Espial (14 page)

     “I felt my
lungs begin to spasm, I started seeing spots in my eyelids, and I started to
develop a headache.”

     “Perfect.
Now pick one of those sensations and think about what it reminds you of.
Incorporate that memory into your trick. That’s the kind of stuff judges want.”

     I slowly
nodded as what she said began to make sense.

     “Ok. I
think that reminded me of when I first began weapons training with Div.”

     “Then make
a unique dive-bomb trick with the added element of weaponry.”

     I thought
about it for a few minutes. “I know! I know exactly what to do now!” I began
jumping up and down.

     “There you
go!” she clapped. “You only need to do what comes naturally, yet unique to you.
By the look in your eyes, I think you have yourself a winning trick, Miss
Arch.”

     I jumped up
and hugged her.

     “Thank you
so much, Fly.”

     “Any time,
Sol.”

     I made my
way outside and to the back of the LARF building. I spent the rest of the night
practicing my trick using my golden sais and a few apples.

     Excitement
flowed through the air the following morning. At breakfast, the servers started
everyone off with orange refresher beverages in glasses shaped like diving
angels. An overhead announcement revealed that the judges for the event
included Stella, Div, Rider, and Victoria. A total of nine of us were competing,
and we were all seated together to eat with one another. I only knew Fly,
Glinda and Flash, so the others took time going around the table to introduce
themselves.

     “I’m
Christian,” said an angel with fluffy white wings and a silver aura. “I cover
the reception desk when Victoria is on break.”

     “My name is
Lady Bug,” said the next angel. Her wings were solid red with black dots all
over. She seemed very nice and had a soft, soothing voice. “I work in the
Nursing department.”

     “You guys
can call me Gary,” shrugged a depressed looking angel. “I work in the back of
the kitchen cleaning up everyone’s mess all day.” He looked down when he spoke
and kept his arms crossed the entire time. His wings were gray and he emitted a
gray aura. Looking at him made me feel like crying for no reason.

     “Hi I’m
Bitty!” chirped the next angel. She looked exactly like a butterfly: her wings
were deep ginger with black trim and detailing throughout. She never stopped
smiling and seemed perpetually happy. I didn’t find her annoying though, just
fun to watch.

     “It’s
Bruno,” grunted a particularly cocky angel. His wings were a tri-color ombré.
His feathers went from black at his shoulders, to blue in the middle, and red
at the tips. He was large and could easily pass for a soldier in Matthews’
army. He had an arrogant smirk on his face and narrowed his eyes at me. I
rolled mine and shook my head, laughing to myself. I was not intimidated by him
at all.

     Glinda and
Fly went on to introduce themselves, and it was finally my turn.

     “My name is
Soleil Arch,” I said plainly.

     “Wait! As
in
the
Soleil Arch?” asked Bitty. “Descendant of Solomon Arch?”

     “Um…yes,” I
replied, now blushing as everyone stared at me.

     “Wow! I
knew you looked unique, and I knew Soleil Arch was in the LARF, but I can’t
believe I’m actually meeting you!” Her hands flew up and covered her mouth in
astonishment. The others nodded while smiling at me and Fly laughed.

     “Calm
down,” said Fly. “Let’s not get her worked up before the competition. There’ll
be plenty of time to get to know her better later.”

     “Thanks,
Fly,” I said, relieved that everyone was now clearing the table.

     “Don’t
mention it,” she winked.

     “Once
people hear your name at the contest, brace yourself for an onslaught of new
fans,” warned Glinda. “But no one is as big a fan as I am.” She gave me a quick
hug and left with Fly. Flash gave me a pat on the back and followed them out. I
took a deep breath and went outside to the contestant tent that was set up on
the roof.

#

     The grounds
had been sectioned off into stadium-like seating outside of the LARF. Metal
bleachers surrounded one of the building’s outer walls, where we would be
diving off from. At ten stories tall, the building provided ample diving
distance, yet was also quite daunting. No mat or net was placed on the ground.
If you failed to stick your landing, serious injury was likely. My mother and
Luke were in the bleachers and I saw Stella, Div, Rider, and Victoria sitting
at a judges’ table. A hologram sat on the front of the table where our scores
would be displayed. A larger version of the score screen was projected onto the
wall where we were diving.

     Rider
grabbed a microphone off of the ground and it screeched loudly. All of the
angels and Espials in attendance ducked down and covered their ears.

     “I don’t
know why that always happens,” he shrugged. “Anyway, welcome to the sixth
annual dive-bomb contest!”

     Everyone
cheered and applauded, some audience members blowing into whistles and
vuvuzelas.

     “Here’s our
host for the event, Stella!” Stella stood and took the microphone from Rider.        

     “Welcome
Everyone. Today’s order of contestants will occur from oldest to youngest.
First, we begin with Glinda!” The crowd rose to their feet at the mention of
her name and applauded loudly. Glinda immediately took her spot on the ledge of
the building. She waved at the crowd below.

“Three, two,
one!”

     Glinda
began spiraling rapidly as she descended down the side of the wall. After a few
seconds, she then switched to somersaults. Several stories before landing, she
went into a straight dive and began dispensing her pink-gemmed daggers into the
ground. They quickly formed a smiley face and she landed right in the middle of
it, as the nose. The crowd lost control and began screaming and cheering. Her
scores went up on the screens.

     “9, 10, 9,
2”

     “Next we
have Lady Bug!” announced Stella. The crowd broke out into screams and cheers
as Lady flapped her wings from the rooftop. We all leaned over to get a view of
how she would be diving. Stella counted her down. “Three, two, one!”

     Lady jumped
over the edge legs first, keeping her wings close to her body. I held my breath
as she plummeted towards the ground. Right before hitting the ground, she did a
quick flip, landing in a handstand. The crowd went wild. The judges entered
their scores, which flashed onto the screen.

     “8, 5, 8,
2.” Again, Stella and Rider had the same scores. Div looked like she expected
better, and Victoria yawned as if her “2” indicated that Lady’s dive bored her.

     “Next up,
Christian White!” Christian made his way to the edge and turned his back toward
the crowd. Once Stella counted him down, he fell back off of the roof. He
spiraled over thirty times while diving head-first before I lost count. He
flipped and landed on his feet at the bottom. Again, the crowd went crazy while
applauding him. His scores quickly appeared.

     “7, 6.5, 7,
2”

     “Next we
have Bruno Viril!”

     Bruno
chuckled as he walked to the side. “This is going to be a piece of cake,” he
grunted.

     “Don’t be
too sure of yourself,” cautioned Flash.

     “Don’t be
so jealous,” Bruno retorted.

     Stella
began the countdown. “Three, two, …” Before she finished, Bruno had already
soared up high into the sky. He then hovered momentarily, pulling out a spear.
He threw the spear toward the ground and then chased after it. Keeping his
wings and arms pressed tight along his sides, Bruno rapidly gained on it before
passing it entirely. He landed heavily on the ground, then reached up and
caught the spear before it impaled itself into the ground. Clearly the crowd
favorite, everyone rose to their feet in a deafening roar. His scores came up
on the screen.

     “9, 8, 9,
2.5”

     I couldn’t
understand why Victoria was giving everyone such low scores. I felt around my
pockets and fingered several pairs of sais, including my gold pair. I was
becoming nervous.

     “And now we
have Gary Dreary!” Only a handful of audience members clapped at the mention of
his name and I felt sorry for him. He sulked over to the side of the rooftop
and peeked over the edge.

     Stella gave
him his countdown and he did a simple dive to the ground, no tricks at all. Not
a single being in the audience cheered or clapped. It took a few moments before
his scores appeared.

     “4, 2, 3,
0”

     He walked
dejectedly back into the LARF, his wings drooping along his back. Everyone was
extremely quiet.

     Stella
cleared her throat and announced the next contestant. “Up next we have Bitty
Bupper!”

     Bitty
walked confidently over and stood patiently by the side. Once she was given the
countdown, she fell head-first down the side of the wall. Midflight, she pulled
something out from her pocket. She then began blowing bubbles as she approached
the ground. When she landed, she used her wings and her fingers to pop them
all. Everyone laughed and cheered.

     “7, 5, 6,
2”

     “Fly,
you’re up,” said Stella. Fly marched over and gave the crowd an incredible
show. She must have incorporated some of her powers, because she was able to
knit an entire beanie cap during her dive. She tossed the cap into the crowd,
who went crazy. Even the judges smiled.

     “9, 9, 9,
1”

     I burst out
a laugh when I saw Victoria’s score. There was no way anyone could have given
Fly a “1.”

     “Second to
last we have Flash Rider!” All of the female angels and Espials in the crowd
began shrieking. Evidently, everyone was infatuated with him. He too gave an
incredible dive. While falling, he withdrew his sword and released ten wooden
dowels into the air. Thrashing his sword, he was able to slice them all into
inch-long pieces before landing. Flash then tossed the pieces into the crowd,
enough for the female angels and Espials in the audience to each receive one. A
few pretended to faint while others screeched happily.

     “8.5, 8, 9,
10”

     “Ha!” I
laughed loudly when I saw Victoria’s score. She was purposefully underscoring
everyone else so that Flash could win. I shook my head and chuckled at her
tactic.

     “Last but
not least, we have Soleil Arch!” The crowd cheered and then fell into a
sobering hush as everyone anticipated my stunt. Stella gave me my countdown and
I peeked at the judges table. I had asked them earlier to place ten apples on
their table, laying each on their side with their stem facing the wall. They
had done exactly as I had asked, so I plummeted over the side of the roof. I
immediately went into tight spirals. After a few seconds I withdrew all twelve
of my sais as I spun. I released them in the direction of the table, which was
a complete blur as I continued down. I saved my gold pair for last, which I
threw toward the middle two apples that already had sais piercing their
centers. I then flipped and landed on my feet. I quickly turned to look at the
apples. All of them were pierced with a sai exactly like I had anticipated,
with the two apples in the middle sporting 2 sais each.

     The crowd
rose up and screamed, deafening my ears. I smiled brightly as Glinda and Fly
ran over to hug me. The judges clapped for me as well and then bent over to
enter my scores. I turned to look up at the big screen.

     “9.5, 10,
10, 8”

     The word
‘WINNER’ then flashed onto the screen in bold, colorful letters.

     “I won!” I
screamed, jumping up and down. Glinda screamed and Fly jumped with me.
Suddenly, the entire crowd had left their seats and stormed the area I was
standing in. Pushed and pulled from every direction, everyone tried to give me
a hug.

     “Congratulations
to Soleil Arch!” said Stella. “She has won a brand new wardrobe from famed
angel fashion designer, Dax Harrington!”

     Still stuck
in the crowd, I felt an arm go around my waist and I was flown into the air
above the throng of people. I looked up to see that it was Flash. He carried me
over to the entry of the LARF.

     “Congratulations,
Sol!” he said genuinely. “That was absolutely incredible, what you pulled off.”

     “Thanks,
Flash. You were quite impressive yourself.”

     He gave me
a pat and then flew off as people made their way back into the LARF.

     For the
rest of the day, everyone took the time to congratulate me. Some even asked for
my autograph or to take a picture. At dinner, Stella passed by the table I
shared with Div, Glinda and Fly. She said that I would be meeting Dax
Harrington the following afternoon and that I had won an additional prize.

     “What’s
that?” I asked.

     “Your very
own apartment here in the LARF.”

     At a loss
for words, I reached out and hugged her. She hugged me back and congratulated
me again.

     Fly needed
to leave to put Gadget to bed, so Div and Glinda helped me locate my new
apartment and move my few belongings in. I didn’t realize it ahead of time, but
my mom had packed all of my clothes from the ARC before the evacuation. None of
my items from the unsheathing party had been lost and I was able to have an
entire dresser drawer filled for the first time in my life. It was a beautiful
apartment. It had oak hardwood flooring throughout an open layout and featured
a tan marble fireplace. The kitchen was already fully stocked and my bedroom was
completely furnished with mahogany furniture pieces and crisp white linens.

     I met Dax
Harrington the following day and she spoiled me with dresses, catsuits, shoes,
various tops, and trendy pants. I had something in every color imaginable and
every cut she had picked for me was very flattering. I had some trouble walking
in a pair of shoes she referred to as “flip flops.” However, with a little
practice, I saw how convenient they were to slide on and wear with almost
anything. She also gave me several accessories and showed me how to pair them
with different outfit combinations. It was a lot to remember, but I felt
special and looked forward to dressing up every day.