Chapter 8: Partners

Hothead:

"You must stay six feet back," Alodia orders, putting up a third finger. "That is rule number 3. Rule number 4. You must address me as Ms. Darreth. Do you understand?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"Rule 5. Do not say yup. We are not friends. I am not your 'bro' or whatever. It is either a yes or a no. Do you understand?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

"You're going to fall if you don't stop."

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head. "Wait, what did you say?"

Before Ms. Darreth can answer, my foot lands on nothing and I fall over a cliff.

"Hothead," Ms. Darreth shouts, running and peeking over the ledge. Looking down, she sees me hanging to the side of the cliff. As I was falling, I pulled out my sword and stabbed the cliff with it.

"Are you okay," Ms. Darreth asks. "Here. Give me your hand."

Ms. Darreth reaches down and offers me her hand. Having to swing around for a bit, I finally grab her hand and she pulls me up.

"Thanks," I say as I climb back up.

"Don't thank me," Ms. Darreth says as she pushes herself and dusts herself off. "You're an idiot, you know that. If you pay even a little attention to your surroundings, you would have noticed that giant cliff. What would have happened if I wasn't here to pull you up?"

"Chances are," I say, getting up and dusting myself off. As I do, I look down and see a lot of sharp rocks at the bottom. "I would have a few holes in me. Thanks again for the save."

Ms. Darreth rolls her head and clicks her tongue. She looks past the cliff to the other side.

"North is that way," she says, pointing to the other side.

"Yes," I say, "North is that way, but that's in our way."

I kick some sand over the side and watch as it falls.

"I don't suppose your gift is flight. Otherwise, we'll need to find a way around."

Ms. Darreth and I look left and right. As far as our eyes can see, there seems to be no end to the cliff. It's like one giant, crooked, black line and unfortunately, we're on the wrong side of the line.

"Come on," I say with a nudge of my head. "Let's head this way. Maybe we can find something that will help us get across."

"Like what," Ms. Darreth asks. "Are you hoping the academy built a bridge all the way out here?"

"Not exactly a bridge," I answer, "But more like just two cliffs closer together."

Ms. Darreth runs up and grabs me by the shoulder. She turns me around and gazes at me.

"Are you telling me you're hoping to find two cliffs close enough for us to jump!"

"Well, yeah. That's my plan. Do you have a better one?"

Ms. Darreth lowers her head and sighs.

"That's a no, isn't it?"

Ms. Darreth sighs once more and pushes me out of the way. Together, we walk alongside the cliffside.

"Six feet," she yells.

"Yup," I say with a nod of my head.

Shocker:

It feels like my lungs are about to burst. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I pull, I can't get free of the thing in the water. The thing pulls me deep into the water and before I know it, something else wraps itself around one of my feet.

Activating my gauntlets but not my gift, I pry the thing from around my waist. Using one arm to keep the thing from my waist, I use my other arm to snap the thing around my foot. Once free, I swim back up as fast as I can. Bursting out of the water, I try to swim back to land but I feel something wraps around my waist again. As it tries to pull me down, I grab the thing with my metal hands and struggle to break free. While struggling, I hear someone screaming.

"Quickly," a boy with white and brown hair says. "Grab on!"

He swings his hand and something shoots out toward me. Looking like a black wire, I grab the wire. The boy then swings his hand back, the wire following and pulling me out of the water.

I fly through the air for a bit before falling back on dry land. The second my back is on dry land, I hit my chest, and water shoots out of my mouth. Now that I can breathe again, I look up to see the boy hovering over me.

"Are you okay," the boy asks.

I try to get up but the boy pushes me down.

"Don't get up too fast," he says. "Take some time to rest."

I shake my head and point at the water. The thing that tries to pull me in finally emerges from beneath the water. Water splashes everywhere as a massive animal with a long black body and white armor rises, it swings its dozen tentacles around.

"A giant crustacle," the boy says, standing up. "Hunt by hiding in the water until a prey stops for a drink. Honey, keep him safe while I deal with the crustacle."

I don't even have time to think about what is happening before a girl appears before me. The girl has short orange hair and is wearing a white, sleeveless vest with a pink skirt.

"On it," Honey says, slapping her hand against her forehead. She pulls her weapon out from behind her and aims it at the crustacle. She doesn't shoot, however. Instead, she just aims it at the beast while dragging me away.

"Come on," she says as she drags me. "Chadd tends to run around a lot when he fights. It's best to give him some room."

Dragging and dropping me underneath the shade of a palm tree, she picks me up and places me against the trunk. She then sits down beside me and together, we watch Chadd fight the crustacle.

Jump:

"Darn it," I say after walking out of another pitch-black hallway. Walking around a corner, I come across another intersection, filled with more hallways. I look down and see one of my bolts. Dropping to my knee, I pick up the bolt.

"I've already been here. I'm walking in circles."

I shake my head and put the bolt back down. I pull out another bolt from my crossbow and place it in front of the hallway I just exited. With that hallway marked, I look around and see one hallway without a bolt. Without much choice, I start to walk down that hallway. However, it looks exactly like all the others.

"Stonewall. Stone walkway. Pitch-black all around."

As I keep walking, trying to find a way out of here or at least a game piece, I think I hear something and immediately turn around.

"Nothing. That's weird."

I turn around and walk again, but after a few steps, I hear the sound again. It sounds like someone is tapping against the stone wall but way faster. Too fast to be a normal person. Unless that person's gift is enhanced speed.

"Okay," I shout into the darkness. "Who's there? Come on. Stop playing around. It's dark and creepy enough in here as it is. I don't need this. What I need is an exit."

The only thing to answer me is the rapid tapping. As I listen closely, the tapping seems to be getting closer. It seems to be moving toward me.

"What the hey," I scream when I see a bunch of tiny black dots moving toward me. The black dots cover the hallway. They're on the ground, on the floor, and even on the ceiling. They're moving toward me, tapping as they move.

Using both my crossbows, I fire a few bolts but they don't do anything except knock down a few bugs. As they get closer and closer, I have no choice but to run. Running as fast as I can, I run into another intersection, with three different pathways, each going in a separate direction. None of them have any bolts, meaning they're all new, unexplored pathways.

The tapping only a few feet from away, I choose to go straight ahead. As I run, I turn and fire as many bolts as possible. Once again, they do nothing but knock off a few dots. Running and running without stopping, I see a turn coming up ahead. Seeing a light coming from around the corner, I pick up the pace and put forth whatever energy I have left. As soon as I reach the corner, I turn but instead of seeing an exit, I see a boy with yellow hair.

As I run into him, our heads bump and our lips touch.