Blindsided : Part 2 of the Intended Series by Abigail Grant (good books to read for adults txt) 📕

our way. "I thought I'd try but I'm not sure I can keep up. I'm not a demi-God person like you guys,"

she says, smiling.

25

Alexa laughs softly at her terminology. "Well, I'm glad that El told you about us. She was pretty stressed about not including her best friend and now we can all be together, with no secrets. Even us ‘Demi-God People’ get depressed when we don’t have our loved ones around us.” She looks away shyly, likely thinking of her father.

She perks up again with that evil glint in her eyes. “Anyways, feel free to try out some weapons and it will be good for you to stick around for the history lesson too, so that you can understand things better. Lesson one though, I’d steer clear of the name Demi-God. Believe it or not, they were actually the bad guys. ‘Seers’ are what we go by.”

I let out a long breath. "This is going to be a long day," I say, already wishing I were in bed.

"I know! It’s going to be so fun!" Alexa says, clapping her hands together. She unlocks the gym door with her index finger on the print scanner.

"Wow, intense," Kassy says, watching the door unlock and open.

“That’s my brother for ya. Always the intense one.” She winks at me.

"Are you flippin’ kidding me?" Kassy shouts as we enter the gym. Kassy rushes to a bow that she finds on the weapons wall. “This place is insane!” She knocks off some arrows and hits the bullseye multiple times while I stretch before my run. I smile at her, glad that she is taking everything so well and it seems she is enjoying some part of the situation we’re in.

Alexa pushes some buttons on my treadmill when I hop on and after a few minutes, I’m already sprinting at full speed. She grins and leaves me to make her way over to Kassy. “You are really good at that. Who taught you?” she asks.

Kassy smiles and places the bow back in its spot on the wall. “My dad started teaching me when I was really young. It’s a major hobby of his and he is also an avid hunter.”

“It’s a good skill to have. Why don’t you try some other things?” She hands Kassy a small crossbow. “Have you ever used one of these?”

Kassy shakes her head. “No, but I’ve always wanted to try.”

Alexa shows her how to load the weapon and then points to the targets at the far end of the room, inviting Kassy to give it a shot. Kassy aims and shoots one arrow, missing the target completely but reloads and then hits bullseye twice in a row. I slow my pace, feeling like I might collapse if I keep sprinting.

Alexa claps, hooting and hollering excitedly. “You are awesome, Kassy! You should teach El the bow because she is pretty weapons challenged.” Alexa covers one side of her face with her hand as if telling Kassy a secret.

26

“Hey!” I shout from my side of the room, out of breath in my slow jog. “Just because I suck at wielding a longsword does not mean I won’t be good at other things,” I say, officially offended. “Those things are heavy!”

She shrugs and heads back over to me. “Don’t worry. Soon, you will be so strong and fast that you won’t always need weapons. But they do come in handy a lot of the time.” She turns off the treadmill. “How was that run?” she asks.

“I’m not sure. It was a lot harder than yesterday. I actually feel kind of sick,” I say, panting. “Is this another side effect to my body changing for the abilities?”

She shakes her head, brows furrowed. “Usually it’s just mood swings and some joint and muscle discomfort.” She looks at me with concern in her eyes. “Why don’t we try to do some weights and if you feel too sick, we can skip weapons today.”

I nod and follow her over to the weights. Kassy and I lift weights together for a half hour before I feel drained and exhausted. I sit down, my stomach cramping, and turn to Alexa, wondering what to do next.

She studies me for a moment. “Do you feel like you’re going to be sick, El?” she asks.

I shake my head. “No, it’s more like an achy feeling in my abdomen and kind of in my chest,” I say, rubbing the sore spot above where my heart is.

She looks like she is thinking for a moment and then helps me up off the floor. “Let’s head back to the house and do some studying on the couch. I’ll give you a break today but next time we’ll just have to work even harder.”

Kassy comes to my side and links arms with me to help me out the door. She gently bumps my shoulder. “You okay?” she asks.

I shrug. “I think so. I’ve just been feeling kind of off today. Maybe it’s the weather changing. I probably caught some flu.”

We make our way to Gavin’s spacious living room and relax on his comfortable leather couches. Alexa leaves for a minute and returns with granola bars and some old-looking pictures.

I devour my granola bar, suddenly feeling like I haven’t eaten in days.

“I guess you must not be sick, because you ate that bar like a beast,” Kassy says, giggling and raising her eyebrows at me.

Alexa laughs along with her. “Actually, that is a part of the change. You get extra hungry.

It’s sort of like we turn into teenage boys for a while and want to eat everything.”

27

“Great,” I say, groaning. “How long does this last, exactly, because I don’t want to be picking fights with some guys over a hot babe anytime soon.”

Alexa just laughs harder and shakes her head. “Everyone is a little different, but the sooner you develop each of your abilities, the symptoms should all start to go away.” She sits next to me on the long couch. “How’s that for