I huffed a laugh and leaned toward the other side of the wall, terrified of teetering to the wrong side and having to do that all over again. Easing my body over, I dropped my legs off the side, holding onto the ledge to keep from falling right to the ground like I’d done when Brutus chased me up the tree.
Look at that.
Growth.
On the ground, I brushed off my clothes and waved to Tristan before heading for the woods, spurred by the sudden burst of adrenaline. But I stopped in my tracks at the sight of the Round Tableau, gripped by a different kind of fear.
A memory popping up like the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Hello, trauma, my old friend.
Clenching my hands into fists, my whole body tightened. Tension radiated through my limbs as I stomped past.
If I never had to set foot inside that building again, I’d be glad for it. The image it conjured when I first arrived, as if it had fallen off the pages of one of my dad’s old storybooks, had been replaced.
Now, I pictured the creepy house from that old fable. The one that the kids ran toward in the woods before the witch tried to burn them alive. Hansel and Gretel.
Shaking it off, I appreciated how far I’d come. How I’d learned and adjusted and grown through all the bullshit this place had thrown at me. Yes, when the scary dog came out of the woods and chased me, I still ran.
But I ran faster.
I shouted I yield sooner.
When I couldn’t veer off course and carve a new path through the woods, I adjusted my stride.
Proud of my progress, I stared at the cage before me.
I groaned. Austin leaned against it while Angela traversed the monkey bars. I hated the monkey bars.
These had been rigged with weight-bearing bars that snapped off as soon as it was grabbed. They snapped back into place once released. Sabotage in a torturous exercise cage.
How fun.
Unlike the monkey bars we’d used during our training sessions, this was a steel cage. With steps leading to a small opening, we had to climb up and inside. The bars on the sides of the cage were spaced pretty wide apart but appeared sturdy enough to hold weight.
“Go ahead,” Austin directed, nodding at me to enter. “Make it across the bars to the other side.”
My brow furrowed at his phrasing, wondering why no one went across the sides. “Does it matter how we get there?”
He shook his head, staring off behind me.
A little too casual.
I stepped back from the entrance when Vivian walked up behind me. Huffing, face red with exertion, she looked nothing like the put-together Ice Princess she normally embodied.
Wearing a sweatband I’d only seen in workout videos from the eighties, her hair stuck out of her headband where it strapped across her forehead.
But since I’d been wiping sweat from my eyes every five feet, I had to give her props.
While I scrutinized her, she asked Austin the same questions I had. Then, with a glance at me to figure out what I was doing, she shook her head and climbed up.
As I watched her progress, she slipped in the middle when the first trap bar released.
“What the fuck is this!” she shrieked, covered in mud from the pit below.
“Climb back up and keep going!” Austin shouted before he turned back to me and arched a brow. “You good?”
“Yeah, just…”
