Chapter 2 jumps forward to find Sadie firmly in the throes of seventh-grade moodiness, and Chip navigating unfamiliar territory as the uncle of a teenager rather than a little girl. Their dagger-and-buckler sparring session at the dojo is a genuinely fun action beat that also doubles as an emotional release valve, with Sadie’s inherited speed and Fae-enhanced reflexes making her a legitimately dangerous training partner even at thirteen.

The chapter’s real strength is how naturally it earns Sadie’s eventual opening up. Chip’s patient, if slightly bruised, insistence on getting to the bottom of her foul mood pays off when she finally admits a friend humiliated her in front of a boy at school. His well-meaning advice about middle school boys not being emotionally ready for relationships is a lovely, relatable parenting moment, made even funnier when Sadie completely misreads it and decides to start aiming for high schoolers at the bus stop instead.

It’s a chapter that balances real physical stakes with the universal, non-magical chaos of raising a teenager, and it does a great job reminding readers that even a future Fae Queen still has to deal with mean-girl drama and confusing advice from a well-intentioned but out-of-his-depth guardian. The comic misfire ending sets up a nice running thread of Chip trying, and often failing, to say the right thing.

📖 Join the family’s Myrtle Beach summer — get Summer Break Fae on Jamie Davis’s site:

jamiedavisbooks.com/books/summer-break-fae/

 

Summer Break Fae — Chapter 2

The line of cars moved through the parking lot at a snail’s pace as students emerged from Westside Middle School. I resisted the urge to give in to my old New York sensibilities and blow the horn. Suburban parents frowned on such crass behavior. Besides, Sadie would be out of school soon enough.

My attention was so focused ahead in the line that I missed Sadie coming around behind the SUV. She popped open the door and climbed into the passenger side.

“Hey, kiddo. Ready for some sparring?”

Sadie crossed her arms and slumped down in her seat. “Do we have to go to the dojo? I don’t feel like sparring today.”

“You know your Aunt Rose made us both promise to keep up with our practice sessions while she was gone. I’m not getting on her bad side because we didn’t put in the time in the dojo together. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Sadie ducked down farther when Astrid Heraty and another girl walked past toward a car farther back in the line. I caught myself before I waved hello. I prided myself on reading Sadie’s moodiness of late. There was no telling what was going on between her and Astrid, another of the hidden Fae Unusuals attending this mundane school. I had to let her work things out on her own. My middle school memories were muddled, but I distinctly remembered experiencing personal doubts on the inside even though I was pretty popular. I’d keep an eye on her, but whatever was going on, Sadie would figure it out.

The line ahead moved forward, and I followed the other cars out through the parking lot and headed toward Main Street. The dojo had a private sparring area in addition to its lucrative after-school care and training program. Rose had it booked three days a week right after school.

“Perk up. We can hit the cafe on the way home for an iced latte if you want.” Sadie liked it when I let her get what Rose and I referred to as big girl drinks. We didn’t want her getting hooked on coffee quite this early, but the occasional order as a reward wasn’t out of bounds.

“Yeah, I guess that’s okay.” Sadie stared out the passenger window without glancing my way.

“I’ll even let you pick the weapons for sparring. You love it when I let you choose what we’ll work on.”

“That’s only because you always choose the sword. It’s soooo ordinary.”

Without glancing in her direction, I could picture her eyes rolling.

“Okay, so what’ll we work on today?” I pulled to a stop at an intersection and looked over at her. “Your pick.”

“Knife and buckler.” She didn’t even hesitate.

I suppressed a sigh. Sadie’s martial skills had grown as fast as she had. Her inherited human athleticism from the Proctor side, coupled with her Fae royal ancestry, gave her unexpected speed, strength, and grace throughout her combat drills.

She was crazy quick with her feet and hands. In close combat exercises such as knife and buckler, she was unmatched, even though she was only thirteen. Even Rose was hard-pressed to beat her when it came to raw speed and quickness.

I forced a smile onto my face. “Knife and buckler it is, sweetie. We’ll work out some of whatever is going on in your life.”

“Whatevs.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and ignored me the rest of the drive to the training dojo.

I wasn’t sure what to do with the new moody teen version of my niece. She used to be so cheerful and open with me when I picked her up at school. That had changed over the last year, as if seventh grade had infused her with angst and darkness.

The drive through town to the martial arts school took a long, silent ten minutes. At the strip mall, I pulled into a parking spot in front and got out. I opened the back of the SUV and grabbed both gym bags. I held the one I had packed for Sadie out for her.

Sadie stared at me. “I really don’t feel like doing this, Uncle Chip. Do we have to?”

“It’s only an hour.” I tried to find a silver lining for her to focus on. “Tell you what. When Miss Ellie drops off your brother in a half hour, I’ll let you stop and start on your homework while I work with him. Deal?”

“Yeah, okay.” She took the bag and slipped the strap over her shoulder.

We walked inside, and I waved at the owner, a retired army type from one of the special forces groups. He was also a half-minotaur, though I’d never seen him out of his human form.

“Hey, Chip,” Barry said. “The room downstairs is ready for you. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be up here with the kids here for their regular lessons.”

“Thanks, dude.” I hooked a thumb at my niece. “Sadie can’t wait to get started.”

She rolled her eyes, grunted, and made a beeline for the women’s locker room. Barry and I shared a look before I went into the men’s side to change into my sweats and tank top.

I waited downstairs for almost five minutes before Sadie finally came down. Rather than comment on her making me wait, I pointed over at the practice weapons on the rack by the mirrored wall.

“I already picked mine. There’s another dagger and buckler combination over there for you.” I’d picked the lighter of the two sets, leaving her the weighted versions. It was my hope the extra workout would dig her out of the doldrums.

I stepped into the middle of the training mat and crouched in my ready pose. Sadie picked up the wooden dagger and dinner-plate sized metal buckler. She hefted them for a second and turned her head to stare at me. She knew I’d left her the heavier ones. Her brows lowered with a determined glare that left me wondering if I’d made the right decision.

Sadie twisted her wrist, twirling the wooden dagger around in a circle as she tested its weight and balance. She stopped a few feet away from me and squared off.

I nodded a bow, which she returned. Before I could blink, she lunged in, stretching to her full extension with the dagger’s tip aimed right at my midsection.

My buckler came across on instinct alone, honed from long hours practicing against Rose. I barely blocked the incoming blade.

I realized it was a feint too late to bring my dagger up to counter her buckler. She twisted her arm and punched the metal knob in the center of the shield into my shoulder.

I staggered back, grunting at the force behind the punching blow. My dagger batted away two more thrusts from her wooden dagger. Then the two bucklers smashed together. I used my greater strength and mass to stop her charge before she forced me off the edge of the practice mat.

As we came face to face, she drove her dagger in from the side. The blunted tip came in hard and slid across the ribs under my right arm.

The pain of the full-strength blow drove the air from my lung, and I oofed when the breath came out of my mouth. Rose had taught her well. Sadie fought in here like it was the real thing, and she was old enough now to leave big-girl bruises on her uncle.

I twisted around, using our locked bucklers to spin her with me until she had her back at the mat’s edge. With a yank, I disengaged and backpedaled to the center of the mat. It was time to think about landing a few hits of my own. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she needed to learn a lesson or two here as well.

“Nice shot.” I stretched my buckler up high in the air and leaned to the side to stretch out the sore spot along my side. “You won’t score another one that easily.”

“We’ll see.” Sadie charged in at me.

This time I thrust out with my mind, creating a knee-high barrier with my invisible Guardian’s shield.

The trick worked. She tripped and landed sprawled on the floor at my feet.

I leaned down to tap her back with my blade to prove I’d won the point.

Sadie rolled to the side while reaching out with her buckler hand. Two fingers extended from the shield’s handle to point up at me. Her sapphire-blue eyes flared with magic.

I was already leaning forward, and the spell-charged tug pulled me completely off balance. The yelp escaped my mouth right before she punched up with her dagger and caught me in the shoulder on my way down.

The wooden dagger dug into my muscle, sending a shooting pain down my entire arm. It failed to support my weight when I landed on it, and I collapsed to the floor on my face.

Sadie rolled up and straddled my back, jabbing me twice in the right kidney hard enough to make me see stars.

I groaned and bucked upward from my prone position. The sudden move knocked Sadie to the side and allowed me to climb up to my feet. I faced her across the mat as she stood.

“I just killed you three times, Uncle Chip. That should be enough.”

My bruised ribs and aching side agreed with her, but I would not give in. She still had a hint of snarky darkness in her tone. I needed to work that out of her and get her to talk to me.

“I don’t know what’s bugging you, Sadie Proctor, but if you think I’m going to go away just because of a few bruises, you don’t know me very well.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she huffed at me.

I charged in, then dodged to the left in a feint that drew her into stabbing at my exposed and injured side.

My feet twisted in place, pulling my body around so her strike slid right by me. I brought my buckler down on her extended wrist.

Sadie squawked, and her hand spasmed, sending the dagger spinning to the floor.

I used a move I had learned the hard way from Sadie’s Aunt Rose and buried my left knee in Sadie’s side. This time it was her turn to stagger backward. I followed with my wooden dagger. When she fell to the ground, I landed next to her on one knee with my dagger at her throat.

She hissed, breathing hard, and stared up at me. “That hurt.”

“It was supposed to. Your aunt always says to practice the way we’d have to fight. Would she have held back?”

Sadie’s eyes turned away for a second. “No. She’d have smacked me with the dagger, too.”

“Exactly. What’s the lesson here?” I stood and reached down to give her a hand up.

Instead of taking the offered help, she kicked up with her feet, rolling backward and coming up to stand well away from me.

“I wasn’t going to attack again,” I said. “I was helping you up.”

“Never trust an opponent until the fight is over. She says that, too.”

I smiled. “Fair enough. Okay, the fight is over. Now, will you please tell me what’s got you all twisted in a knot today?”

A devious half-grin crossed her face. Then, just as quickly, she frowned. “It’s Astrid. I asked her about this kid in our math section she’s been hanging out with.”

“Oh, a boy, then.”

She glared at me. “Do you want to know what’s bugging me or not, Uncle Chip?”

“Sorry, go ahead.”

Sadie kicked her foot at the ground. “Well, Astrid lied and told him I was asking about him. Then he turned my way and pretended to stick his finger down his throat. Like I made him sick.”

“Astrid’s your friend. Why did she do that to you?”

“Lately, she’s been acting weird and hanging out with girls we never liked before. They told her to do it. I’m so angry and… and…”

“Embarrassed? I think it’s time you and I had a talk about something important. About boys.”

“Ewww, no, Uncle Chip.” Sadie held up her hand and turned away from me. “Aunt Rose already had the talk with me. I don’t need you to do it, too.”

“This is a different talk about boys. You see, boys at your age aren’t as grown up as you are. They’re mostly still little kids inside and don’t know when they really like anyone, at least not that way. That and they’re just plain stupid. Wait until they’re a few years older and have some maturity. Eventually, they understand their emotions the same way you do. Does that make sense?”

“I think so. You’re saying I shouldn’t be interested in seventh grade boys. Don’t worry, there’s no danger in that, at least not now.”

“Good,” I said. “See, Uncle Chip has some useful advice after all.”

Sadie turned back to me and smiled. “So, I should aim higher and start looking for someone among the ninth graders who wait at the bus stop with us.” She nodded. “That makes so much more sense. Plus, it’ll avoid someone Astrid will know, so she can’t mess it up for me again.” Sadie skipped over, picked up her wooden dagger, and stretched up to give me a peck on the cheek. “Thanks, Uncle Chip, that was really helpful.”

She crossed the training room to replace the dagger and buckler. Then she picked up her gym bag and bounced up the steps to the locker rooms.

I realized my mouth was open, and I closed it before I said something that would make the situation any worse. How had she taken what I’d said and turned it into focusing on high school boys? Rose was going to have a fit when she heard about this. Sadie talked to her about everything, and I was sure she’d tell Aunt Rose all about Uncle Chip’s brilliant advice.

My phone alarm went off on the table by the door. It was time to go up and meet Ellie when she dropped off Addy from the elementary school. I returned my weapons to the rack and started up the stairs. I had to walk back what I’d said to Sadie, but I honestly did not know how.

📖 Loved Chapter 2? Keep going — get Summer Break Fae on Jamie Davis’s site:

jamiedavisbooks.com/books/summer-break-fae/