Void

[15] Faculae

Chapter 15 - Faculae: Bright patches that are visible on the Sun's surface, or photosphere.

Anne

My feet are killing me.

"We're going to make a pretty sad crew if we keep up like this," Lia huffs next to me. A little sweat on her forehead but she looks fine. How can she look fine? We've been running all day. She's hardly even broken a sweat. "Hey Anne, you still doing okay?"

Lia has barely said a word to anyone since we found her with her arm cut up. I almost ask her why she cares, but these past few days seem to have thawed her cold demeanor, even if only slightly. I suck in a breath and nod. "I'm guessing by initiating this conversation that you've decided that making friends is at least somewhat beneficial until the final ten are announced?"

"Don't think about it too hard. I'm just bored, so don't let this go to your head." Lia wipes her barely damp forehead. "You gonna answer my question?"

"I think we're doing alright. We're still here, aren't we?"

"Don't give me that. You freaked when we had to do the dives. I thought you were going to be sick or something."

I shudder at the memory. We were told to put on heavy gear and dive to the sunken maze below. It was designed to give us 'a feel for space walking'. I almost chicken out--almost got cut from the candidates--but Ed shoved me in at the last second. It wasn't pretty and I was fuming, but I was able to make it through the day.

It's almost the end of the week and lately, everything had been physical. Every morning is greeted with a medical check before a grueling workout. But I don't regret this for a second. More than half of the candidates are gone. The Curlicue patiently waits for its select ten.

"Don't remind me." I wheeze, out of breath from running. "Why... are you talking to me... anyway? I thought you hated me."

Lia rolls her eyes. "I don't have any particular problem with you, Anne, let's get that straight. I actually think you and your little alliance you have is cute." Lia runs effortlessly, even though we've been doing this for about ten miles now. They way she says 'cute' bothers me.

"Then what?"

"It's foolish. I didn't come here to make friends and I doubted anyone else would."

"So," I choose my words carefully. Lia is skilled, she'd make a good ally. I've seen her perform alongside the others throughout the week and she's definitely a promising candidate. But she has this way of misinterpreting others and putting them in a bad light. She doesn't like to make friends and I don't think she'd be good at it. "Why do you distance yourself from everyone else?" I ask. "Is there a reason?"

She looks down at me like I'm a little kid who just did something incredibly stupid. "Anne, do you really think you can trust anybody here?"

I'm about to ask her more, but our instructor calls over her shoulder at our group. "We're meeting up with the guys. It's about time for a meal."

We're somewhere along the coast, but all the laps we've done of the island have made our location unclear. The instructor slows once we reach an open clearing with knee-length grass. She orders us to sit and wait while she calls for the location of the boys.

I lower to one knee and watch the sun sink over the horizon. It's going to be dark soon and we're a good distance from any of the roads on the island. It's easy to remember the layout here, everything is given a place. The island was designed to be as efficient as possible.

"Get your head out of space," Noelle says as she seats herself beside me. "We aren't there yet."

"I'm sweating like crazy in this heat."