I sprinted to stand next to the guy with the other handsaw. I wasn’t above learning while I worked. The way he was holding it made sense, and I positioned my gloved hands the same way. He breathed out every time he sawed, so I did the same.
The train lifted into the air, the blue glow shining below it as it traveled over the lake to the finish line. I didn’t see any instructors nearby—or even Godric or Finn—so they were probably on the train.
Though, there were a few medics close-by.
I was sure they would be busy today.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
What I didn’t get right in my task, as sweat poured down my face, was the extra notch I should have cut into the tree. Halfway through the tree, with my shoulder muscles aching, my saw was hardly cutting through it anymore. I stopped and stood, wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my gloved hand.
I shook my head in frustration.
Then I merely walked over to the guy’s tree next to me and watched him work. He didn’t seem to mind. He glanced at me once and went back to hacking away at the tree.
“Fuck,” I complained, bending down to stare at the angled notch. That was just as much work as what I’d already accomplished. “I have to do that too?”
He grunted and kept sawing.
A guy ran by and rushed into the lake.
“That’s not good,” I mumbled.
My feet were in motion, running back to my tree.
I worked faster, my muscles screaming in pain.
The sun peeked in the sky, but the shaking leaves of the trees shaded everyone remaining—though the body heat that poured off my body was brutal, my white shirt soaked through. I was extremely happy I had worn a sturdy thick bra today.
More men ran by to the cool water of the lake.
And my goddamn tree finally fell.
I hurried to cut the remaining bits still attached to the trunk, and then I dropped the handsaw and my safety gloves on the ground. My palms were still red, but the protective gloves had done their job.
The guy who had been next to me was already across the lake and running up the shoreline to the agility course.
My boots trampled the grass as I charged to the lake. I debated removing them, but I had no idea what the agility course was. There could be glass to walk on for all I knew. So I dove into the water once I was waist deep—boots and all.
The water was refreshing, but I was exhausted.
I turned onto my back. I used the backstroke to swim across the lake. It actually loosened my tight muscles, and I ended up passing two men in the water—though, there were still a lot ahead of me. I had lost count of who had finished cutting down their trees before I had.
I turned in the water when pebbles brushed underneath my fingers. The rocks were slippery, so I was careful as I scrambled out of the water and onto the shoreline. My boots were waterlogged. If I didn’t need them on the agility course, I was going to ditch them in a hurry.
I wiped lake water off my face as I came to a halt where the last task began. I stared at the massive red wall before me with tiny fake rocks sticking out for hand and foot holds. It was like rock climbing. I had done that with my father as a child when we would go hiking, but it had been years since my last time. However, I did remember one important point of it.
I had to be able to reach the first hold.
The instructors were sitting on folding chairs in the shade to my left, which meant the course wasn’t long. They sat silently and watched the proceedings. Close to fifteen recruits were sitting behind them on the grass, already done—lucky sons-of-bitches.
And there were a whole lot more in front of me fighting on the wall or at the bottom of it. It didn’t bode well for me at all.
I quickly ditched my boots and socks and ran to the wall. But I stayed back a few feet from the fray of flying fists. Bodies dropped from the wall directly on top of the fighters, only for it to start all over again. It was a goddamn heartless mess.
The first hold was too high for me to reach by myself. I could tell that easily from where I stood. I nibbled on my bottom lip and walked back and forth from one end to the other. All of them were too high.
“That is not fair,” I griped under my breath.
