Apparently three years of immersing yourself in any possible technique to suppress your innate magic will do that.
When Ross returns to the front of our gathering after the fourth blast of the shocker, his voice is irritatingly upbeat. “That’s an excellent start. But the real challenge is handling difficult circumstances while you’re having trouble concentrating. You don’t want to freeze up due to an initial injury or other distress.”
That sounds reasonable enough. Then he points to the house-sized contraption behind him. “Now you’ll navigate this obstacle course in sets of five, while the shocker intermittently blares.” He shoots us a wry smile. “I’ll direct it toward the course so you’re all starting with an equal amount of practice.”
He tips his head to someone beyond us. A couple of the school nurses have arrived, waiting at the edge of the field.
He thinks some of us aren’t going to make it through the course unscathed, then. Charming.
Byron steps up to volunteer for the first group, because of course he does. He shows no sign of concern as he positions himself by the first set of climbing bars. I can’t suppress a twinge of admiration that quivers through the knot of concern in my chest.
I can’t show either emotion openly. I keep my expression as bland as possible as Captain Ross blows his whistle.
The five students throw themselves onto the course.
Ross only waits a few seconds before switching the shocker on.
He’s turned it so the round area that must work like aspeaker is aimed toward the apparatus. Only a faint, jangling buzz niggles at my nerves.
The students still scrambling up the bars flinch. One kid who looks like an 11thyear loses her grip and bangs her head against the structure as she falls.
Byron hurtles on, over the top of the broad ladder and into a mess of planks and ropes I can only partially make out from below.
As Ross switches his torture device on and off seemingly at random, I catch glimpses of Byron and the others through the structure. After a couple of minutes, the Worth heir appears on a small platform at the very top, in the lead.
Right as the shocker goes off again.
He’s just reaching for a rope next to a spinning steel disc. Even from a distance, I see the jerk of his hand, the splatter of blood that flecks the boards.
He scrambles on down, holding that hand close to his chest. His body sways; his shoulder smacks the apparatus loud enough that I bite my lip.
My bond wails at me to leap to his side.
I could at least holler out encouragement, couldn’t I? Something that’ll be meaningful to him but disguised as an innocuous comment from a classmate.
I’m groping for the right remark when Stella nudges me. “Are you okay? You look like you’re getting pretty wrapped up in this.”
Her words hit me like a splash of icy water. I drop my gaze with a giggle I hope doesn’t come out too wobbly. “Just picturing us going through that thing. Let’s get it over with. Next turn?”
I can’t admit it’s Byron I’m worried about. Can’t act like he’s anything other than my rival. Fucking careless of me to let this much concern show.
Get it together, Elodie. Focus on what’s best for them, not my own anxieties.
My friends and a 16thyear guy join me at the start of the course while Ross and Jovak talk with the first round about their performance—and the nurses heal up several minor wounds. A renewed thread of tension twists through my innards.
What ifIget hurt while I’m going through this exercise? What if it’s bad enough to really hurt someone else?
Or for everyone here to realize what my glim is?
I hate that the last problem feels worse than the others.
I sink into the mental state that got me through the earlier blares of the shocker. When Ross blows his whistle again, I clamber up the bars with no thought other than getting through the course as quickly and safely as possible.
Madison and I pull ahead of the others. We leap over a spinning log and squirm up a tunnel with jagged handholds, climb a net that billows with an artificial gale and dodge a swinging beam.
Whenever the shocker goes off, I purposefully slow my movements until I’m totally centered. I make it to the top platform just behind Madison, and a little relief starts to unfurl inside me.
Then I skid down to the second level, and hit the ground at the same moment the next blast washes over us.
