That was Nero’s job. It was almost the end of the day, and my body was shaking. I was only halfway to the top of the climbing wall, and I was desperately pleading with my muscles not to collapse. Of course Nero had left the climbing wall for the end of the obstacle course from hell, when everyone was twenty shades past exhaustion and failure meant falling twenty feet. And there wasn’t even a safety net. Apparently, that would be cheating because there were no safety nets in life. I guess I should have been happy the angel hadn’t placed spikes at the bottom.
I muttered a few choice curses under my breath.
“Less cursing my existence and those that bore me into this world, and more climbing, initiate,” Nero called up at me. “This climb is on a timer, and if that time runs out, I’ll come up there and throw your ass down.”
I cursed him some more, but I kept climbing, pushing myself harder. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me fall to my death. I made it to the top and hit the buzzer button.
“Thirty-one seconds to go,” Nero said. “Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you, initiate?”
I threw a look of pure loathing down at him, but I didn’t think he even saw it. He was already busy harassing the next initiate trying to make her way up the wall. I descended slowly, trying to get back to solid ground without falling. As soon as I touched down, I headed straight for the water pitcher.
“Four more laps,” Nero told me as the cool water touched my lips. “And another four for drinking without permission.”
My feet felt like lead, but I gulped down the rest of the water in my cup, then took off running down the track. Ahead of me, I saw Ivy stumble and fall. I hurried over to her, trying to help her to her feet. But my friend just shook and heaved in deep, choking breaths.
All of a sudden, Nero was standing over us. “Pandora, Poison Ivy, get moving.”
I glared up at him. “Ivy is done. Can’t you see that? Give her a few minutes.”
“There are no timeouts in life,” he replied coolly. “When you’re in the middle of a battle, you cannot take a few minutes.”
“We’re in a gym, not on a battlefield,” I argued, standing to face him. “Even soldiers get to rest sometimes.”
“You can rest when you’re dead.”
I frowned at him. “Stop being such a hard ass.”
Ivy had been through a lot today. She hadn’t fared well against the dog—nor her opponent afterward. She’d faced Mina, one of the Legion brats. The hand Mina had cut off of Ivy was still twitching, even though Harker had healed it back onto her.
Harker was standing over us now too. Damn, these guys moved fast. “Nero, I like her,” he said with a chuckle.
Nero glowered at him, but he saved his lecture just for me. “I warned you that your mouth would get you into trouble. If you can’t learn to keep it shut, you won’t survive here.”
I met his stare, too stubborn to look away. I knew that I should behave, that I should be frightened. The angel’s power was mind-shattering. But I was too angry to be rational or even scared. I chalked it up to my protective streak, to my need to help my friend. I kept glaring at him.
“Careful,” Nero warned.
“Or what?” I demanded.
“Can’t you give the poor girl a rest, Nero?” said Harker.
“Very well.” He waved Ivy away. “Go sit at the side, dead girl. Tomorrow when everyone else is eating lunch, you will be running.” As Ivy wandered off, looking both relieved and anxious, he turned his stare on me again. “Now, Pandora, you will take her laps too.”
“Come on, Nero. Give her a break,” Harker protested.
“There are no breaks here,” declared Colonel Hard Ass. “If she doesn’t want her friend to run, she has to pick up the slack.”
Harker opened his mouth to say something, but I was faster. “I’m fine. I’ll take the laps,” I told him. I looked at Nero, my chin lifted with stubbornness, and I set off running down the track once more.
Anger and the stubborn need to show Nero that I wouldn’t back down carried me through most of the laps, but on the final one my mind could no longer ignore the signals my body was screaming at it. My legs buckled, and I stumbled to the ground.
“Serves her right for talking back to an angel,” Mina chuckled to her running companion.
“This will teach her her place,” he agreed as they zipped past me.
Another pair of Legion brats passed, piling on their own taunts. I struggled to pull myself up, but my body wasn’t listening.
“If you’re talking, you’re not hurting enough,” Nero’s voice called out from across the gym. “Six more laps for the four of you.”
Joy bubbled up inside of me, curling my lips into a smile.
“You too, Pandora,” Nero said. “Six more laps. If you can smile, you can run.”
He shouldn’t have been able to see my smile. The man had the eyes of a hawk.
“Get up, or I’ll add another six,” he told me.
Damn him. I pushed against my own exhaustion, struggling to no effect.
Harker ran over to me. “Here,” he said with a smile. “I thought you could use a hand.”
“Thanks,” I said, trying to return the smile.
But I was too tired to smile. I did manage to move my lips, but I don’t think I pulled off anything more than a pained-looking expression. Harker reached down, locking his arm with mine to pull me to my feet. He’d sure been helping me a lot. Ok, he’d been helping everyone. But he’d been helping me even more. Probably because Nero had it out for me. That damn angel was a slave driver. This guy was the nice one. From what I could tell, they were best friends, which was surely one of Earth’s greatest mysteries. How could two such very different people be friends?