Down With The Border: A Shadow People Novel

Chapter 21: Our Next Meeting

Viviana:

Beeep! 

Beeeeep! 

Beeeeeeep!

Click.

Three.

Three days left.

Three wolves to pin down.

Three in the morning. 

The past four days had been bewildering. With the help of Terrence actually teaching me, and the occasional healing potion, I got better. Fast.

The morning after my first lesson with Terrence, I was able to knock Mason off his balance right away. I was so shocked that I completely froze and squealed when I was thrown onto the ground. Stone made me do extra exercises when I couldn't hold back my smile. 

After that first round, I was on a roll. I knocked all three wolves off of their balance almost every time. I even got close to pinning Leo down once. 

The next day was even better. In my first three rounds, I almost won each time. Almost. But when Stone saw this he began making me fight two wolves at a time. 

"We're trying something new today." Alpha Stone's heavy voice resounded against the cement walls of the small training room.

I stood in a line against the back wall with Mason, Asher, and Leo. Stone paced back and forth in front of us, his shadow swaying across the room each time he past the singular light bulb. 

"Since you somehow got members of this pack to take you seriously, your improvements have been growing at a rapid rate." His pace slowed down for a moment and his head tilted to the side. "Although you have still been unable to reach the original goal-" 

"Because you made me fight more than o-" 

"Unable to reach the original goal!" He cut me off as I tried to retort. I was so close to 'reaching the original goal' two days ago. 

Why doesn't he want me to win?

"I would like to see how you perform in a real life situation." His pacing finally stopped as he came to an abrupt halt in front of me. 

"Is this not-" 

"No it isn't." 

Rude. 

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. 

"Form a line!" He barked. "We're taking a field trip." 

Mason, Asher, Leo, and I formed a line in front of the door. We followed Stone out of the dungeon and outside. 

The sun hadn't risen yet and there was a fine frost covering each blade of grass. The air was crisp and there was a soft glow coming from the crescent moon. 

"Human," Stone said as we stopped about 50 ft in the woods behind the Main House.

"Viviana." I corrected. He didn't like using my name. It was getting on my nerves. 

"Human," His face scrunched in annoyance before sighing.  "You will start out normally, fighting a warrior of your choosing. Eventually, when you aren't able to take him down, I will send in another to join the fight. When you can't take either of the two warriors down, I will send in the third."

"That is," A small smirk hinted in his face as he paused. "If you haven't already been pinned down by then." 

"What if I'm able to pin the first one down before you send in the second?" I challenged.