Heshra

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The days go on and I keep a close eye on Shane. He is always sneaking around with Jhon, going outside during lunch thinking that no one is watching him but I am. I am watching him really close.

The nights get easier and easier to sleep as the days go on. I get even more tired with every day of training. Ash pushes us hard. She pushes us to the breaking point.

On the sixth day of training, when it is time for our Whylex part, we exit the building and head over to the woods. We have all gotten slightly better over the last few days but there are still a lot of the Rivas that have not been able to protect the dummy for the full ten minutes. Liam is one of those people. He has grown more and more distant. He hates that I can do it right every single time. Kathryn has gotten the hang of it though. After the first one, she got better and was able to do it every time after that. That was good because she was no longer mad at me.

We stand around the woods. Ash is standing in front of us. She starts to speak and everyone that was previously talking was immediately silenced.

"Alright Rivas, listen up, today will be a little different. We will not go in in the same order we have always gone in. Instead, we will go in by how many we have succeeded in the past. The people who have the least amount of successes will go first and the most amount of successes will go last. That means that Shane will go first and Myra will go last.

Most of the Ravens are nodding their heads but several bellow in protest, saying it is unfair to label them on their successes. Ash silences them with a raise of her hand and continues talking.

"Shane, if you will follow me, we will get you started. Liam, prepare yourself, you will be after Shane."

And with that she drags Shane into the forest by his wrist like dragging a child from the window display of a toy store. But just as he disappears into the forest, I see him mouth a single word to Jhon. Today.

Not knowing why, that sends shiver down my spine making me shudder. What is he doing with Jhon today. He can't just be talking about some game of chess or what is in the lunch. He could just be talk about the fact that he is going to beat the round. That is all that I want to say to myself. That is all I will admit to myself. That is the only solution. Still, I have an itching question in the back of my head. Why would he have Jhon in on it.

I dismiss it with a tiny hit to my head. It is probably nothing. I focus my attention instead to the fact that Liam is second. Most people have not succeeded a single round but what is the organization of the people who have the same number of successes.

I am the only person who has done well in every round so I will be waiting for my turn for a while but in the meantime, I walk over to Ash to ask her something. I approach her from the back. I learned as a child to walk in silence, not making a sound in the grass. It was handy when I wanted to sneak a cookie down from the cabinet when I wanted a late night snack after I woke up in the middle of the night.

I tap on her shoulder lightly. She spins around quickly, her eyes slightly widened.

"Oh, it is just you. What do you need Myra." She is not very tall and I am able to look into her eyes without tilting my head back.

"I was wanting to ask you a question."

"What kind of question?"

"A history question."

"Interesting, well if you must, ask away."

"I was wondering the names of the six leaders that made our society."

"Oh, well the one from Saurina was Jim Hunter. There was Greyson Stacks from Duranza. Abner Chapman from Laurotha. Then there is Mervyn Stanton from Heshra and finally, the one from Whylex was Lance Glazer. One of his descendants is in this group. Kathryn is the descendant of the former leader of Whylex. One of the Big Six as you might call them. Some people do not like to look back to the time of the United Society."