Gemini

Chapter 15* How to Fall Down

Chapter 15* How to Fall Down

“This is stupid.”

“It’s important,” Jeremy corrects wisely. “If you don’t learn it, you could break your back.”

“Since when did you become so serious?”

“Kayla, don’t joke about this. This is life or death. Many great warriors died because they were complacent in learning how to do simple things, like falling-”

Scowling, I glare at him. “Cut the prep talk and teach me.”

He shakes his head, but starts good naturedly. “Okay, so first of all, you got to know where you’re falling from. Let’s start simple.” He leads me to a tightrope about two feet off the ground. “Step on.”

Cautiously, I place my feet on the tight rope. It wobbles a little bit from my weight, and confidently, I lift my whole body on. It wobbles even more crazily, and I have to work very hard to keep my balance. Nonetheless, I make it half way across when it gives a mad shake and I fall off, landing on my bum.

“Ouch!” I cry, turning around and seeing Jeremy with one foot on the tight rope, arms crossed. “Hey! You shook it!”

“I did,” he says, unrepentant. “Does it hurt?”

I glare.

“That’s because your technique of falling is wrong.” He proceeds to demonstrate the correct way of doing it, which involved twisting and rolling and some mumbo jumbo with his body.

“Let’s go to a higher one.” He adjusted the rope until it was a good four feet above the ground. I clamber up, and set off again.

On and on it went. I was bruised and battered all over, but I could fall from an impressive height of six feet now.

“Not bad!” I crow, as we stop for a break. “I bet I could do some parkour now, eh?”

Rolling his eyes, Jeremy takes a swig of water. “It’s just six feet. Wait till I make you jump from there.” He points to a little stone platform jutting out near the ceiling, and there was a ladder leading up to it.

“You wouldn’t,” I say, feigning shock. His grimace told me he wouldn’t hesitate to push me off it.

We continue training. The training gets tougher and tougher, but I like it. It gives me something to do, and it helps me get muscles and stuff- without having a horrible tan. You know, the ones where your skin peel off and does gross stuff.

I see less and less of Sam, but I’m doing a pretty good job of ignoring him. When he’s around, it doesn’t affect me as much, and that’s a great thing.

But I should have known it wouldn’t last for long.  

The night was dark and I had retired to my room after training with Jeremy. Just now, I’d walked past the entrance to the resistance where Sam and I had stumbled in, half dead, many weeks back, and I’d caught a glimpse of glittering night sky. My first in so long. The draft of fresh air wafting in was so different from the tunnel air we breathed all day.

I quickly fall asleep, my eyelids drifting shut, heavy with exhaustion. The mat is laid with blankets and comfortable, and my body is too bogged to fight back any longer. My mind gratefully slips away into peaceful blackness, and I begin to dream.

My breathing is smothered. At first I think it is a dream, until my eyes fly open in shock. Someone is trying to kill me. Struggling, I try with all my might to tear my face away from my captor, but he- or she- is much stronger than me.