From the journal of Madeline Le Torneau: “I hated running then, I hate running now, I’ll always hate running.”

  “Why the fuck do we need physical exercise?” Willow complained, dressed in athletic wear like the rest of them; sweatpants, sweater and hair done up in tight buns.

  “This woman is trying to kill us,” Talia complained.

  “Why does it have to be so early in the morning?” Hayden asked, misreading the vibe and offering a solution instead of participating in the complaining. “I’ve looked through all our timetables and there is a large swath of time in the middle of the day on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. Why not then?”

  The early morning air slapped them in the face one at a time as they stepped out from the Warrior Wing to the training ground. Stefan Starr stretched widely and covered a yawn as he sidled up to the girls, right next to Madeline. “You guys know anything about this?” he asked. “Seems like all the Warriors are coming.”

  Madeline looked around and indeed, in the early morning haze, she didn’t notice that the entire occupancy of the dorms were spread out on the grass. The fifty Warriors in training stood on the dew-kissed grass, separated into cliques, the eldest among them off to the side looking down at the younger Warriors.

  “Just that the Second gave the order,” Madeline responded, “same as you. Doesn’t make much sense, I mean, we use magic, who cares if we can do a push-up?”

  Stefan chuckled. “Can’t imagine the Second is too popular right now,” he said. “I heard every affinity has to do this.”

  “That’s true, the Dealers had their first session yesterday,” Talia said.

  “How does she know that?” Stefan asked Madeline, before turning to Talia and asking the same question. “How do you know that?”

  “She’s dating a Dealer,” Hayden chimed in. “Lane Jones.”

  “We’re not technically dating,” Talia corrected. “We haven’t had the talk.”

  “Oh will you stop,” Willow said. “You spend like every day together.”

  “I don’t think the Second gives a Rot fuck if she’s liked,” Madeline changed the subject. “Where are the rest of the boys?”

  “Over there,” Stefan said. “I woke up ten minutes late and had to wait for a shower stall,” he sighed. “Which I’m now realizing was a stupid thing to do considering we’ll have to shower after whatever happens here. Come on, you guys want to join us?”

  “Sure,” Willow shrugged.

  Their window for socialization had been taken up by mountains of homework, recovery, post visits, avoiding Florian and the basic human necessities like hygiene, sleep and sustenance. As a result, Madeline knew the names of the boys in her year, but nothing more then that about them. She followed at the back of the pack until their little group of five formed an awkward group of ten.

  Professors Hutton and Walcotte emerged from the staff entrance and their presence cast a hush over the group, a sign of the respect the students had for both of them and their near diametrically opposed teaching styles. Madeline hadn't had any classes with Professor Hutton yet, but she’d had more than enough interaction with the man to understand his preferred method. He spoke first.

  “Fuck, I’m tired,” Hutton said, rather loudly, stifling both a revealing smile and a yawn at the same time somehow. “Night shift, now the Second is demanding physical exercise for you all. She actually demanded it for all students and all faculty but quickly realized she overstepped,” Hutton grinned. “There are a lot of you so I’m not going to bother with standard questions and answers, I’m just going to explain what the Second wants me to explain and I’m taking no questions. Grumble amongst yourselves.”

  Madeline nodded. They were outside getting colder by the minute, she wanted to get this over with.

  “The Second believes that generally speaking physical combat is a fool's errand for those who have the ability to cast. I’d agree. This is not combat training, this is exercise. Apparently there is a difference. The Second believes reaction times can be improved, again, I say this not to lecture you but to convey the information she’s asked me to convey. Do not argue with me. She thinks that physical fitness will help with energy and focus and critically, speed. It’s not a bad thought, if one that will be a pain in all our asses. Professor Walcotte and I have the regimen here,” they both held up a scrap of paper with cramped writing on it. “First thing we’re going to do is run around the yard ten times. Slowest among you must run an extra lap. Begin.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He gave no further instruction, instead favouring waving his scepter to conjure a half dozen tiny fireballs that rotated around he and Professor Walcotte to warm them.

  Must be nice,” Madeline grumbled and she hared off after the group of Warriors who had begun running the path around the outside of the training ground, settling into the pack at the back but not quite last. She made it around the grounds twice then started huffing, catching the discerning eye of Professor Walcotte who watched everyone, judging, ignoring Professor Hutton who nattered in her ear.

  Halfway through the task one of the other boys in her class lagged from the middle of the group toward the back and next to Madeline. “I’m Deacon,” he said, not offering his hand. “I don’t think we’ve ever been introduced. Or even spoken,” he added through a lungful of cold morning air.

  “Madeline,” she answered back through an equally large lungful. The sharp pain of physical exercise began to manifest in her side, doing nothing but reinforce the lesson that the Second demanded be taught, much to Madeline’s deep dismay.

  Deacon seemed to be top physical condition and now that Madeline had a moment to look, she could see his taut muscles stretching out his gray sweater, the arms and chest particularly filled out. He had a close cropped auburn beard that connected to his buzzed hair.

  “I know who you are,” Deacon said, dark eyes framed into an easy smile. “Everyone knows. You’re something of a celebrity now.”

  “What? How?” Madeline said, the single word punctuated by the fact that every exhale was visible in the cold.

  “The girl who cast a glimmer. Everyone knows.”

  “Oh, that. Yeah, I guess.”

  Deacon matched her pace easily. “Well, hey, listen,” he hesitated and she knew his hesitation had nothing to do with the running or the cold. “The next town weekend is coming up and there’s this little espresso-slash-coffee shop on the main strip. If you have time, would you like to go with me? My schedule is pretty open but I was thinking sometime in the morning on Saturday? Like ten?”

  Madeline nearly stumbled and fell before responding. “Are you asking me out on a date?” She wished she could speak two consecutive words without needing to stop and huff and suck wind.

  The taller Deacon had the nerve to laugh softly, the Rot take him. “Yes, is that okay? I meant no offense, I only thought it could be fun.”

  “I, uh, boys don’t usually ask me out on dates,” Madeline said.

  “It’s because you’re intimidating as hell,” Deacon replied, smiling confidently, allowing his teeth to show in a way that Madeline found rather pleasant.

  “I am not,” she snapped. He frowned. Then she thought about it and told herself a hard truth. “Oh. I’m sorry, shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  Deacon laughed again, not unkindly. “So what do you say?”

  “Um, I’m spoken for that entire day,” she huffed. “But please don’t be intimidated by me.”

  “Not a problem, and if you change your mind, my offer is still good.” With that, Deacon ran ahead to the middle of the pack, returning to his friends who slapped him on the back and fist-bumped him despite him shaking his head conveying the fact that ‘she said no’.

  Talia sidled up next to Madeline, huffing just as much as Madeline, maybe more. “I need to go on top more,” she choked out. “I thought I was in better shape.”

  “Talia!”

  Her best friend giggled. “What was that about?”

  “Deacon asked me on a date. To a coffee shop he knows about on the next town weekend.”

  “Oh, cute! Stefan and Willow are going there on the town weekend also. Apparently they have this, like, coffee sampler thingy that I really want to try. Lane is busy or else we’d go too. Oh, then we could have double dated, oh that’s bad luck. Dang it.”

  “I said no,” Madeline told Talia who didn’t seem altogether surprised.

  “Because Florian?”

  No, no, she hadn’t thought about Florian since she woke up. Okay, well, maybe once. Then another time. “No, not because Florian,” she answered a half truth. “I am trying to focus on school, you know that.”

  “Maddy, nobody is saying you need to get married. You’re young, you’re stupid hot, it’s not a crime to act on your urges.” She groaned, huffing more air. “Well, Maddy, if you won’t smooch Florian, let Deacon introduce you to little Deacon. Surely you’ve seen the way he fills out those gray sweatpants, I mean, not sure I should call it little Deacon. More like bi-,”

  “Talia!”

  Her friend cackled. “Listen. Do you think Florian is keeping his pants fastened securely around his waist with girls like Anik Valentine walking around? That girl is so hot she could turn me,” she giggled before continuing. “Because I’ll tell you, when we were growing up all my friends had a crush on him and so did all their friends. It’s okay to turn him away because you’re not ready but don’t be upset if he doesn’t want to wait until you are.”

  “He’s an adult. He can do what he wants,” Madeline said through gritted teeth. Why did the thought of him with another girl bother her so much? She’d turned him away and she’d do it again just like she’d do to all things that took her further away from her goal.

  In the end, it didn’t matter the reason for her consternation. Madeline still used the image of Florian with another girl to power the remainder of the exercise session.