until we became so accurate, we never miss. Never. And you won’t either, if you practice the way we did.”
She picked up one of the rocks, still sitting, half turned and sent the rock flying so fast it hummed in the air and shot right through one of the holes.
Emily and Jimmy both gasped, eyes widening and then exchanged grins. Jimmy reached down and picked up one of the rocks, his fingers moving over the smooth surface.
“Czar would have penalized me for showing off. We were never supposed to make any noise. Not ever. You don’t give yourself away. You don’t want your prey to ever suspect you. You’re the child. The innocent. Even if you’re the only one in the room that could have done it, you have to perfect the look of innocence. Never be smug. Never have an ego. Never brag. Never show off. Never tell anyone that is not one of the brothers. That means Torpedo Ink. That’s who you are. Torpedo Ink. This is your family and it always will be. What we say here stays here with us.”
Emily nodded solemnly. “That’s what Daddy Czar tells us all the time, right, Jimmy?”
Jimmy nodded. He looked as if he might say something, but he didn’t make a sound.
“So, what we’re going to do now,” Absinthe said, “is start practicing. Emily has the red rocks because that’s her favorite color. Soleil painted them for you. She put all those pretty little flowers on them, Emily. You’ll be able to tell they’re yours. You have twelve of them. Jimmy, you like blue. You’ve met Soleil. She’s married to Ice. She painted the ocean on all of your rocks because Blythe told her you like the ocean. Each rock is varied, but all of them have various shades of blue and the ocean is acting different. You also have twelve.”
Alena and Absinthe moved back out of the way.
“You’re going to take turns throwing. You want to use a quick pitch, side arm. That’s the first throw you’re going to learn. At first your rock might not get to the wall and it can be frustrating. That’s okay,” Alena continued. “The point is to learn the arm movement. I’ll help you with that. You need that very slight movement, so no one notices. You can actually practice it without anything in your hand. It just helps to have the rock in your palm. Sometimes, hold it without letting anyone see it.” She demonstrated, concealing the rock in her fist and making the quick flick with her arm and wrist.
“Emily,” Absinthe said. “You try.”
Emily nodded solemnly and did her best. It was clear Jimmy couldn’t wait to make his try. For being so young, the two stuck at it far longer than Absinthe thought they would. By the time the hour was up, they were actually hitting the wall with their rocks.
“What you’re learning today, girls, is seemingly not a lesson in self-defense, but it really is. It’s important to know. I’m going to tell you straight up that if you’re caught using what we teach you for anything you shouldn’t, like shoplifting, or stealing for personal gain, we will be very disappointed in you and the club will punish you in ways you don’t ever want to know about. Am I making myself clear?” Ink said.
Nicia and Siena, Max’s two girls, and Zoe, Czar’s daughter—all three stared at him with wide eyes and nodded their heads solemnly, looking like they might faint. Ice had to turn his head away to keep from smiling. His little Zoe was always so somber. Nicia and Siena were as well. Ink could look very scary with his tattoos and his frowns.
“You need to learn to pick pockets. There might be times when someone will take your identity, or you will have to know theirs but will want to return it without them knowing. You have to be so good that you won’t get caught. That means you have to be able to take a wallet or remove a weapon from anywhere on your enemy without them feeling you take it,” Ink continued. “That’s what you’ll be practicing today.”
Storm unveiled the three dummies they’d hung from several trees—two men and a woman. One was dressed in a business suit. One in jeans, T-shirt and vest. One in a dress with a purse. All of them had a multitude of bells hanging from various pockets and lapels.
“We have a list of items each of you will