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Alex didn’t know how to respond to his comment, so she said nothing and just started walking back over to their classmates who were still watching them both intently. Declan was grinning, but the rest of them didn’t seem to know what to think.

When they reached the group, Karter eyed the shallow cut at her neckline. “Do you need to get that looked at?”

“I’m fine to continue,” she said, surprised that he’d even asked.

He nodded approvingly and motioned for them to follow as he moved to one of the chambers off to the side of the Arena. Alex hadn’t been in this particular room before, but she still had an idea of what they would find there.

Sure enough, inside they discovered an obstacle course of epic proportions. Even the guys inhaled sharply at the sight of it.

Alex almost smiled. She’d been facing off against Karter’s hellish imagination for months, and for the first time all afternoon she felt like she might have the advantage.

“Who can tell me why the last part of your exam is an obstacle course?” Karter asked.

“Because it’ll test our reflexes and defensive skills in an unknown environment,” Nick answered mechanically.

“Exactly,” Karter said. “It also forces you to think under pressure, both from the challenges of the course, and also from the fifteen-minute time limit you’ll be given.”

Alex quickly did the maths in her head and realised that fifteen minutes each would take up the entire last hour and a half of their testing period. Piece of cake. Well, not really, but it beat having the stuffing kicked out of her for another ninety minutes.

“You’ll be judged by how far along the course you get,” Karter said. He clearly didn’t expect many—if any—of them to actually complete it. “If you fail to make it through an obstacle, you have to start at the beginning again.”

They all nodded their understanding.

“We’ll work down in age, oldest to youngest, which means you’re up first, Labinsky. Get ready.”

One after another her classmates entered the course. Brendan first, then Nick, Sebastian, Declan and Kaiden. None of them managed to fully complete it, but Alex paid close attention to where they went wrong so she could learn from their mistakes.

“Jennings, you’re up,” Karter finally barked.

She stood and walked over to the starting line, jumping nervously from foot to foot while she waited for Karter’s go-ahead.

“Three, two, one,begin.”

Alex started the course strongly, sailing through the numerous obstacles with only minor difficulties. As she approached the second last challenge, she realised just how well she was doing—better than anyone else so far. Even though she had to be nearly out of time, she was determined to see how far she could make it.

“Hello, old friend,” she muttered to the obstacle in front of her. It was the moving balancing beam with the sandbags, a combination she’d tackled numerous times over the past few months. This particular beam moved erratically, not sequentially like she was used to.Up-down-up-left-down-right-left-up-right-down. There was no order to its movement, which meant she wouldn’t know which way to lean to help keep her balance when it changed direction. And if that wasn’t enough, there werefivesandbags swinging above it, not just the three she’d dealt with in the past, all moving at different times and speeds.

Alex prepared herself and jumped up onto the beam, keeping her arms out by her sides for balance as she grew accustomed to the irregular movement. She stepped forward hesitantly and almost fell when the beam jerked to the left under her. She managed to steady herself and took another hesitant step, then another. Eyeing the first sandbag swinging dangerously close to her, she waited until her timing was perfect before stepping again, further this time. Her step coincided with the jagged movement of the beam, and she fell down on one knee as she lost her balance.

Alex waited, calming her trembling limbs and telling herself that it was just a little further until she’d be done. She rose carefully, wobbling even more but eventually managing to get back upright before stepping forward again.

Step—wobble—step—wait for sandbag—step—wobble—step.

She continued the entire way across the beam until there was just one sandbag left between her and safety. After that, only one obstacle remained in the course and she would be through. She glanced ahead to look at the finish line, but her distraction cost her when she should have been paying attention. The beam jerked to the right, before it continued in a quickup-down-up-leftaction that tilted Alex forward—right into the path of the final swinging sandbag. It smashed straight into her, throwing her off the beam and into the mud below.

The pain was instant. Since she had no protective gear on, her shoulder joint had taken the brunt of the impact, and even just flexing her hand sent daggers down her arm. She had to bite her tongue to stop from crying out in agony. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she used her good arm—the right one, thankfully—to push herself to her feet.

Alex cradled her injured arm close to her body and jogged painfully back to the beginning of the course. She still had time left, and there was no way she was going to quit until Karter blew his whistle. She just hoped it would be soon.

She crawled on three limbs through the first challenge—a mud-drenched wriggle-tube—but once she reached the second obstacle—a fifty-foot high rope ladder—Alex knew she was in trouble. She tried to reach out with her sore arm but it was no use—the pain was too intense and there was no way she could hold her weight with it. But she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

An idea came to her and she wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was worth a try. Instead of stepping onto the first rung, Alex wrapped her left leg around the entire ladder, before reaching up with her good arm and pulling her weight off the ground. She then wrapped her right leg around it as well, locking her ankles together until she felt somewhat secure. She didn’t know how high she would get, but with both her legs caught in the ladder she was much more stable.

Alex started to pull herself up with her good arm, using her legs to hold her position whenever she had to reach up for the next rung. Her muscles screamed from the strain, and even though she wasn’t using her bad shoulder at all, even the slightest movement caused pain to ripple through her body.

Finally, when she was about three quarters of the way up, the whistle blew and she shuddered with relief. There was no way she could have gone any further. It was a struggle enough to loosen her cramping limbs and slide fireman-style back to the ground.

Alex swayed on her feet when the impact from landing back on the floor jarred her shoulder, and her vision blackened for a moment. But she was determined to walk out of the class just like everyone else, so she rallied the last of her strength and staggered over to the others. Her classmates were all looking at her strangely, but she was too focused on not passing out to try and figure out what they were thinking. She did, however, look at Karter, and on his face was an expression she had never seen directed at her before: respect.