The New Apprentice

Chapter 4: The Invitation

I got the invitation to the North Atlantic training camp on a Thursday.

Coach handed it to me after practice. It was a single sheet of letter-size paper, stamped with the seal of the Bellwether Fencing Association. The camp was a week long, with selection bouts at the end. A strong showing could earn me a place on the regional squad.

I read it twice, then looked up. "They want me?"

"They want to see you fence."

"With the rest of the group?"

"Yes."

I held the paper so tightly it bent at the corners. "I thought the pairings were set."

"For our daily practice. Not for the camp."

"Who's going with me?"

"Several of our fencers. Miles, Tessa, Owen. You."

My first thought was that Miles would be there. My second was that I'd have to see him for a week.

"I'll do it," I said.

"Good. You earned the invitation."

I wanted to tell him that I hadn't earned anything. Not yet. I wanted to wait until the final bouts, until I'd proved I could stand on the strip without anyone beside me.

Instead, I folded the paper carefully and put it in my bag.

*****

Miles waited outside the equipment room after practice. I nearly walked past him.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"You said you couldn't."

"I'm asking now."

I studied his face. He looked tired, with a shadow beneath his eyes and his hair damp from the shower.

"About what?"

"The dream."

I should have said no. I should have told him that the chance to speak had passed when he chose to shut me out.

But I'd spent the week trying to guess what he'd seen, and my imagination had filled every silence with something worse.

"All right."

We sat on the steps behind the hall. Wind came off the harbor and moved the loose hair around my face.

"I was at the lighthouse," he said. "The old one outside town. The one that's closed to the public."

"Were you asleep?"

"I don't know."

He rubbed his thumb along the edge of his hand. "I saw you in the regional final. You were standing across from me. There was blood on the floor, and the match stopped. Then I saw you walk away with my medal."

I stared at him. "You thought I was going to hurt you?"

"I thought you'd become the person I couldn't stop wanting."

"That's not the same thing."

"No."

"And the medal?"

"I don't know what it meant."

"Then why did you decide I couldn't be your partner?"

His hand stilled. "Because the vision ended with you leaving, and I couldn't tell if you were leaving me or leaving the sport. I couldn't stand there and wait to find out."

"You could've asked me."

"I know."

"Instead, you made sure I had to find out alone."

He didn't argue. The silence between us was answer enough.

I stood. "I'm going to camp."

"I know."

"Don't let your dream decide whether I deserve to be there."

"It doesn't."

"Then you need to act like it."

I walked back into the hall. He stayed on the steps.