The next few days were much worse than Zain had thought they would be—not because of the pain, no. He just found it very boring sitting in a bed all day with nothing to do other than eat and sleep. Occasionally, the nurse—Mr. White was his name—would tell him some story about another injured child he helped and once, at the end of every day, Bolton and the others would come in to fill him in on the situation.
But his boredom came to an end when he was finally released. He was told to take two small pills he had been given every night and to not put too much stress on his back.
“Otherwise you’ll be coming straight back to me with more injuries,” Mr. White had said softly. “And those ones might not go away.”
Zain would definitely not come here on his own accord anytime soon. This must be what it’s like to be an old person, he thought. Old age didn’t sound so appealing.
The next few weeks were no break from the pain. Every evening after dinner, he’d take the pills and collapse into the endless layers of his bed, sometimes falling asleep before Cameron could even say goodnight. The only nice part was the soreness he felt in his muscles every night. There was something about that kind of pain that relaxed him more than it bothered him.
Duster training was great as well. Every other day they used them, and they learned Dusters were allowed for one of the tests. It was obvious which one (the combat one), but no one said anything about it. And nobody could compete with Zain. No one. Victoria was probably second most proficient out of the whole recruits group, but she was nowhere near Zain. By the end of his first week back, he could push himself forwards at speeds he’d never felt before, make slashes of air rather than puffs if he wanted, and even launch himself high into the air. The only issue was he lost control in the middle, so instead of falling down and blasting off right before he hit the ground to slow his fall, he’d land on a thick mat every time. Cleareye had made it seem so easy. Still, Zain couldn’t get his arms to face the ground in the last moment.
On the morning before the first test, every recruit on the fifth floor happened to walk out of their dorms into the hallway at the same time. Evan, who no longer busied himself with talking to mere peasants such as Victoria and Cameron, turned and marched down the stairs. Blythe and Ellie would have followed but Victoria lurched out and seized Ellie’s arm before they could. She hadn’t put her cloak on yet, and her white shirt was sleeveless.
“What is this? Did you injure yourself?” Victoria said as she gently ran her finger over a large red-purple mark on her arm.
Ellie quickly pulled her arm away and threw her cloak on.
“It’s nothing. I just fell.”
“That’s a belt scar,” Cameron muttered. “Did someone hit you with a belt?”
“No, no, I swear I just fell—“
Victoria now grabbed Ellie on both sides and twisted her until they were eye to eye: “Is Evan hurting you guys?”
“It’s nothing,” Blythe said downheartedly. “I watched her fall. It’ll be alright.”
“Did you fall at the same time, Blythe?” Cameron stared at him with dead eyes.
“What? No, I said I saw it. I watched her fall.”
“Pull down your collar.”
“But—“
“Pull it down, Blythe. I’m your brother.”
Hesitantly, he pulled down the collar of his shirt and a bruise almost identical to Ellie’s weaved its way down his upper chest.
“Is Evan hitting you guys with a belt?” Zain asked, perplexed. Why would Evan do such a thing?
“Evan’s not strong enough for this much damage,” Cameron said.
“Then who is? If not Evan?”
“Cleareye.”
Zain and Victoria took a moment to process this. A very loud silence.
“Is this true?” Victoria asked. “Did Cleareye do this?”
“We swore not to tell anyone,” Ellie cried. “She made us swear.”
Suddenly, she threw herself onto Victoria and was sobbing uncontrollably while Blythe cried quietly behind her.
“We swore, we swore, we swore . . .”
Victoria hugged Ellie tightly. Tears were shining in the brims of her eyes, but they didn’t fall. Cameron placed his hand on his twin’s shoulder and squeezed it. Although his face showed no signs of empathy, it was clearly there.
“We’ll stop this before it continues,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll be able to cause a disturbance on the days of the tests but the second the last test ends we’re stopping this.”
Blythe nodded and wiped the tears off of his face.
“What about Evan?” Zain said. “Surely she’s not sparing him.
“Like I said, she likes him too much. Much more than me or Blythe, at least.”
“Come on, we’ll walk downstairs with you two.”
Downstairs, Cleareye acted like nothing had changed as she gave her usual pre-breakfast speech about how near the first test was.
“Tomorrow is what your entire lives have been leading up to. All of Totum will be watching on screen at home or in the stadium live. Don’t give the PRO a bad reputation. And good luck!”
All the recruits jumped up and cheered and celebrated while Zain, Victoria, and Cameron stared at Cleareye, trying to find an ounce of falseness in her voice—she was a skilled liar.
“Should we tell Bolton?” Zain asked.
“Not until two days from now,” Cameron said. “It might go around as some kind of rumor rather than an actual fact if people in Totum and Glimmer are too occupied with the tests. We’ll have higher chances of success if we wait.”
“But what if she hurts them again?”
“It’s a risk either way. But if we’re patient we’ll probably have the most success.”
The training that day was the lightest they had done in weeks. They were told to rest and prepare for the following day. Up on the central building of Glimmer, the teams on the board had not moved an inch. Team Seahorse was still 95th. Somehow, Evan’s team—Team Stingray—had moved up to 9th.
“I know we have Blythe and Ellie to worry about now,” Victoria said as they just finished practice. “But tomorrow is what we’ve been working for. We have to focus on the PRO.”
“Right.”
It might not have shown, but on the inside Zain’s stomach was twisting and turning and writhing around. He tried to tell himself that it was just a test, but no matter what he couldn’t stop his internal panic. It wasn’t as bad as Victoria, though. She was puking every hour and couldn’t sit for more than a minute straight.
By nighttime, everyone was already prepared for the morning and had headed to sleep at 9:00. Cameron passed out as fast as he always did in bed but Zain lay awake (for once), staring at the ceiling and worrying and wondering about the tests. The one thing that comforted him was his skill with the Dusters. But if Victoria was so skilled in physical ability and Cameron in reasoning then how were they 95th? What were the other teams like?
Everything was dark when a light knocking issued from the door. A spark of fear lit itself in Zain—Kiara still had a cold grip on him, despite how distant she seemed now. Hundreds of miles away, at least.
“It’s me, Bolton,” whispered his deep voice. “Victoria’s out here too. Can we come in?”
Although Zain preferred to not be seen in his crumpled up pajamas and bedhead he let them in just as Cameron woke up, silently closing the door behind them.
“Isn’t it time to sleep?” Cameron’s long hair was in a ponytail at the center of his head. Otherwise it got in his eyes when he slept.
“It is, yes. But I want to talk to you three for a bit. I’m not sure how much time we’ll get tomorrow morning.”
Zain flipped on the lights and sat down on Cameron’s bed with the other two. Bolton sat on the opposite side, facing them.
“You’re all nervous, I’m assuming.” When no one responded, he said, “Good. I want you to be nervous. If you’re nervous it means that you actually care about it, and that you intend to try your best.”
“Of course we care about it, Bolton,” Victoria said.
“If you truly do then listen to what I say right now. I’ve been around for years watching the PRO tryouts ever since I got in myself, and I’ve seen the strongest and quickest of people fail. People who’ve spent their whole lives training just for the PRO. Do you know why these people failed?”
“They didn’t work as a team?” Zain asked.
“If that was the case then I wouldn’t have sneaked over here in the night to talk to you three. I already know you can work as team. And you will work as a team. They failed because of their intentions. Keep in mind that you’re going into a real fight, not a stage performance. The PRO is trying to simulate what it will be like in real life, so these people will try to hurt you when fighting. Be ready to hit them back and hit them hard. In order to beat your opponent, you have to match their intentions with your own. If they try to hurt you, you hurt them back. Some people are just unable to do it, no matter how skilled they are. Just trust your gut and make sure every meatbag that tries to attack you is knocked down.”
“I know you three are able. I’ve been with you guys a long time and I’ve seen what you can do. I believe in you. Make the people of Totum have faith in you too.”
Victoria hopped forward and squeezed Bolton into a tight hug.
“Thank you, Bolton.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Anyways, if I stay here too long I’ll be caught keeping recruits awake. The last thing I want is for Cleareye to catch me creeping around,” he giggled. “Good night you three. I would wish you luck tomorrow, but I doubt you’ll need it.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said as he stood at the doorway. He threw them each a thin solid object wrapped in purple plastic. “Chocolate bars. I stole them from the mentor dining hall for you guys. Goodnight.”
He gently shut the door.
“Well, that was nice of Bolton,” Zain muttered.
After they ate the chocolate bars in their pajamas on Cameron’s bed, Victoria returned to her room and the others to their beds. This time, Zain fell asleep faster than Cameron.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Bells ringing. People scurrying around. Clothes being changes and teeth being brushed. From floors one to five, everyone rushed around in a panic trying to prepare themselves. At one point Zain had thought he lost his cloak entirely, but fortunately he found it in his closet, where he for some reason had forgotten to look in at the beginning.
After the frenzy, all 496 recruits were gathered in the dining hall. Some were eating. Some weren’t. Some were just swallowing. Bolton had specifically advised the three of them to eat breakfast or they would already be exhausted by the time the test began.
“Nerves are the main obstacle to your success,” he had said. “So don’t be so nervous you can’t eat.”
Zain, Victoria, and Cameron didn’t really have much of an appetite, but of course they listened to him. While they ate, Victoria’s entire arm was shaking and her fork kept clattering against her plate. Zain reached over and grabbed it tight.
“You’re more prepared than anyone here, Victoria. Don’t be nervous. Besides, we’re the most skilled with the Dusters, as far as I know.”
“I hope so.”
Zain turned to Cameron and was only slightly startled to see the deep look of concern in his eyes as he watched Victoria.
“You’ll be alright,” he said solemnly.
That morning not a hint of sun could be spotted in the sky. Gray thunderclouds dominated the blue and they boomed and cackled every time lightning struck. Not the calming, slow kind of thunder—the kind that wakes you up from your sleep so fast that it could have been a gunshot. A very aggressive thunder. Raindrops pelted down from the sky while a cold wind directed the water sideways, so even the black umbrellas everybody had been given weren’t completely effective.
The bottom of Zain’s socks were drenched and every time he stepped a terrible squelching sound could be heard. His black sweatpants were growing denser and denser every second. Even the cloaks of every team were hard to make out through the thick wash.
The people of Totum must have really liked watching PRO trials every year. Despite the biting wind and the waterfalls of rain, a massive cheering and applauding crowd could be heard from the stadium.
On the outside of the stadium, Cleareye gave them yet another speech with a microphone tight in her large palms.
“Today is important. Probably the most important day in any of your lives. Whether you pass the test or not, this day will change the course of your life going forward. Will you be a member of the PRO, the most honored organization in all of Totum, or will you pursue other paths? If you don’t pass the test today, you won’t be allowed to take the next test tomorrow. Adequate teams are expected to be capable of completing both tests.
“This board behind me has each team’s name and recruits written on it in large font. As you can see right now, everything is written in white. If a team passes the test, all the letters in their slot will turn green. If they do not, it will be red. Is that clear?”
“Yes Trainer Cleareye!”
“Amazing. The team ranked first—that would be Team Leopard—is going first. From there, we will go all the way down to 100. Feel free to wait inside the large banquet room under the stadium bleachers while you wait if you get cold. Unless you would like to lower your chances of passing by numbing your muscles. Not to worry, there is another board identical to this one inside.”
In the front, some teams began to scurry towards the banquet room.
“Wait! I have not told you what the actual test is yet. I’m sure you’ll want to know.”
Embarrassed, the children awkwardly retook their places.
“Today’s test is on physical and combat ability. It will take place in the center of the stadium, with a hundred thousand people watching from the stands. That’s about six or seven percent of our population if you don’t know. Many more will be watching from their televisions at home. In the stadium, there is a large, cylindrical rock that goes about 200 feet high. All the combat will take place on top of this rock. Don’t worry, it’s flat. It’s big enough for lots of people. Luckily for you, there will only be nine people on the rock’s floor, besides you. You will begin on one side of the circle. On the other side there will be a wooden pole about as high as my waist. You should regard this pole as a child and it is your goal to retrieve it. In between you and the pole, there will be nine adult men and women ready to fight you and guard the pole. If you reach the pole, you succeed. In whatever way possible. It will most likely take some strategizing and well thought-out combat.”
A boy near the front of the crowd yelled out, “Wouldn’t we just be able to leap over the opponents with our Dusters? Or do they have Dusters as well?”
“We have stated before that you will be using your Dusters for one of the tests. This is not the one.”
Gasps and sighs spread through the crowd as people overcame their shock and wondered how the next day’s test could use Dusters.
“Not to worry, there will be netting a hundred feet below the surface of the rock that will catch you if you fall off. And if you do fall off, you’re out. No climbing back up and no helping from the bottom. One of the mentors will come retrieve you and bring you back to the viewing boxes. Good luck. You may enter the empty banquet room now. Team Leopard, follow me.”
“What on Earth could the strategy and intelligence test use Dusters for?”
“Let’s focus on today first, Victoria.”
“We have to make a strategy,” Zain was the last of the three to step into the banquet room. “Any ideas, Cameron?”
The large room was filled with unused and untouched sofas and chairs. Cameron slumped down in one and crossed one leg over the other.
“It takes place very high up. And we have to reach the kid—or the pole, whatever. Obviously the other teams have a crazy advantage right now. Everyone has five members except for our team and Blythe’s team. And Victoria might be able to take on three people, but Zain and I definitely won’t. Not without Dusters, at least. So what do we do?”
“Maybe we can distract them while one person climbs around the edges of the circle? Like hanging?”
“It’s raining too hard. You wouldn’t even be able to get a grip.”
Victoria ran her hands through her black hair, still moist and dripping from the rain.
“Well first things first,” Cameron said, “it’s pouring bullets out there. Grabbing onto us will be a lot more difficult than usual for the opponents, we’ll be too slippery. We’ll have to take of our cloaks. If they get the opportunity they might try to grab onto our hoods or something and yank us off the rock.”
“Maybe we could throw our cloaks at them to blind them?” Zain suggested.
“No, that wouldn’t work—who’s the lightest one here?”
“Probably me,” Zain said.
“What if we just throw you instead?”
“What, like across the entire rock? Cleareye said it could fit lots of people on it. If you’re able to throw me that far than we may have other issues to deal with.”
Now that their hair was drying up, Cameron was tying his in a short ponytail behind his head as he spoke. Two thin strands of hair fell along the sides of his face.
“I’m assuming they’re all going to be in a line. The opponents, I mean. And the rain is going to make it a bit more difficult to react fast. Hopefully, if all three of us start sprinting at them with Zain in the front then they might be startled for a moment or two. Once we get close enough, Zain can jump and Vic and I will each catch one leg and throw you way over them. That way you’ll have time to land and sprint to the pole before they react. And if they try to jolt towards you, they’ll slip because they'll move too fast. Just make sure you don’t slip yourself, otherwise this plan turns to shreds.”
Victoria rubbed her hand along the back of her neck.
“So essentially, we’re running and throwing Zain, and with enough luck we’ll get him fully over these adults. And then he runs to grab the pole?”
“Do you think you can do it, Zain? Land from about seven feet high and then run as fast as you can on slippery stone?"
“I guess we’ll see when the time comes,” he replied.
“I can’t see anything else working with just three people.”
“Should we practice it?”
“That might just stress us out more. Let’s just sit here and relax for the next . . . however long it takes for 94 tests to finish.”
Up above, the crowd could be heard screaming and stomping and jumping in joy. The board on the side of the large room beeped and the first team on it blinked green for a moment, and then switched permanently. They had passed.
“I suppose that’s a nice way to start the tests,” Cameron said.
This went on for a while. What was astonishing that by the time they made it halfway through, not a single team had failed the test. Only half the recruits were now left in the room, some worrying while others grew more confident with each green team name. That meant whoever got into the PRO would have to have completed the tests in the best way possible—meaning the fastest. Speed was just as important as actually passing.
Zain was surprised to learn that he could have even more butterflies when Cleareye opened the door yet again and yelled in, “Victoria Robledo! Cameron Lin! Zain Qureishi!”
And so, they were up. 95th in the rankings. All 94 of the previous teams had passed, Evan’s too. Somewhere in the audience, Zain’s family would be watching, expecting him to succeed and fly higher than any other recruit. For some reason, that made him even more nervous. He didn’t want to fail in front of Sana. He felt like something would change between them if he failed in front of his eight-year-old sister.
Cleareye guided them through the rain towards a different entrance to the stadium, then proceeded to take them underground and into a small room with only a skinny black ladder in the center. A ladder that stretched into the darkness above.
“This ladder will take you up to the side of the rock you will start your test. Climb it fast, we have an audience up there. Good luck.”
With that, she stalked away. Her large figure shrunk as she headed into the thick rain and turned the corner. Victoria shakily inhaled.
“We can do this, Victoria,” Zain said.
He was the first to grab the rungs of the ladder and push himself up. One foot after the other, arms switching back and forth. He could vaguely sense his two teammates below him, but for some reason all he could notice at the moment were his sweaty hands and shaky breath. His whole arm was shaking, and not because of the freezing wind. With every step the roar of the audience grew louder and Zain’s breaths fainter.
He was so out of it that he didn’t realize when he reached the top. A solid piece of stone collided with his head and he almost lost his grip.
Slowly, he pushed open the trapdoor and climbed out.
Thunder. Lightning. What felt like millions of people staring directly at Zain’s face. He wanted to cover his ears. He wanted to climb back down the ladder and return to eating chocolate on his bed last night. But then Cameron crawled out of the hole, and then Victoria. They threw their cloaks onto the ground. Quickly, Zain peered over the ledge, but immediately turned back after seeing the distance to the net.
“You can do this,” Zain said to himself.
“Team Seahorse!” a booming voice echoed throughout the stadium. “Welcome to the stadium! Once you close the trapdoor, you have ten seconds before the test begins!”
The roar grew so loud that it overpowered the crackling thunder. As it turned out, the rock was more like a slab of granite, and the rain had made the smooth floor so slippery that it was difficult to hold their ground in the wind. Sure enough, in a horizontal line in front of them, stood nine tall men and women in black outfits. They were masked.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Ready.”
Victoria shut the trap door.
“Remember what I said,” Cameron shifted into a position to sprint forward. “Zain, stay in between Vic and I, just a little bit ahead. When I say go, you jump and Vic and I will each grab a foot and push you as far and high as we can. We need to have momentum, so we can’t run slow.”
Zain could see the pole far on the other side of the rock. It had to be about thirty meters away. Hanging on the side of the stadium, a large clock was counting down: Eight. Seven. Six.
Zain could see his frosty breath in the air.
Five. Four.
He squeezed his shaking fists.
Three. Two. One.
“GOOOO!” the commentator screamed.
The three of them broke into a sprint, directly towards the middle man. Zain’s body was full of adrenaline. The rain had stopped moving and the crowd had stopped screaming. It was only him, Victoria, and Cameron.
“GO!” Cameron yelled when they were close enough to a man to ram straight through him. By now, all the people in black had begun to lunge towards them.
Zain leaped as high as he could. Two firm grips established themselves under his feet. With several grunts, Victoria and Cameron pushed up as hard as they could. For a brief moment, Zain felt like he was flying. Past his teammates. Past the others. And he perfected the landing with a heart-stopping squeak from his shoes. He was over!
“Run, Zain!”
“As fast as you can!”
And so he did. Faster than ever before. Every millisecond the pole grew nearer and nearer. Now he just had to reach out for it and . . . he vaguely felt his feet collide with each other and his body being thrown forwards onto the solid floor. With one last effort he tried to grab for the pole, but his body kept sliding along the wet film. He missed.
“NO!”
The pole stood right next to the edge of the rock. Zain couldn’t stop it. With a gasp from the crowd and a shriek from Victoria, he flew off. All because he stupidly slipped.
He didn’t even know there were tears in his eyes until the rain slowed around him as he drifted towards the net below.
“And one of their members Zain Qureishi is thrown off the rock! Can they still pass the test with only two people?”
He didn’t even feel his body collide with the net. He just knew he did when the vacuum in his ears stopped. A mentor came over and lifted him up and dragged him off the net and to a small, open-walled room where they could try and watch from below. Zain didn’t want to watch. He had doomed his team and his friends’ futures. And all of Totum saw him do it.
Gently, a hand placed itself on Zain’s back and guided him into an elevator—the hand must have clicked the button as well, because he began to move up after the mentor left. He stood there, wide-eyed and unmoving with nothing to do and nothing to say. He had failed. By the time he’d reach the top, Team Seahorse would already be displayed red on the board. The first red name.
Ding.
The floor stopped moving up. Everything felt slow now. The air itself was slow moving. When the doors slid open, they were slow too. And the rain was no longer a thunderstorm, just a mellow shower that was only strong enough to make his hair moist. The only thing that tied Zain to the present was the sound of the actual rain. The heavy, fast, large droplets that were smacking on windows and floors and walls alike.
He was alone in the small room. A gray small couch and circular table in the middle somehow made it feel even more empty. On the window, in black font, the words “Team Seahorse” were bolded.
He wanted to look out the window and see his name on the board, and yet he didn’t. He didn’t want to watch Vic and Cameron struggling to fight off nine adults on their own. Quickly, he shut his eyes, opened them for a split second, to see the stadium, and shut them again. He must have seen wrong. Opening his eyes again, he fell back onto the couch in shock as he watched.
In the center of the rock was one of the men in black. He was tall, and bigger than anyone Zain had ever seen. His arms were the width of those of a gorilla’s and his back as vast as an ocean. There were only two other figures on the reflective rock. Two small, short figures who could have stood on each other and still been shorter than the man. Cameron and Victoria. Zain screamed in delight. He didn’t know how, but they had managed to get eight of the enemies off of the rock. He could see their reflection on the glossy, wet floor right beneath them.
It was hard to make out what was going on, but understood that Victoria was jolting towards the big one while Cameron scurried around and reached for the pole.
The audience roared in delight.
“Just on the edge of failing but they have passed the test! A story that will be retold many times, I’m sure!”
Cameron had grabbed the pole and lifted it out of the ground. On the board, the name “Team Seahorse” flickered green. Zain jumped and jumped until he couldn’t jump anymore and his wet body collapsed on the couch.
They had won.
Slowly, the adrenaline faded away and he came back to reality. Zain had failed his team. They had to win without him. He was the weak link.