by Kobe Bryant
Rovi crinkled the wrapper of his last Power Snacks package. “Hold up. I’m coming, too.”
“Whoa,” Vera said.
“What?” Rovi asked.
“It’s just—” Vera began. “When did you become Mr. Dedication?”
“You think you’re the only one who wants to make Junior Epic Squad?”
“Fair enough,” Vera replied, heading for the exit.
“So where are we going?” Pretia asked. “The Infinity Track?”
“Even better: the Infinity Stairs. I heard about them from my brother before . . .” She trailed off.
Pretia could have finished the sentence for her. Before I became a Replacement and was reclassified from House Relia to House Somni and Julius stopped talking to me.
“He shared a bunch of stuff about Ecrof with me that he shouldn’t have on the condition that I not explore it or talk about it until I was allowed to. And that’s now.”
She led them across campus to the main gymnasium. As recruits, they had only been allowed to train on the outdoor fields, the Infinity Track that hovered over campus in a different location every day, the obstacle woods, and the Panathletic Stadium. But there were dozens of other buildings around campus that were now available to them, from the hidden pool (wherever that was) to the massive Main Gym.
They burst through the gym’s doors. In front of them were three basketball courts side by side. Over their heads were three levels of indoor tracks reaching up to the ceiling. Countless machines that measured abilities and taught skills that Pretia didn’t understand surrounded them. There were off-road simulators, wind runners, rain machines, muscle-memory machines, and hundreds of other things that flashed and beeped.
Rovi stopped in front of an off-road simulator and pressed a few buttons. “This would be amazing for steeplechase,” he said.
“Come on,” Vera said, tugging his arm. “Forget the machines.”
They followed her to the back of the gym. “I think the stairs are around here somewhere,” she said, yanking on a few closed doors until one of them opened.
They were standing in a dark room. At the sound of their voices, lights came to life.
A huge staircase rose in front of them.
“Now what?” Pretia wondered.
“Now we race,” Vera replied. She beamed.
The three kids stepped up to the bottom stair. “On your marks,” Rovi said.
“Get set,” Vera added.
“Go!” Pretia shouted.
Off they went, up the stairs. Rovi was the first to the top. He put up his hands in victory, but as he did, the staircase curved and a new flight of steps appeared. Vera pushed past him into the lead.
“Don’t slow down,” Pretia called, chasing after Vera.
Every time one of them reached the top of the stairs, the staircase mutated. It grew or doubled back or became so impossibly steep that their noses touched the step in front of them as they climbed. Once it even bent into a figure eight.
After one particularly steep flight of stairs, Rovi collapsed on a landing. “Hold on,” he said. “I need a break.”
To Pretia’s surprise, Vera fell down next to him. “This is exhausting.”
“But weirdly fun,” Pretia said.
“One more race?” Rovi suggested.
When they’d recovered, they discovered that the stairs had returned to their original form, and it was simple enough to descend to the level where they’d started.
“I guess that’s what happens when you stop for a while,” Vera said.
“It’s always easier going down,” Pretia said.
Rovi wiped his brow. “You can say that again.”
“Okay, final race,” Vera said.
“How do we know when it’s over?” Rovi asked.
“When the stairs take us back to the ground, that’s the end. Whoever gets off the stairs first wins.”
Together they all drew a deep breath—and away they went. Rovi led first. But then the stairs turned a loop-de-loop and Pretia pulled ahead. When the stairs switched to a sharp descent, Vera overtook her. Vera extended her lead when the stairs turned into a ladder, so steep they couldn’t run but had to climb, using their hands.
Pretia could feel a deep burn in her calves. Her lungs stung. Rovi had come to a standstill, too worn-out to continue. But Vera seemed to be climbing effortlessly. She was going to win—and win easily—unless Pretia did something.
In an instant, she was watching herself accelerate away, flying up the ladder, passing Vera and coming to a last landing from which the stairs plunged dramatically. She raced down, down, down to the ground.
As always, Pretia felt the curious collision when her two selves reunited.
Vera arrived on the ground a moment later. “Wow, Pretia, that was . . . something.” There was a strange note in her voice.
“Sorry,” Pretia said.
“If you think that was something,” Rovi called, “you should have seen her do it while carrying Castor and still beating me.”
“Seen her doing what?” Vera asked.
“Castor tried to stop my shadow self by jumping on its back. But my shadow self just carried him,” Pretia explained with a laugh.
Vera let out a loud giggle. But then her face grew concerned. “So are you going to do that all the time?”
“I don’t know. It’s a game-time decision. And sometimes it’s not even my decision.”
“Does it always work?” Vera wanted to know.
“I think it works best for simple things like running. It’s harder for complex sports like tennis. And I haven’t tried it in the water, but—” Then Pretia stopped talking. “Oh, Vera, Farnaka’s record!”
“What?” Vera asked.
“You’re worried that my grana will prevent you from breaking Farnaka’s record. But you shouldn’t be. I’m not even interested in—”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Vera said. “I can take care of my own performance. It’s something else.”
“What is something else?” Rovi had reached the floor.
“Nothing,” Vera said.
“I think I heard the hunting horn for dinner while you two were busy racing,” Rovi said breathlessly.
“Is food all you think about?” Vera asked.
“I bet Farnaka Stellus never skipped a meal when he was training, right, Pretia?”
Pretia ignored Rovi’s joke. “Vera, what were you going to say?” Pretia asked. She was certain something important had been on the tip of Vera’s tongue before Rovi interrupted.
“Nothing,” Vera replied, and set off toward the Main Gym.
Pretia hesitated before following. “Are you sure?”
Vera paused and looked over her shoulder. “It can wait.”
She held Pretia’s gaze for a moment, her mouth open as if she was about to say more. Then she continued out the door.
* * *
After dinner that night, Pretia climbed into the bed across the room from Vera’s. Her entire body ached from their race on the Infinity Stairs.
“I think I like the stairs more than the Infinity Track,” she said.
“Mmmmmm,” Vera replied.
“Vera,” Pretia said, “it seemed like you were holding back earlier. What did you want to tell me?”
But there was no answer. Vera was already asleep.
As exhausted as Pretia herself was, she wanted to check her Grana Book one last time before turning out the light. She reached over and took her book out of her backpack. Then she sat cross-legged on her bed and closed her eyes. “Will my parents be disappointed in me?”
She flipped the pages until one felt right. When she opened the book, it showed a ship on a turbulent ocean with a shoreline in the distance. She smiled. The road would be hard, but the outcome would be posit
ive if she was as steadfast as a ship. And with that, she closed her eyes and slipped away to sleep.
* * *
The next morning, Pretia tried to sleep in. She had one more day of total freedom at Ecrof, one more day before the Trainers would start bossing and instructing, correcting and ordering. But before she’d even opened her eyes, Vera was already yammering about the Infinity Track. “We can’t waste a second,” Vera said.
While Pretia dressed, Vera summoned Rovi. She handed both of them a few snacks, then marched them to the track.
“Okay,” Vera bellowed. “Let’s moooooove.”
Pretia and Rovi exchanged a startled glance.
“I said MOVE!” Vera had started doing jumping jacks. Then she dropped to the ground and executed twenty push-ups. “Warm up, you two.”
Rovi and Pretia dropped to do their push-ups, but Vera had already moved on to squats.
“Vera, you’re going to destroy us before we race,” Pretia gasped after a set of high-knees.
“Then you’ll need to train harder,” Vera said.
“Come on,” Rovi moaned. “Let’s race.”
“Not yet,” Vera said. “One set of mountain climbers, one of star jumps.” Pretia couldn’t help but notice that she sounded pretty tired herself. Pretia and Rovi were drenched in sweat by the time the routine was over.
“I can’t believe that was the warm-up,” Rovi panted.
“I’m done and we haven’t even started,” Pretia replied.
* * *
During the races, Pretia sometimes won without splitting herself. But often she needed her special talent to beat her friends. Each time she used it, Vera eyed her strangely.
After several of these looks, Pretia stopped Vera from getting in the starting blocks. “Is something wrong?” she asked.
“No,” Vera said.
“Are you jealous?” Rovi teased.
“No,” Vera insisted.
“Does it make you uncomfortable?” Pretia asked, remembering how Castor had reacted back at the Games Pit in Ponsit.
“I’m not uncomfortable,” Vera replied.
“So, what then?” Rovi demanded.
“It’s nothing,” Vera muttered. “Let’s just race. I need to work even harder when Pretia splits herself. So that’s good for me.”
Pretia paused before crouching in the starting blocks. Something was obviously bugging Vera. But when Vera said, “Go,” Pretia shook it off and got down to the serious business of training.
Vera insisted on so many races, Pretia’s legs turned to jelly, her feet went numb, and her lungs felt scorched. She could barely walk away from the track.
By the time lunch was over and the hunting horn blast sounded, summoning the school to the Panathletic Stadium for the Placement Ceremony, it was all Pretia could do to drag herself to the bleachers.
“She’s going to kill us before school starts,” Rovi whispered when Vera was out of earshot.
“I know,” Pretia said. “My legs are on fire.”
“I think I’m going to be sick, my stomach muscles ache so badly,” Rovi groaned. They looped their arms around one another and helped each other to the stadium, where they joined the ranks of the Dreamers.
What a change to be seated in the stands for the Placement Ceremony instead of stumbling through the woods uncertain of what was about to happen. The recruits looked wide-eyed as they emerged from the woods one by one, blinking as they encountered the grand stadium festooned with blue and purple banners celebrating each house. Pretia loved seeing their awed expressions as they caught sight of the magnificent Tree of Ecrof for the first time. She watched as Satis Dario, the kindly Visualization Trainer, handed each newcomer a tracksuit in his or her house colors.
“Did we look like that?” Rovi asked.
“Like what?” Vera replied.
“Confused,” Rovi said.
Vera shaded her eyes, watching the most recent recruit enter the stadium. “I’m sure I did,” she said. She was making small comments as each recruit appeared, dismissing many of them for some weakness only she could see.
“Vera,” Pretia began. “What did you want to tell me earlier?”
But Vera shushed her. “I’m concentrating.”
Rovi tapped Pretia on the shoulder. “Vera’s sizing them up,” he said in an exaggerated whisper.
Suddenly Vera was sitting up straighter, her eyes lasered on the latest recruit to appear.
“Eshe Sonos!” Vera exclaimed. “I know her.”
Pretia peered across the stadium at the new recruit. She looked like Vera but with a slightly darker amber complexion. Her puff of wavy dark brown hair was pulled into a large bouncing ponytail. She had the widest smile Pretia had ever seen.
“She’s from my town,” Vera continued. “She’s . . . she’s . . .”
“She’s the competition,” Rovi provided.
Vera wheeled around. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Rovi said. “You’re staring daggers at her.”
Just then, an explosion of purple Dreamer fireworks lit up the sky, and Eshe ran to sit with House Somni.
“Hi, Vera,” she said, squeezing into a spot on the bench below Vera’s and Pretia’s feet. “So, you really are a Dreamer. I’d heard, but I didn’t believe it.”
“Believe it,” Vera said.
“I mean, that’s just the coolest thing ever,” Eshe continued.
“Is it?” Vera asked.
“To be on the same team as Vera Renovo is a dream come true,” the young recruit gushed.
“You bet it is,” Rovi teased.
Vera rolled her eyes. “I don’t know about teams this year,” she said. “This year it’s every athlete for herself during Junior Epic trials. And that matters a lot more than a silly house cup.”
Eshe did not take the hint. “Well, it will be amazing to compete with you in the Junior Epic Games, then.”
“You think you’re getting selected for the Junior Epic Squad?” Vera said.
Eshe smiled brightly. “Why not?”
Vera rolled her eyes again and returned her focus to the newly arrived recruits.
Pretia leaned over and whispered in Rovi’s ear, “I think Vera’s met her match.”
“For sure,” Rovi replied.
When the last recruit arrived and had been placed, Janos announced the house captains for the year. The captains accepted their sashes and returned to their seats.
“Now,” Janos bellowed, clapping his powerful hands to summon the students’ attention. “Normally I would proceed to tell you about our two Field Days, which are the focal points of our school year. And indeed, we will have Field Days later. However, this year is—”
“JUNIOR EPIC GAMES!” chorused a group of fifth, sixth, and seventh termers who’d been around for the last games four years ago.
“Right,” Janos said. “Which means this year we do things differently.”
A ripple of excitement passed through the bleachers. Soon it had turned into a roar.
“First things first,” Janos said, holding up his hands. “The Junior Epic Games are going to be held in less than two months’ time in Phoenis. Ecrof will be sending a squad of thirty athletes who will join contenders from the other seven elite academies. As you know, our Epic Elite Squad has already secured their places on the team.”
Vera bristled at the mention of the Epic Elite Squad. She had made the squad last year, but Janos had left her off the team, relegating her to an alternate, supposedly to give her time to mature. At least that had been his stated reason. Vera suspected otherwise. Since she hadn’t been officially named to the squad and hadn’t been allowed to train with them yet, her spot on the Junior Epic Team was not guaranteed.
“There are eight returning Epic Elites this year who’ve booked their spots.
This leaves twenty-two spots on the team. Both Epic Elite alternates will have to try out this year. Two spots on the squad are reserved for more divers. If an athlete qualifies in both the pool and the track, that does not free up another spot. In that event, we will take fewer athletes. The total number of athletes from either house may not exceed two more than the opposite house. If the balance between the teams is uneven, it will be adjusted.”
Janos waited for a wave of chatter to pass through the students.
“At the Junior Epic Games, you will compete for your house. Our Dreamers will compete alongside Dreamers from all over Epoca. Our Realists will compete alongside Realists from all over Epoca. Junior Epic Glory will be given to the house with the most medals. Individual Epic Glory will be granted to individuals who medal even if their house is not the winner. Overall Junior Epic Individual Glory—the most prestigious prize any young athlete can aspire to—will be given to the athlete who wins the most individual medals.”
Pretia stole a glance at Vera. Vera’s jaw was set, her eyes blazing with determination.
“And finally, the academy whose students take home the most medals is awarded the Junior Epic Cup. Therefore, you will compete with and against your fellow students. You will strive to shine on your own. And you will fight for your house . . . but also for Ecrof.”
A cheer exploded from the students at once, followed by the Ecrof fight song. Janos let the song finish before demanding silence.
“Now,” he said, “in the interest of selecting and training our best team, regular classes are canceled for the first two months of school. There will only be Junior Epic Conditioning, all day, every day. You will train for the two arenas of sport in the Junior Epic Games: track and field and swimming and diving.”
“So these new recruits are going to get to use the pool their first year?” Virgil grumbled. “Unfair.”
“In six weeks, we will hold trials,” Janos continued. “The swimming trial will be an individual medley showcasing all four strokes. Diving will be a single dive from the springboard and platform. And track-and-field competitors will be selected by means of a decathlon—ten events spread out over two days to determine our best athletes. After the team members are selected, they will depart for Phoenis immediately.”