Page 34 of The Scars Within
“There. Looks great,” he patted my shoulders.
I had to give it to him—he knew how to think on his feet. I couldn’t help but let a side grin escape.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“No problem,” he replied. Shayde held his pinky between us, “Promise you won’t let anyone ruin the rest of your day?”
My cheeks flushed. I felt the corners of my lips trying to form into a grin, but for some reason, I fought it. Not wanting to show my vulnerability to him.
I wrapped my pointer finger around his pinky, and we shook on it, “Pinky.”
With the hold of his pinky, he tugged me closer. I craned my neck to look up at him.
Shayde lifted his chin slightly, his hooded brown eyes bearing into mine.
“Now, off to class. Before your team leader catches you without a hall pass,” his deep voice was amorous.
As he stepped backward into the hallway, a question absentmindedly rolled off my tongue, “Hey, how do you know so much about Pehper and her tactics?”
Shayde paused, seeming to weigh his answer. I second-guessed my question for a moment, thinking it might be too personal.
Then he responded, and his words hit me like a sharp sting in the chest, “She’s my ex.”
I ran to Intro to Air Wielding and made it just in time. Everyone was already seated, but I managed to slip into my chair right as Professor Skuttlezwagon entered the room. Trying to catch my breath, I glanced over at Laney, who was giving me a look I had never seen from her before.
“What?” I whispered.
She looked down at my bundled tunic and knotted belt. “You are not how I left you this morning,” she whispered-yelled.
“I’ll tell you later,” I said, nodding toward the front of the class.
Skuttlezwagon stood tall, her hands clasped in front of her. When the cadets didn’t quiet down completely, she raised her fingers and snapped. The sound was the loudest snap I had ever heard, piercing my eardrums.
“Thank you, class,” she said. “I hope you enjoyed that brief demonstration of how an air elemental can manipulate the swoosh of air between their fingers to amplify the resulting sound.” She grinned as most of the cadets covered their ears. “Today will be exciting! We will be watching the second-years practice on the Doom Simulator–” she stopped and pointed at a cadet who had raised their hand.
“Why is it called a Doom Simulator?” The cadet asked.
“Because if you make a mistake, you will fall to your doom. And you all will get the chance to practice on it!” She exclaimed as she hurried out into the open-roofed space of the classroom.
Laney and I immediately faced each other, eyes wide with surprise.
Chapter 13
I figured we would have taken the turret stairs down to the bottom floor, but I was wrong.
Instead, we took turns loading onto a small wooden platform with thin rails around it. A couple of third-years below used their air magic to create strong gusts of air that gently lowered us to the ground. My knees felt like jelly.
We gathered at the bottom of the Doom Simulator, watching as a second-year student, Clara, ensured her gear was snug. She wore thin gloves with her sleeveless leathers, presumably to help her grip the wall. It was unbearably hot outside, and I wondered how those gloves wouldn’t just slide off with sweat.
Her classmates at the bottom cheered her on, chanting her name. “Clara! Clara! Clara!” Clara stepped up to the starting line and got into a steady stance: knees bent, one foot slightly in front of the other, arms bent at ninety-degree angles. She looked like she was about to square off in a boxing ring.
Another professor at the bottom, presumably the second-year professor, held out his fingers and counted down from three. Then, he clapped using the same sound amplification method Skuttlezwagon had used.
Clara jumped over the edge. Literally leaped. My heart stopped in my chest. She fell a few feet before a sudden burst of air swooped her to the right, where she grabbed hold of a hand-sized rock. Her feet found purchase between the large stones that made up the castle of Mageia. She shimmied her feet far enough to the right until she could stretch her arm and grasp the next rock jutting out of the wall. Once she had her entire body moved over, she leapt to the right and sent a gust of wind upwards to help her reach a hanging rope.
She took a moment to breathe, and I was glad for her because I didn’t think I had since she made the first jump. She just hung onto the rope until a slow, steady flow of air started to rock her back and forth. After a few swings, she was high enough to leap again and grasp a larger rock. Her feet landed on an extremely thin platform. The rock her hands met was sticking out wide enough from the wall to cause her body to stand unevenly since the platform for her feet was so thin and close to the surface.
Her fellow cadets cheered, but even from here, you could see a flash of worry on Clara’s face as she looked down over her shoulder. She kept readjusting her grip on the rock because it looked like her gloves were beginning to slide off her hands.
