by Lisa Beeson
He led her to a hallway that had the words ‘To Gym’ painted on the wall, with an arrow pointing forward.
“Don’t you have to go see your boss?” Ari asked.
“I will, but I wanted to show you the gym first. You’re pretty athletic, right? You look athletic.”
Ari shrugged, saying, “Yeah, I guess. I was on my school’s dive team.”
“Perfect,” he said with a confident smile. He led her through the hallway past a window where she saw a guy seated at a counter behind a stack of folded towels, busy playing something on his phone.
“Hey, Rob,” Cam said as they passed by.
“Hey, Cam…,” Rob answered, without looking up from his phone.
The hallway opened up to the gym. “Welcome to P.K. Hawk’s Parkour Gym.”
It didn’t look like any gym Ari had seen before. The walls had a mural of the Chicago skyline, with various birds soaring over the buildings. And the large space was filled with hanging bars, wooden boxes, ropes, random climbing obstacles, and pits full of spongy foam blocks. It was like a giant playground for big kids.
There were a couple people on the apparatuses, swinging from bar to bar, doing flips off of wooden boxes, and climbing up the rock walls in the back. It looked like so much fun.
“I can’t believe you actually get paid to do this,” she said.
Cam smiled and nodded. “Yup, but I don’t just do it. I do it with flare,” he said with a jaunty tilt of his head. “Okay, c’mon. I guess we better go see Hawk.”
“You want me to see him with you?”
Cam nodded. He took the sunglasses off of her face and stuck them on her head. “Yep. I need to use those ‘Precious Moments’ eyes and sweet southern accent of yours to soften him up, just in case I’m in real trouble.”
“I don’t have an accent,” Ari said, confused. At least she didn’t think she did. Her parents were northern transplants, so she didn’t pick it up from them…
Cam pinched his fingers together. “You do, just a little bit. Don’t worry it’s not over the top or anything. Actually, it’s kind of adorable.”
Hmm… I guess I better get a handle on that, so people won’t be able to guess where I came from.
Ari sighed and shook her head, then followed Cam to Hawk’s office. He knocked before opening the door and they walked in. Hawk was sitting behind his desk talking on the phone. When he saw Cam, Hawk held up a finger to tell him he’d only be a minute. Ari took that moment to look around. Hawk had a large L shaped desk that held a computer and a whole mess of papers. Hung on the wall to the right, were multiple monitors showing various security camera feeds from both inside and outside the building. One of the screens showed Tank in the store, helping a customer. He was being pleasant and courteous. Ari had to grin at the stark difference between now and how he treated Cam earlier. Then, she glanced at Hawk, who was still talking on the phone. He looked like he was in his mid-forties. He was fit for his age, but the stress of owning a business had etched deep lines on his forehead and around his light brown eyes. He had dark hair, cut short, and a full beard with patches of grey running through it.
Hawk hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “Glad you decided to show up, Cam,” he said, then looked over at Ari. “Who’s this?”
Cam put a proprietorial arm around Ari’s shoulders. “This, good sir, is my new protégé. She needs a place to crash, so I brought her here.”
Hawk shrewdly looked her over. “How old are you?”
Ari felt nervous, like she was in front of a judge who was about to decide her fate. “Um…I’m thirteen, sir.”
“Jesus, Cam! She’s a baby. I’m not running an orphanage for stray kids here. I’m trying to run a legitimate business. You’re only a couple years away from being a legal adult, so I can let that squeak by, but a kid her age will bring the cops down on my neck faster than you can say ‘runaway.’”
“Give her a chance, Hawk. This kid’s special, I can feel it in my bones. Besides, you decided to take a chance on a scrawny street kid a year ago, and now look what you got…” He spread out his arms and presented himself like a prize from a game show.
Hawk smirked. “Yeah, look what I got – a smart-mouthed brat who’s starting to be more trouble than he’s worth.”
Cam looked wounded. “Aw Hawk, you don’t mean that. Just look at this face…,” he said while grabbing Ari’s face with his right hand. “How can you say no to those big blue doe-eyes?”
Ari tried to look as pitiful as she could.
Hawk scowled at her. She could tell he felt bad for her, but he also didn’t want to get in trouble for harboring a runaway. He rubbed his face with his hands, thinking it over.
“I had wanted you in here, Cam, so I could tell you that Tally got a job as a stuntman in L.A., and I need your help to find a replacement for him.”
“Well, that’s perfect!” Cam interjected, pointing emphatically at Ari.
“An untested thirteen year old girl is not a replacement for someone as talented as Tally.”
“Just give her a chance, Hawk. Let her run the gauntlet. I know she can do it. Besides, she can bring in the younger customers. Think about it, the younger the customer, the longer the patronage…”
Ari hid behind her poker face. She didn’t like the sound of ‘running the gauntlet’, but she also needed a place to stay and to earn money.
Hawk looked between Ari and Cam, mentally weighing the pros and cons. “Fine,” he said, and then pointed at Cam. “Go prep her and make sure she’s ready. You’ve got…,” he looked over at the clock on the wall, “forty-five minutes before she runs the gauntlet. Then, after she fails, you can go out and find a real replacement for Tally.”
Cam raised his arms in triumph. “You won’t regret this, Hawk. I’m telling you!”
Already done with the conversation, Hawk turned to his computer. “Yeah, yeah, just have her ready in forty-five minutes.”
Cam grabbed Ari’s shoulders and pushed her backwards out of the office. “C’mon Pipes, we gotta get you ready.” He took her back into the store to the women’s section. “Pick out what you need, but quickly. Forty-five minutes is not a lot of time to make you an expert free-runner. Ready…go.”
Ari stood there uncertainly. “Cam, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but there’s no way I’m going to be able to pull this off.”
Cam shushed her. “The gauntlet’s not as violent as it sounds. It’ll only maim you a little bit if you mess up.” He ignored the horror on her face. “Buck up, champ, we’re superheroes remember? No sweat.”
Ari wanted to scream at him that no, they most definitely were not superheroes, but he had already gone off to look at shoes.
“Hey, what size shoe do you wear?” he asked over at the shoe section.
With a long-suffering sigh she told him what size she thought she might be now, and he ran off to the back to get some shoes.
She was perusing the shorts rack, not sure what she was looking for, when Tank came up beside her.
“Whatcha looking for…Pipes is it?” he asked, sounding unsure.
She laughed. “It’s Ari, actually. Cam just calls me Pipes, because he heard me sing.”
Tank nodded. “Yeah, he’s weird like that,” he said, looking in the direction Cam had run off. “Are you looking for anything specific?”
“Hawk wants me to run the gauntlet in about…,” she looked down at Ruby’s watch, “…forty minutes. But I have no clue what that is or what I’m supposed to be looking for. So yeah…I’m pretty much going to die.”
Tank let out a whistle. “The gauntlet, huh? Ambitious… I’d actually like to see that. I might pop in and watch.” He called out to a girl named Sarah, who was behind the checkout counter. As she came over, he said, “Sarah will hook you up with what you need. Good luck, Ari.”
Sarah quickly helped Ari pick out a pair of shorts, a tank top, and just as she was handing Ari a brightly colored pair of socks, Cam came out of the stockr
oom with about five boxes of shoes. Ari found a pair that fit best, and Cam rushed her over to the women’s locker room to change.
About twenty minutes into their forty-five minutes, Cam had her in the gym and was teaching her different techniques for landing and propelling herself. She was a natural at most of it, but she did lack some upper body strength.
Cam told her that ‘running the gauntlet’ was just going through the advanced course from beginning to end, mastering every obstacle, in the quickest amount of time possible. “No big deal, you got this,” he said, giving her a hearty pat on the back.
“Yeah, no big deal…I’ll just probably break my arms…or my legs …or my neck.” She sighed dispiritedly, while looking at the course. “I just hope it’s a quick death.”
Cam just laughed.
At forty-five minutes on the dot, Hawk came into the gym with his arms crossed, looking skeptically at Ari.
Could you look any judgier, Hawk? Sheesh.
“Okay, kid. Let’s get this over with. And, just so you know, this gym is a ‘run at your own risk’ kind of place,” he said as he pointed to a sign on the wall. “So, if you hurt yourself, I claim no responsibility.”
Of course you don’t…
She looked back at Cam, who gave her an encouraging smile and motioned for her to go to the beginning of the course. She took a few deep breaths and made her way over to the starting point. There was some fast beat music blaring over the speakers around the gym to help pump up the patrons. She tried to focus on the beat and the rhythm of the music while she planned out her best course of action.
She noticed that the other people in the gym stopped what they were doing to stand by Cam and Hawk and watch her. She hated being the center of attention. Cam called out to her, “No pressure, but my whole reputation is riding on this. So, don’t suck!” He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
Yeah, thanks…no pressure.
Ari’s heart was pounding against her ribcage, but she put all her energy into focusing on the course. Suddenly, the projected physics of what she had to do to get through the course appeared before her eyes. Just like Jonas had done with the balls on the pool table back in Arkansas. This time, instead of seeing the cue ball’s trajectory, she saw her own. It showed the exact angles she needed to hit certain obstacles, and how much energy she needed to expend and the velocity with which she needed to propel herself over others. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she had somehow learned how to use Jonas’s ability. Since she was seeing things at his amplified state, she must be able to boost her own abilities as well.
This is incredible!
“I don’t have all day, kid. Let’s go,” Hawk called out, and she snapped out of her thoughts.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she called back.
She took a deep breath, then followed the path her mind projected in front of her. Executing everything perfectly, she hit everything exactly how the math told her to. She used her momentum to jump from pedestal to pedestal, and she swung on and off of the bars at just the right angles. Landing softly like Cam had taught her, she even threw in some extra flips to add ‘flare’. The last obstacle was something called the warped wall. Cam had said that Hawk got the idea from a T.V. show. It was impossible to some, but Ari knew just how fast to run and at what angle to propel herself up to the top. As she grabbed the edge and pulled herself up, the place exploded with cheers.
She stood up and nearly collapsed in relief. She had pulled it off. She was alive, and it was the most fun she’d had in a while. She had to admit, free-running really did make her feel like a superhero.
Everyone was cheering, except for Hawk who was stoically standing there stroking his beard with dollars signs in his eyes. Even Tank was cheering, but no one was as excited as Cam. He was jumping up and down ecstatically, and she could hear him shouting, “I knew it! I knew it! The bones don’t lie! She did it!”
Ari was breathing heavily, but she silently thanked Adam for keeping her in shape over the past couple months. She climbed down the ladder on the back side of the wall, and when she was back down on the floor, Cam ran over, picked her up, and spun her around.
“That’s my little protégé! That was extraordinary, Pipes! Full grown men haven’t been able to do that as well as you did. You’re a natural!”
She couldn’t believe what she had just done – obstacle course, projected math equations, and all. She wondered if it was just a one-time thing or if she was really capable of learning a Progeny’s abilities.
Tank came up to congratulate her. He was followed by the rest of the people in the gym, even cell phone-obsessed Rob. Ari was glad that her dark complexion mostly hid her blushing face. She wasn’t used to all this praise. Hawk made his way through the crowd, telling Ari to follow him to his office. “And Cam, go tell Leo to make another mask. We have a new member of The Flock.”
Ari smiled, and Cam beamed from ear to ear. “I’m on it, chief.” He saluted, and as he ran off, he mouthed the words “I told you so” to Ari.
Ari got her backpack from the locker room and changed, then followed Hawk back to his office. He sat down in his desk chair and motioned for her to pull up one of the chairs against the wall. She pushed one over and sat across from him. He looked at her appraisingly. “Well, it looks like I underestimated you. That was really something back there.”
“Thank you, sir.” He had a way of unnerving her, so she hid behind her poker face.
“Now, I don’t know your real name, and I don’t want to know. The less I know about you, the better off I am.”
I couldn’t agree with you more, buddy.
“The streets can be a very ugly and dangerous place for a young girl like you. I wouldn’t feel right sending you back out there. I have a young daughter of my own, so you hit my soft spot. I’m going to let you stay upstairs with Cam and Leo. They’re good kids, so they won’t give you any trouble.”
Ari smiled appreciatively. “Thank you, sir.”
He leaned in. “But let me be perfectly clear, if I get even an inkling of any cops sniffing around here, you’re gone. Do you understand?”
Ari nodded. “Yes sir, I understand. But you don’t have to worry; I won’t be in Chicago for very long.”
“Well, let’s not be hasty now. Cam was right; you’ll bring in a lot of young customers with your skills. Not only will you bring in the young girls, but the young boys will see you and think that if a girl can do it, so could they.”
Ari didn’t quite know how to take that last part, so she just kept quiet.
“You’re a cute kid and all, but you’re going to have to cover that up when you put one of my store shirts on, you understand? Cam’s family is all dead, so I don’t have to worry about them coming after me, but you’re a wild card, so we got to keep you covered.”
Her heart stung for Cam, but she agreed with Hawk whole-heartedly. Ari didn’t want her face all over the internet either.
“I’ll be paying you under the table for each video we put out. You’re too young to work in the store or the gym, so that’ll have to do. Cam and Leo will show you how it’s all done, and when your mask is ready you can go out and make your debut.” He dug around in his file cabinet and brought out some release waivers he needed her to sign. He told her not to use her real name, and to try to make it somewhat illegible. So, she signed everything as Ariana Reyes in her worst handwriting.
When she was finished, they stood up and shook hands. “Welcome to The Flock,” he said with a smile. Ari smiled back and left the office.
Cam was in the hallway waiting for her. “There’s my little star. C’mon, I’ll show you to your new digs.”
She followed him up the back stairs. At the top, Cam opened the door with a flourish. “Welcome to the Aviary,” he announced, ushering her in.
It was a studio apartment, with a tiny kitchen to the right that was only a fridge and a counter with a sink. It didn’t even have a stove, just a microwave and a hot plate. The furniture looked
like they gotten it all from different yard sales. There was an old trunk serving as a coffee table, and three different colored couches, seemingly from three different decades. Ari noticed that the place had a distinct mystery smell. She didn’t mind, though. It was better than life on the L train.
“Nobody calls it that, loser,” said a voice from the green 1980’s couch that faced a large, flat screen T.V. mounted on the far wall.
“Shut your face, Leo. The Aviary is an awesome name. Now, turn around and greet your new roommate.”
Leo turned around and waved. Ari smiled, waving back.
Leo looked to be around Cam’s age. He wore a grey knit cap over his shaved head, and black-rimmed hipster glasses. He had light brown skin and cinnamon-colored eyes that reminded Ari of Sadie.
“Leo, this is Pipes. Pipes, this is Leo. He’s our resident artist. He’s the one that did all the murals downstairs. He makes the masks.”
“I’ll be done with yours in a day or so. I’m sketching it out now,” Leo said, holding up his sketchbook.
“Awesome, thanks. I love all your murals, you’re really talented. But you don’t have to call me Pipes. My name is Ari.”
Leo smiled, nodded, then went back to sketching and watching T.V.
Cam continued on with the tour, pointing to various spots in the open space. “That’s my bed in the corner, by the bureau. Leo just sleeps on the pull out couch, over there. That door past the kitchen is the bathroom. And this…,” he said, walking over to an alcove on the left that was closed off by two colorful mismatched shower curtains, hanging by a rope strung between the two walls. He dramatically opened them up to reveal a small futon bed in front of a couple windows, and a small, rickety bookshelf that had a desk lamp on top. “…is your very own private space. I had to throw it together on very short notice, but you can jazz it up however you want. And this way you can get away from us hooligans.”
It was a bit underwhelming, but he was trying so hard to make her happy that she couldn’t help but smile and be thankful. “It’s great, Cam. Thank you.”
