My Soul to Keep - By Sean Hayden Page 0,26

up into the highest branches of the trees behind her. I smiled, rolled over on my stomach and picked myself up off the ground. Hearing a cracking noise behind me, I turned to see what caused it. I caught the foot thick tree trunk Clarisse used like a bat right in the chest. I hit the tree behind me with my back, and the forest dimmed in my vision.

A set of claws grabbed my shirt and pinned me to the tree, stopping me from sliding completely down to the ground again. When did she get those?

The impact seriously rattled my brain. I could taste blood in my mouth and the only thing I could see was Clarisse’s face filling my vision.

“Not bad, worm. Not bad at all,” she said and let go.

I slid down the tree and grabbed onto her hips with my legs, turning to face the ground as I fell. The scissor spin flung her down to the ground on her side and trapped her between my legs. She grabbed my knee with her talons and squeezed with everything she had. He nails pierced my flesh and muscle. I had no choice but to let go. As soon as I did, she scrambled to her feet and up a tree.

I tried to follow her movements, but my vision was still cloudy from my lumber shattering impact. I gasped for breath and looked around for her. I could hear several snaps of tiny tree limbs all around me as she circled, looking for an opening to attack.

I felt it more than heard it. A shifting of the air behind me and I knew she would be closing in for the kill. I didn’t turn until the very last second, and then I did a spinning roundhouse kick just like I'd seen in every kung-fu movie I ever watched. My foot connected with her jaw before I even saw her. The impact sent her flying away from me and she landed on her back, twenty yards away. Not wasting any time I scrambled over and pinned her down on the ground.

She looked up at me and scrunched her eyes like she was having trouble seeing. When I pinned her wrists above her head she didn’t struggle.

“If I let you go, is this over?”

She nodded and I let her hands loose. Immediately they wrapped around my throat and she flipped me off of her and onto my back. I should have known. I didn’t struggle. I just lie there as she pinned me in the exact position I had her in moments before.

“Don’t you ever kick me in the face again,” she snarled. Then she bent low and locked her lips onto mine.

I'd always pictured my first kiss being a little…different.

* * *

We drove in silence to the entrance of the Cedar Hills Mall. After the kiss, she’d let me go, stood up, and waved her hands, cleaning all remnants of battle from our clothes and skin. She did the same to her Volkswagen Beetle while I held the door in place. The silence in the tiny car seemed deafening and the awkward feeling in the pit of my stomach threatened to curb my appetite. Thoughts of salty soft pretzels drifted away with a curl of my lip.

“Why are we going to the mall?” I didn’t even look at her as I asked. Every time I did, I blushed. I stared out the window instead.

“Training,” came her predictable response.

“Training for what?”

“You are one of the Fallen now. You have duties you need to know how to do. I’m going to show you.”

We pulled into a spot right in front. I'd been to the mall a hundred times in my short life, and I could have sworn the spot she pulled into was a handicapped space yesterday. For all I knew, it could have been.

We made our way into the warmer interior of the mall. Auntie Annie’s whispered my name sweetly, but I ignored her twisted, salty temptations and followed Clarisse to the center courtyard where she turned left and headed toward the food court. I caught myself staring at the designer logo on the back pocket of her jeans and quickly focused on her hair instead. If she turned around and caught me looking at her butt, there wouldn’t be any trees to soften the ass whipping that would be sure to follow.

I, for some reason, thought that Clarisse wanted to eat and that's why we were at the food court.

Apparently