I do some yoga on Saturday and Sunday morning to help with my sore muscles, and I try to get some rest so I’ll be ready to go when the time comes. I’m not sure what to expect for our final round of training. We’ve done really physical tests so far and only a couple of the more intellectual tests, but you never know.
When I get in on Monday, Logan’s already there, sitting against the wall in the large training room. He glances at me as I sit down beside him, carefully leaving a bit of space between us.
“Morning,” he murmurs.
“Morning,” I echo, meeting his gaze. His eyes are a bright, piercing blue, and I have to look away quickly before I do something stupid like start blushing again. “You ready to go?”
“I’m always ready,” Logan replies, sounding faintly insulted that I would call that into question.
A smile tugs at my lips. He sounds like me. “Just making sure.”
Aurora enters, and the low hum of our fellow recruits talking amongst themselves fades. Everyone’s sitting with their partner, and while some people look pleased about it, others look put out. In fact, compared to Logan and me, everyone looks like they have a very strong opinion about their partners. I’ve noticed people getting friendly with others, but I didn’t realize that it was quite to this degree. Looks like I’ve once again missed out on the whole… socializing aspect.
Oops. Shit.
“We’ll be doing today’s tests in several smaller rooms. If everyone could please exit one pair at a time, following your assigned training agent,” Aurora says as several other IUM employees enter the room. She begins to recite pairs, and each time she does, an IUM agent steps up and guides the two partners out of the room.
“Raelyn and Logan.”
I get up with Logan and we follow our IUM employee, a rather quiet looking man with dark hair. He’s probably a few years older than I am, and he looks like the kind of guy who spends all of his time sitting in a window seat, reading books of poetry.
The man smiles, apparently in amusement. “I’m actually not a huge fan of poetry,” he murmurs.
My mouth drops open.
Oh shit. He’s a mind reader.
Logan chuckles softly under his breath, and I nudge him in the side to shut him up. He grins down at me, giving me a sympathetic look as if to say he had no idea our guide could read minds either.
The dark-haired man glances back at the two of us. His gaze darts from me to Logan, and his eyebrows rise a little. His lips twitch as if he’s holding back a smile, and he looks ahead again as he leads us down a corridor.
Huh. I wonder what he picked up in Logan’s head. Or was he smiling at something he picked up in my head?
Ahhh! Stop thinking, Raelyn. Clear your mind.
I swear the guy in front of us snorts a laugh, but before I can be sure, he stops in front of a door and turns to face us.
“Teamwork is going to be key in this,” the mind reader tells us as he opens the door. “And remember, whatever happens, you’re going to be okay. You won’t actually be hurt, and we’ll be monitoring you the entire time. We didn’t go through all this work of hiring you just to set you up to die.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“The tests get progressively harder,” he answers me with a sympathetic look. “They’re designed to simulate the kinds of danger you could face in a real-life crisis, so Aurora makes us give these disclaimers. But I know you two have good heads on your shoulders. I’m looking forward to seeing how you do.”
His voice is very reassuring, and I square my shoulders. Nobody’s ever accused me of being a chicken before, and I’m not about to take on that reputation now.
Bring on the swimming pool filled with piranhas… or whatever it is.
I enter the room with Logan right behind me, and the door closes after us. For a moment, the space is totally dark, and then lights start to turn on, illuminating the room—but dimly, not too much.
The space is totally empty, but I know better than to let my guard down. In real life, I might have any warning before an attack, but here? Now?
I know something has to be coming soon.
Scanning the walls with my hands raised and at the ready, I take a step forward.
But just as my foot is about to land, the floor drops away into nothingness, and I plummet downward.
Chapter 7
My stomach rises into my throat, my heart skipping several beats as my skin chills. Logan lets out a startled grunt as he falls alongside me, and for a split second, panic rushes through me.
Then I push it back, forcing myself to focus.
I quickly shift into my eagle form, flapping my wings and reversing course. I rise up quickly, relief flooding me as I reverse course. I don’t fly very far before my head bumps into the ceiling, and I almost shift again out of sheer surprise—I thought I had fallen a lot farther than that.
But of course. I didn’t actually fall at all, because just like the agent who brought us here said, it’s not really real. Below me, I hear a soft grunt, and I look down to see that the floor is back where it’s supposed to be. I swoop down and shift back to human form quickly as Logan picks himself up off the floor, dusting off his arms and legs.
“You okay?” I ask breathlessly.
He nods. “Yeah. With my imperviousness, I knew the fall wouldn’t kill me. So I just let it happen. As soon as I hit the ‘bottom,’ the room went back to normal.”
“Okay, so it looks like we know what this challenge is all about,” I murmur, glancing around carefully. “Things trying to kill us.”
“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine?” Logan offers, and even in the dim light, I can see that he’s smiling.
I can’t help but grin back. “Deal.”
No sooner are the words out of my mouth than we have to make good on that promise. One of the side walls seems to open up, and a massive wave of water comes barreling toward us. I transform into a dolphin, and Logan grabs on to my top fin as I swim toward the surface. Water keeps pouring in, but I navigate through it, keeping us close enough to the surface that Logan is able to breathe.
Then the water vanishes in the blink of an eye.
I shift back again, barely getting a chance to catch my breath before large spikes begin shooting down from the ceiling. Logan wraps his arms around me, shielding my body with his and keeping me from getting impaled. Then we combine his lightning power with my telekinetic ability and systematically break the spikes until no more plunge downward.
I’m outright panting by now, but as we face the next threat together, I realize that in a weird way, I’m actually having fun.
Now that Logan and I aren’t competing for the top spot among the new recruits but are paired up instead… it’s nice.
We face threat after threat, each one coming so fast on the heels of the previous attack that we’re sometimes forced to fend both off at once. Some things are more suited to my abilities, and others are easier for Logan to take out, and we fall into a natural give and take, protecting each other as best we can.
After what feels like at least an hour, a buzzer sounds, and room returns to the empty space we first walked into.
“Nice work,” Logan murmurs, glancing at me as he smooths his messy blond hair back from his face.