked and there were sounds of stomping from the room. “Leave the insects alone.”

By the time Scarlett got to the last door, almost everyone was dressed and were almost out the door. "Bianca-"

"I'm coming Scarlett," A voice cut her off and shuffling was heard from inside. "Give me one minute."

"This is why they put me on wake up duty," Scarlett said to Rae who was at her side. "Today we
might actually have a chance at not having any chores. That would be nice, for once."

"But they have Ash on wake up duty," Rae said with a smirk and had a mysterious twinkle in her eye. Her red hair was pulled back by a sparkly clip that reminded Scarlett of the stars. “He always wakes up early to do his morning exercises, there have been times when you saw-”

"Stop talking right now before you say something stupid," Scarlett said lowly, giving Rae a playful shove. Rae responded with a not-so-playful punch.

"I'm ready,” The door swung open to reveal a girl with short blonde hair and blue eyes wearing all white.

Scarlett pointed toward the door and they all ran silently toward the dining room. And when they burst into the room, they were greeted by silence. When they looked around, it was empty.

"Did we do it?" Someone asked, and they stared in awe at the empty dining room.

"I think we did," Scarlett whispered just the door on the opposite wall burst open. Twenty-one boys streamed in, oblivious to the girls on the other side. They were flexing and comparing their muscles and chatting quietly amongst themselves until Scarlett cleared her throat.

"You know, for assassins, you aren't very observant," Scarlett spoke and they all turned to her. "We finally did it!" The girls jumped and celebrated, giving each other hugs and jumping up and down together.

Ash made his way over to them, a look of shock written on his face. "I'm going to have to put someone else on wake up duty,”

"Why? Don't like losing?" Scarlett teased and flashed a smug smile in his direction, "You're on cleanup duty, and we get full access to the training rooms."

Ash sighed, defeated. "Put Rae on wake up duty tomorrow Scarlett."

"What? You're just a sore loser. We don't put Owen on wake up duty when you guys win,” Scarlett complained, and walked up to her table, her lips forming a frown. She grabbed her plate and went to the buffet counter, Rae following closely behind her. “Some people don't win all the time. Even if they don't really want to admit it.”

“That might be true, but there hasn't been a time when my boys had to do any work,” Ash mumbled and narrowed his eyes.

“You're just lazy,” Scarlett wrinkled her nose. “And you stink, what have you been doing?”

“My morning workout, in the training room,” Ash smirked and Scarlett noticed his skin was gleaming in sweat. She stood there speechless for a moment until Rae and her sharp-witted mind saved her.

“The training rooms you aren't able to use today?” Rae returned his smirk and lead Scarlett away. Scarlett recovered just in time to tilt her head back and laugh and flash another smug smile, making Ash grit his teeth and spin angrily on his heel.

OoOoO

"Focus," Scarlett said and deflected another swing from Jocelyn's dagger. "You're going to have to know how to fight with any weapon there is,"-duck, block-"Watch your opponents eyes, and muscle movements,”-stab-"They will give away their own intent of you look close enough."

"You know Scarlett,"-swing, dodge-"I'm still not very good at this!"-jab-"I like to use long distance weapons. Or at least watch an arrow hit its mark." Scarlett flicked Jocelyn's dagger away from her body, giving herself a clear shot. She paused to give Jocelyn a chance, but when Jocelyn didn't make a move to defend herself, Scarlett moved her arms in a full circle and she shoved Jocelyn down with her hands.

"That's fine, but you're going to encounter people who are going to fight you,” Scarlett held out her hand to help Jocelyn up. "You have to know how to defend yourself."

Jocelyn sighed while she ran her hands from her hairline and through her brown ponytail, pulling it to her right shoulder. Her light blue eyes followed Scarlett as she got her dagger from the floor and put it away, keeping hers with her. Scarlett riffled through the weapons and selected one.

“Efficiently,” Scarlett added and thrust the three foot long blade into Jocelyn's hand. “You're just barely getting by with what Mark taught you.”

"You want me to use a sword?" Jocelyn asked, sucking in breath and releasing it slowly.

"Your form is perfect, you just can't apply it to what you're doing," Scarlett leveled her dagger and Jocelyn pointed her sword at Scarlett. "Work on one thing at a time. You'll get it."

"I'm trusting you on this one,” Jocelyn mumbled. Scarlett gave the slightest nod and parried Jocelyn's first swing. She shifted to offense, not aiming for any vital organs-clang! Jocelyn's sword clattered to the floor with Scarlett's first strike. She growled as Scarlett pressed her dagger to her throat. Sweat dropped down Jocelyn's brow and her breathing began to steady.

"We've been working on this for two weeks, I still haven't been able to get it. Are you sure you want to waste your time in helping me?" Jocelyn used a finger to push Scarlett’s blade from her throat but it didn't budge.

"You will learn how to, you've improved a lot within those two weeks. We'll work on something else now, I think you need a break,” Scarlett removed her dagger from Jocelyn's throat and put their weapons away.

"A break would be nice,” Jocelyn agreed, and regained her bearings.

OoOoO

When Jocelyn and Scarlett entered the common room, they were greeted by the smell of sweat. Scarlett wrinkled her nose and rolled her shoulders.
The boys turned toward them and froze with their eyes wide. Somewhere near the back, a heavy weight fell to the floor and it echoed in the silent room.

"Where's Ash?" Scarlett spoke after a moment of silence. The boys quickly parted for the platinum blonde boy. Ash walked up to them, a strut in his step despite his loss during breakfast.

"Why are you here?" He asked with his arms crossed.

"Am I not allowed to be in here? This is the common room, the room where everyone is allowed to be,” Scarlett sighed, and Ash waved a dismissive hand toward the boy's and they filed out, shooting glances at them and complaining to each other.

"Really? Well then, I should get out of your way," Ash mocked, and moved to the side.

“Are you thirsty?” Scarlett asked as she slipped past Ash, bumping shoulders with him softly as she passed. Jocelyn nodded and Scarlett grabbed a plate from a table and put just enough water to create a film on the bottom.

“You will find yourself in difficult situations,” Scarlett set the plate on the table and Jocelyn sat down in front of it. Scarlett grabbed a lump of wax from a cabinet and a candle from the wall, blowing it out and waiting for the wax in the center around the wick to harden. Ash leaned against the wall and studied the young woman.

“It's up to you how to handle them,” Scarlett continued. She placed two items on the table, a ceramic bowl and a glass cup. “Which one would you use?”

“For what?” Jocelyn studied the wax and the candle. Then she studied the bowl and the cup.

“Just pick one,” Scarlett said impatiently.

“The cup,” Jocelyn glanced at the plate of water.

“Get the water from the plate to the cup using the candle and the wax without moving the plate,” Scarlett sat on the table and rolled her ankles, letting one swing and the other propped itself up on a stool.

“Can I move the table?” Jocelyn asked and Scarlett shook her head, her eyes were sparkling with amusement as Jocelyn just looked at the materials and her nostrils flared.

“We're going to be here for a long time,” Jocelyn mumbled the same time Ash said, “good luck, you'll need it.”

“If you want water, then get it.” Scarlett smirked.