"I don't know if they told you, but my ability is speed." Leonardo says cockily as he hands me a bow, quiver, and arrows.

I throw the quiver over my shoulder and follow him out to the targets. This ought to be fun....

"No they never mentioned it." I say. He turns to me and smirks.

"It's pretty cool. Not many people have the ability, but I can do a lot with it. It helps me in races especially. Haven't lost a race ever in my life, you know. Not even to Wesley. He also has the speed ability." I look at him and feign an impressed expression. It's like he cheated, why would I be impressed with that? But the fact that he never lost is pretty cool, I guess. I just need to act impressed, I don't want to get on his bad side.

"That's awesome." I say as we finally get to the shooting area.

"Yeah. I'm pretty good at archery too." He says. He pulls an arrow out of his quiver and loads it onto his bow. He quickly pulls back, aims at the target then releases it. My eyes follow the arrow as it reaches bulls eye. My mouth falls open. How did he jut do that? He glances over at me and I quickly compose myself.

I mean it can't be that hard if he did it that easily right?

"Your turn."

I nod and pull out an arrow. I load it on the bow and pull back. I aim for the target and release. It quickly flies by the target and lands in a bush next to it. A dove goes flying out shocked from the intrusion of my arrow. Whoops.

"My bad..." I say. He laughs and I look at him. "I've never really shot a bow before..." I say as a slight blush forms on my cheeks.

"I can tell." He says cockily. I look at him with a raised eyebrow. That comment sure as hell didn't impress me. Isn't he supposed to make me like him? "Your form is all wrong. Here."

He takes an arrow from his quiver and walks up to me. He stands behind me and places the arrow in my hand. Then he guides my arm and shows me how to position myself. I have to say, I don't like him standing this close behind me but he does seem to know what he is doing.

"Now you're ready." He says. I look back at the target and aim. "Breathe slowly, then release." He whispers.

I do exactly as he says. When I let go of the arrow it flies across and nails the target right next to the bulls eye.

I did it! I hit the target!

I turn to Leonardo and smile, "Wow I did it!" I cheer, "Thanks so much! Maybe I could be good at this." I add. He laughs.

"If you keep up your form then yes, you will be good at it. It's all about how you handle yourself." He says assured of himself. I nod and give it another go.

The rest of the afternoon goes like this. I've gotten a lot better but I'm not great or anything. I will be training with him again soon, but tomorrow I will be with Kenneth all day because I have hand to hand combat and wolf training.

Right now I am on my way to go meet with Wesley. He has to train me in throwing knives... This should be good. I have terrible hand eye coordination.

As I approach the garage I was told to go to, Wesley pops his head out.

"There you are." He says happily. "Come. Let me show you your choice of knives." He adds excitedly. Well he looks like a boy in a candy shop... I don't know if that's a good thing or if I should be worried by how happy he is over these knives.

I follow him in and he shows me the collection of knives they collected. There are big knives, little knives, long knives, short knives, and a ton that look like stars. I'm getting a little over whelmed so I tell him I like the ones that look like Japanese throwing knives. He gathers them for me and hands me about eight of the same knives. He grabs himself a group of long knives and leads me out to a wooded area.

"Okay, here we are going to use the trees as targets."

"Sounds easy enough." I say. He laughs.

"Go a head and give it a try." He says. I nod. Okay so I just throw the knives at a tree? I can do that easily. I pull out one knife and whip it at a tree as hard as I can. I miss the tree and the knife bounces off the ground... I let out a sigh.

"I have my positioning all wrong don't I?" I ask. He laughs.

"That and you're not focused enough. You also aren't putting enough strength into your throw. Focus and put all your energy into your throwing arm." He says, "Remember this could be a life or death situation. You throw to kill." He says. He takes one of his knives out and whips it at the tree. It hits hard and digs in deep... Shit! I can't do that!

"No matter how much I focus I won't be able to throw it that hard!" I say shocked. He laughs.

"You will be surprised what you can do when you focus." I give him a look like he is crazy.

"I don't think I can even hit the tree..."

"Just focus Evelyn." He says. I look at the tree and try to focus. "Now take out a knife and put all your energy into your throwing arm." I do ask he says. I relax, close my eyes and focus really hard on putting energy into my arm. "Aim, then throw."

My eyes snap open and back onto the tree and I whip it full speed. The knife hits the tree with a clink, then falls to the ground. I sigh.

"I did everything you said..." I add quietly.

I feel a hand land on my shoulder. I turn and see Wesley looking at me happily. "You did, and you did very well. We just need to work on the hard part, how to throw the knife." He takes out one of his knives and shows it to me. "See, the way you have to throw it depends on your distance, strength and the different knives you are using." He grabs it by the blade then whips it at the tree. It sticks in perfectly again.

Then he takes a few steps back a grabs another knife. Instead of grabbing the blade he grabs the handle. He whips it at the tree and it hits right next to his last throw.

"This is the hardest part to learn because it's pretty much all instinctive. After a few days of training though, you will definitely get the hang of it. Don't worry." He says. I smile at him.

"Thanks for being patient with me. You're very nice." I say. He laughs.

"I'm not here to be nice, I'm here to train you." He smirks. "Now grab a knife and lets do this." I laugh and do just as I'm told.

******

"Good work today Ev. Looking forward to the next time we train." Wesley says with a salute. I smile and wave at him as I walk away.

"Thanks, I had fun learning about knives. At least I won't completely suck next time we train!" I say happily. He laughs as I walk away.

Damn, I'm beat. Even though I just did archery and throwing knives, I'm exhausted. Time for a nice nap! I look up at the sky and notice that it's getting dark already. Okay, maybe I should just eat something than go to bed...

I walk into the big building that Froam brought me to earlier this morning. As soon as I enter the huge double doors I see Marla and Stacey waiting for me. Marla smiles.

"You must be hungry." She says.

"Famished is more like it." I add and hold my empty stomach. She laughs.

"We have prepared a dinner for you and your candidates. Please follow us to the kitchen." She says formally. I frown. Will I never get any time alone? Why can't I just eat by myself....

Without complaining to them I decide I should just go. They were nice enough to make me dinner, it wouldn't be polite of me to deny them. They drag me through the halls and we get to a large open doorway. When we turn and walk through I see a huge luxurious table. It could hold at least fifty people, maybe even more.

Food is lined up all along the table. There is chicken, stuffing, vegetables and so much more. How are we going to be able to eat all of this? There are only four of us!

Leonardo and Kenneth are already seated at the foot of the table with plates full of food in front of them. Kenneth sees me and stands from his seat.

"Evelyn! It's great to see you. Please come join us." He says. I feel my face blush red a little.

I walk over to him and he pulls out a chair that lies next to his seat. He motions for me to sit and I do.

"Thank you." I say with a light smile. Wow, I've never been treated like a princess before... This is odd. But strangely I like it.

"What would you like to eat?" He asks. I look at the table. I can feel my mouth watering.

An image of Gavin flows through my head and I think about the time in Pastry Arts when I wanted those cookies and Gavin made fun of me for practically drooling over them... I snap out of it. Oh jeez I forgot he asked me a question!

"Oh it's fine I can get my own food." I say.

"No no! You're a guest here, please, allow me to get you your food." He says with an adorable smile.

Well if he insists... "Are you sure?" I ask.

"Most definitely."

"I like chicken and mashed potatoes..." I say quietly. He laughs.

"No need to be shy around us. Think of us as old friends." He says and grabs me a plate of potatoes, chicken and a few vegetables. He places it in front of me then sits down in his seat.

"Thank you." I say happily.

Just then Wesley comes skipping into the room and he looks at the table.

"Wow! Chicken? My favorite!" He reaches for a plate and I can see how dirty his hands are from training earlier.

"Wesley. Would you please go wash your hands before you infect all this lovely food." Leonardo says. Wesley shoots him a dirty look.

"Fine." He saunters out of the room and Kenneth laughs.

"Will you two ever get over your little tiff? You guys should just race or something and settle it once and for all." Kenneth adds. Leonardo frowns at him.

"We don't need to race again because I've beaten him before."

"Leonardo, that was over five years ago. That doesn't count. You guys need to either get over your problems or just compete and get it done and over with." Kenneth states obviously.

"We will get over our problem when you and -" Kenneth cuts him off.

"That's a different situation all together. You and Wesley used to be best friends. We were never like that." huh? What is he talking about.

"What are you guys talking about?" I ask.

Leonardo smirks. "Kenneth hates having competition so-" He's cut off by a loud cheer.

"My hand are clean and I'm ready to eat! Please tell me they have stuffing." Wesley shouts as he gets to the table and looks down. "Presto! Look at that, they made everything tonight!" He turns to Marla and Stacey. "Thank you ladies." He says with a wink. They giggle.

Leonardo rolls his eyes. "You're a nitwit." He states. Wesley looks at him and frowns.

"Oh shut it Lionel."

"It's Leonardo."

"Tomato, tomato" Wesley says as he pronounces them differently. He grabs his food and plops down into the chair that's on my right. "Good work out there today Ev. You will be a pro at throwing knives in no time." He says with a smile. I laugh.

"That's none sense. I'm still pretty bad at it. My aim is off."

"That's okay though. That can easily be fixed next time we trai-"Wesley starts to say but is cut off by Leonardo.

"Wesley, did you just call Evelyn a nick name?" He asks. Wesley gives him an odd look.

"Yes? Is there a problem with that?" Leonardo gives him a stern look then turns his head.

"I suppose not." He say.

I glance down at my food. My stomach is so hungry that it begins to growl. I grab my fork and begin to eat. I see Kenneth eating his food so I figure it's okay for me to eat as well.

I look up and watch Leonardo and Wesley continue their arguing. I laugh to myself. I mean it's kind of funny. They were definitely friends before, you can tell by the way they argue. It's a bummer that they can't get over the fact that they both have the same ability. I can tell they would be best friends if they didn't have that competition lingering between them.

After we eat and enjoy talking for a while, Stacey and Marla take me up to my room. They put my in my pajamas and leave. Apparently pajamas here are skimpy little silk dresses. I have to admit though, it's very soft. It sucks having to wear a bra though.

I snuggle up into my pillows and comforter. This place is a lot more civil and lovely than I thought it would be. Honestly I thought I was going to be locked up in a dungeon just like Adriana. It is sad though, that I won't be able to see Kari and them again... Although it's better this way, now no one gets hurt.