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Sasha rolled her shoulders as she walked into the training room to meet with Cormac.
“Thirty minutes on the dot. Good.” He said as he looked down at his watch. “We can start.”
“What are we starting with?” Sasha asked walking to the center of the mat.
“I talked it over with Wendy this morning. She told me that you two worked on moving objects and it went pretty good for your first try.” He commended. “So today I thought that we could work on prolonging your strength.”
“What would you like me to do?” Sasha asked, excitement flooding her body.
Cormac nodded to some small rubber balls laying on ground. “I think the most important aspect for you is to work on your shield strength.”
“What about being able to attack? I mean after what happened at my house, I would like to work on that.”
Cormac shook his head. “Not important at the moment, but we will work on it at a later date. I think right now you need to know how to protect yourself for longer periods of time.”
Sasha nodded. She guessed that made sense.
“Create a shield.” He instructed and Sasha focused on a creating her shield around her. He watched as a light green bubble started to form around her.
“Ready.” She said once she felt it was strong enough....well she hoped it was strong enough.
Cormac lifted the balls in the air and sent them flying towards Sasha.
They bounced on the shield leaving cracks in their wake. “Fix them!” Cormac ordered sending the attack from all sides.
Sasha felt her magic rush out and fill the cracks Cormac kept making. At some point he switched from the small rubber balls to energy balls. They weren't as strong as the ones she encountered at her house but they were enough to do damage. The energy balls slammed into her shield and the force of the impact slid her back a few inches. A long crack formed right down the middle of her shield. She took a breath and repaired it best she could but the stronger she made it the more she felt her energy depleting.
Her legs shook as she fought to keep up the strength of her shield as Cormac sent another round of energy blast towards her.
“Good.” Cormac praised sending a few more small energy balls towards her.
Sasha’s legs shook after the last wave and she dropped to her knees. The shield wavered before shattering at the last impact sending her into the wall behind her.
She slowly lifted her body into a sitting position and held her head in her hands.
“Are you ok?” Cormac rushed to her side helping her to a standing position.
“Yea I think so...” she rubbed her neck and leaned back on the wall for support. “But I could totally go for a nap right now.”
“This was a good first step, a great practice. But I did hope your strength level would be a bit higher.”
“This is only my second day, I will improve.” Sasha assured him, though she had a feeling it was mostly for herself.
“Of that I have complete faith.” He patted her on the back. “We will keep working on it. The only way for you to get stronger is to keep practicing.”
“But not right now, I really need a nap.” She laughed.
“We’ll meet up after lunch, this was just for me to see what you could do for myself.” he suggested walking her to the door.
“After lunch....today?”
“Yes, as I told you, your aunt has not given her answer so I would like to get as much training in with you as possible.”
“That’s true but I...”
“Dad there you are.” Derek said as he entered the room, holding a phone. “Mom’s on the line.”
“Thank you,” Cormac took the phone from Derek. “Can you make sure Sasha makes it back to her room, the workout might have been too much for her.” He didn’t bother waiting for a response already engrossed in the conversation with his wife. They took that a sign and walked out the room.
“Hey.” Sasha leaned against the wall once they were alone. “Umm... you don’t really have to help me back to my room.”
“It’s no problem,” Derek shrugged. “I think I’m heading that way.” He laughed as she pushed off the wall but quickly reached her arm out to steady herself. “Plus I do think you need help.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.
They walked down the hall in silence and Sasha became very aware of how close they were to each other. His arm gripped her waist tightly keeping her upright. All things considered he smelled amazing... at least for a guy. His cinnamon smell filled her stomach with butterflies. Crap, She wondered. Did she smell, is that why he wasn't talking. She did just get out a training session. Not a long one but she still worked up a sweat. Also she did not shower the night before or this morning. She knew she would be training this morning. He was a guy and he had to know that right...She shook her head trying to stop her train of thought. This was not the time to start liking someone...no matter how much he affected her.