Free The 13th: Destiny Awaits by Ela Lond

her.
    Kate obeyed him. First it was meditation and now it was tai chi. When she heard about Ethan's fights, she expected he used something like judo or karate.
    “Your gestures have to be softer, more pliant.” He moved behind her back. His chest touched her back.
    She froze.
    “Don't cut the air, move with it.” His fingers curled around her wrist and he guided her arm in an arch.
    The fragrance of his deodorant enveloped her together with the warmth of his body. She stiffened. He was standing too close. She tried not to think about him, not to think about the way his breath caressed her ear as he leaned over her to direct her movements. “Other dimensions, huh?”
    “So Nanael says -- now form your hands in a ball -- I mean, like you are holding a ball. Right leg forward.”
    She obeyed him, and at the same time, slid her hand parallel with her torso then away from her body, the palm facing outwards. “Don't you find it strange?”
    “Yeah.” He stepped aside.
    “Yeah?” She glanced at him. “That's all you're going to say?”
    “It is strange, but the world is full of strange things, isn't it? And the truth is, I don't care. Our job is to protect this world, and the existence of other worlds doesn't concern us.” He shifted his right foot by forty-five degrees. “Imitate me.” He added his left foot to it while his arms arched outwards. His left hand stopped in line with his left shoulder and his right arm stretched, with his hand at the level of his waist.
    She followed his example. But learning about other dimensions was a big thing, and it made her curious about what they were like, the other worlds. Were they the same or did they have violet grass and pink water? Did they have to abide by the same natural laws as this world did? Why was he so uninterested in them? She knew why she should be, but him... since his training her was so important to him, she thought that everything else connected with soul reaping would be, too.
    Ethan repeated the gestures, urging Kate to copy them, which she did. For a while, only their breathing could be heard, then Ethan spoke up. “Lately, a girl has started to follow me around the school. The blonde, Sally or something -- I think it’s the same one we met that time in the shopping centre.”
    “Yeah?”
    “She knows that I'm the same guy. You wouldn't have anything to do with it, would you?”
    “Me?” Over her raised arm she glanced at him.
    “How could she recognise me?”
    “How should I know that? Maybe she's very perceptive.”
    “Of course she is.” He made an arch with his arm.
    She imitated his arm's wave. “Why do you dress like a bum for school, anyway? You could be at the top of the food chain in your normal clothes, you know, just an ordinary T-shirt and jeans.” Something similar to the simple green T-shirt he wore now under which she could see the movement of his muscles.
    “You just answered your own question.” He stepped forward and made a half-turn.
    “You don't want to be at the top of the school hierarchy?” She followed his movement, almost colliding with him.
    His hand shot out to steady her. “Like you, I stay on the sidelines because I don't want to fit in, not because I don't know how to fit in.”
    “Who says that I don't want to fit it?”
    “Your behaviour does.”
    She frowned as she stared at his Adam’s apple. “Just because I used to be popular doesn't mean that I know how to fit in.” She sighed. “If you haven't heard, I'm crazy like my mother.”
    He stepped closer, and his fingertips brushed her cheek, then his hand cupped it. He scrutinised her face before he spoke up, “You are as crazy as I am, and for your information, I'm quite sane.”
    She swallowed the lump in her throat. Why was he so nice to her? Well, she knew why, but he didn't have to be. “I...” She lifted her eyes, but not high enough to meet his; they stopped on his mouth. What did she want to say? She cleared her throat. “Sometimes... I