Untamable Resolve: The Witheridge Witches

Ch. 43 - Conundrum

I regretted drinking all that wine last night the second the blare of an alarm went off to my left at the ungodly hour of five in the morning. I growled in frustration because IT. WOULDN'T. TURN. OFF. Yeah. I was already in a particularly pissy mood today. I remembered falling asleep on the couch but unsurprisingly awoke in Silas' massive king-sized bed. That fucker. Luckily for him, he wasn't asleep next to me, and the bed seemed otherwise untouched except where I slept.

Stumbling out of bed, nausea gripped me as I made my way to the bathroom. A splash of cold water to my face would do me good. A glance in the mirror confirmed that. I felt awful and looked it. The cold water left my face red and aggravated, only accomplishing and making me more irate. I needed to fix this because there was no way I would be able to "train" in this condition or whatever Silas had in store for me. The pain that shot from my shoulder was killer, which added to everything else. I made my way to the enclosed room with a toilet inside the bathroom and sat down, pulling my pants down and putting one hand over my injured shoulder, closing my eyes. Nervous, my hand shook as I prayed this would work.

'Meodor,' I thought, focusing hard. But oddly, it wasn't hard at all. Not even a little. Warmth filled my shoulder as I felt the inner parts of it working - binding together. When I tried to heal the rabbit in the forest, it had been as difficult as pushing the weight of a car only an inch forward but fixing my shoulder was as easy as snapping a finger which left me with anxious butterflies in my stomach.

Had my powers grown? Or had I grown more familiar with them? How strong was I?

"Jo. Hurry up. I want us in the training yard by 5:30 sharp." Silas' distinctive irritatingly low voice rang out.

I tensed as a rush of adrenaline filled me - my heart pounding hard. Quick off the mark, I knew exactly what I needed to say.

"I'M SHITTING!"

Hopefully, that would one: make him give me some space and two: gross him out.

"Just give me a second."

For half a second, the thought entered my mind about trying to fix my hangover but thought better of it as it seemed a little risky, with it being the brain and all. I peed and quickly made my way out to the main bathroom to wash my hands. Silas had cleared out but left training clothes folded on the sink counter as well as some tennis shoes on the floor. The clothes were warm and not too tight. I threw on the jacket and hat, too, for good measure. Looks like we would be training outside. Great. That would be awful. I hadn't thought through the idea that the Test of Wills would be outside wither. Damn. We were in frickin Wyoming in the end of November. This early in the morning, it had to be in the low twenties Fahrenheit. I plaited my hair and headed out to the main living area, where I found Silas with a coffee he handed me. No breakfast then - not till after the workout.

It was my first time really taking the military compound in as he led me to the top floor. It was mainly concrete and shrewdly made. I imagine that this is the nicer part originally made for officers back when it was controlled by the United States, but honestly, it was a guess at best. I wasn't familiar with military bases. I found it difficult to keep up with Silas as we headed up the winding concrete stairs and I spilled half of my coffee along the way. It wasn't long before we made it to the front doors and walked down a sidewalk to a field. There were soldiers in formation doing something I couldn't quite make out because it was so dark. Working out, maybe? The track was empty and encircled by a metal fence. Silas had probably cleared it for us.

I chugged the last of my coffee and asked. "So what are we doing."

"To start, we stretch for ten, and then you run a mile as fast as you can. I'll run it with you."