beats per minute

by Alex Mae

  ‘I release you,’ Liana said.

  She stepped back.

  ‘Raegan, can you hear me?’

  It was like being underwater with music playing at surface level. Raegan was submerged, but the pounding of some heavy, unknown bassline was still prominent. With all the strength she could muster, she nodded.

  Liana begin to pour water from a thin, twisted glass jug into tall tumbler. Raegan watched as if from behind a veil, appreciating the tiny, sluggish trickle as it began to ooze from the lip of the glass.

  ‘Slow it down.’

  It took what felt like forever for Raegan to raise her eyes to meet Liana’s once more. She swallowed thickly. Words unfurled as slowly as butterfly from chrysalis.

  ‘Wh-what?’

  Liana’s eyes dilated until they were almost completely black. She was terrifyingly wonderful. ‘Slow the water down. Concentrate. I have relinquished my hold on you.’

  Raegan felt a peculiar sensation, exciting and frightening, like a charge of electric current tingling up and down her body. Her heartbeat, loud in her ears, was now indistinguishable from a ticking clock.

  This must be what the Level 5’s meant by ‘zoning’; the charged, deeply focused state a Regent reached when he/she was completely Awake. To be zoning meant that time was within their grasp. That a full traverse was possible.

  With Christian, on that horrible night, Raegan had managed to traverse without being Awake – without being close. An incomplete traverse, Max had called it.

  The resultant mess of jumping time and fear she’d experienced was actually a lucky escape: even what the Fay had planned for her was nothing compared to the damage she could have done to herself. Regents had torn themselves apart by trying to traverse without the necessary skill or preparation. Literally.

  She tried not to think about it.

  ‘Raegan,’ the shimmering, raw voice whispered again, calling her back to the here and now. ‘Listen to the clock.’

  It was hard to focus. The water was moving faster now; iridescent, it rushed like a waterfall through the shadows, hitting the receptacle with a hollow glug.

  ‘Slow the clock down.’

  But that was ridiculous. How could she? She had no more control over the clock than she had over the water. But the liquid was so beautiful; she felt overcome with the sudden desire to see it catch the light more slowly, to hold it in that moment forever…

  Though her body did not seem to be moving, her cells were shuddering with energy. The electric-like current of her power was flooding through her now. She was zoning. Time was hers to command.

  ‘Don’t stop it,’ the voice cautioned. ‘Only slow it. Take it gently; one degree at a time.’

  The more she watched the water, the more she wanted it to happen; the more she wanted to obey the voice echoing inside her.

  And then her attention was solely on the clock and she felt a kind of rage – she wanted it to bend to her will, like she had wanted to mould Max’s heartbeat against hers inside his office. The ticking accelerated, her eyes widened with the effort, and then it was if her will and the electricity crackling in her veins were one, an invisible force she could use to drive the clock back; she sent the power spiralling, down through her chest and out through her toes, pushing on the roots of the earth to stop time in its tracks.

  As if anchored by a huge weight, the ticking began to slow.

  And so did the water.

  She was traversing properly for the first time.

  With wonder, for a long, pure moment, she saw the trickles of the water dissolve, breaking away from their fluid formation, moving as if suspended on delicately languid strings, gently floating down towards the glass at an extraordinarily relaxed pace.

  Like the cars that had seemed to speed up when she was running away from Christian, the water seemed to be moving more slowly: but she knew now that it was not the water that was travelling at a different pace, it was her. It was all a matter of perspective. She was in a different time-zone (or ‘plane’, as the other Regents called it); while everything in common time continued at the same pace, she had slowed down time and now stood outside of it.

  Watching the multitude of droplets now plopping frantically onto the running track in front of her, Raegan couldn’t help but smile. She had actually done it. She had managed to control time.

  And then a particularly cold glob of rain splashed onto her face, ending that happy train of thought.

  If only she could slow time here, now, and stop this bloody rain in its tracks!

  ***

  The students moved closer to the starting line. Bree’s clipped voice, unusually coarse as she struggled to be heard, cut through the deluge.

  ‘Five minutes! You should be using this time wisely! Make a plan. It’s not enough to be fast: you have to be smart. Prepare your body but don’t neglect your brain! And take some deep breaths – you won’t have time for breathing once the Lab gets hold of you, believe me!’

  Trying not to be biased but unable to resist checking in with her friend, she slid over to Raegan, who appeared to be lost in thought.

  ‘Ready? Feeling okay?’ Bree’s eyes twinkled as she lowered her voice conspiratorially, adding: ‘Not too… tired?’

  Raegan stopped stretching. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Read over the notes from Heart last night – all part of my conscientious tesserarius duty, of course, I wasn’t being nosy at all. You did it!’

  ‘Yup,’ Raegan said through chattering teeth.

  ‘I can just about remember my first complete,’ Bree closed her eyes, savouring the memory. ‘What a rush!’

  ‘I still can’t believe it,’ Raegan shook her head. ‘I’ll never manage it again…’

  ‘Rubbish. Gets easier every time. Soon enough you won’t even need Liana’s help to flip the switch. It’s like muscle memory, or something... Hey, did Liana show you hers yet?’

  Raegan must have looked startled, because Bree smiled. ‘Her traverse! Did she go in front of you? She does it out of the blue sometimes - just to be wicked, I’m sure. Always scares the hell out of newbies because she can go so quickly.’

  Her friend looked a bit disappointed when Raegan shook her head. ‘Nevermind, something to look forward to.’

  When Rico marched down the track a second later, scowling in their direction, the girls dropped down and pretended to fiddle with their shoelaces so they could continue talking. Raegan waited for him to pass before continuing in a low voice. ‘So what’s it like? When you see someone traverse?’

  ‘Nothing on earth, duckie.’

  ‘But how will I know?’

  ‘Oh, you’ll know. You might notice Liana seem to vibrate, blurring at the edges almost. Just for a second. Then she’s gone. Sometimes it’s like she disappears right in front of you and then reappears in the next instant, but way across the room! Moving too fast for you to see, if you’re in common time. If you’re traversing too you might catch the stream of her movement, like the tail of a shooting star. Amazing.’

  ‘Wow,’ Raegan breathed, trying to think of another question – partly because she was curious, and partly because this conversation was proving a welcome distraction from her thoughts.

  ‘And forget focusing on water! Wait until you get to start moving while you traverse. That’s when the fun really starts.’

  Suddenly the tesserarius broke off, looking at Raegan intently as if for the first time. Bree didn’t believe in frowning; she said it took too much effort and caused too many wrinkles. The tiny line that appeared between her eyebrows now was as close as she got. ‘Look at the state of you! Your fatigues are covered in mud - I could pull you up for improper presentation, cadet. Count yourself lucky Rico didn’t get a hard look. Didn’t you have time to change?’

  And here was one of the things Raegan had been enjoying not thinking about. She shook her head. ‘Got locked in the ladies again. Couldn’t find my spares, anyway.’ That was lie. Raegan knew she’d put the clean set o
f clothes in her locker that morning. It was funny how much of her stuff had gone missing since she’d got to Unit Prime.

  This had never happened before. Apart from her phone – which she was always leaving at her friends’ houses – she never lost a thing. Some people had called her anal; she preferred the term ‘organised’.

  Bree was focusing on her earlier statement. ‘Got locked in? I told you, if the latch is sticking again you should speak to the cleaning staff-‘

  ‘It’s not the latch. I checked – all working fine. No problems there.’

  ‘Then what...’ Bree fixed her with a non-nonsense look. ‘Not this again.’

  ‘I guess it’s someone’s idea of a joke.’ Raegan fiddled with the zip on her jacket. ‘No big deal.’

  ‘And who would ‘someone’ be?’

  Raegan shrugged.

  Bree made a disbelieving noise. The conversation was apparently closed; and yet both girls could not prevent their attention wandering to the other side of the track, where at that moment another competitor was preparing to begin the race.

  That competitor was Declan Kane, novice cadet – the only other potential Regent of Raegan’s age who, until five days ago, had also never engaged in any Regency training.

  Raegan eyed him with dislike as he reached his arms forward, cracking his knuckles loudly. He was a nightmare. Worst of all, he was only a nightmare to her. No-one else thought Declan was a tool and Raegan could see why.

  First of all, he was good looking, with the dark, floppy hair, long-lashed green eyes and muscular body that spelled instant popularity. He was a bit short; but based on the reactions of the kitchen staff, who pretty much fainted whenever he walked into the canteen, this didn’t matter. Even Bree regarded him with cool approval. He could also turn on the charm. No-one else had to deal with the unfriendly, moody Declan she knew: he was courteous to the teachers and positively sunny with the senior cadets. Yet from the moment they met it was like he couldn’t stand her.

  And she had no idea why. At first she was confused. Then she was upset. Missing her grandparents and her mother more than ever, intimidated by the senior Regent cadets, it would have been great to make friends with the only other person going through the same thing as herself. Instead, she felt Declan looked down his nose at her and everything she did. Even her background seemed to count against her. When Declan overheard Raegan explaining to Yali that she had grown up in Islington, he had muttered, ‘A rich kid. Figures.’ The accompanying eye roll made it even clearer what he thought of that. Declan had been raised in the Bronx – on the street itself, he’d have you believe. Raegan had to stop herself from rolling her own eyes. He thought he was such a badass.

  Even more annoying was how quickly Declan picked things up – much more quickly than her to begin with, but then he had already lived at Unit Prime for ages. He wasted no time in voicing his opinion that Raegan and he be split up as soon as possible, as it would make more sense to be allowed to ‘go at their own speeds’. She could still remember exactly how smug he sounded. Not to mention her own strong urge to slap him.

  This was on the third day, and funnily enough it had been at around this point that something snapped inside Raegan. Since then she was the one letting the door slam in his face as she exited the room. She was the first to every lesson, fitting in extra training with Bree before and after classes. Gradually, his lead on her was decreasing; in such a short space of time she was faster, stronger, and more in tune with herself.

  He didn’t like it.

  Raegan was not the only one to notice. Sam, another level 5 Regent and assistant to the teachers, had been the first to point it out.

  Coming down to earth after a successful class with Yali, Raegan was riding high. For the first time she’d mastered the balancing posture set by the centurion and managed to hold it until Yali’s countdown finished. Declan had tumbled off his perch some time before.

  Sam sidled up as soon as Yali dismissed them, putting a hand on her arm. ‘Well done.’

  Sam was definitely what the girls at Woodstead would have called a ‘fittie’, Raegan thought, and not for the first time. She tried to look cool, as his hand on her arm didn’t mean anything. ‘Cheers. I enjoyed it.’

  ‘Innit. But do you mean the part where you won, or the part where Kane fell on his arse?’ Sam’s typically cheery tones were laced with satisfaction. ‘That must have felt good.’

  Raegan had been trying to avoid thinking about Declan. ‘Can’t say I noticed.’

  ‘Oh, come on.’ Sam looked down at his fingernails casually, all the while muttering out of the side of his mouth. ‘Just look at him.’

  Raegan glanced across the room. Declan was getting ready to leave, stuffing clothes into his backpack with sharp, vicious movements. At that moment, as if he knew she was staring, he looked upwards; the face that peered through the mop of dark hair was set and slitty-eyed.

  Raegan looked away hurriedly. ‘He does look pissed off.’

  The door slammed loudly behind him as if to emphasise the point.

  ‘The King has left the building,’ Sam made a mock bow in the direction of Declan’s exit, raising his voice to a normal level. ‘I don’t know how you stand it. Such an attitude.’

  ‘That’s one way of looking at it,’ Raegan said lightly. She was sick to death of Declan’s behaviour but it wasn’t really her style to moan. She was aware how unattractive boys found bitchy girls. As soon as the thought entered her head she blushed. Why was she even worrying about Sam’s opinion?

  She wanted him to like her, she realised. She would prefer it if he focused less on Declan and more on her.

  Embarrassed, she slid into her rucksack and started to walk. Sam fell easily into step beside her. He seemed keen to continue discussing Declan, and as Raegan was keen to keep chatting, full stop, she didn’t put up a fight.

  And anyway, it was nice to find someone else who wasn’t Declan’s biggest fan.

  ‘Seriously,’ Sam lowered his voice conspiratorially. ‘He’s been a pain to you since you got here – but at least now we know why.’

  He held open the door. She smiled gratefully at him. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘He’s jealous.’

  Raegan let out a disbelieving snort. ‘Doubt it. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m rubbish.’

  ‘What! That’s crazy talk. Everyone’s slow at first. And look at you today! You done good.’

  They were in front of the girls changing room.

  ‘Thanks for the pep talk, coach,’ Raegan smiled modestly. ‘I’m going in here now. Sorry.’

  Sam held up his hands. ‘Hey, say no more. Remember what I said though? Declan Kane can suck it. You nailed it today.’

  They stood smiling at each other for a moment before Raegan ducked her head and turned.

  Impulsively, she paused in the doorway, looking back at him over her shoulder. ‘You helped,’ she said shyly. ‘Those breathing exercises you taught me really worked. I’ll get you an extra cake at lunch to say thanks.’

  ‘Nice one.’ He winked, and then started to back off down the corridor. ‘No need, though - the look on Kane’s face was reward enough! Tosser! I’m late for my next session. Catch you later!’

  Sam waved at her now as he jogged up from beyond the starting line, his sandy hair turned dark by the rain. The pistol was in his hand, ready to sound the starting signal. Now was not the time to be distracted, but if Raegan were paying attention to such things, she would have noticed the way his wet black trousers and longsleeved top hugged his tall, lean body.

  He was way better looking than Declan, Raegan was shocked to find herself thinking. Not to mention a million times nicer. He helped find her keys when they vanished right out of her bag the other day; even came to her rescue when she was locked in the ladies’. He saw through her attempts to laugh it off. And when she finally admitted that someone was messing with her, he listened. Really listened.

  New girl’s tease or not, she had a feeling that Sam would
share her suspicions about who might be behind it all. Even if Bree didn’t.

  As if drawn by her thoughts, she saw Declan move into position for the start of the race. All fine. Except for the lane he was positioning himself in. Which just happened to be the lane she had been allocated. Once again, he was deliberately trying to throw her off, just because she had picked the straw for the lane he wanted - the outside lane.

  With a sigh, she wondered whether she could be bothered to say anything.

  But there was Bree, marching up to the line, stopwatch in the air. It was time. She saluted to someone in Tower 2, and Raegan felt a zing of anticipation: an optio or even Body Centurion Zeke must be watching. This explained the delay.

  Suddenly all thoughts disappeared and Raegan no longer felt the cold or rain. She crouched, like a coiled spring, completely focused on the course ahead, waiting for the race to begin.

  The pistol sounded.

  ***

  The Labyrinth began with a sprint on what looked like a regular track, which then developed into a series of increasingly difficult obstacles. The first two obstacles were situated within the track and could be tackled at a run. These were designed to test responses and changes of direction. The first set was thought to be the simplest, to ease the cadet into the rest of the course. About 10 metres after the four running lanes had evened out into a straight, these became walled, and bent in zigzags almost at right angles, forcing the cadet to make sharp turns and stay alert.

  This, and the next ‘dodging’ obstacle – a widened running lane spread over a lattice, with some of the gaps filled in and raised to force the cadet to weave between the available spaces or risk tripping over – Raegan completed without too much difficulty. As did Declan.

  The easy part of the course, if it could be called that, was now over.