Page 15 of The Brothers Bane

“Do I have a choice?”

Her expression softens. “You always have a choice. It may not always be an easy one, but you always do. If you’d rather stop here and go find food, you can. It’s entirely up to you. Ele, however, has to put her money where her mouth is, so if you leave, she’ll just suffer alone.”

I chew on my lip for a second, then shake my head. “I need to know how far I can go.”

She nods. “Then follow me.”

Mel leads us off the field to a path through a grove of olive trees. We reach the wide, straight corridor amid the grove that Alcides led me through when we snuck into the compound last night. The one with all the nightmarish obstacles.

Mel points to a row of steel beams suspended crosswise over a pit filled with water. “You’ll start here,” she says, her voice cutting through the morning air like a knife. The rising sun glints off the metal, and the water below is a murky green with algae growing on top. The beams are placed far apart—too far to easily step across.

I swallow hard, feeling the first tendrils of doubt creep in. Sure, I’ve discovered newfound strength and stamina, but this? This requires a finesse I’m not sure I possess.

“Take it one step at a time,” Mel advises, her eyes locking onto mine. “Don’t rush it.”

Except there’s no way to take this slowly if I want to get it right. Running will give me the momentum to leap far enough to span each gap.

I nod, settling on my course of action, and eye the first beam. Taking a deep breath, I back up, then take a running leap, my foot landing squarely on the metal. Without missing a beat, I launch to the next, then the next. I lose my balance a little by the fourth, and the next few steps are shaky, my arms flailing. Ele follows behind me, her movements more practiced, but visibly strained. She at least doesn’t look like a balloon man flapping in the wind, though.

We progress from the beams to a series of ropes dangling from tall poles. The task is to swing from one to the next without falling. I grasp the first rope and swing forward with too much force, barely managing to grab the next one. My coordination is definitely off, but I push through it, adapting to the rhythm by the third swing.

Next comes a climbing net stretched up a steep incline. My hands and feet tangle in the ropes at first, but as I climb higher, my movements become more fluid. Ele is right behind me, her breathing heavy, but determined, though she is definitely more focused on proving herself this time than on shoring up my crappy self-esteem.

We finally reach what looks like an obstacle from an action movie—a narrow plank suspended between two platforms over a pit that smells suspiciously like manure, complete with buzzing flies. One misstep could send us plunging into the stinky, murky depths below.

My heart pounds as I step onto the plank. It wobbles beneath me, and for a moment panic sets in, only exacerbated by the stench. But then I remember Mel’s words: “Take it one step at a time.” I focus on each step, finding my center of gravity. By some miracle, I make it across without incident.

Ele crosses next, her every muscle tensed with effort. She’s clearly pushing herself to keep up with me, and though it’s obviously a challenge for her, she does it without faltering.

Finally, we stand before the last challenge—a towering stone wall with ropes dangling just out of reach from the top.

“Are you serious?” My voice comes out as more of a squeak than I’d like.

I stare up at it, feeling small and insignificant. The idea of scaling this wall seems ludicrous.

“You don’t have to go over if you can go through,” Mel says.

“You want me to gothroughthe wall? What, like a wrecking ball?”

Mel nods firmly. “We haven’t truly tested your powers beyond your endurance and strength. Let’s see if you can draw from it to do more.”

I look at Ele beside me; she’s catching her breath, but watching me intently.

Taking several steps back for a running start, I hesitate only for a moment before dashing toward the wall. My legs pump beneath me as if powered by engines and my heart thunders in my chest.

Drawing on my power feels like tapping into an electric current that courses through my veins and gathers in my palms. Doubt flickers—can I really do this?

With a deafening yell that rips from my throat and echoes off the surrounding trees, I thrust my hands forward just as I reach the wall.

The impact is monumental; power explodes from me in waves and the stone wall shatters into dust and rubble before my eyes. I skid to a halt before I trip over the resulting chunks of stone and cement, nose tickled from the cloud of dust filling the air.

Breathing heavily, I stand there in shock at what I’ve done and slowly lower my trembling hands. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’m ecstatic that I can focus my power enough to do something like this on purpose, but I just tore down a fucking stone wall. What else could I break?

The dust gradually clears as the morning sun breaks through. When I can finally see past where the wall used to be, Alcides stands on the other side. His dark eyes are wide with something akin to awe or hunger, and next to him stands an imposing woman whose presence demands attention even without saying a word.

Alcides opens his mouth as if to speak, but nothing comes out. He shifts his gaze between Ele and me like he’s caught between two worlds colliding.

Ele stands awkwardly beside me, as tongue-tied as her father.

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