TIGHTROPE | fitz vacker

Chapter 3.

"WHO'S THE GENUIS who decided that we should continue having classes in the heart of a plague zone?" Azalea whispered to Linh as they waited for the Coaches to start.

   The Exillium tents had been set up along the edge of a sheer cliff, overlooking a blackened, shriveled woodland. The tree trunks were twisted and cracked, their branches sagging and drooping, and their speckled leaves blanketed the ground in heaps of mold green and sallow yellow.

   "Where are we?" The girl with four abilities (Azalea decided to call her 'Four'.) from the newbie gang asked.

   "It doesn't matter," Purple said behind her, the other two Coaches looming over them.

   Waywards, including Tam, Linh, and Azalea, milled nearby, pretending they weren't eavesdropping.

   "How can you say that?" The girl had a crisp accent: Biana Vacker asked the Coaches. "Don't you know what's happening down there?"

   "We don't," Red said, "and we aren't supposed to."

   "That's not our world," Blue added. "It's simply scenery."

   "So you don't care that—" Four started.

   "We don't," Blue interrupted.

   "We can't," Purple clarified. "We know our place, and the role we're expected to play. The five of you need to learn yours."

   "You're no longer part of a community," Red added. "You're fighting for survival and redemption."

   "But how is it redeeming to only care about ourselves?" Four asked.

   The silence that followed felt like it was breathing down everybody's necks. The Coaches' eventual reply was to order everyone to their Hemispheres.

   Azalea kept her head down as she whispered to Tam, "You see what I mean? Talk to her."

   Azalea ran to Right tent and sat in the corner like she always did.

   Red stormed into the tent and clapped her hands. "Everyone rise!" she ordered.

   Waywards floated off the ground as the Red announced they'd be practicing levitation-in-motion.

   "Choose any movement you'd like," Red said. "But you must keep moving. Every time you fall, you prove yourself Unworthy."

   Levitation was one of the skills that Azalea couldn't use the Happy Place Trick to get away with. Instead, she practiced. If you don't want to draw attention to yourself in Exillium, you have to be good at the skills. But you can't show that you're good. You stay in the middle, where you can easily blend in with everyone.

   Azalea closed her eyes, pushed against gravity, and floated her body off the ground. She started 'walking' like the other Waywards. She tried not to notice but Fitz and Biana fell two and three times respectively.

   A gong announced their break and everyone but the Vackers lowered themselves gracefully to the ground. Azalea made her way to the eating area, where all the Waywards were lining up for lunch. The food itself was simple—baskets of whole fruit for them to choose from—and everyone only took one piece. They also sat separately, on threadbare blankets the same color as their Hemisphere. The only sounds were the wind and the awkward crunch of chewing.

   Azalea sat with Tam and Linh opposite Four. Tam extended his shadow towards her and started Shadow whispering.

   The gong rang again, ordering them back to their tents, and the stronger afternoon gales made the exercise even more challenging. Waywards were tossed around the tents, crashing into the poles and each other. Azalea stumbled around a few times, but managed to concentrate. Before the newbie gang interrupted it.