The Race

004 | Harper

My alarm clock blared, startling me to the point where I fell out of bed. I sighed and got up, changing into another green tank and yoga pants, my brown hair pulled back in a messy bun. I grabbed my jacket before heading upstairs and grabbing an energy bar to eat on the way. I walked up the other set of stairs and into the training room.

Sazcrov had me practice on the beams again, but this time she threw frisbees and rocks. Soon though, she had me put on my jacket, a black mask helmet thing and these weird black pants. She had me step back up on the beam and started the music. A moment later, she had a gun pulled out, causing me to freeze.

"Dodge!" she called and then fired. I ducked quickly, almost falling off the beam in the process.

"Again." She fired the gun, and I barely jumped out of the way. It clipped my arm, causing me to hiss in pain. I touched my arm. I had to do better. She called, "again," over and over. I ducked, jumped, flipped and dodged each time. I did pretty well, if you ask me.

"Hop off the beam and follow me." Sazcrov led me into a corner of the gym and pulled out a punching bag. She handed me tape and I quickly wrapped it around my knuckles. She gestured for me to punch. I did fifty reps. She corrected my posture every ten.

After, we moved on to kicks and did the same thing. She pulled out a dummy and had me attack, ducking and dodging. Moving as I would if I was fighting. She even attached one to the high beam and had me attack and balance on there. We finished up about three hours later, and I basically got to go back to the lounge for the rest of the day.

That was how it went all week, group practice, individual, and kicking on the beams. Aside from spending half of that time nursing sore muscles and bones, it wasn't terrible... I guess.

Some of the other girls trained until past midnight. I guess in some ways I was lucky mine only lasted until 8:00 p.m. I felt bad for Asia, who had to miss lunch for her training.

Were the boys training like we were? Did they have to miss lunch? Naomi was so sure that they would beat us. She said Cami had hacked into their cameras and spied on them. They are doing great apparently. But then again, who can trust a self-absorbed barbie doll? Not me. And I surely can't trust someone who can't stand straight on a beam, and then tells everyone she knocked me off my feet in a beam fight. But it didn't matter. I knew I was good. It was scary how well they knew us; I would have never thought I would be so good at fighting.

The days passed in a blur, and the two weeks were soon over. We would get our first clue. We had all been told to meet Sazcrov in the lounge at 12:00 a.m.

"Now that you are all here, we can get started with the beginning of The Race.

"For The Race, all of your clues will be found in a monument. Your first clue to get you started is this: 'once a place of worship and now one of learning, journey to this place that goes by the name Holy Wisdom.'

"You will receive two-hundred thousand dollars to use for your journey around the world, but once you run out, you're all out. No more.

"You will find materials for your journey in the Mirror Room. Good luck girls. I will leave you to plan. You have twenty-four hours to be on your way there." With that, Sazcrov walked out, disappearing into the Mirror Room.

"What does Holy Wisdom even mean?" Maybelle said, annoyed already.

"Holy Wisdom is the translation for the Greek words Hagia and Sophia. It is also the nickname given to the Istanbul museum, the Hagia Sophia," Asia replied. She had been slowly getting out of her shell over the two weeks.

"You should try out for Jeopardy!" Aralee said excitedly. Asia smiled awkwardly, clearly not used to compliments.

"Let's get our supplies and figure out some sort of transportation to Istanbul, Turkey. Once we get there, we can plan more," Cami said. Most girls nodded.

We all headed to the Mirror Room and rummaged through our supplies. Each of us had the tools and weapons that we practiced with. Everyone had a dagger, even if that wasn't their specialty. Some people's specialities had nothing to do with self defence. We all got black bodysuits, clothes, passports, swimsuits, etc. What we didn't get was transportation.

"We should just rent a car to take everywhere. It would be more convenient," Maybelle said.

"Or we can Uber?" Naomi said with a smirk.

"Or we could go on a helicopter!" Aralee squealed.

Naomi scowled. "If you think I'm getting on some tiny, little helicopter, you must be insane!" I had to agree with Naomi. If we planned on taking a helicopter everywhere, it would take a lot out of our budget.

"What about a train?" I suggested.

"I'd rather not," Maybelle said dismissively.

"If you all are up for it, I wouldn't mind hiking," Lark said, leaning against a mirror. She had to be crazy. The boys would finish The Race before we even found our first clue.

"We are definitely not hiking," Maybelle said.

Lark shrugged. "Okay."

"I think Maybelle's idea sounds the most realistic: a rented car that could fit all of us. We wouldn't have to worry about transportation for the rest of The Race," Cami said. "Unless we have to fly somewhere."

"But then we would have to pay parking fees and it wouldn't be as inconspicuous as a train. I say we take the train," Asia said.

"I agree with Asia and Harper," Lark said.

"Same," Naomi said, shocking me.

"Majority wins. Train ride it is," Maybelle grumbled.

"Okay, let's go find a train station," Cami said, already walking out of the complex. The rest of us rushed to follow, grabbing our bags as we went.

"Based on my calculations, by train and with a bit of walking, it should take us roughly one day and six hours to get to Istanbul from the train station," Asia announced randomly as we neared the train station, conveniently near the complex.

"Even less by car, I'd bet," Maybelle said, sending a glare my way.

"The train will be better in the long run," I replied, tension filling the air.

"Where do you think the boys are going?" Aralee asked, breaking the quietness that had surrounded us.

"Well, to be logical, they'd obviously be going the same distance as us. So if Hagia Sophia is about one thousand miles from here, Barcelona is really one of the only places about one thousand miles from here with a monument," Asia answered.

"What monument is it?" Aralee asked.

"La Sagrada Familia, of course," Asia replied matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Aralee replied. "You're really smart!"

"There's the ticket station!" I announced, beelining towards it. We hopped in line and waited for forty long minutes before making it up to the boothe.

"Ciao, cosa posso fare per te oggi?" the worker asked. I didn't understand, so I stared blankly at the other girls.

"Vorremmo acquistare sette biglietti, per favore. Per il treno per Istanbul." Aralee responded.

"Of course, I can tell the rest of you can't speak Italian, but you, dear, have wonderful Italian," the worker said, surprising us by speaking English.

"Thank you."

"Here's your tickets." The worker handed Aralee the flimsy, cream colored tickets.

It read: "Centoquarantacinque, Trieste: Istanbul."

She split the tickets among us, each girl being handed their own ticket. We headed towards the train, grabbing a map as we walked.

"To Istanbul, Turkey!" Aralee cheered as the train doors slid shut.