Page 18

When the three of them stopped at the outskirts of the large grassy field they had trekked across the day before, Alex noticed a group of students already waiting around. Most of them were in stretching positions. She counted thirteen people; sixteen including her trio. By the looks of the others, Alex guessed they were around her age or older. Two of them might have been slightly younger.

A few of the students glanced up in curiosity as they approached, but before any introductions could be made, a loud voice trumpeted nearby.

“Up! Up! Up! No dawdling! You’re on my time now!”

Alex looked around until she found the man who was shouting. He was of medium height with stringy, dark blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. His thin body was wiry, with skin straining over his taut muscles. If there was such a thing as ‘too fit’, then he was it.

Alex looked into his eyes as he approached and she couldn’t help but notice that he looked a little…wild.

“You know the drill; get started on your warm-up laps.Go!” he yelled, sending the students scattering. Bear and Jordan took off with the others, but Alex hesitated, unsure of what she was supposed to do.

The instructor—presumably Finn—noticed her now that she was alone.

“Who’re you?”

She stepped towards him. “Alexandra Jennings, sir,” she said. “I’m new here.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re still standing here,” he snapped. “Ten laps. Get to it!”

She gaped at him and turned to look out over the enormous field. It had taken them ages just to walk across it the day before. How was she supposed to fit ten whole laps into the two-hour class, let alone whatever else he had planned?

“What are you waiting for, Jennings? Move!”

There was nothing for it but to follow his instructions. She set out after her classmates—who were now way ahead of her—and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

To her dismay, she had company.

“You call that running? My grandmother can run faster than that!”

She looked over her shoulder to see Finn jogging along behind her with some kind of metallic stick in his hand.

“Faster!” he barked.

She picked her pace up to a near-sprint, disgruntled by his pushiness.

“I said,faster!”

“I’m… going… as… fast… as… I… can!” she panted out.

“Not good enough!”

Alex felt a stinging sensation on her backside. It wasn’t until she felt it a second time, more painful than the first, that she realised what it was. Finn had zapped her with the metallic stick.

She stopped dead and turned to face him, breathing heavily.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked.

“Not running, that’s for sure,” he retorted.Hisbreathing was perfectly controlled. “Now pick up the pace; I want to make it back by nightfall.”

“But—you just zapped me!” she spluttered. “Like an animal!”

“What? This?” He shocked her with his stick again, this time by whacking her on the hip.

Alex gasped from the stinging pain and rubbed her side. “Ow!Stop that!”

“I’ll stop when you start running,” Finn told her, reaching forward to zap her again, but she took off before he had another chance to make contact.

The man was completely insane. There was no way he could treat students like this. It wasn’t ethical. It wasn’t moral. And it certainly wasn’t legal. At least, not in her world.