Triplets (girlxgirl)

16- Tryouts part 1

All fifty of us started to run. I ran through the field trying not to push people out of my way. It was not a sprint, but a fast run because I didn’t want to waste my energy at the beginning. Without slowing down I sped into the forest. All we knew before the run was that the finishing line was at the top of a mountain. It doesn’t matter how we get there as long as we do.

I dodged the blurry trees and tried not to trip on their roots. Before me, in between trees, were ropes tied up together creating a web barrier. Some students were climbing the ropes but I knew they weren’t stable enough. I would spend too much time trying to keep my balance than actually passing through. Instead, I climbed one of the trees that were holding the ropes. There were many branches where I could grab on and I jumped down once I was at the top of it. Then I started running again. I couldn’t see the mountain from inside the forest but I knew in which direction it was.

I skidded to a stop when I saw what I had to go through next. The river was not wide, but it was active. The runners tried to jump from rock to rock but it was either too slippery or too small. I felt a presence beside me and turned my head. Jessica was standing beside me.

“You’re not with Ren?” I asked her.

“We’re competing against each other. The loser has to do everything the other says for a whole day” she grinned. “Imagine him at my mercy for one entire day?” I laughed because I couldn’t see Ren doing that.

“Come on” she said and ran alongside the river and I followed closely. We arrived at a wider part of the river but it was no longer in the rapids. We glanced at each other before we jumped into the water. Did I mention it was freezing cold? Jess and I swam our way across at a good pace and soon enough we were on the other side. We dashed around the trees again following each other. There were a lot less students around us by that time.

We made it to the bottom of the mountain. Now, for the hard part, we had to climb a rocky wall without any security. There was an easier trail but it would take too long. Jess and I found a good climbing spot and made our way there. I took the first good grip and pulled myself so I could put my feet somewhere stable. Jessica was a very good climber; she was already ahead of me.

It was very hard, the higher we went, the windier it got and the less the good grips were available. We had to pass a moment where the part of the mountain was split in half.  I saw Ren running in wolf form down on the hiking trail between the two stoned walls. When I pointed him out, Jess took a look but missed her footing at the same time and started free falling. With a jump, I opened my wings and caught her in between me and the mountain. Using earth magic I secured my hands and feet to the wall so we couldn’t fall.

“You ok?” I asked her. It was more like a yell because the wind was very noisy. I could feel the tempo of her heart beat increasing and mine was going just as fast. She laid her head on my shoulder for half a second as a sign of gratitude before taking a deep breath and continued climbing again and me in toe. I kept my wings locked close to my body but I didn’t withdraw them yet. My back was hurting a little because I was not used to opening my wings so fast in one movement and I was pretty sure the hem of my wings were bleeding a little. We hadn’t fallen very far but it was still loss time. We finally made it to the top but there was a problem: We weren’t on the right side of the split wall. Jess and I looked at each other and made a unanimous decision to jump. Jess went first and managed to cross with a bit of a struggle. I took a step back and used all my power and some magic to throw myself off the cliff to the other side. I barely got to the other side and hit the wall wrongly. If it wasn’t for Jess who caught my hand and brought me up I would have fallen.

Once on the other side, we continued our jog towards the finish line. We decided to jump down on the hiking trail to go faster. Soon, we saw Ren up front and together Jess and I started sprinting like never before. Ren heard us a picked up speed. Since I was part bird, I was not as fast on ground as them so I was having trouble keeping up.