Chapter 13, Part 1

Mariah lay down on the floor mat and brushed sweaty hair away from her forehead.

“When you’re ready,” Kyle said, the sarcastic undertone that was ever present laced his voice.

“Just one minute. That’s all I ask.” Mariah inserted a sob into her voice. She didn’t even need to look at Kyle to know he was rolling his eyes. She propped herself up. “It’s easy for you, Mr. Arms the size of tree trunks. I’ve still got little noodles for arms over here.” She attempted to flex. In the last two weeks she had noticed herself get a little stronger. She’d even started to run a little longer and lift heavier weights. She was also eating more. Caleb would be proud.

She hauled herself upright. “Ok, what’s next?”

Kyle pointed to the punching bag and she stifled a groan. She pulled gloves over her hands and took up her stance as he stood back to watch. She settled into a rhythm and he backed away, apparently satisfied her form was good. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Kyle and Mason take up stances on the mat and begin a practice fight. She’d learned a few of the basic moves of the martial art form. Her punches slackened off as she turned more attention to them, a little jealous of the smooth, powerful movements of the two men.

“Hey, Noodle, you still have five minutes on that bag,” Kyle called.

“I’m not going to answer to that!” she shouted back, but started again. Five minutes passed agonizingly slow. She finally finished and ripped the gloves off, scurrying over the bench to take a break before Kyle could notice.

They’d head to the lab after this. So far the researchers hadn’t figured out her ability, and she still hadn’t let on that she knew what it was. This training was supposed to help trigger something. Her sense of direction was growing stronger and she was figuring out more about the building even though she hadn’t seen over half of it. She’d almost let her hand pass right though the bag yesterday and it had taken increased concentration to keep it from happening again. She was petrified for the day when someone would see it.

She turned her attention to another problem. Kyle. She had unofficially made it a goal to get him to smile. For one, he would probably look less scary. For another, it didn’t take a genius to see that he pretty much hated his life. Mariah wasn’t much enjoying being kept as a prisoner either and she’d only been here a few weeks. Kyle had been stuck in places like this most of his life. She’d reached the conclusion early that morning that if she wanted out, it was up to her. She didn’t know what had happened to Cassie and the others. Even if they were safe, there was no way they would ever find her. In that case, it wouldn’t hurt to have Kyle on her side either.

Hey, guys! Sorry about no post last week. It seemed like I was trying to do a million other things last weekend. And apologies for the really short post today. I’ll try and make it up to y’all next week. 🙂