Before I have time to go all the way back to my spot, I hear him grunt and try to swing. I quickly turn and block it with ease. He seems shocked. I raise an eyebrow and give him a moment to recover. That was smart. I’ve done that with Yve, though. She’ll go after someone the second they turn their back. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. I helped her catch up with training too fast when we were kids. She's practically at our level even though she's younger.

Once again, he tries to swing at me, and I block it. Without thinking, I use my foot and sweep them under him, and he falls with a hard thud. His head may hurt, but there’s a soft mat below him to break the fall. I wouldn’t do it if I knew he could get hurt. Slowly, I place the tip of the pole right against his chest.

“That’s not fair!” He yells. “You didn’t give me any time to recover!”

“Do you think an enemy will give you time to recover? You would have been dead after my first block. If you’d like to try again, you can.” I back away, and he scrambles to his feet.

“You go first.” He growls. I laugh a little.

“Whatever you say, kid.” With ease, I swing my pole at him. I expect him to block it. I let him have his moment of amusement. Right before I hit him, I drop the pole and pull the dagger out of my jacket. In a split second, it's at his neck. “Dead.” I tell him, smiling.

“You’re still not being fair!” I yank his pole away from him.

“War isn’t fair,” I spit. “Go sit back down. If you listen during your next training, you’ll realize why I grabbed another weapon.” Ross mutters swear words as he moves back to his spot.

“That was a little unfair,” Their group leader tells me.

“I didn’t say that he couldn’t pick up more than one. We train like that all the time.” She sighs and gestures for me to continue. I look up to Ty and nod at him.

“Since you’ve seen what real sparring looks like, we’ll move onto something we wanted to show your really quick.” As he talks, I walk back over and put all the weapons away. “As you all know, I’m standing on a balance beam. I’m sure you’ve walked on these before. Some of you may have perfected the art of crossing over them without falling off. A certain someone here can do tricks.” He shoots a quick glance at Evita. “I'll show you what you'll be able to do once you learn to do the tricks."

“He’s going to make it look really easy, everyone.” I smirk. Ty backs up to the end of the beam and looks at me.

“When you're on a surface like this, it's easy for an enemy to go for your legs. If you jump, you can lose momentum. Things like your neck will also still be an easy target. Something like a flip will make an enemy waste a bullet or arrow because they then have to aim for a body part while it's in a completely different location. Get it? Good."

I pull a box full of tennis balls over to the balance beam and stand a couple of meters away from where he'll stop. I know what his objective is. Flipping over and avoiding the balls I throw as he comes toward me. All the kids have done is walk across. I’m sure some learned to incorporate movements into sparring already, but they never realized that it’s more than just avoiding enemies in large areas. Small areas aren’t kind, and this is important.

As I throw them towards him, I make an effort to try and hit him. He's too fast, though. When he gets to the end, he stops. The demonstration only lasts a few seconds, but it leaves them staring at us in awe. Most of the balls are gone, and he wasn't hit even once.

“If you try to jump off and kick me I’m never doing this for you again.” I warn.

“Fine, fine,” He rolls his eyes and looks over at the kids. “Do any of you want to try it?” They all look around at each other. No one volunteers. I’m sad that Evita doesn’t offer, but I assume it’s because she doesn’t want to show off. I’m sure a lot of them know that they’re siblings and will think that we’ll be going easy on her.

We get everyone to move along to the rest of the training room. We show them all the other obstacles. Cement parkour area, more balance beams, bars, ropes, everything one could think of. It reminds me of a playground in a way. Except for playing isn't allowed.

The only time we choose to spar once more is when we’re both armed. It’s difficult to fight with him because we’re so in tune with how each other react to certain blows that neither of us wins. Ultimately, the woman observing us has to call timeout. The only kid not amazed by what we’re doing is Evita. She’s become so used to watching us that it almost bores her.

Before everyone here is released, all the trainers that were in the room have us gather around in the open area near the doors.

“As a majority of you know,” The woman observing says. “The takeoff party before our oldest trainees take off will be a few days from now. Only those sixteen and over are permitted to attend. Our rules will be slightly stricter this year after last night’s breach. Guards will be placed at all outdoor exits and everyone not attending is expected to be in their quarters or with a friend in their quarters." She gestures to a man standing to the side and makes room for him to stand in front of us.

"Before the party, however, there is something that will be happening tonight in the courtyard. Everyone is required to attend," All of us start looking around at each other, asking what it could be for. "We have figured out what happened during the breach and have found the culprit. She is locked up and awaiting execution." No. That can't be right. They wouldn't have taken Yve today. They would have last night. No no no.

Once they let us go, I look at Ty. He stares back at me in shock. I hear a buzzing in my ear, and press a spot just behind it.

“Yeah?” I ask. I try to keep my voice from shaking.

“Head to Yve and Tris’s place. We need to talk with you.”

“Should I bring Ty?”

“No.”

"Can I ask you a question first?"

"What?"

"Is Yve alright?"

"Yeah, why?" I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'll explain when I get back." I look at Ty and nod. Thank god she's okay.