Free Runner (House of Night Fanfic)

Chapter 6

Kai

The group and I weren't the only ones in the class of Parkour, it was just that we were the top of our class and Chris just so happened to be in the group so he feels obligated to pick on us all the time during class. To count the heads of all the fledglings in this class during this block would be around eighteen of us. Vic and I were the ones that were kind of shadows of the "peer tutor" group that we weren't exactly assigned; Chris has Ryan and Leo for that.

"For today, we want to work on speed, endurance, and creativity," Chris bellows from the front of the group as we all crouched on the balls of our feet. "Ryan, why don't you show them an example of what that would look like today."

With a salute, Ryan straightened up and walked to the edge of the three story building in which we were all piled onto. Checking himself, he then walked to about the center of where we were and took a running start, giving it all he's got and springing off on both feet. Like a spider monkey, Ryan braced himself for landing on the edge of the building. With hardly any sound, he tumbled and rolled onto the other building and sprung again to give himself momentum for his mid-air summersault and landed again in a crouch, moppy blond hair covering his eyes.

I smirked.

The rest of the students looked at Ryan in awe, wondering where the frack he ever came up with the guts to do something like that.

"Alright, fledglings, your turn. Badge and Red will be able to help a brother out if you fall behind. We run to fifth avenue and meet up at Big Molly's," Chris states loud enough for even Ryan to hear him from the next building. "Ryan, lead the way."

And so he did. Ryan took off like the cat that he is. Vic and I waited for the stragglers to get their asses up and moving while Chris was getting them up.

When the last finally jumped, Vic's turn and just like the show off that he was, he crucified himself backwards and backflipped off onto the railing of the building off to my right. I scoffed and dived off the building, landing on my hands onto the building and ran animal style for about three paces before straightening myself and bracing for the next leap.

It felt good to free run, to get out of the perimeter of the House of Night. It was too crammed there with all the professors and fledglings in classrooms and all the rules. I needed to be free, to lead myself and have nothing to hold me back. I am a lone wolf that follows nobody.

Zoey

 I had no idea that the group that had greeted us at the gate were specialized in  parkour. It was strange to come from a more urban city than Tulsa.

"We were almost not going to fund it, but with the persuasive words of their teacher and his group, they have managed to squeeze it into our curriculum," Anna says at the front of us, leading the way to the gym.

"What's it like? Parky or something like to watch," Aphrodite asked in the snobby voice that we have all come to withstand.

"It's ParkOR and it is very dangerous. Only our best go out of school grounds to free fun and they should be back any moment now. The ones that are less skilled stay in the gym and they have a supervisor as they practice and learn the basics."

Just as Anna said that, we entered the gym and I almost gasped. There was monkey bars, poles, beams, and mats everywhere. There was about eight kids that were kind of hanging off the monkey bars, hanging upside down to talk to their friend as one of them was wrapping a wrist in white tape.

Anna walked with as much confidence as Aphrodite and strutted to the kid that was wrapping his wrist. 

"Where are the others? Shouldn't they be back by now?"

The kid physically winced at the tone of Anna. Then, very timidly, "They should be here any second now. We just got the message that they were on their way about five minutes ago now."

Apparently, Anna didn't like the sound of that and  she strutted back to us with a forced smile on her lips. "They seemed to have been stalled for the time being. It's nothing to worry about, they should be here soon."

Just after she finished that sentence, we heard a boom of a window slamming open and a rush of moonlight filled the room.

Wisps of cloth surrounded five figures as thirteen more leaped through the window and landed on mats at the bottom.

Then, a very low voice bellowed into the room from the huge open window above. "Friends, guests, and audience," pause. " Please bear witness to what you are about to see, because it is a rare occasion that the Feral Wolves have an audience."

Whispers suddenly began to make themselves known in the shadows and a prickly sensation crawled up my spine. It wasn't a negative feeling, though.

Suddenly, the five figures at the window leaped and disappeared into the shadows and the lights went out.

A wolf howled and I think all of us jumped. It was a low, lonely sound and I froze in place when the animalistic sound turned into a woman singing.

Stage lights blazed on and showed a make-shift stage in front of us.

Four figures dressed in all black dropped from the ceiling and started to disappear and reappear in front of our very eyes. Lights from behind us followed their movements and pretty soon they had a whole routine going.

A strange kind of magic enveloped me, the five elements humming all around us. The sound of a river flowing to my right, the smell of wet earth, the smoke of a bon fire, and sing-song of the wind above us, and spirit singing loud and proud. A feeling of pure joy and contentment filled me, and all of a sudden, my full attention was on the figures that seemed to dance with elements in the palms of their hands.

They were elements that they held in the palms of their hands! Green, red, blue, and yellow colours blazed from their hands and feet, making this whole performance even more beautiful.

As the four of them got ready for a climax, drums that were a background noise suddenly became so much more louder and another figure dropped from the ceiling. Another figure dressed in black, red streaked hair blazing as purple auras began to glow from her hands and feet. Not only purple, though. All of the other element colours mixed with the violet shades and she was engulfed in colour.

She gave a native war cry and the other four answered her, chanting to the drums that vibrated in my core.

The others suddenly bowed onto their knees, remaining frozen in place as the girl started to move. Her entire body was ballerina graceful as she moved with the elements that pulsed around her. Flips and leaps and all kinds of dance moves made her seem like the Goddess herself was dancing and not a fledgling controlling the power of the elements.

The drums were doing one last climax and all five of them moved with the same grace. Then the drums finished and the dancers posed in one last move. The four hulking figures crouched in different heights, framing the fifth that held her hands out in a gesture for a hug.

The whole thing was so beautiful that a tear slipped down my cheek.

These were no ordinary parkour kids.