EXALTED (An Exalted Novel) (19 page)

“Don’t let them hear you, Val. I don’t want them getting any ideas that will help them.” I scold her. She’s going to be uncontrollable when she’s off the Pump. I’m so glad for her sake that we haven’t told her yet.

She comes to her senses and lowers her voice. “Oh, you’re right. She’ll probably ask to join us tomorrow,” she whispers.

“On second thought, that might not actually be a bad thing. Any additional practice we can get with her will be good for us too. Plus, we can downplay our abilities and throw her off.” I hate to admit that, but I do want to win. Perhaps I will invite her myself.

I grudgingly get the opportunity to do so when she sits at our table with her tray of food. I first try to be casual so she doesn’t think I’m scheming. “So, Kinah how was your practice with the girls today?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Okay. I pretend like she said something perfectly pleasant. “We were wondering if you’d like to practice with us tomorrow instead,” I inquire.

Val kicks me under the table.

“Sure, I don’t mind giving you a preview of the beating you’re going to get in a few days.” Kinah accepts my invitation.

“Great. We’ll go to the gym after lunch tomorrow then,” I tell her.
What have I just gotten myself into?

After our run this morning, w
asting away in bed seemed like a good idea, but now I feel lethargic. Val, on the other hand, shows no such concerns as she is still sound asleep. I go over to the side of her bed and pinch the nostrils on her long, thin nose closed. She stops breathing, gasps for air, and then swats at my hand. I reluctantly let go. This would be much more fun is she weren’t on the Pump. Instead, all I get out of her is, “Time to practice already?”

“Yes.” I answer and head to the bathroom. As I brush my teeth for the second time today, I stop to stare at my porcelain complexion. A few freckles speckle my nose and cheeks. My green eyes look sad. The delicate skin around my lips no longer shows any trace of Ryker’s kisses. I can still feel them though.

I lean in closer to the mirror until the tip of my nose and my forehead touch the cool surface. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m doing it to find answers.
Does this girl hide them in her haunted eyes?

After freshening up, I put on my standard issue black tank, shorts, socks, and boots. I think to myself that one day, if I do ever leave here, I’m going to wear a bright blue shirt, the color of Ethan’s eyes. I hope they have that kind of thing outside of the Republic.

My hair is a wavy mess because I slept on it wet after our run this morning. It makes me feel like a wild lioness. I leave it down for now. Perhaps I’ll even growl at Kinah later.

“Ready?” Val shakes me out of my thoughts.

“Absolutely.”

* * *

Kinah proves to be her usual unpleasant self as ever as we go through our stretches; Val is not helping the situation. She’s once again attempting to wheedle information out of Kinah. Val needs to tread lightly here. She’s trying to act like she’s Kinah’s best friend, and while it’s very amusing, it’s also making me nervous. She asks Kinah, “So, who do you think is the weakest link, Kinah?”

“You, skinny!” Kinah grunts. I secretly wonder if she should be competing with the boys. Her voice is so masculine and her body is lacking of all feminine qualities.

Val doesn’t stop. “You think so? What about the second weakest?”

“Mena.” Kinah sneers at me. I want to punch her in her man-face.

“Okay, Kinah. Present company excluded. Who then?”

Kinah can’t resist making herself look better, especially if it means putting others down. However, like all the other trainees, she’d never give away any performance information we haven’t witnessed ourselves. She readily reminds us, “Adira, of course. The girl couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with her fist or that golden bow or hers. And Bria isn’t much better.”

I don’t like what Kinah has to say, but she is being honest. I feel bad for those two unskilled girls. They’ll never place well. I guess someone has to lose though.

We
are almost done limbering up, but Val can’t stop once she gets going. She makes us do a few more core stretches so she can question Kinah a little more. Trudi stays silent through the whole thing, soaking up as much information as she can.

“Which boy do you think will take first place?” Val asks Kinah.

Kinah answer this one easily. “Az.”

“But Ethan placed first in the First Trial. What do you think about
his
abilities?” I ask before Val can follow up.

“He’ll probably place third or fourth. I know he placed first in the First Trial, but he’s shorter than the rest of the male trainees—just like you. You’re both puny. You two won’t last two minutes in the Second Trial.”
I can’t wait to prove her wrong.

“Whatever. Let’s get started,” I spit.

Unfortunately, Trudi gets first shot at Kinah. She fails miserably in about 2.3 seconds. Going for her habitual shin shot, Kinah grabs Trudi’s leg and throws her to the floor like she’s nothing—less than nothing. It’s a good thing that Trudi can’t feel embarrassment, because she’d certainly be experiencing it right now.

Val takes a few mind scrambling blows to the side of the head from the beastly girl. She’s really going to have to learn to protect her face better. If she can’t learn it from me, getting whacked in the head a few times by Kinah will certainly help.

Finally, it’s my turn. I slide my mouth guard into place and tighten the helmet strap under my small chin. Val claps her hands together and shouts “Go!” Kinah body checks me immediately. My feet come off the ground, and I go straight over like a plank of wood hitting the floor. Now I’m the one that should feel embarrassed. And I am, but I’m also mad.

As she comes to stand over me, I kick her right in her crotch. Too bad she isn’t actually a boy. Fortunately, it still has the desired affect. Kinah clutches the space between her thighs as I kick out again, making contact with the side of her knee. Instead of dropping to her knees, like I expect her to do, she uses the momentum to throw herself on top of me. Try as I might, I cannot get her mammoth body off of me. I’ve lost to Kinah . . . for today.

But I’ve learned a good lesson here; I can never let her get on top of me. Never.

* * *

Dinner is uncomfortable, not only because I’m aching from nearly being crushed to death, but also because Kinah makes sure everyone else knows about it—indirectly, of course. As she cockily struts into the full cafeteria she announces, “I am definitely going to take first place in the Second Trial.” She directs this straight to Az, who scrutinizes me as I trail behind Kinah.
Like I care what you think, Az.

It’s the look that briefly passes over Ethan’s face that gets to me. He’s disappointed in me. I can’t deal with this right now. I’m going to eat my chicken and vegetables and go straight to bed.

Thankfully, Kinah sits with Az at his table on the opposite side of the room. Probably so she can further discuss how strong she is, and how she’s going to win it all. Val and I sit together. Trudi passes us by and sits with her weapons training partner Kwan.

“You know what? It’s good that she beat us. Now we know how sh
e fights and what we need to work on before the Second Trial.” I lean forward and whisper to Val.

Her tan face remains expressionless, but she seems to agree. “I know
. I’ve got to watch my guard. My brain still feels scrambled from practice, even with my helmet on.” She runs her fingers through her dark brown hair and massages her scalp to emphasize that it really does hurt.

“And now
I
know that I can’t let her get on top of me.” I devise a plan; what the two of us need to work on based on what we learned from our opponents. “Let’s practice alone tomorrow, just the two of us. We can go over what we learned about Kinah and Trudi.”

“Okay. Where though? I don’t want them to see what we’re doing, and Trudi might come looking for us to practice again.” Val expresses a good point.

“We can practice in our room. We’ll move the furniture out of the way and stuff a towel under the door so no one can hear us.” It sounds like a good idea, and there are no rules against doing so. That’s probably because no one has thought to try it.

Val is hesitant. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Mena.”

“It’ll be fine, and everyone else will think we’re spending our last free day in bed.”

“Ok
ay, but I have patrol in the morning. Can you wait until after lunch for me?”

I guess I could practice on my own for a while or go sit up in my tree
. “That’s fine,” I say. “I’ll meet you for lunch, and then we can head back to our dorm room. We’ll tell Trudi we’re going to relax in our room and clean our weapons or something.”

Up for the secret practice, Val agrees to the plan. “Sounds good.”

* * *

After escaping Trudi in the cafeteria, Val and I sneak off to our dorm room to practice alon
e. The halls aren’t monitored during the day since hardly anyone has time to go to their rooms with school, training, and patrol filling their days. We make it in unseen, and I quickly shove a dirty towel under the door to keep the noise from seeping through the crack. Hopefully, no one is in the room below us.

“Grab your bed. Let’s move them in front of the door so they’ll be out of the way.” I easily lift my twin bed and walk it to the corner by the door. “Oh, and let’s push the night stands and trunks into the bathroom. The last thing we need is to bust one of them apart and get in trouble.”

“Let’s just try to be careful. Okay?” Val doesn’t want to break the Republic’s rules. She actually can’t break their rules. The only reason she agreed to this in the first place is because there isn’t actually a rule that says,
No practicing in your room
.

“Val, practice is encouraged.” Trying to get her completely comfortable, I glaze over the possibility that this may not actually be the best idea.

I pick up my small side table and put it in the shower to leave room for the trunks and Val’s nightstand. She moves her things in after me, and then I shut the door behind us.

I really haven’t thought this through. “Well, we don’t have our mouth pieces or head protection, so let’s just take it easy,” I say. She nods. I add, “Let’s focus on our weaknesses.”

“I can’t tell you all my weaknesses, Mena, even if we are best friends.”

That hurt. “I know, Val. I don’t expect you to, but we can practice on what happened with Kinah yesterday. I do want to help you.” Honestly, I do want to help my friend because if I can’t beat Kinah, Val has to.

“Okay. Do you want me to lie on top of you or something?” This is amusing to me even though I know she isn’t intentionally being amusing or sarcastic. I will myself not to laugh out loud.

“Actually, that would be a good idea
. You’re pretty skinny, but it’ll still help,” I tell her.

I lie
face down, on the spotless gray floor, and wait for Val to pin me. She kneels with one leg across my back and one across my legs. She firmly holds my wrists together. Her knee is digging in between the muscles in my back. This position is so uncomfortable. For some reason, I can’t get her skinny butt off of me no matter how much I squirm. Her height allows her to bend and reach and counter my every move.
What’s left to do?
I play dead. Thinking I’ve given up, she starts to let go of me.  I seize the opportunity to flip her off of me. Then I pop up into a fighting stance.

“Good job,” Val compliments me. “But you can’t use that until you
absolutely have to, because it will only work once.”

“I’ll
save it for Kinah. Your turn. We have to work on that guard.”

“I know, I know.” Val absently touches the left side of her face. It’s where Kinah hit her repeatedly yesterday. Thank goodness the padding in the helmet took most of the hits or she’d be going into the arena tomorrow black and blue—and with a possible concussion.

We spar with open palms, slapping each other instead of throwing punches. The power behind the hits and kicks is at about a three out of ten. There’s no need to get violent today. Val is finally starting to protect her pretty face, and I am improving at avoiding tackles and getting into wrestling positions. We finish our little practice without anyone discovering us. We carefully move the furniture back into place before getting cleaned up for the parent dinner.

Val uses this time to ask me about some of the other girls. “So what do you think about Trudi as competition?”

“Well she uses that shin kick with a hook too much. It’s so predictable, but you never know what will happen in the real match.” I bet that red head has plenty of secrets. She’s a pleasant girl, but let’s be real, these are the Trials we’re talking about.

“I think the same thing. I’m not really worried about Bria and Adira—that much I can agree with Kinah about. What about Neima and Etana?” Val asks. If these Trials were purely psychological, Val would win hands down.