Running was almost bearable on the third day. I was slightly less sore and groggy. I couldn’t know for sure, but I thought I was able to go just a hair faster. During the stretching hour, my mind seemed to have gone on a soothing vacation. Lily had to shake me back into awareness.

Before I knew it, I was back on the patio for my night lesson. Katherine had brought a plastic bin this time. When she opened it, there were stacks of jars containing all sorts of liquids. Some of it looked like juice while others resembled boogers.

“We’re going to work on your sense of smell and your hearing,” she said. The corners of my mouth fell.

“You mean I’ve got to sniff all that weird stuff?” I pointed to a jar holding a lumpy goo.

“Practice makes perfect.”

I froze as she tied a blindfold around my head. Without my sight, I became aware of just how close she was to me. I could feel her body heat. I noticed she smelled like freshly cut lumber or a forest after it rained.

“Not too tight?” she asked.

“N-nope, just right.” I gave her a thumbs-up.

“I want you to identify the smells.”

“I suppose I can do that,” I said.

While I waited for her to open the first jar, I listened to the crickets and the crackling fire. I’d always been sensitive to smells and sounds; it bugged me when Hannah left her TV on all night, or when my mother wore perfume. I was constantly pulling my shirt over my nose and plugging my ears over things other people didn’t seem to notice.

“This one ought to be easy,” she said and held something up to my nose.

My mouth watered. “Mmm smells like a muffin,” I said.

“Mmmhmm indeeff iff ish.”

"Hey, you could've shared!" I swatted somewhere in her direction. She laughed as my hand went through the empty air. "I hope you're happy, muffin hog."

She struggled to swallow. “Maybe you’ll get one if you’re good.” She held up another jar.

“Uh, I want to say…glue?”

“Correct.”

“So how is—hot sauce—smelling random things improving my nose?” I asked. “I smell stuff all the time, but I’m no match for a bloodhound.”

“It’s not,” she said. “Some of your senses don’t need to be improved per se. It’s more a matter of becoming aware of what you’ve learned to block out.”

“Carpet.”

"As you can tell, you've got a firm grasp on what things smell like," she said, and I nodded. "What I want to work on is being able to take in multiple scents and scents that have been masked by others."

A flurry of smells hit me; there had to be more than one thing in the jar. The mixture had a fart scent, like garbage that's been sitting out too long. I gagged and tried to cover my nose. Katherine slapped my hand away.

“Focus.”

I breathed all funny to avoid the stench. "I dunno, there's too many things." I tried to move away. She jerked my head back into place. I grumbled. "Maybe eggs. Um, rotten blueberries and chicken?"

“It’s a good start,” she said. I took in a deep breath as she covered the jar.

“Can we do my hearing now?”

"That's going to be your homework. You apply the same method to your ears. Close your eyes every once in a while, take in the sounds around you. You'll start to notice more over time," she said. She opened another combination scented jar, but this time it wasn't foul; it smelled like she jarred a mini beach.

“Sand, shells, and seaweed.”

“Got them all that time.”

She held up a dozen more jars. My mind started to linger elsewhere. I wondered if Katherine had to do this when she was an apprentice.

"So…I'm curious. To be a commander, you must've been a student, like me, right?"

She giggled. “Uh, yes.”

“How do you become a commander?”

"It depends. The only way you go up in rank is by recommendation. Every commander is different when it comes to deciding if someone is ready to move up," she said.

“Why did you get recommended?”

She fell still. A long awkward minute passed. Maybe I asked something too personal. "Does it matter?" she asked.

“Well, sure, they could’ve promoted you for rescuing a kitten from a tree. I have no way to know if you’re qualified.” I smiled.

“You’re silly, you know that?” she said. I heard jars clinking as she put them back into the bin. “Let’s get you to bed, shall we?”

I pulled the blindfold down. “I’m sorry if my question bothered you. I just wanted to know more about you.”

Her hands were on the bin, but she didn’t lift it yet. “Why?”

“Because we’re friends, aren’t we?”

"You can't be friends with someone you don't know," she murmured.

“Exactly, that’s why I was asking.”

She sighed. “As much as I’d like to be friends, we can’t be.” She stood up.

“But I don’t understand.”

She shifted the bin to balance on her hip. “Look, the thing is if I shared my past with you, you’d have no desire to be my friend anymore.”

I jumped to my feet. "That's absurd; there's nothing you could've done that would make me feel that way."

A cold breeze swept by and it seemed to strip all of the warmth from her expression. She looked incapable of feeling anything as if she was hollow inside. When she brought her eyes to me, I felt like I should've run away.

“You’ve seen me kill people, I’ve done worse,” she said.

Shaking, I put my hands on her shoulders. “I’m not going to run away if you tell me. I won’t judge you,” I said. “Since the day I met you, you’ve been nothing but caring and compassionate. Sure, maybe you weren’t always like this, but all that stuff you had to go through got you to this point. Whatever happened was worth it, because the world would be lacking someone great if you weren’t who you are now.”

She chewed the corner of her lip and searched for something in my eyes. “Why can’t you be like the others? They’re content not knowing anything about me.” She jammed her finger into my chest. “But you have to poke and prod and see what makes me tick.”

I kept my ground and held my shoulders up. “Because they don’t see what I do.”

“And what’s that?”

“That you don’t want to be alone anymore.”

She was about to protest, but her mouth snapped shut. She lowered her head. “I’m exhausted and so are you. We need to go to bed, okay?”

I wanted to stand there all night until she caved in, but if living with my mother and sister taught me anything it was that girls are stubborn. So I knew when to give in. I stepped aside. Katherine must've used her super speed because she was gone in an instant.

I had a lot of headaches over the following days. At first, I wished I could keep on ignoring the way everything smelled because it was overwhelming. Somehow I kept at it. By the end of the week I was familiar with everyone’s scent; Lily smelled like fresh linen, Castile had a strange metallic scent, and Wolf smelled like water.

Despite all of our sweating, no one ever had a bad odor. I wanted to ask Katherine how that was possible, but I couldn’t gather the courage. Thankfully, I didn’t have to because one day Spaz asked why his armpit wasn’t smelly anymore.

Katherine had answered, “Well, your armpit produces different oils than other parts of your body. The stinky smell comes from the bacteria in your armpit eating the oil. It no longer smells because your body has evolved to be germ-free.”

One morning, I went to brush my teeth only to find they were clear. It was like my teeth incinerated food particles. I never had to bother with a comb, either. No matter how wild I slept, my hair remained the same.

Even though Katherine told me to practice listening during the day, I found it was too difficult with all of the things that were going on. So, every night before I went to bed, I lay still and tried to pick up as many sounds as I could.

In the beginning, the most I heard was the air coming through the vents, or a fly that had somehow gotten stuck in my room. Then, one by one I picked up more sounds. I could hear the wind disturbing the trees outside, Hot Stuff sleeping in the next room, and what sounded like pages turning in a book.

I wondered who had the energy to be up so late reading. Finally, I had to poke my head out into the hallway. I saw light coming through the cracks of the double doors at the end. I should’ve known it was Katherine.

I was both relieved and surprised at how fast my body was changing because of the extreme regime. I’d gone years barely able to get through a gym class, but after two weeks of this, exercising was starting to get easier. I wasn’t so worn out at the end of the day anymore.

So instead of inhaling my food and passing out, I could eat slowly. I started to notice that every meal was lacking meat, dairy products, and eggs. I always thought food needed those to taste good, but Katherine's food was easily the best thing I'd ever eaten. Since she was the strongest out of all of us, I didn't worry that the lack of animal products would make us weak, either.

After I had finished eating, I sat around my room with nothing to do. Katherine had said I didn't need another night lesson yet. Technically, I was "supposed" to go to bed, but I wasn't tired. Sometimes I watched a movie or wrote a letter to my family. The only phone in the house was Katherine's, and there was no internet.

I guess most teenagers would’ve gone insane being so cut off from the rest of the world, but to me it was great. With no city noise around, it was all so quiet and peaceful. For once, I felt like I could think.

That night I stretched out on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Out of habit, I'd opened my ears up until I heard Katherine flipping pages and mumbling things to herself. A smile cracked across my face.

I saw the black handbook she’d given to me on my bedside table. I figured it was about time I looked through it. I opened it to the contents page. There were numerous chapters. All of them had interesting titles, but the one that caught my eye was titled “History.”

When I turned to it, there was a long prelude explaining that the following excerpt was written by Master Enki…

I have decided to write this account for the sake of preserving my history in the event of my death. Before now this knowledge was passed on orally to potential masters, naturally, because they were the only ones open minded enough to believe it. I have no doubt that many who read this passage will dismiss it as fiction. All I can say to you is: the truth is never easy to understand or believe.

I cannot tell you why I created the ninja without first telling you why they needed to exist and that means going back some two millennia—back to the dawn of life on Earth.

Life did not crawl out from under a rock. It was created in an instant, by an all knowing being that exists outside of time and space. My people, the Anunnaki, were the first to walk the Earth. We were designed with perfect bodies. We did not grow sick, nor know the waste of old age.

For eons, we lived in paradise. Our civilization spanned the entire globe. Over time, we noticed some of the apes trying to mimic us. They learned to walk and talk. They lost much of their hair, but they were still governed by their primal instincts. The Creator forbid us from mating with them. Unfortunately, one man didn't listen.

In secret, he married an ape woman, and she gave him many children. The Creator was furious and ordered the children to be killed at once. The Anunnaki were horrified. How could one so loving demand the death of innocents? So, they too disobeyed. Not only did they let the children live, but they also allowed more pairings with the ape people. Thus, humanity was born.

As the human children grew older, they began to display their ugly nature. They were selfish, greedy, and violent. No matter how hard the Anunnaki tried to educate them in the ways of peace, the humans didn't listen. So, they were banished from our great cities to fend for themselves in the wilderness.

Humanity spread across the world. Their population swelled like termites. They destroyed entire forests and turned mighty rivers into streams. They slaughtered the ape people until there were no more before declaring war on the Anunnaki.

My people didn't want to resort to killing. They begged the Creator for guidance, and the Creator answered, "You have brought this upon yourselves. Through your disobedience, you have unleashed great suffering on the Earth. For this, I declare that you will struggle to undo your sins for the rest of your days, but all of your toils will be in vain."

Even with our speed and strength, dozens of Anunnaki died when the humans attacked at night using fire as their weapon. It was the first time we encountered death. Loved ones who had been with us for centuries were suddenly gone. A tremendous and terrible pain struck us, and we became obsessed with revenge.

Before I lost my mother, I had been a priest. Once she was gone, all I wanted was to know warfare, and how to defeat my enemies. My rage fueled me. I trained night and day until I mastered every weapon.

We assembled an army and marched into the humans' cities. They were no match for us, killing them was easy. Those lucky enough to escape fled into the mountain caves to hide, but our thirst for blood wouldn't be quenched until every last human was dead. We sent out scouting parties to hunt whoever remained. Year after year, there were less of them.

I was out searching alone one day when I heard a cry. A girl had fallen and broken her legs trying to cross a river. I stayed back, hidden in the trees, and watched her for a long time. She kept screaming for help. When no one came, she gave up and started crying. I still don’t know what it was about her that changed something in me, but my anger vanished. I wanted to help her.

The girl was terrified the moment I approached her, but I gathered her into my arms. I asked her to show me the way to her home. At first, she refused, probably sure that I would kill her family. Eventually, she gave in.

I expected her family and the other humans she lived with to try to attack me, but they didn't. They were afraid, yes, but tried to show me they meant no harm. They offered me food. I was going to refuse because I knew humans ate the flesh of animals—only these didn't. Something about them was different, so I stayed for an entire week just watching them. I learned that they were flawed; they argued over small things, they made avoidable mistakes, but at their core they were good. All they needed was guidance.

I relocated the small community to an unpopulated island and kept them hidden from the Anunnaki with the help of my closest friends. I spent years with the colony, helping them to survive. The more I saw, the more saddened I was by their fragile existence.

It was too easy for them to become ill or injured and even if they were relatively healthy they still died, every single one of them. I felt responsible for all of their misery. If only my people had listened, we could've spared them.

Somehow the Anunnaki discovered my treason. Instead of hunting humans, I was helping them to flourish. They tried to hold me captive as they gathered a war party, but I eluded them. By then I was the greatest warrior among the Anunnaki. I had mastered all of my senses.

I ran to my friends' homes. Together, we raced to save the colony. As we fled, I knew the only way to succeed was by doing something drastic. So, I did the unthinkable and unleashed my power against my people. The moment we left our city, the clouds gathered, and it began to rain like never before.

The sky was blotted out, and the thunder shook the foundations of the Earth. It took us seven days to reach the ocean. By the time we got to the shore, the ocean was spilling onto the continent and swallowing it whole. But the waves had not overtaken our boat. We got in and paddled for the island as the waters swept away the army behind us.

The island housing the colony stayed above the rising seas. It was as if it had become like a ship floating on the surface. When we reached the beaches, the humans had been frightened by the weather.

We didn't tell them that the Anunnaki would be sending another army any day now. The five of us guarded the beach, pretending to meditate while we waited. After a month, we started to sail out to see if maybe our brethren had changed their minds—only to find there were no landmasses. Everything was underneath the water.

The island was all that remained of the world. Everything we knew and held dear was gone. Eventually, the floodwaters receded, and the continents reappeared. We were free to take the world for ourselves and start anew, but my friends and I were devastated.

We were confident the colony could survive without us. So, we parted ways and went into exile to mourn.

While we were away, the human colony spread out to occupy the far reaches of the Earth. But then the world plunged into an ice age. In the harsh environment, the humans struggled to survive. They forgot everything we’d taught them.

When we finally emerged from exile, humanity was in shambles living in caves and talking in crude languages. The five of us split-up and once more shared our knowledge with the humans. We taught them mathematics, architecture, how to farm, and gave them laws. Civilization began to flourish, but the peace didn’t last. We learned that human nature is like the waves; it is constantly changing. They turned on us, calling us evil dictators.

In the end, we gave them what they wanted. We let them choose their own leaders and their own laws. Chaos ensued, but they still wouldn’t listen to us. We were driven out of their lands.

I knew if we wanted to continue to help humanity it would have to be in secret. We withdrew again and began to deliberate on a new strategy.

The humans remembered us for a while; they told our story to their children and their grandchildren. Each time the names and events changed until what transpired passed into the foggy realm of myth.

It was at that point; we felt it was safe to venture back into society. As I traveled, I studied the humans closely and sought to understand the differences between my race and theirs. It was during this time, I discovered a variation in humanity, a new race blending in seamlessly with the rest. Their genetic make-up was ninety-eight percent identical the Anunnaki. My theory was these offspring had to be the result of Annunaki and human couplings as opposed to the original Anunnaki and ape people pairings.

This new bond allowed the offspring to evolve into a potent state. I was concerned at first. Human nature combined with unlimited power sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Then I saw how difficult it was for them to grow stronger; it would be near impossible for them to discover their unique adaptability on their own.

I saw an opportunity. If I could train them from a young age, I could teach them to overcome their nature and they could help me ensure global harmony. Together we could keep humanity in check.

I brought countless children back to the home my friends and I had built while in exile. Eventually, that became our first base. The nearby island nation that would later be named Japan was where we got much of our supplies and was usually the first stop on our way out into the world.

The humans there nicknamed us shinobi no mono, but the Chinese-derived pronunciation “ninja” somehow became more popular, and so we’ve been the ninja ever since.

I didn’t know if I could believe this Enki guy. His story sounded a little out there, but I guess all origin stories did. I was going to read some more, but my eyes were going out of focus from fatigue. So I set the book down and went to bed.

"The wave keeps coming. By the time it gets to me it's this monster, right? I couldn't even try to ride it; I just fell over," Hot Stuff said. She was running at the front of the group, but I strained my ears to be able to hear her conversation with Katherine.

Katherine snickered. “That’s ambitious. I remember my first time trying to surf. I spent an hour clinging to the board. I was so scared there was going to be a shark. I panicked and hauled it back to shore.”

“Maybe you were having a premonition about your leg.”

“Right?!”

Some part of me was hoping Katherine would go into the story about the shark, but they went on to talk about surfboards. After that, they lost me. I let my ears relax until I could no longer hear them.

"I know she told me to practice, but is it wrong to spy?" I asked Lily, who was running beside me. Lily couldn't help but laugh.

“I don’t know if you’re asking the right person. My whole life has been about spying on other people whether I wanted to or not,” she said.

“Which is why I thought you might understand,” I said.

"I figure if you choose to spy, then you must also decide to keep that person's secrets. It doesn't make spying a good thing, but it helps."

“I guess…” I nodded. “I still feel like I’m turning into a stalker.”

“Yeah, it’s easy to abuse your powers, especially when it comes to someone you care about.”

My head turned sharply. Lily had a knowing look in her eyes. She glanced towards the front of the pack. I swallowed hard and felt my ears heating up. I knew Lily could hear thoughts; I never realized that included mine.

“Don’t worry. I knew without reading your mind,” she said.

My heart shuddered with panic. “What do you mean? Is it that obvious?”

"It's not surprising. Everyone's had a thing for her at some point," she said.

My lips pressed together as I seethed with jealousy. I didn’t like the idea of competition. My eyes zoned in on the back of Wolf’s head. I noticed he would try to act extra macho whenever Katherine was looking.

“Did she show any interest?”

“Of course not!”

“Good.” I sighed with relief. “Do…do you think she knows?”

“I’m sure she knows,” she said. “And no, I’m not going to tell you what she thinks. You’ll just have to find out the old fashioned way.”

I frowned. “I’m not sure I want to know.” I knew Katherine cared about me, but no more than anyone else.

"It's our favorite time of the day! Sprint it out, people!" Hot Stuff said.

The speed I had been holding was nothing. For the past twenty minutes, my body was begging to unleash all it could. At last, I filled my lungs and pushed off of the ground. I dashed across the trail like a cheetah. The wind rushed through my hair. At that moment, I was as light as a cloud.

I zipped up through the group. I passed Castile and Kavi until I reached Wolf. When he saw he was in danger of falling behind, he growled and fought to go faster. We ran neck and neck. I started inching ahead, euphoria pulsing through me. I was going to beat him! He snatched my shirt and tried to pull me behind him. I shoved him off of me.

“That’s it, trainees!” Hot Stuff said. Katherine blew a whistle.

I struggled to slow down. My legs were wobbly like the bones had suddenly disappeared. I skidded to a stop and glanced back to see the trail had a cloud of dust hanging over it. I didn't outrun Wolf, but only because he had cheated.

“Well done, Wolf. You hit twenty-five miles,” Katherine said as she looked at her radar gun. I waited to hear my number. “Pick it up next time, Kaine.”

“But I was going just as fast as he was!” I said, but she was already talking to the others. I looked at Wolf. From the way his eyes were squinting, I knew he was smirking underneath his mask.

"Maybe you'll get me next time, bro," Wolf said and brushed off his shoulders. Castile and Spaz patted his back in awe. "Did you see how fast I was?" He boasted as they sprinkled him in compliments.

I was blindfolded again, but my focus wasn't on the objects I was supposed to be smelling. Whatever Katherine was holding now smelled awful, like dingy, unwashed clothes. Then she did something to it, and the stench was less intense.

“You’ve dipped it in water,” I said.

"Correct," she said. She walked away for a minute and then returned. She held up the sample once more. I coughed and waved away the stench.

“Ugh, cigarette smoke.”

"Can you still pick up the original scent?" she asked. I nodded. The smell was fainter, but still there. A breeze blasted me, and I knew she'd moved away. I focused my ears on picking up her voice. "What about from here?"

“Yeah, and I want to say you’re a hundred feet out,” I said. She adjusted. “A mile.”

“Good job,” she said, instantly next to me again. I wondered how long she trained to be able to move as fast as she could. “Still—”

“I could use more practice.”

“You’re getting better at that,” she said. It's all you've told me for that past two and a half weeks, I thought. She tucked the jars away into their bin and snapped the lid closed.

"If I remember correctly, you promised to tell me how you became a commander," I said. Maybe if I said it extra sweet, she'd give in?

"HA! I never said that," she replied. "Besides, it has nothing to do with training; it's not necessary."

“No, but I’d like to know.”

“Why are you so interested in wanting to know my past?” I could feel her eyes scanning over my features, searching for an answer. I untied my blindfold.

“Why are you so bent on being mysterious? I mean, is it so awful that you don’t want to share it?” I said. My words had hit the target straight on. Katherine’s eyes dashed away from me. She looked like I’d stabbed her heart with an arrow. I frowned. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been more…I dunno…”

“I don’t like dragging up the past. It’s over. It’s done. There’s no reason to keep looking back,” she said. Each word was forced from her lips. I dared to scoot closer to her.

“I didn’t ask because I wanted to drag it up. I asked because, whether it’s good or bad, it’s a part of you. I only want to know who you are,” I said.

I could see her struggling. She was torn between her want to be my friend and her duty to be my unattached teacher. I could see a mini war in her eyes. I wondered which side of her was the strongest.

“I…I’ve just remembered something I need to do.” She rushed into the house.

I felt my stomach drop. My hands tore at my hair in frustration. One moment she was fun and carefree, the next she was closed off and had an unbearable weight on her shoulders. What made it worse was that I knew I was right. She wanted to open up, but something was stopping her.