Six weeks after the attack, three since field experience finished, and Dimitri was whipping my ass. If I had thought he had killed me when I returned I was wrong. He was doing everything possible to prepare me trials in three months.
A midnight wake up call was a frequent occurrence. Sleep was almost nonexistent. He would even set tests where I would have to complete an obstacle course through campus to find him. Setting challenges in the woods was a favourite. No two sessions were the same. Often Alberta, Stan, Yuri, Emil, Celeste and my mother would be recruited- all at once. Nothing was impossible and any thought of 'us' was sidelined. I'd been through six weeks and had another twelve to go.
I had suffered worse from Dimitri and his cronies in the last few weeks than I had in the attack and rescue. I took whatever he threw at me without complaint.
Unless it was a break or fracture, I had banned Liss from healing me. I was still siphoning away darkness from her work on battle victims. I knew it was a matter of time before it caused me to explode. Dimitri didn't know I was doing it and I didn't bother to enlighten him. I was beginning to wonder if I could take the darkness, what about the magic? Could I find a way to turn darkness into a tangible material? If I ever got a break I investigated.
