The Seraphim Sequence: The Fifth Column 2 by Nathan M Farrugia

this. Shoes off?’
    She looked amused. ‘Do you fight with your shoes off?’
    He looked at her with suspicion. ‘Is this a trick question?’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘The last time you fought someone, you wore shoes?’
    ‘Yeah. Boots, shoes, stilettos.’ He shrugged. ‘Depends on my mood.’
    She wasn’t amused. ‘Then you train with your stilettos on. If there was concrete here we’d be training all over that shit. Until then, you got it easy on these soft floors.’
    ‘Great,’ Jay said. ‘So, what are we starting with?’
    ‘First I’m gonna teach you how to breathe.’
    She couldn’t be serious. But she was.
    ‘If I didn’t know how to breathe, I’d be dead,’ Jay said.
    Nasira pointed to his chest.
    ‘Yeah, I’ve been working out,’ he said.
    ‘No, you’re breathing with your chest,’ she said.
    ‘That’s where my lungs are. Um, aren’t they?’
    ‘Shallow breathing,’ she said. ‘That’s how everyone breathes, right? You’re wasting your energy. Overusing those muscles.’
    Jay raised his eyebrows. ‘We’re still talking about breathing, right?’
    She placed her hand on his stomach. He flinched, not expecting her to touch him.
    ‘Relax,’ she said. ‘Breathe from here . In through your nose, draw into your stomach.’
    It made no sense, but he did as she said. His stomach expanded a few inches.
    ‘Good,’ she said. ‘You’re filling your lungs properly now. If I’m gonna teach you, you got to breathe this way, you hear me? If I see you breathing with your chest, I’ll punch you. In the face.’
    Jay grinned.
    ‘You think I’m playing?’ she said.
    He dropped the grin. ‘OK, serious face on. Stomach breathing, got it.’
    ‘Whenever people are placed under extreme stress, the first thing they do is stop breathing,’ she said. ‘You’re well trained, yeah? But under stress you’ll switch your ass right back to chest breathing. It’s what you’re used to.’
    ‘Will you still punch me in the face?’
    ‘Depends how I’m feeling. When you’re under stress, that’s the best time to breathe with your stomach. Keeps your lungs full so you can keep up with your brain and body. You with me?’
    Jay nodded. ‘All the way, baby.’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘After a while it comes naturally. You won’t even have to think about it. Just like walking. And that shit I’m teaching you next.’
    ‘You’re telling me I’m not walking properly?’ Jay said in disbelief.
    ‘No one does,’ she said. ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. You walk with your knees. Waste of energy.’
    Jay crossed his arms. ‘So what’s not a waste of energy then?’
    ‘Move with your hips,’ she said, slapping her own hips. ‘Uses your muscles more efficiently. And you move better in combat, you got that?’
    ‘Stomach breathing and now … hip walking?’ Jay said. ‘This isn’t combat training at all, is it? You’re totally grooming me for Victoria’s Secret.’ He shrugged. ‘Actually that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.’
    Nasira smiled. The first smile he’d seen all day. ‘There’s hope for you yet,’ she said.
    ‘Fine. So how do I do this hip walking thing?’
    ‘The best way to teach you is to make you walk your ass backward.’
    Jay waited for her to follow up with a ‘just kidding’. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
    ‘Uh-huh,’ Nasira said.
    Jay was starting to regret asking for this training.
    ‘Listen to me, Jay. You’ll get it. The moment will come when you’ll be all like, this shit makes sense. And when it makes sense, everything falls into place real quick.’
    ‘What’s the ETA on that?’
    ‘When you can see the full extent of your limitations,’ she said.
    ‘OK, so what is this? Ninjutsu or some weird Kung Fu?’
    Nasira shook her head. ‘What I’m teaching you is much older than Kung Fu. What if Ninjutsu, Eskrima, Karate, Gong Fu, Jujutsu were all splinters of something that was co-opted centuries ago?’
    ‘And this is the something