Again

train

"Why are we doing this!" I hear Anna yell as I jump across the lake on the raised rocks, barefoot.

"If you can't do this you can't win a war," I call behind me, laughing as I finish.

I turn around and see Alice falling off of a rock and into the water. Tara stops and jumps off her rock, pulling Alice up to her feet. "This is bullshit!" Alice screams as she walks through the stream.

"Let's hope you wore a bathing suit like I recommend," I say and start walking up hill.

I look beside me to see Sophie walking up next to me. "Why are you doing this?' she asks, but her voice sounds deeper, and the way her eyes look as me thinking this isn't Sophie the host.

I hear someone yelp in surprise and turn to see Alice wiped out in the mud with Tara.  This is why you don't go through the river. "You take off your shoes and your toes can act as anchors," I call behind me to the two in the mud. I look at the not Sophie as I turn right. "Tell me your name and I'll tell you my reason."

They look taken off guard but smile slightly, "Kyle. Nice to meet you," he says and holds out his hand.

I take his hand and shake it as we walk, "I do this because there's no reason they should feel like they can't win because they are outnumbered. We can win, and I intend to do so." Once we get to the highest point I need us to be, I sit on a big rock and look at him. How reliable is this system going to be? If there is a child in there, what happens if they come out.

I pull off my shirt, boots, and pants, sticking them in my backpack and leaving me in my black and white snake print bikini. "Time for a bit of swimming," I say, looking back at the waterfall behind me. I pull the sling sleeve swim shirt out of my bag and toss it at Kyle. "Feel free to participate. You're on our team just the same as everyone else."

I stick my bag in the bucket pulley system and lower it to the bank below. "Tell me you aren't going to have us jump," Anna gasps out, looking down at the water below.

"You're a quick learner," I say and pull the empty bucket of things up after I let mine fall out of it.

"I can't do that," she says, looking at me.

"I'll go first," Tara says, drawing my attention before she jumps, traveling down with the waterfall. I watch her hit the water and go under, waiting for her to come back up.

I turn my attention to the other four once she resurfaces. "That there was a stupid decision on her part. Jumping off a cliff without knowing if what lays below is safe is reckless. There was no trust in what she did because she does not trust me. She did it because she wanted the rush and she holds no fear of death. It's foolish and will inevitably get you killed. That being said, I do need to push past your fear boundaries. If you are afraid of getting hot you won't move fast enough, so jump and live, but jump knowing what lays below will not harm you. Jump with complete trust in yourselves and with trust in me."

Kyle looks at me, now in the bathing suit Sophie had on under her clothes with the swim shirt I tossed to him earlier. "You're really trying to kill us, huh?" He asks before leaning off the edge.

I look at Alice who is looking at Anna. Neither of them want to jump. "Alice, your friend already did it. What's stopping you?" I ask, and she grits her teeth before running and jumping off, letting out a scream that makes the nearby birds fly off.

"You can't make me do this," Anna says, looking down at the water, and I notice the waterfall starts falling slightly faster.

She's not afraid. Not of the fall that is. "I asked you to be vulnerable to us and you haven't yet. Not truly. Show us what happens when you hit the water, Cinderella. What do you become when the magic is gone?"

"How did you..." She starts, looking at me in shock.

"I might not have much of a memory who I am, but I do know about more than one world that exists. And besides, who's going to believe a bunch of damaged girls when they say their classmates say she is a mermaid," I say before leaning back over the edge.

I smile to myself as I hit the water, the chill going down to my bones I flip myself under the water and swim up to the surface, taking a breath. I look up to see her staring down at us. Come on. "Incaras," I whisper just before she drives down, following inside of the waterfall. "I recommend no one freak out."

Anna swims over, a long blue tail where her legs once were. Let's see how this goes.