by T. S. Hall
After Milly explained the different obstacles, the four teens lined up on top of a ten-foot-high platform. The first obstacle was a series of scattered logs. On the ground at the base of the logs were numerous holes in the ground.
“So who would like to go first?” Milly asked, watching from the ground. Dax stepped forward, looking smug and confident. “You’ve got to traverse and balance on the logs while also avoiding what comes out from below.”
“That sounds easy enough.”
Dax stepped onto the log in front of him. Then he leapt to the next one, which only had enough room for one foot. From below, a red burst of hadron shot up and exploded. The shockwave pushed Dax to his right. He tried to adjust his balance, leaping onto another log. Another red burst shot up as he waved his arms, trying to escape from the inevitable. The red burst hit him in the chest, knocking him into the air and then down onto the sand below. Dax made a few weird noises, clutching his chest and sucking in air.
Milly shook her head. “Like I said, agile and quick. You cannot be careful on the gauntlet. If you hesitate, this course will eat you up and spit you back out.”
“Well, you are right about the spitting up part,” Dax said, clutching his stomach, and then vomiting up his breakfast.
“Gross!” Katie exclaimed.
Tanner stepped forward. He quickly moved across the logs as a barrage of red hadron bursts exploded in his path. One of the explosions knocked him back, but he was able to step onto another log. He corrected his balance right before another red burst shot up. He was much more coordinated than Dax.
After a few long strides, Tanner reached the other platform and stared at the next obstacle. Three skinny balance beams ran across a chasm to the other side, with numerous heavy leather bags swinging across the path. Tanner went forward, avoiding the first bag. He had to take a couple more quick steps to avoid the next one. He got halfway across when he slipped on the balance beam. The hesitation was costly. He got up, but it was too late. The leather bag swung down like a pendulum, striking him in the thigh. His whole body dropped onto the wooden beam, the movement knocked the wind out of him, and he swung his legs underneath. Tanner tried to grab the beam, but he had no strength and crashed into the sand.
Milly ran over and checked him out. “He’ll be all right,” she said. “Just a little winded.”
Allora went next. She ran as quickly as she could across the logs, leaping gracefully onto the other platform.
“Great job!” Milly said.
On the next obstacle, she moved just as quickly, stepping forward and backward like a coordinated dance. One of the heavy bags knocked her off balance, and she had to reach her leg across to one of the other beams and duck underneath the next swinging leather bag. She grabbed the middle beam, swung underneath, and reached her legs across to the third beam. After the bag swung by, she quickly pulled herself up and ran across the middle beam onto the next platform.
The next obstacle consisted of ropes of differing lengths. She needed to swing across, but some of the ropes would randomly let loose, dropping her down. Allora made it through most of the course, but one of the ropes detached and dropped her. Luckily, she clutched another dangling lifeline and swung back before she hit the ground. Pulling herself up, she quickly got to the next rope and finally reached the next platform.
The last obstacle was a long hallway. The walls were covered with stone dragon heads. She reached her foot out and gently pressed down on one of the tiles on the floor. About ten feet away, one of the stone dragon heads shot out a red hadron burst that exploded on the other side. She stepped onto another tile, and another hadron burst shot out much closer. Each tile corresponded with one of the many small statues throughout the narrow corridor. Taking it slow, she leapt forward, trying to get as far as possible. Allora was about fifteen feet in when a hadron burst shot right at her. She stumbled forward, hitting a couple of tiles all at once, which shot a couple of bursts from the sides as well as from the wall in front. There was no escaping the impact. Allora focused her hadrons, placing one hand in front and the other on her left side. The double hadron shield blocked the bursts, but she was knocked back and stepped on a few more tiles. She had to roll forward, activating another barrage from every angle. Instead of putting up a shield, Allora grabbed one of the dragon heads on the wall and pulled herself up. For the rest of the obstacle, she leapt on top of the dragon heads.
“Hey, isn’t that cheating?” Dax said from down below.
“Just like in any battle, there is no cheating,” Milly said. “As I was telling Allora earlier, your enemy will not play fair, nor will they be merciful. While she may not have gone down the designated course, she very smartly chose another path that was less treacherous.”
“Well, I wish I had known that before I got pulverized on those logs,” Dax grumbled.
“Like that would have made a difference,” Katie said, smirking.
Allora was making her way across the dragon heads toward the end of the gauntlet. She looked back at her mother, who seemed to cringe slightly. Allora did a front flip onto the last platform, showing off at her successful completion of the gauntlet. At the back of the platform was one last dragon’s head. The statue’s eyes lit up red, and from its mouth a large spear shot out. Allora’s eyes widened as she felt the excruciating pain and pressure in her back. She stared down at the metal tip of the spear, dripping blood. She touched it, unable to comprehend her current reality.
“No!” Tanner screamed, running toward the platform as Allora’s body fell.
It was like the entire world was moving in slow motion. Tanner slid along the ground as the sand underneath began to sink and swirl. Just as Allora hit the ground, they were all pulled from the outer realm, crashing down onto the dirt. They scrambled along the forest floor to Allora, who was coughing and almost hyperventilating. Milly knelt down next to her.
“Just breathe slowly. Take in slow, deep breaths.”
After a little while, she regained control by breathing through her nose. She pulled up her shirt and exposed the circular purple bruise starting to form on her abdomen. It was the same on her lower back.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Milly said, grinning slightly. “I was the first to complete the gauntlet in my class as well. Don’t worry, though. The pain will only last a few days.”
“Why was that necessary?” Tanner asked, not amused by the lesson.
Milly became much more serious. “Because you all must understand that you can never be comfortable. You can never let down your guard, because your enemy will look to strike when you are not expecting it.”
“Of course I got to be the guinea pig for this one,” Allora remarked, extending her arms. “Help me up.”
“You guys go on ahead,” Milly said, helping her daughter up. “I’ll take it from here.
The ripe memory of the spear bursting through her body was like a nightmare playing repeatedly in her mind.
“Doesn’t feel very good, huh?” Milly asked.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Allora said.
“That lesson wasn’t just for you,” Milly said, watching the sporadic glances of the others as they walked ahead.
“How is that?”
“When I was your age, I was full of angst and aggression,” Milly began, staring off into some sort of void, like a distant memory in the foliage of the trees. “I think that it may have been the way we were trained, or just the collective egos that filled the Keeper academy. What I know is that we were gunning for a fight. All of us. I was given a command of a platoon at a very young age. I was maybe twenty, and my first mission was the recovery of a diplomat’s family that had been kidnapped by drow elves in the southern part of Titanis. What we didn’t realize before our deployment was that they had already killed the family, and we were walking into a trap. I lost six men that day, and barely made it out myself. I took a hadron burst to the shoulder, and only survived because of a my quick thinking medic and a very intelligent
second lieutenant. Let’s just say that it was the hardest and most important lesson I ever learned.”
“So you really think that I’m gunning for a fight?” Allora asked.
“No, but I do think that you would go blindly into it if given the chance,” Milly said.
“And why would you think that?”
“Because it is what I would’ve done at your age,” Milly admitted, smiling at her daughter. “I just want to make sure that you’re more prepared than I was.”
Allora tried to laugh, but the pain in her abdomen was too intense.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got the perfect remedy for that,” Milly said as they got to their backyard.
Seven
TESTS
“Mom, where is my study guide?” Allora yelled, flinging her clothes around. “I can’t find it, and the test is in one hour.”
“You are seriously a spaz,” Bell said, leaning on the doorframe and eating her cereal.
“Shut up, pipsqueak.”
Katie walked up behind Bell and leaned over her shoulder. “Has she gone completely crazy yet?”
Allora kept sifting through the bed sheets.
“Getting there,” Bell replied.
“Would you two stop with the commentary and help me find my study guide?” Allora said while tossing clothes out of her drawers.
“What in the world happened in here?” Milly said, peeking around the doorframe next to Katie.
“I think that your daughter has been possessed,” Katie said.
Milly looked around the room and pulled out a notebook from behind a picture frame on the dresser. “Is this it?”
Allora darted across the room and snatched the green study guide from her mother’s grasp. She sifted through it, smiled, and clutched it against her chest. She then parted the group and ran to the living room.
“You’re welcome,” Milly yelled down the hallway.
Allora grabbed a whole package of number-two pencils and yelled from the front door, “Katie, let’s go!”
After Katie jumped into her car, Allora sped down the driveway and headed toward Sandy High School. They met Tanner and Dax in the senior hallway, where Dax was quizzing Tanner on math problems. Allora paced back and forth, whispering definitions to herself while examining her study guide meticulously.
As they started walking toward the classroom to take their SATs, Katie leaned in behind Allora. “You okay? You seem a little…crazy.”
“Oh, I’m peachy,” Allora said, staring at the notebook of paper lying on a desk in front of her. “This is only the most important test I will take in my entire life. Plus, I’ve still got a huge bruise on my stomach from that stupid spear, and it hurts.”
She lifted her shirt, revealing the apple-sized, circular, purple bruise.
“With everything that’s been going on, we’ll be lucky to even graduate.”
They took their seats as Mr. Swan handed out the test pamphlets. Allora stared down at her best friend, who was calmly laying out her number-two pencils on the top right edge of her desk. Katie wasn’t even fazed by what she had just said, nor did she realize her impact on Allora. Mr. Swan instructed the class on the rules of the test just as Mrs. Ferris opened the door. Her hair was sticking out in different directions, and her clothes looked quite dirty.
“I need to speak with a few of your students.”
“Can it wait?” Mr. Swan asked, trying to adhere to the testing criteria laid out by the state.
“No, it can’t,” Mrs. Ferris said, quite agitated. “Allora, Tanner, Dax, and Katie. Can you come out here for a minute?”
Reluctantly, Allora got up from her seat and followed the others into the hallway.
“What is going on?” Allora said, annoyed by the intrusion. “Don’t you know that this test is kind of important?”
“I wouldn’t have gotten you guys out of there if it wasn’t,” she replied. “I had a gremlin shipped over from the science institute at Shangri-La. Gremlins are really small animals that secrete a very strong liquid that can be used in a number of glue formula.”
“So then what’s the issue?” Dax asked.
“Well, it got away,” Mrs. Ferris said, looking guilty. “I had it sedated, but somehow it woke up and got loose from its bindings.”
“Sweet,” Katie said sarcastically. “We’ve got a tiny midget creature running around the school. I heard that they are extremely mischievous.”
“How do you know that?” Dax asked.
“The general told me all about it.”
“Kat,” Dax said, lifting his voice.
“That’s what you call your dad?” Allora asked, thoroughly surprised.
“Well, he’s more of a general than a dad,” Katie said.
“Kat,” Dax said, slightly more aggressive in his tone. “We are not getting into this again.”
“He hasn’t even visited in the eight years that we’ve been here, and you act like it doesn’t even bother you.”
“Of course it bothers me, but I know that he’s busy trying to hold everything together,” Dax said, becoming more animated. “You really think that he doesn’t want to be here?”
“OK, Allora, you go check out the gym, locker rooms, and football field,” Mrs. Ferris instructed, ignoring the twins. “Tanner, you try the freshman hallway down on the lower level. I’ll keep searching the science department and cafeteria. You’ve got your com units. Use them if you locate the bugger.”
Allora left and descended the stairs toward the gym. She checked around the bleachers and then down toward the football field. While there, she glared at the new turf, built on top of the charred remains of her battle only a few months back. She remained still, remembering the fear and power that had flowed within her while she fought the shifter.
As she stood on the field, something hit her on the top of her head and dropped onto the ground. She picked up the pinecone at her feet and rubbed her skull. Just as she looked up toward the roof that hung over the outside bleachers, another pinecone hit her in the forehead. She swore as she stumbled back, tripping over her own feet and dropping onto her butt. Shaking her head, she opened up the communication bracelet as the gremlin stood on the edge of the roof, laughing in a high-pitched squeal that sounded like a hyena mixed with a mouse.
“I found it,” Allora said, getting to her feet and scolding the little creature that stood defiantly above her. “He’s on the roof above the football field. I’ll get him.”
Allora went to the ladder attached to the exterior wall of the gym and climbed to the top, where the gremlin had been accumulating pinecones to throw at his oncoming target. The high-pitched laugh continued as the little creature began tossing the prickly objects. She simply placed a hadron shield in front of her to block the natural missiles. The gremlin snarled as pinecones bounced off the invisible shield.
“Come here, you little pest,” she said, readying to snatch the tiny beast.
Getting down low with her knees bent, she danced side to side as the gremlin tried to escape. Seeing an opening, she lunged forward but slipped on a pinecone and fell to her right and over the edge of the roof. She quickly grabbed the gutter with her left hand as her body flailed in the air. Barely hanging on by one hand, she tried to swing and grab with her other hand but missed. The gremlin appeared above her with a maniacal smile, sharp pointed teeth, and yellow vertical irises. The blue-skinned creature inched forward, staring down at her fingers, which clung onto the metal gutter.
“Don’t you dare,” she uttered, glancing down at the thirty-foot drop to the track below.
The gremlin laughed as he pried her index finger from the overhang. One by one, the little creature pulled off her fingers as she whispered loudly, trying not to attract attention. With one finger holding her weight, she tried in vain to grasp the gutter. The gremlin kept laughing as he jumped onto her finger, releasing it from the overhang. Allora screamed as she fell, flailing her hands as she tried to right her body. Three feet from the track, her bac
k arched onto a squishy surface, and then she flipped backward as the bubbled cushion pushed her legs over her head. Landing hard on her stomach, she writhed in pain, gasping for air and cursing silently at the high-pitched laugh that continued on the roof. Four bodies came running at her while she continued to wiggle on the rain-soaked turf.
“That thing... sucks,” Allora said between struggled breaths.
“I thought you said you got it,” Tanner said, smiling.
“Shut up,” Allora answered, getting to her feet and wiping the water that had soaked into her jeans. “What did I just land on? I thought I’d hit the ground a lot harder than that.”
“I created a hadron bubble underneath you,” Mrs. Ferris said as she lifted above the ground, standing on an invisible bouncy bubble, and then floated back down. “It’s like a pocket of energy that cushions your descent. Now where did that gremlin go?”
They scanned the area, but nothing was moving. Then, near the tennis courts, something blue streaked toward the school.
“Move it!” Mrs. Ferris said, running after the thing.
They sprinted up three flights of stairs. In the distance, a little smiling blue creature jumped through an open window on the bottom floor. They ran after it, entering the school through the bottom double doors to the freshman hallway. They turned the corner to hear a shriek coming from one of the English classrooms.
Rushing in the room, they saw a young, blond English teacher knocking over desks as she screamed and flailed around the room with a little blue demon clinging onto her head. Finally prying the creature from her hair, she flung the thing into the chalkboard and ran out of the room in complete fright.
“Well, I don’t think she’ll be back next semester,” Mrs. Ferris joked.
She then instructed the others to surround the gremlin, slowly moving toward the thing as it licked its bruised forearm. The creature stopped when it saw the tall bodies of the teens moving in on it. It turned and snarled.
“Come here, you little midget demon,” Dax said, leaping forward.
