Winning the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael Page B

hit the mark on the target perfectly with his next two
throws.
    Rhys stepped up next and followed suit. All
three knives hit the target easily. It wasn’t much to ask any of
the night humans present to hit the mark. Arianna made out bits
from their minds as they all wondered how she would choose a winner
as they made an easy game of it. Rhys retrieved the knives and
handed them to Manuel to practice again. Looking around the room,
he found Molina scolding another competitor about throwing too
close to someone else. Manuel took his chance and threw the blade
toward Devin as he collected knives again. The knife flew toward
Devin but veered off its course at the last moment, when it hit the
original target. No one in the room but Manuel seemed to notice how
the knife changed course mid-air.
    “Did you see that?” Arianna asked Thomas,
who was already standing and talking on his phone to Mori.
    “Replay that on screen three,” Thomas asked
Mori.
    Arianna stood and watched the screen again.
The knife was clearly heading toward Devin, but changed course and
ran back to the original target. The knife actually changed
directions while it was flying in the air, which is physically not
possible.
    “Impossible,” Arianna said in awe while the
screen replayed the throw.
    Someone had saved Devin. Devin hadn’t seen
it coming, or that was he almost hit. Andrew was watching the
current room alongside the replay. Manuel was now fuming and
looking around the room for the night human that deflected his
perfectly aimed throw. Devin was well guarded, and Manuel would get
very few chances to attack the one man that stood between all of
them and Arianna. Manuel stopped pacing as he looked at the
one-sided mirror, presumably communicating with his retainer.
Arianna listened into their conversation by focusing on Manuel. Her
new eavesdropping capabilities were about to come in handy.
    ‘Who could have done
that?’ Manuel asked his
retainer.
    ‘I’m not sure who would
have even wanted to do that,’ the retainer
replied.
    ‘What the hell are you
doing here if you aren’t going to help?’ Manuel growled back.
    ‘I’ll have to look at the
knives later. I should be able to tell from the residue,’ the retainer humbly added. ‘Besides, who would sabotage you is the least of our worries.
I think the girl knows we attacked the tengu.’ Manuel’s concentration snapped back down to look around the
room and the guards, who were now all watching him.
    Arianna returned to the conversation in her
own room between Thomas and Andrew.
    “It’s got to be Rhys,” Thomas said as they
watched the knife veer off course for the fifth time in a row.
“Mori, can you go back to when they all came to the tables.” The
screen blanked, and the playback began again at the men taking the
knives. Rhys followed Manuel to the table, but didn’t take knives
of his own. The video sped up, but slowed again as Rhys took the
knives.
    “We can’t see his face from here,” Arianna
commented as Rhys was at the target removing the knives.
    “And neither could anyone else,” Thomas
guessed. Mori changed the view to what they expected. Rhys’ mouth
was moving ever so slightly as he touched each knife.
    “It is sidhe magic,” Arianna assumed. She
had yet to see what all the night humans could do, but her crash
course over the last month taught her the basics about each
clan.
    “I think we might have an ally,” Thomas
said, as the clip played a second time.

Chapter 8
     
    Late morning approached as the men finished
their training, or for most, their pretend training. At supper they
all stood around quietly, contemplating their strategy or silently
communicating with their retainers. There were far too many
conversations going on at once for Arianna to discern any
particular one from the others. Devin had managed to go the whole
training session without throwing a single knife, which had all the
retainers wondering about him. Devin had made himself into a