Sirius Academy (Jezebel's Ladder) Read Online Free PDF

part of
your inheritance alone is valued at almost a billion.”
    “It was worth it to be free of the
old crone who told me every day how worthless a woman is without a man, and how
you all ruined my dad’s life.”
    Red stood over her to whisper the coup
de grâce . “I had to find out from her that you were my birth
mother.”

Chapter
3 – Sparring
     
    “Did you throw yourself at Dad when Mom was sick?” asked
Red.
    “Benny would never do that,”
explained the woman who was using her maiden name, Nena Horvath.
    Guards burst through the door,
confused to see the head of security on the floor, panting, and this slip of a
girl standing over her. “Sir, your heart monitor tripped the alarm. Is
everything okay?”
    “Whiskers on kittens: Julia Andrews,”
said Trina. The man relaxed at the safety confirmation code. “I told her she’d
have to spar for her first three weeks’ credit in self-defense, and she
ambushed me. My fault.”
    “This kid knocked you down?” asked
a guard with a receding hairline and the name ‘Grunt-Monkey’ taped over his badge.
Students, drawn by the commotion, were milling around in the hall.
    “Two out of three falls?” Red
played along.
    Propped on her hands, the
professor’s legs shot out, but the girl flipped out of the way.
    “Acrobatics training. This could be
interesting,” commented the guard. People began to file in to watch.
    The new freshman avoided every
strike and slipped every grab for minutes. The audience cheered for the
underdog like a new toreador at a bull fight. Then Trina switched styles, and
grabbed her in a headlock. “Point. One all,” shouted Grunt-Monkey.
    In the buzz, the professor whispered,
“For this job to work, I have to win.”
    “Your problem, not mine,” the girl
said, smashing down in a move that would’ve obliterated the kneecap of a real
mugger. As they broke apart, Red went on the offensive.
    “Is that kick boxing?” asked the
referee.
    “Probably Tai Bo,” joked a student.
    When the professor cornered her and
reached for the headlock again, Red used a staff from the wall to block. “Can
she do that?” asked the student.
    “Marquis of Queensbury rules. The
boss wants to find out what she knows.”
    But her staff work was weak, for
emergencies only. When Trina grabbed another bamboo stick and disarmed her in
thirty seconds, the girl shifted into a form that most had never seen. Red
dodged or blocked each of Horvath’s staff strikes, knowing where it would go
before it got there.
    “Heart-rate, boss,” warned the
referee.
    “This is the longest I’ve ever seen
a newbie go.”
    “Twenty bucks she goes the full ten
minutes.”
    Trina swung the staff one-handed.
When Red leapt into the air to avoid, the instructor shot two rigid fingers of
her left hand into the girl’s solar plexus. The blow knocked the wind out of
her just long enough that she splatted onto the mat with a groan. “Still
champion and undefeated, Professor Horvath,” said Grunt-Money. “Does the
candidate qualify?”
    Trina gave a wordless thumbs-up as
she caught her own breath. The crowd applauded and dispersed. “Let’s hit the
showers,” ordered the teacher, offering her hand.
    Red stood as soon as she was able
and bowed to the woman. “ Sensei .”
    “Today’s lesson was humility. You
passed.” The words were bold, but Trina limped to the shower. When they were
alone in the changing room, she risked a personal comment. “You need to see the
doctor. It’s been almost a week since your last exam.”
    “Emancipated,” Red sang, taking off
her jump suit.
    When the shower head was on, the
professor hissed, “It was Jezebel’s egg. I just carried you.”
    “You were my mother, too.”
    “Not according to the law.”
    “You could’ve fought.”
    “I had a bigger fight on my
hands—taking care of Daniel. He’s better here, less strain on his limbic
system.”
    “Why didn’t you call?”
    Anger made her Dutch accent flare. “For
which you