Queen's Gambit Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In the silence that followed Balthazar’s exit, Josephine turned to the three girls whose fate now rested with her. This was not the first impression she had wanted to make, sweaty and not composed. She unwrapped the tape from her hands in silence and pulled her hair back into a ponytail before facing the girls for the first time.

They looked much different up close. Their hair had been changed making them unique, which Josephine saw as an advantage. Though they were wet and shivering a little she could tell they were healthy, and the way one of them stood, protecting the other two, she knew she would have to win her over first.

Ok, she thought, just like gaining the trust of any target, I need to be nice and show them they can trust me. She never liked having to act, but she knew she could when she had to.

“Well, I expect you’re wondering why you’re here,” she said taking a step towards them. All three girls took a step back instinctively, still not sure what was happening. Josephine couldn’t blame them; they had just been kidnapped by strange men after all. Instead she walked to the refrigerator and turned on the oven.

“Come have a seat,” she motioned towards the table, “are you hungry?”

She opened the refrigerator to find it had been fully stocked, and she took out frozen lasagna and a tube of breadsticks. As she prepped the food for the oven, the girls walked cautiously to the table and sat, their eyes still on Josephine. She knew she wouldn’t get them to talk just yet and she had never been one for girl talk so she proceeded to make dinner in silence. Just as she put the lasagna in the oven the girl with red streaks in her hair broke into tears.

“Are you going to kill us?” she asked though sobs.

“No I’m not,” she said turning to face them.

“What about our parents? Are they alright?” the girl with shorter hair asked.

Josephine knew that as a warden of the White Queen, Balthazar would do whatever it took to get a job done. That being said she would also be very displeased if Balthazar had killed two innocents for something so small.

She sat in the last chair and looked at each of them in the eye. “Your parents are probably fine, though I can’t say for sure either way. My name is Josephine, and I know you won’t believe me but I’ve been brought here to help you.”

“Are you going to help us escape?” The one with blonde in her hair asked.

“Unfortunately no, there is no escaping, and I am just as much a prisoner as you are.” She didn’t have much patience trying to treat them like children, but if she was too harsh she knew the girls would never trust her. “You have been brought here for a purpose, and once that purpose has been fulfilled you will be able to return home. What are your names?”

The girls sat in silence for a minute, thinking if giving her their names was a good move. “If you don’t tell me your names I’m going to have make some up for you, and they won’t be nearly as nice as I’m sure your names are.”

The leader, the one without extra color in her hair, finally spoke, “I’m Lena, and these are my sisters Esme and Stella,” she said nodding to them.

“Actually my name is Estrella,” the one with blonde said. “And her name is Elena.”

“And your name must be Esmeralda,” she said turning to the one with tears on her cheeks. She gave a slight nod. “Such pretty names, I think they suit you. It’s very nice to meet you all, though I wish it were under different circumstances.”

“The man who brought us here, he called us your students. What did he mean by that? What are the circumstances, exactly?” Lena finally said. This one is very perceptive and probably already plotting, Josephine thought. The other two are still in shock and aren’t really processing everything yet. After everything the girls had already been through today, and decided it would not be in their best interest to learn everything on the first night.

“Let’s not get into such a heavy discussion so soon. Let’s have dinner first, and you girls can probably use some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.” She rose from her chair and finished making dinner in silence.

Dinner was nice, or would have been nice, if the girls had been able to eat. They barely touched their food, still reeling with shock. Afterwards the girls found clothes in the drawers and huddled together on one bed. She could hear whispering and hushed sobs coming from their direction. Josephine felt bad for them, but knew they would have to be strong for what was to come next. Offering sympathy might do more harm than good.

That night she heard them sneak off to the doors, only to find them locked and the windows all barred. After a half hour of stirring about they finally went back to bed and she fell asleep to the steady rhythm of hushed sobs.

XXXXX

Then next morning Josephine woke the girls at 8am. It was going to be the first of many long days of training and she had to see what the girls were capable of. After a quick breakfast of oatmeal and fruit she lined them up.

“Welcome to you first day of training,” she said. The girls exchanged confused looks. “This is the first of three things I will have to teach you. First I need you all to take one of these,” she said handing out small blue pills.

“You’re going to drug us then become our personal trainer?” Lena asked.

“Not quite, these are very special pills you see. They will prevent you from getting sick and help your body to heal faster.” The girls looked at her like she was speaking German. “It means that during training your bodies won’t be sore for so long after workouts and your bruises will heal faster after being hit.”

“What do you mean hit?” Lean asked. At this Josephine walked over to Lena and swiftly kicked her in the thigh causing her to fall. Lena fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, caught completely off guard.

“Why did you do that?” Stella screamed as she rushed to Lena’s side.

“That was to show you that this is no joke,” Josephine said flatly. “This is real and this is happening.”

“I’m ok,” Lena said as Stella helped her to her feet. “Last night was an act wasn’t it? I felt like you were trying to get us to trust you.” She was right about this girl being perceptive. Or maybe she was just overly suspicious, either way it would cause trouble.

“Yes and no. I would like for you to trust me, but I also need for you to take me seriously. This training will be the difference between victory and failure, but more about that later. Right now I need to see what you can do.”

In terms of physical strength, Josephine set her expectations to nothing, this way she wasn’t too disappointed when none of the girls could do more than fifteen pushups or run more than a half mile straight. These girls led a first-world life, she thought. Never having to fight for anything, not shelter, not food, everything had been given to them.

“You’re all soft and weak,” Josephine told them as they caught their breath.

“Is that surprising to you? We’re girls, we’re supposed to be soft,” Esme wheezed.

“Not anymore,” Josephine said with a wicked grin. The rest of their first day was spent with more running and stretching in an effort to make the girls more flexible. When the day was over the girls sat at the table and Josephine made dinner again. The meal was silent for the most part until Stella started to cry. Esme moved her chair over to put an arm around her and Lena sat and gave Josephine dirty looks.

“Why are you doing this to us?” she managed to say.

“Understand that this has nothing to do with me, I’m not the one who brought you all here. You would be here either way, because of who you are.”

“Who we are?” Esme said. “We’re regular high school girls from the suburbs. I mean, I know I’m kind of amazing, but who are we collectively?” Stella smiled and wiped her eyes while Lena just rolled hers.

“Your genetics make you a part of a very special group of girls called candidates. You will fight in a tournament, competing for a prize that is beyond your imagination.”

“I wouldn’t have a hard time imagining a car or a pair of Jimmy Choos,” Esme said.

“Well if you can imagine it, it must not be the prize then is it? In a few days we’ll start some special training that you guys have never done before, something absolutely essential to what you’re going to be doing.”

While the girls were still not trusting, they did speak a bit more than they had the night before. Esme had an attitude and smart mouth that she used every chance she got. Stella was more reserved, she would still need more time to adjust. Lena was sullen and hostile, the chip on her shoulder was enormous. Josephine knew that she would have to watch what she said or she risked giving everything away too quickly.

“Get to bed. All of you,” she said. She watched the girls as they went off to bed, still huddling into one bed. She heard them whispering among themselves before their long even breathing set in. Training these girls was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done, and given her history that was saying something. The real question was how well were they going to handle it?

XXXXX

When the girls woke up the next morning they were surprised to find their bodies weren’t all that sore, and Lena had only a partially healed bruise from where she had been kicked. The girls were quiet through breakfast again and did what they were told without much fuss. Even Esme, who often had that look in her eye like she wanted to say something, held her tongue. The rest of the week was spent in this fashion, physical training like nothing any of the girls had done before.

Their attitudes and differences began to show through and after a time the only one trying was Lena. It was odd at first, but it made sense looking at the girls’ individually. Lena was fueled by rage, pushing herself towards a goal that only she was aware of. Esme was afraid of breaking a nail or ruining her hair, those thoughts would catch up to her soon enough. And Stella seemed to have no drive at all. There was no rage in her, only sadness.

“Come on Stella, I know you don’t want to do this, but you need to do this,” Josephine said. It was ridiculously frustrating yelling at someone who cried so easily.

“But I don’t understand why we have to fight. Isn’t there another way to do this?”

“No, that’s the whole point of this thing. You test your will and your strength against everyone else. Plus if you don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll never see you parents again.”

Her eyes watered up and the other two stood at her side to console her, but Josephine pushed them all to their feet. It was not her place to be kind or understanding; she was a warrior, teaching young warriors. If she showed mercy here, they would expect mercy, and if there was something the tournament had little of it was mercy.