They walked over to the other side of the room and Julia took a good look at the thing. She felt out of her depth. Although she wasn't nimble, or even acrobatic she could hold her own on the courses at school; but this beast was a different story.

There were long poles of varying heights and widths standing upright and set long distances apart from one another. She wondered if they meant her to climb up them or what. Because there was no way she could jump from one to the other; they were set too far apart. In between some poles were long metal bars that hung from the ceiling and reminded her of trapeze bars. Some were closer to the poles and Julia thought she could probably make it from the pole to the bar. But other bars were set close to the ceiling, and she couldn't fathom how to get up there.

She then looked around and saw the usual things: a bunch of tires set out on the floor, a tall wooden wall, and some rope ladders.

Alex put his hand on the small of her back and steered her to the tyres. Having his hand touching her was heavenly yet it was all too brief. When he took it away, her whole body ached for his touch. She had to remind herself that this was training.

Alex walked over to the tyres. "Watch me first and then you can do it."

As soon as she nodded, he shot off like a bullet. Julia could tell he was zipping through everything at lightning speed and it was only because of her new dark faerie sight that she could keep up with him. She figured he'd look like a blur if she had been watching with her normal eyes.

He took graceful strides through the tyres, and when he came to the wall, instead of climbing up it he leapt over it in one fluid move. She couldn't believe he could jump that high, the wall was at least fifteen feet tall. Then he pulled himself up on the rope and climbed up to the top. He swung the rope back and forth building up a little momentum then let go, grabbing onto the highest trapeze bar.

Julia gasped as his elegant body flew through the air like an acrobat. From there he flung himself to the other bars that descended to the first huge pole and landed on the centre. Rocking onto the balls of his feet, he jumped the enormous distance between the poles and landed on the next one. Repeating the move, he jumped even higher and grabbed the trapeze bar was in the middle of the two poles, swung back and forth a few times and landed on the next pole. He repeated this process six more times before landing on the floor and walked over to Julia and the others not even out of breath.

Her mouth was agape, looking at him as she said in a shrill voice, "You expect me to do all of that?"

Alex replied cool as a cucumber, "With your dark faerie abilities it should be easy for you."

Julia scoffed at him then looked at Ren. "He's joking right? Please tell me this is all a huge joke." When Ren only gave her a tight smile, she felt sick. "All of you are out of your minds if you think I can do what he just did."

She looked back at Alex yearning for him to comfort and reassure her. All she got was a small smile, before he grabbed her hand and led her over to the tyres.

"Julia, we're not expecting miracles, but you should be able to do some of the course. That will give us a starting point to work from," Alex said in a short tone and gave her a nudge.

She could've screamed at him for acting indifferent to her. Julia tried to shove her frustrations to the back of her mind as she steadied her nerves.

She made it through the tyres with ease, when she came to the wall she looked up at the monster. Julia knew there was no way she would jump over it, but figured a running start would give her a little advantage. Backing up she ran at the wall as fast as she could; only making it halfway up. She had to dig her fingernails into the wood to hold herself up. Slowly clawing her way up the wall, she made it to the top and jumped down.

Climbing the rope was easy; she had brute dark faerie strength. She even made it to the trapeze bars and all the way to the first pole. That's where it all fell apart. Julia jumped off the pole, got halfway to the bar and plummeted to the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut ready for the hard impact with the mats, but she landed in a firm grip. She opened her eyes and Alex was looking down at her with a grin.

He leaned into her and whispered, "Jules, you really need to work on your landing. You could've easily landed on your feet. Anyone might think you did that on purpose just to make me catch you."

A heat as hot as the sun coursed through her as he held her in his arms. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and get lost in his lips as she kissed him. Before she could stop herself she rested her cheek against his chest, not wanting the moment to end. Sadly, it ended as quick as it had begun when Damien walked over. Alex set her down leaving her feeling empty and cold inside.

She looked down at her feet. Damien reached out and rubbed her arm. He said, "Hey Jules, don't beat yourself up. You did a great job. I was impressed. Even Alex looked impressed." He gave Alex a nudge, "right?"

She looked at Alex as he answered, "Yeah it wasn't bad for a first try."

She rolled her eyes and thought, I just can't win. Then looked at Ren and said, "What's next?"

"What's next is we get you home. It's already midnight."

She was shocked at how fast the time flew by and disappointed that her time with Alex was over far too soon. Damien grabbed her hand and started to lead her toward the steps that led outside of the basement. Julia turned her head and longingly looked at Alex. She had so much she needed to talk to him about, but he was not interested in being alone with her.

Ren followed behind them, silent, all the way back to Julia's house. When they reached her bedroom, he held back by the window and started running his hand through his wild hair. Julia turned watching him and could tell he had something on his mind. "Right, I may be a tad bit late tomorrow night. Edrys has me doing a bunch of stupid stuff for her these days. The crazy cow is acting like I'm her personal errand-boy."

"You know you will run yourself ragged if you keep going at the pace you've been going, Ren." Damien said.

Ren scowled at him, a paper thin smile cut across his face. "Thanks so much for the concern. But I can handle things fang-boy," he hissed.

Julia watched Damien arch an eyebrow at Ren. Her hand shot out grabbing Damien's quelling any reaction from him. It was plain to see there was still bad blood between the boys.

Before Julia could say anything Abby stepped beside Ren placing her hand on his shoulder. "Ren, Damien's right and you know it," she said cutting the tension. "Is there any way for us to exchange the binding without you having to be here?"

Her words had a calming effect on him. His whole body visibly relaxed as he glanced at Abby. Ren once again ran his hand through his hair as he chewed something over in his mind.

"Julia, Ella, come over here," Ren said, "and hold out your wrists."

They walked over to Ren complying with his request. Ren moved the tattoo back to Julia, but this time it left a faint outline on Ella's wrist where it had been. He then transferred the mark to Abby before moving it back to Julia. "I truly am a genius." His eyes sparkled as he looked at Abby. "Now all you have to do to transfer the mark is touch your wrists together. Abby, why don't you try it?"

Abby and Julia touched their wrists together, there was a burning sensation as the mark left Julia and transferred to Abby.

Abby said, "That is so cool," as she transferred the mark back.

"I always aim to please," Ren said giving Abby a wink. "Okay, you guys let's let the princess get some rest. Julia, I'll see you tomorrow night." He gave her a hug before leaving with the rest.

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