Chapter 5

5

 

“Students! Are you ready?!” The coach called out. Everyone replied with a roar of confidence and excitement; of course, we were ready. We were always ready.
"On your marks! Get set! Move!" He ordered and seconds later, twenty students dived off the cliffs like a wave of seabirds.
I watched as my partner flipped off the side of the rocks and plunged towards the clouds below. He seemed to be a professional without a doubt. Now all I had to do was wait for my signal...

"GO!" The coach hollered. With no delay, we dashed towards the cliff, swords in hand, and hurled ourselves off the edge. 
The drop was generally long and tough; high altitudes turned stomachs and plunging at top speed sent fear rattling through some of the students. 
But this time, it wasn't only the drop that we had to battle against. The wind had suddenly changed from calm to violent, sending powerful breezes which altered our flight paths and sent us crashing into the side of the cliffs. 
I was caught off-guard and without warning, I felt myself lurching towards the cliff. It was too late to avoid it now. With one swift breeze, I was up against the rock face, my arms and waist scraped by the sharp edges. Blood seeped through my clothing. But despite the pain and the panic, I held on tight and slowly rebalanced myself. The gale continued to fight against us. Large intense gusts of wind tried to pull us off the cliffs and knock us into the air. Soon it was successful, loosening our grips and prizing us away from our protection.  It grabbed me too, tossing me around in the air. I fell out of balance, spinning into an uncontrolled dive towards the clouds below. I was going too fast to even catch my breath...or to catch my partner.  My partner! S**t.

He was probably too far down in the clouds for me to even see. Worry and guilt formed an invisible cloud around my head. I had to rescue him. I had to hurry.

Spiralling faster and faster, my wings ceased to open properly and sent me into an unprotected dive. 
"Come on! You're better than this!" I screamed to myself.  Desperate attempts to open my wings failed. They wouldn't budge. I tried harder, putting whatever energy I had left into prising them open. Seconds from crashing below, they flipped open, gliding me into a balanced control again. The wind was no match for me. 
I soared down, finally able to resist its torment. I searched far out for my long lost partner. Panic shot through me as there appeared to be no sight of him.  I cursed myself for letting this happen, diving further down to scan the clouds. 

"Where are you?!" I whispered to myself, my eyes darting left and right. Still no sign of him.
Concern started to eat away at my thoughts, but I tried to convince myself that he could surely handle himself. That's what he appeared to be like anyway, but looks weren't always everything. 

I spent a good ten minutes searching for my partner, only then to look up above and see his silhouette standing on the edge of the cliff. That was irritating, but at least he was okay. 
My worries died away slowly and I made my way back to the rest. The wind blew in a slower rage, so I was able to fly through it without being thrown sideways again. But, on my return, something caught my attention and I flew to a halt. Grey clouds surrounded me and strong winds bypassed me, but my attention was so far drawn that, to me, they ceased to exist. 

I looked around, confused and alert. There had been a noise, a sort of whirring noise, that I had heard throughout the session. Before, I was too focused on pleasing the coach, but now I had the chance to have a real listen. It continued, its location unknown in the midst of the clouds. The sound was faint, but I could just make out the repetitive whirring sound hiding in the distance. It was odd; I had never heard such a thing before. But it seemed too far to discover and too faint to completely make out, so I just assumed it was nothing. Nobody would’ve listened to me anyway, even if it was something.

What a stupid mistake.

As I left the sound alone and flew back towards the cliff, I heard the booming voice of the coach calling. He was looking for me; I couldn't delay any longer. I sped up, beating my wings against the cold air. Within minutes, I landed swiftly on the edge of the cliff, eye to eye with the coach. He looked at me, first with concern then with disappointment. "I trusted you, Aeryn. You were supposed to catch and free your partner. Luckily he was able to free himself." 

This time, I cared little for his comment, but I did wonder if he actually cared about my wellbeing.  I waited for him to say something else, but he just walked off with the rest. Unbelievable.

"You know there was a large storm and we were all thrown into the side of the cliff right?" I called out as he was leaving.
"Yes."

"So do you even care that I was injured in the process? Or that I searched everywhere for my partner?" I coaxed, hoping for some sympathy or something. 
"You and your partner got here alive, that's what counts. Now get back to the academy like the rest of the students." He said and walked away, just like that. 

I stared at his fading figure, kicking at the ground.
Both talking with the coach and the whole training session had been a waste. Things hadn't gone to plan, I wasn’t able to train properly and some people had gotten injured in the process. I just hoped that tomorrow's sessions would make up for the ones I missed. 

As I walked back to the academy with the others, I realised that I had not seen Artemis since the boxing incident. It felt unusual; there hadn't been anyone to insult me in a while. I guess I liked it, and I guess I thought it was better off this way. It brought out a smile, which faded as quickly as it had arrived.
There he was, lurking up ahead with his followers, who were just as bad as he was. Just when I thought my enemy had vanished, he decided to grace me with his presence. 

I decided to linger behind and wait until he was way up ahead and out of my sight. The other students walked past me like a blur, leaving me standing alone at the back of the group. It was nice being on my own. I could actually breathe without anybody's judgment. It was generally quiet too, with no noise but the muttering up ahead. It was only then that I heard that sound again. That ominous whirring sound. 
I knew I wasn't hearing things; it was too distinct. My eyes darted left and right again, hoping to catch the source of the noise. Still, nothing was found. It was both confusing and concerning, leaving me craving for an answer.
Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't heard the coach call for me. He and the rest were way up ahead, and in all the confusion of the noise, I had lingered too far back. 

"Aeryn! Hurry up!" I heard a faint voice summon me. 
Ignoring the noise for the second time, I ran towards the academy. I had disappointed him enough today, and this only added to the list.

The noise couldn't have been that important. Right?

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!