Phantom Thunder

Chapter 10

The bell woke me up the next morning. My eyes seamed to be glued shut. I managed to pry them open, which turned into a hard core eyelid workout.

I blinked twice and tried to sit up. Every bone, tendon and muscle in my body ached. I felt as though overnight I'd been trampled by a thousand horses. It hurt to move.

Lilian landed on the mattress next to me. The force jolted my body. I groaned. "Feels great eh?" She grinned.

"How are you alive" I managed.

"I've had more practice. But trust me no matter how long you stay at the academy, the morning after always hurts. Thank god Saturday days are fun. Come on."

At least I wasn't the only one who was hurting. The other girls crossed the room with ungraceful movements, moaning like pitiful dead. But somehow they were still as energetic as Lilian.

We went down to breakfast in our pajamas. We took our time, since on Saturdays we supposedly had and extra hour in the morning before we had to be anywhere.

"Where's 'anywhere'?" I asked.

Lilian smiled. "The woods." She didn't offer any more explanation.

I changed into cargo pants, combat boots, tank top and sweater. Lilian wore leggings. We left the dorm together and stopped to bang politely on the door to the first boy's dorm.

"Marcus" Lilian said to the boy that opened the door and stuck his head out. "Tell the boys to hurry up."
He gently closed the door. From through the wood, I heard Marcus joking about something along the line of Blake and Lilian being a couple. Muffled laughter filled the hall. Lilian's face was pink.

Seth opened the door and stuck his head out. Lilian raised her hand, then dropped it to her side.

"What was that?" Seth asked bewildered.

"I thought you were Marcus" Lilian said casually.

"You were going to punch me!" Seth's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No" Lilian corrected in a matter of fact tone. "I was going to slap Marcus. And don't look so surprised. How long have you known me?"

"Too long" Seth said, than quickly closed the door before Lilian could raise her arm. Clearly he had known her for long enough to predict her reaction.

A few seconds later, Spark stuck his head out the door. He regarded Lilian. "Were you going to slap me?" He asked.

"That should be rephrased to 'are you going to slap me?' In which case the answer is ye-"

"Come on" Blake shoved Spark from behind. "Quit being a goof."

Seth was the last one out. He shut the dorm door with a brisk snap, and we all went downstairs together.

"Obstacle day" Lilian said as we stepped outside. She seamed to be talking to the fresh morning air, but I knew she was answering my question from before breakfast.

"Obstacles?"

"Yeah."

I grinned. "Nice."

We walked across the lawn towards the forest. Other small groups were all heading in the same direction.

I didn't notice the obstacle course until it was right on top of me, literally. Something up in the trees caught my eye. I craned my neck back and saw a giant platform about 20 meters up in one of the monstrous trees. Ladders spanned gaps between trees, and unidentifiable contraptions winded away in a stumbling path through the forest.