beats per minute

by Alex Mae

  Raegan knew she must not get cocky. She had been prepared for as much as she could see from the outside practice area, which was just the first two obstacles. After this the cadets were plunged into a wooded area, ringed by very tall trees that disguised the rest of the course from view. The exact set up of the Lab changed from time to time. Once inside the course proper, there were a variety of paths the cadets could take, and these changed regularly – giving the course the maze-like quality for which it was named. Cadets were not allowed to know the layout in advance.

  The trees were now in view. Neck and neck, the two competitors surged on, the clatter of their feet nearly matching the pounding of the rain all around.

  Careful, Raegan thought. Though her progress was steady, she knew that the urge to zoom ahead could be her undoing. Bree had slipped her a few sneaky tidbits of advice; she could hear her voice now, recommending caution: ‘Though you will be tempted, rushing can be bloody dangerous. These obstacles are meant to test dexterity of brain as well as body. Give yourself time – and I don’t mean that in the traversing sense. Make the most of real, unmanipulated time. That may sound strange, but there you have it, lady. Be prepared to slow your own pace if necessary.’ One of Yali’s first lessons also resonated in her mind: ‘We must be prepared to exist solely in the present. This is why we train our bodies as well as heart and brain. Slowing down time instead of yourself is not always a luxury you will have: remember that.’

  Easy for them to say! Caution, physical agility and mental prowess all sounded like a great idea in theory but at the moment Raegan felt completely out of control. These worries were confirmed when the path began to change from an astroturf running track to grass and Raegan’s foot slipped dramatically on the damp foliage. She only just righted herself in time.

  The pair ran into the clearing and the path ahead came into sight. It was forked, and would continue to split off into a myriad of different tracks through the maze. Raegan was looking forward to this part of the course even though she knew it would be more difficult; her plan was to shake Declan off as soon as possible. Some space would be very welcome. She was tired of him breathing down her neck.

  She was in the right hand lane, Declan in the left. It made sense to go right, she decided quickly. He would naturally turn left and then she would be free. The thought cheered her up; with a burst of speed she broke away from him and raced toward the right fork.

  ***

  Yali took another sip of tea as the flickering screen showed the small figures entering the course proper, the camera tracking their movements with relative accuracy.

  ‘They are doing well,’ he remarked. ‘I would think that their times are advanced for this stage in the training?’

  Robert nodded, smiling slightly. ‘It makes me wonder if we should run the Lab in pairs more often. I think the competitiveness brought about by racing against just one person can be fairly effective.’

  ‘Certainly this seems to be the case here.’

  The two watched thoughtfully for a few moments. At then, suddenly, both men made small gestures of surprise; Yali leaned forward, and Robert cocked his head to one side.

  ‘Is he...?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Robert laughed. ‘This is taking competitiveness to a new level!’

  ‘There is a logic to it,’ Yali mused. ‘I wonder if I would not do something similar.’

  ‘It never normally happens, though,’ Robert leaned back in his chair and regarded Yali quizzically. ‘After all, we run them in groups of four and there are always at least six possible courses competitors can take through the maze. They tend to split up as quickly as possible.’

  ‘The desire to break away from the crowd is strong. Most of us do not like an audience while we are competing – for really, we are competing against ourselves.’ Yali smiled. ‘But if you were against only one, it would be wise to keep an eye on him or her, would it not?’

  ‘True. But if he doesn’t keep his mind on his own performance, he could make mistakes. Focusing too much on Raegan could be Declan’s undoing.’

  ‘You are correct. I have already noticed this in our work. The boy is easily distracted by her.’

  ‘He should know better.’

  ‘He should. But the heart wants what it wants.’ Yali peered at the screen over his fingertips. ‘I only hope his attention does not distract her, too.’

  ‘But wouldn’t that be your strategy? You did mention the merits of sticking closely to one’s enemy.’ There was a teasing glint in Robert’s eye.

  ‘Touché.’ Yali inclined his head good-naturedly. ‘As a predator with his prey. When there are but two of you, the maze becomes the hunt.’

  On the screen, divots of mud flew in the air as the two cadets leaped over logs, feet sliding precariously as they prepared for each jump. The gap between them was minimal.

  Yali let out an almost imperceptible sigh.

  ‘Though what Declan is hunting remains to be seen.’

  ***

  Raegan hurdled the logs at breakneck speed, any thought of caution forgotten. Idiot! Why the hell was he following her? As the Labyrinth twisted and turned, there he was: as she swung like Tarzan on horizontal bars overhanging a deep ditch; as she hoisted herself over an inverted wall; as she crawled on her belly through the mud. Every path she chose, even if it meant a rapid change of direction, he also took. He was trying to psyche her out.

  Well, it wouldn’t work. It couldn’t. And anyway she had other, more urgent things to worry about right now: like her choice of path through the maze. This track was taking her deeper and deeper into the forest, narrowing and bending and growing so dark that it was hard to see more than a few inches in front of her nose. The terrain grew more uneven the further she went.

  And then it was like she had stumbled through some invisible barrier. She felt it again; that crackle of electricity-like power that said her Regency instincts were kicking in. But this was accompanied by something cold and unfriendly, twisting inside; the emotional equivalent of being drowned in ice. Every hair on her still-moving body stood up. This isn’t right.

  A thin, sickly ray of light was trickling through the bushes ahead. Logic told her that the path was going to open out and visibility would improve. Logic told her to head toward the light.

  The clenchy, tight feeling in her gut told her to turn back.

  But that was stupid. You didn’t just turn back in the middle of the Labyrinth! So what was she supposed to do?

  Unless…

  The moment the thought crossed her mind it was like her body was already tensing, preparing to spring; and then, without breaking her stride, she was soaring upwards, higher than she knew she could jump, hands outstretched toward a particularly long branch.

  Her breath was coming so thick and fast that it took a moment for Declan’s voice to break through.

  ‘That’s a lot of effort to go through to hand me the race!’ His mocking tones rose up, bouncing tinnily off the trees. ‘You could’ve just lain down right here in the middle of the track!’

  The last few words got quieter and quieter, as did the pounding of his feet. He hadn’t slowed down at all.

  Couldn’t he feel it? She thought. They weren’t supposed to go any further down that path, she was sure of it. Was he just so obsessed with beating her that he didn’t care?

  Jerk. She pushed Declan out of her mind. Instead she focused on the key principle of completing the Labyrinth; the one that Rico had drilled into them again and again. Keep moving forward. When your surroundings told you not to take the obvious route, you didn’t give up, you found a way around it. This was just another obstacle the Labyrinth was throwing her way: forcing her to make her own new path rather than following the obvious one.

  So all she could do now was focus on swinging smoothly from one branch to the next above the path. Keep moving forward. Even though the feeling of total wrongness, like being physically repelled, did not stop. In fact it only grew worse as she drew
nearer to the light.

  But it was nothing compared to what she felt when she pushed the final canopy of leaves out of the way to reveal the end of the path. It had opened out into a clearing, as she’d guessed. That was where her expectations ended.

  One of the Fay was waiting.

  One that she thought she’d never have to see again.

  A great flame of icy fear seemed to whoosh up her body, nearly toppling her from the branch. Her slackening fingers, weak with panicked dread, didn’t belong to her any more. She wobbled dangerously in mid-air.

  It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. This had to be another test.

  But there was Declan, a little way off, slumped on the grass. He had gotten here first. Whistled past her without a thought of slowing down. Into the lead. And straight into an unknown and open space; something their teachers had cautioned them against.

  Straight into the Fay.

  Declan wasn’t moving but the Fay was getting closer to him, tracing a path with slow, stealthy movements. He wasn’t in any hurry. When he reached Declan’s side, as if glorying in the moment, Christian turned his thin, cruel face to the sky.

  Just in time to catch the sharp end of tree branch whistling toward him, which Raegan drove down and down until it was half-buried in his throat.

  Chest heaving, she reached for him before he could traverse – it shouldn’t be possible within the compound but if he had made it this far, who knew what he could do – ramming the branch further into his gullet, not caring as blood, hot and dark, sprayed all over. She could hear her breath, hysterical, rasping, but she held the branch in place.

  ‘I’m a bit stronger now, aren’t I, you bastard! How did you find me?’ the words came out in a scream. ‘What are you doing here? Answer me!’

  His reply was an awful gurgling sound, bubbles of red bursting out of the wound and over her fingers as they held the stick in place. Then she realised he was slithering from her grasp, and made to hold tighter, but suddenly it wasn’t just that he was slippery with blood, he was fading, disintegrating, somehow-

  And then he was gone. Her hands, still red, were empty. The sodden stick clattered to the floor.

  ‘It was a test. Cooked up by the mages.’ Declan didn’t sound surprised.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘You didn’t get the kill, anyway. Guess one good hit was all they were looking for.’

  ‘I thought- I thought-’ Raegan’s whole body began to shake uncontrollably, hands twitching and jerking like bloodied spiders. ‘I thought it was him. I thought he was going to do it again – like he did to…’

  Raegan couldn’t bring herself to say her name. Instead she looked at Declan, who was still motionless on the grass. ‘Did he hurt you?’

  ‘I just told you. It wasn’t real. The race is still going.’ He tried to pull himself up, grasping awkwardly at clumps of earth to avoid putting pressure on his ankle, which looked swollen and tender.

  Raegan was too shaken up to care much about her race time. ‘That injury looks pretty real to me. Did you twist your ankle?’

  She walked back to where Declan lay.

  ‘Are you okay? Let me-‘

  ‘What are you doing?’ Declan’s mudspattered face was anything but grateful. ‘I just told you the race was still going.’

  Raegan leaned back, stung. ‘I thought you needed help.’

  ‘You’re not supposed to stop for anything!’ Declan pulled himself into an awkward crouch, wincing. ‘Once the mirage was out of the way you were supposed to keep going – not come back over here!’

  ‘Look, I don’t think you should move-’

  ‘Get off me!’ He recoiled from her touch as violently as if he’d been burnt. ‘I don’t want your help. Just focus on your own race and leave me the hell alone!’

  Using a log for support, Declan had staggered to his feet. His blazing eyes were now level with her own. She had to push her palms against her legs to quell the shaking, but she stood her ground.

  ‘Fine.’ Rage rose like bile inside her, more powerful even than the raw hatred she felt for the Fay.

  To hell with the rain, and being careful, and thinking things through. Choosing the path furthest away from where Declan stood, Raegan set off at a run and paid no attention to who might be following her.

  ***

  Small, muddy puddles formed in her wake as Bree marched into the kitchen at Centurion House.

  ‘I’m no stranger to bad weather, having lived in England for most of my life, but this is ridiculous.’ she announced, teeth dazzlingly white against her dirt-caked face. ‘I think Rico should have called it off.’

  ‘Bree,’ Yali was gently reproving. ‘He is your optio.’

  ‘Don’t remind me.’ She sat delicately at the table and began to wipe her face with a tea-towel. ‘Sam is staying out there and we’ll switch over soon.’ She flashed her teeth at Robert. ‘Made no sense for us both to be getting drenched – visibility is so poor, all we can do is stand there to monitor the finish. Just in case you thought I was shirking my duties.’

  ‘I thought no such thing.’ Robert handed her a mop. ‘But you seem to have brought half the course in with you, cadet. Clean-up duty.’

  Rolling her eyes, Bree whisked around the room with a mop. She moved preternaturally quickly. When finished, she used the handle of the mop to flick the tea towel into the sink, and then lofted the mop over Robert’s head, where it landed neatly in the pail.

  ‘All done.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Perhaps not the most appropriate use of your powers.’

  ‘I’m not domesticated.’ She shot back. ‘If it gets the job done more quickly, I’ll try it.’

  Yali patted the seat beside him. ‘Enough squabbling. Come sit, Bree, and take a look at your charges.’

  ‘How are they?’

  ‘Declan had a bit of a spill,’ Robert stood behind Yali’s chair, looking over their shoulders at the screen. ‘I think there could be a leg injury there.’

  Yali poured a fresh cup of tea and passed it to Bree, adding, ‘The girl stopped – to check his wellbeing, I think.’

  ‘Raegan stopped?’ She frowned. ‘Rico won’t like that.’

  ‘It was a kindness,’ Yali protested. ‘We must encourage new cadets to work together.’

  Before Bree could retort, Robert continued smoothly, ‘In any case, she didn’t stop for long. And despite Declan’s fall, he pressed on after too much delay. He’s not far behind her.’

  Bree nodded her approval.

  ‘No doubt that both have shown courage,’ Yali stretched his long arms out behind him gracefully before coiling up once more, wrapping one hand around his middle and placing the other under his chin. He used this hand to point at the screen, lightly tracing the edge. ‘They are heading for the last strait now, correct?’

  ‘Yes.’ Bree assessed the image. ‘All the paths meet just before that hill’ she gestured, ‘and then the cadets complete three final obstacles: an inverted rope descent down into the valley, a climb back up a rope and a 50 metre sprint toward the finish line.’

  Just as Bree was wrapping up her description the window over the sink flew open, banging loudly against the cupboard and startling the three as they peered at the small television set. The wind howled in, blowing papers about madly before Robert managed to close it. He immediately went round the room locking the remaining doors and windows. The three looked at each other in alarm.

  ‘It sounds like a storm.’ Yali’s face was shadowed. ‘I hope they finish soon.’

  Before he had finished speaking, a brilliant flash of light filled the room. Moments later an ominous rumble sounded.

  Bree stood up. ‘‘I better go back. Sam shouldn’t be out there alone.’

  ‘I’ll go with you.’ Robert was already putting on his coat. ‘I think we should stop the race and advise the competitors to take cover until we can get to them.’

  ‘But the race is nearly over,’ Bree argued. ‘I don’t want them to be at risk
but I can’t see another option; they need to get out of the woods, and fast.’

  ‘You might be right. Let me just check-‘

  Just then, there was an ominous buzzing sound, and the room was plunged into darkness.

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘Bree, get a torch,’ Yali instructed. ‘Under the sink. Robert, we have a freestanding power supply unit in the emergency kit – the chest in the corner. Please bring that to the table.’

  There was a moment of noisy commotion, and a few muffled curses and crashes as the inhabitants of the room bumped into various objects. Eventually, Bree clicked the light on, which illuminated Robert placing the unit on the table.

  But even with power the television screen remained sadly blank.

  ‘No signal, I imagine.’ Yali announced calmly. ‘The last I saw, the competitors had already descended into the valley.’

  Bree let out a strangled laugh. ‘With all our high-tech mojo and state of the art weapons, we can’t cope with a little visit from Mother Nature. This is ridiculous.’

  ‘It is what it is,’ Robert muttered.

  ‘Well, whatever. I’m going.’

  ‘You mustn’t.’ Robert had to yell over the sound of another thunder clap. His smooth, elocuted tones were unusually ragged. ‘It’s too dangerous to be out on open land.’

  Bree noisily disagreed. All the while, the storm was rising; soon, the two Regents were shouting at each other incomprehensibly, panic filling the air.

  And then Yali’s booming voice, never raised, cut through it all. ‘What is that sound?’

  The pair fell silent. Even the wind was momentarily still.

  ‘What..?’ Bree’s eyes, enormous in the muted flicker of candlelight, suddenly flickered to top pocket of her jacket. It was vibrating noisily.

  ‘The distress call,’ Robert said.

  At that moment, there was a loud rapping on the door. Yali’s face was like a skull as he and Robert gazed at each other, apparently oblivious to the sound. ‘If there is a need... you know what to do,’ Yali said softly.

  Bree didn’t understand what was going on – the two were communicating partly without words - and for the first time since she had become a Level 5, she felt out of control. With shaking hands she opened the door.