I walk counter-clockwise around the arena, finding that there really are more blocks along the edge than normal. Rather than having some gaps within a few feet of the barrier and every few feet, I'm having to constantly climb over, jump over, or move around. Halfway down the first side of the arena, I come across a section where I have to climb over a block onto another block, drop down onto a block, take a step to the side and jump over a block, and so on for almost thirty feet straight.

As I walk, I find myself picking up speed at times and having to force myself to slow back down since Lucas said to walk. I'm not sure why he wants me to do this, since we're already at the stage where I'm running, but okay.

After three full laps of it, Lucas seems to have figured something out because he looks ready to move on to the next stage. I'm mostly saying that because he's holding a tablet.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I figured out how to change the lighting in here," he tells me. "With the switches, I can only turn them on or off, but I knew there was a way to actually change the lightning."

Why would we want to change the lighting in here?

Ah.

"You want to see if my powers change in strength based on if I'm in light or darkness?" I ask. "Since I'm-"

"No," he taps on the tablet, and the room darkens pretty heavily, though I can still see alright. However, it's got to be killer for a normal person to see in here. As has happened recently, I feel a bit stronger and more energetic with it being darker in here, with there being little light around. "I want to see the difference in you based on that. You can see in this, right?"

"Yeah," I look around at the arena a little bit, then face him once more. "I can even make out where the shadows are deeper, darker, with pretty good clarity."

"Alright," he says. "Run back and forth across here, and I'll time you. You said your parents both had this power, so it's probably a little bit stronger starting out. I'd estimate a lap might take you about five minutes at base like this. Then we'll run through a series of other exercises to see the difference between normal and in darkness of this level."

"Okay," I turn around. "Tell me when."

"Go."

I take off across the arena. Rather than going at a steady pace, I do my best to put on speed, to try to reach that five-minute mark. With the darkness around me, my reflexes are sharper, quicker, allowing me to react much faster than I normally could. A jump over this block, a twist around this one, a step onto this then jump onto that before landing on the floor, a step over this, a jump over that, and so on.

When I reach Lucas again, he's looking a little frustrated.

"Did I not make it?" I ask. "It's okay to be wrong with your estimate."

"No, it's not that," he returns the lights back to normal. My energy and strength drop back to normal immediately. "Take about thirty seconds of rest, then go as fast as you can. You were holding back a bit before."

"Yeah," I answer. "I'm definitely getting faster, but my reflexes are still catching up. I could only go faster in the darkness because I knew I'd be able to react. I probably could have gone even faster just now, actually, but that was as fast as I could go and not be worried over my reflexes."

"Hm," he thinks for a few moments. "So it's a matter of reflexes, then? We'll need to work on those."

"We already are," I say.

"Yeah," he nods. "I think for martial arts days, I'm going to add in fifteen minutes of reflex training. It will involve you reacting as soon as something happens, with specific reactions for specific signals."

"On top of all the other reflex training I'm doing?"

Going after the balls, navigating this, just sparring with him for martial arts – those all require training my reflexes.

"Yeah," he answers. "This is training specifically for your reflexes."

"Oh," I say. "So what was my time?"

"How many laps in a row do you think you can do right now?" He asks. "If I alternate between light and dark?"

"I tend to recover energy in darkness," I say. "And have a fair bit right now. Maybe four or five more laps?"

"Okay," he says. "Do them all and push yourself to your limits. I'll give you your times once you finish. Six laps total, including the one you just did. After that, you'll probably be close to having finished recovering your magic. We'll rest until you have, then I've got something new."

Another new thing?

"Alright," I stretch again. "Ready?"

"Go."

I take off across the arena again. This time, I'm going slower, more cautious. However, I'm still going faster than I normally do, and it results in me bumping and stumbling a few times. At one point, I nearly trip over a block, but manage to catch myself on another and keep going. Yeah, my reflexes definitely need training before I push myself like this more.

Once I finish the lap, Lucas darkens the room and allows me thirty seconds of rest, partly to catch my breath, partly so that I can recover a little with the benefits the darkness provides me now. I do the lap, then he allows me thirty seconds of rest before flipping the light back on.

After all six laps are completed, I lean against the barrier and look at Lucas, who's fiddling with the tablet, grumbling under his breath while looking annoyed.

"Do you get stronger in light?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "But I do heal faster and regain energy faster in it. So no, my time when I showed you back then wasn't through enhancement."

"Okay," I say. "What were my times?"

"For the normal times," he looks at his tablet. "They were five minutes and fifty-seven seconds, five minutes and fifty-four seconds, and six minutes and three seconds. That's a pretty good boost, even with you tripping. Your exhaustion was showing in the last one, and you're right, your reflexes are definitely what's holding you back, so we're definitely including reflex training on martial arts days."

"Neat," I say. "I'll still go at my little-slower pace, but that's definitely a sign that I'll hit the four-minute mark by the time I'm contact, so long as I keep it up."

"Yeah, about that," he mumbles. "Your strength-in-darkness times, erm… three minutes and fifty-eight seconds, three minutes and fifty-seven seconds, and three minutes and fifty-nine seconds. I was hoping it was a fluke."

That last part is a definite grumble, and I realize why now he seems aggravated. He thinks he has to kiss Zane. I need to figure something out for it, but it might take me a few days.

"Alright," I say. "I think it'll only be another four or five minutes before I'm back to full magic."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Take a breather," he tells me. "I-"

"Lucas," Tabitha's voice comes over the radio, a note of urgency to it. "I know you're in a session with Kieran right now, but can you come down to the lobby? We have a situation."

Lucas grabs his walkie and holds it up to his mouth.

"Be there in a sec," he says, then clips it back to his waist. "If I'm not back before you're recovered, do six five-foot shadow steps, then try to do five-foot moving shadow steps. You'll probably only manage three or four rather than all five. Once you can't do another five-foot one while moving, stop and do the normal training stuff while waiting for me to return. If I'm not back by the end of the session, do the normal finishing stuff, no moving shadow steps."

"Got it," I say, then he flashes out of here.

I sit on a block and wait for my magic to recover, then do as Lucas instructed. My guess is that he had always intended on having me start performing moving shadow steps once I was able to do one more normal one. Didn't he tell me he was waiting until next month, though? Or am I misremembering things?

Upon recovering the last bit of my magic, I perform five shadow steps of five feet, then begin my moving shadow steps. Rather than running into a shadow like I did on Saturday, I instead just walk into one while focusing my energies on the shift.

Unlike with the running starts, there's less disorientation when I make the shift. I'm going to guess that it's normal to build up to running into the steps rather than going full-on into them from the start. I don't stumble, but I do come close to it.

Once the disorientation fades, I walk toward another shadow and perform another shadow-step. I manage to complete four full five-foot ones, and judging by the magic cost of the moving shadow-steps, I don't have enough magic for a fifth unless I shrink the range down to only three or four feet. That's against what Lucas instructed, so I begin performing laps, alternating between walking and running, not giving myself more than thirty seconds of rest after each one.

I continue my training as normal, and Lucas doesn't return by the time the two hours are up. Is everything okay? How bad was the situation? I hope he's okay and is just having to fill out paperwork or something over it.

Since the training exhausted me, I do like normal lately and just lie on a block on the arena to catch my breath. After my shower, I'll check at the desk to see what's going on. Or is it not safe for me to go to the front? Is it a dangerous kind of situation?

The door to the room opens after a few moments, and since it was locked, I'm sure it's Todd.

"Hey," I raise a hand.

"Hello," Todd responds. "Waiting for Lucas to finish?"

"Is he still busy with that thing?" I ask.

"He's talking with the officers right now," Todd answers as I sit up. "Should be done in a few minutes."

"Cool," I say. "I was just resting, was getting ready to head to the showers."

"Alright," he says as I climb over the barrier. "How do you like it here? Training here, I mean. You're coming in far more than others, so I'm assuming you like it?"

"Yeah," I answer. "I'm definitely building up strength, stamina, and skill. My powers are growing stronger, too. I actually figured out a new one, the same power my parents had."

"I heard," he nods. "Did it awaken on its own? Or did you try to awaken it?"

"On its own, I think," I tell him. "Lucas was planning on doing some tests with it today, but then got called away before he could do more than just speed and agility. Mind if I ask what happened?"

"I don't actually know," he answers as someone tries the door to the room. "Weird, no one usually tries this room."

"Might be Zane."

"HEY!" Zane's voice comes through the door. "SHADOW BOY AND LIGHT-FOR-BRAINS! YOU IN THERE?"

"Yeah, that's Zane," I say as Todd laughs.

Todd walks over and unlocks the door, letting Zane into the room. Zane's wearing just the shorts he put on before leaving, his bag slung over one shoulder. Whatever he did while training, he did a fair bit of physical exertion because his cheeks are flushed and he's soaked in sweat, his hair sticking to his head.

"Secret boyfriend?" Zane asks me, and while his tone is teasing, I can tell from his eyes he's worried that there's actual competition that he and Lucas will have to deal with.

Possibly someone who's taken my heart already because they were too slow for it.

"Pretty sure he's straight," I tell Zane. "This is Todd, he cleans the room."

Zane looks around in confusion, probably because he can't see a cleaning cart or anything.

"With his power."

"Oh, cool," he says. "What's the power?"

"I create a cleaning and sanitizing mist," Todd answers. "It takes about thirty seconds and completely cleans the room. I can show you if you want, but you'll need to hold your breath, Stoneboy. The power won't be good for your lungs. It'll eliminate your need for a shower, though."

"Oh, neat!" Zane reaches for his shorts.

"You don't need to get naked," Todd says. "It'll penetrate through your shorts."

"You're showing me yours, I'm showing you mine!" Zane grins, dropping his shorts and stepping out as he turns to stone. "Plus, I'd be getting naked after to dress, anyway."

Zane drops his bag on the ground as I roll my eyes, and Todd just shrugs.

"I don't need to breathe in this form, by the way," Zane tells him. "I do just out of habit, and your misty stuff won't hurt me while I'm like this. So don't worry about messing with my lungs."

"Alright," Todd looks at me. "Ready?"

I inhale deeply and give him a thumbs-up, then he holds up his hands and releases his mist. It quickly fills the room, making my skin tingle as it rolls over it and works its way everywhere. Then it fades away, leaving us clean, and Zane examines himself in amazement.

"That's freaking awesome!" He exclaims. "All my sweat's gone! And it feels tingly good, too!"

"I take it you just used your power?" Lucas asks, and the three of us look over to find him standing by the barrier.

"Yeah," Todd answers. "Done with the officers?"

"Yeah," Lucas answers as Zane gives him an enthusiastic wave. "That mess was annoying. Power users trying to control what other power users do."

He shakes his head.

"Anyway," he says. "Thanks for taking care of the room, Todd. I trust Zane didn't try getting inappropriate with you?"

"He seems pretty nice," Todd says. "Anyway, I should get going. See you around, Kieran, Zane."

"See you," I say.

"Bye!" Zane holds out a fist for a bump, which Todd meets.

Todd leaves, then Lucas grabs my shorts off the barrier and steps over to us, handing them to me.

"Thanks," I say, then stuff them into my bag and pull out my underwear.

"What?" Zane asks, sounding confused.

I look over to find Lucas looking at him awkwardly. Why is Lucas standing so close?

"What would you do if I kissed you?" Lucas asks.

That seems random.

"Kiss you back!" Zane enthusiastically answers. "Though you'd never do that in a million years, so-"

"Ah!" I remember that Lucas thinks he needs to, but it's too late to stop because Lucas grabs Zane and pulls him against himself, pressing his lips to Stoneboy's.

Zane only pauses for a moment before returning the kiss, and man is it hot. Lucas must be so uncomfortable, especially because Zane's naked and rock-hard and they're pressed against each other. The kiss really does seem pretty passionate, Lucas not holding back in it and Zane returning the favor. They're both probably desperate, and I can tell that Zane wants to start stripping Lucas but is holding back.

He's holding Lucas's polo just above the pants, his hands starting to make an upward motion before stopping. Lucas, meanwhile, has his arms around Zane's neck, crossing each other behind Zane's head.

A full minute of the kiss passes, then Lucas steps away and looks at me. His face is crimson.

"He's very aggressive with his tongue," he says.

"Whoo!" Zane exclaims, looking thrilled. "That was amazing, Lucas! I thought you hated me? What brought that on? Are you secretly wanting in my bed? Sorry, but I'm aiming for Kieran!"

"Lucas," I clear my throat. "I never actually said that's what you had to do if you won the bet. I was just teasing you because I knew you thought it would be something involving Zane."

Lucas's face turns a wonderful shade of scarlet at the realization that he just kissed Zane without needing to. I kind of feel bad for that, but in my defense, I hadn't said that he had to and I didn't remember that he thought he needed to until it was too late.

"A bet?" Zane asks.

"I'm still going to aim to be able to do a lap back and forth in under four minutes without darkness-enhanced speed and agility," I tell Lucas. "Before I find out if I get the job or not. Want to keep the bet on? And make sure that the order is the actual order before doing it?"

"Um, yeah," Lucas awkwardly answers. "Let's do that. Also, um, we'll count this as still yet to be fulfilled. I didn't expect you to actually tease me so I thought you were serious. So you, uh, still have your order."

"Tell me all about it on the way home," Zane grins at me. "I want to find out why he kissed me and I think he'd be a bit too uncomfortable with it being said right here."

"Alright," I snort. "Let's get dressed, Zane."

Hopefully, Lucas will see Zane's more mature side, because I know Zane isn't going to tease Lucas too much due to how obviously uncomfortable the realization it wasn't needed was. He might tease if it goes with what's going on or being said, but I know Zane will know there's a line drawn on bringing it up without that.

"Let's!" He exclaims. "I'm starving! Do you mind if we get a snack on the way, since I'm walking the distance twice."

"Only if you get me one, too," I answer as my stomach rumbles.

"It's a deal!"

"He's walking you home tonight?" Lucas asks.

"I have stuff at his place still," I tell him. "So yeah, we'll walk there, then to my place, and he'll head back home."

"Alright," he says. "Have a good night, you two. See you tomorrow."

Lucas flashes out of here, and Zane gives me a curious look, none of his mischief present.

"So… the kiss?"