Moving to a slightly taller hurdle than before, I nearly face-planted before catching myself on the wall. Stupid weak human knees. When I straightened, I caught everyone staring. Mark and Kiara quickly looked away, but Olivia kept watching me with the expression of someone who’d just seen a man spit into his own coffee and drink it. 

I ached to do something, anything to show I wasn’t helpless, but punching her and breaking my hand again wouldn’t do anyone any good. Instead, I returned to the shorter hurdle with the intention of mastering it before I moved on to anything larger. 

As Mark and Kiara lined up for another race, the door opened. 

The newcomer was a man with overlapping scales and the coloring of an aquamarine beta fish. Gills fluttered on his throat, and a decorative red fin flopped across his head in place of hair. When he saw me, he waved a webbed hand. 

“Who’s this beauty?”

“She’s Elva.” Mark hurried to add, “And she’s off limits.” 

“Ah, taken?” 

I nodded. “I was, but he’s in a mental hospital now, so I don’t think he’ll take me again. Nice to meet you, by the way. You’re Vince, right?”

He’d frozen with an odd expression that mirrored Kiara’s. “Uh, yeah. I’m Vince. Are you… okay?”

“I’m better now I’m not tied-”

Mark cleared his throat and shook his head as he came over to me. He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “If someone who doesn’t know what you are asks if you’re okay, say ‘yes.’ You can’t go around telling everyone your life story. Not everyone will be as chill as I am about reporting aliens.”

“Gotcha.” In a louder voice, I addressed Vince. “Yes, I’m okay.”

With a nod, Mark returned to the start of his lane. 

Kiara elbowed him and murmured something I couldn’t make out. His reply made her scowl. They started going back and forth, still too quiet for me to catch anything except for the somewhat heated tone. 

Ignoring them, I returned to practicing little jumps. Repetition made the movements easier to achieve, but they still required a lot of physical effort. I ended up leaning against the wall to catch my breath. If I was going to make this body work for me, I needed to break down the muscles so they could heal stronger. I couldn’t give up yet. 

If I was going to stay here, I couldn’t give up yet. If I didn’t plan to stay long, there was no reason to bother. I was leaning toward staying--of course I was--but there was no guarantee that Celest would let me keep Leah’s body long-term. Even if she did, Dr. Swanson might come back with a vengeance and force me to give up my host. 

I couldn’t count on anything going my way, but exercising couldn’t make things worse, and it might actually help. I found myself itching my tail nub and forced myself to stop. It had definitely grown a little, maybe an inch or so. That nearly as fast as I could heal in the Otherealm. Impressive. Straightening, I prepared to start jumping again. 

Kiara jogged over to me with Mark trailing behind her. “Hey, just so you know, you can talk about what happened to you. You don’t have to act like everything’s okay if it’s not.”

I met Mark’s eyes, and he subtly shook his head. 

Kiara punched his arm. “Don’t you shake your head. Let her talk.”

“It’s okay. I don’t really feel like talking.” I edged around the smallest hurdle and lined up with the second-smallest hurdle. 

“That’s totally fine, but if you change your mind, I’m here to listen.” She gave me a comforting smile before dragging Mark back to the harder lanes. 

They lined up with Olivia and Vince to race. As they all sped down the lanes and back, I continued trying to master the second hurdle. The pain in my legs was less now, likely an ongoing effect of Mark’s venom. Less pain meant I could push myself further, faster. I mastered the second hurdle in half the time it took to master the first. The third was even faster. 

Then came the first ring. I’d seen the others go through the rings, and they’d summersaulted through them. A summersault was a risk given the location of my true body. If I did it perfectly, I would likely sustain minimal damage, but I didn’t really want to risk it here and now. Instead, I tried jumping through the ring while bent over to practice my balance. The ring was so close to the floor that it wasn’t hard to master that skill. 

Next was a short run-up to a hurdle that reached the middle of my thigh. It wasn’t nearly as tall as what Mark and his friends were jumping, but it was twice as high as the last one I’d done. I stepped over it a few times to get a good idea of what I was dealing with. It wasn’t too bad. I backed up against the ring, braced myself for the likely fall, and took off running. For once, I actually ran instead of stumbling along. 

All too soon, I reached the hurdle, plowed into it, and hit the ground hard. My right hand snapped like something broke, but it was only mildly sore. Oh, it was the makeshift splint that snapped. I took it off and flexed my hand. The pain was minimal.

Mark flew to my side in his draconic form. “Do you need another bite?”

I couldn’t honestly say that I needed a bite, as I was pretty sure I hadn’t broken any bones, but his venom was a very useful substance while exercising. “I would like a bite if it isn’t a bother.” 

“It’s no bother at all.” He sank his fangs into the side of my hand. When he pulled back, he returned to his human form. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He helped me to my feet and set the hurdle up again. “You don’t have to keep training; you can sit and watch something on my phone if you want.”

“Thanks, but I really do want to keep training. I’m finally making progress.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. Even if you don’t feel pain, you could still be injured.”

I didn’t think I was, but I checked anyway by sticking my hand down the back of my shirt and probing it with my antennae. There weren’t any broken bones or any other noticeable damage in my hand. “Nope, I’m not injured.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep.”

“If you’re sure, who am I to stop you?” Looking uneasy, he retreated to the benches to take a drink and watch me. 

I wanted to prove that he didn’t have to worry about me. With his venom and my magic roaring through my veins, I might just manage it. I backed away from the hurdle I’d failed to jump. If I was actually going to jump it, I couldn’t assume I was going to fall. Assuming I would fall was why I’d hit the hurdle instead of actually jumping. 

I sprinted at the hurdle. Jumping too early brought the hurdle down when I landed, but it didn’t stop me. The next hurdle was the same height, so I kept running and actually cleared it without mistake. I could’ve stopped there. Part of me wanted to, but I wasn’t likely to get better without pushing myself. 

A ring came next. It was far enough off the ground that I had to jump properly to get through it and duck my head to avoid whacking it on the top of the ring. Ducking my head obscured my vision for long enough that I almost missed the following hurdle. I made it over, just barely. 

The next three hurdles were taller, waist height or so. A stitch in my true body brought me to a stop just short of reaching the first of them. Doubling over, I clutched my back. With so much magic in my system, I should’ve been able to stop the pain and keep going, but it was so damn hot in this stupid realm that I could barely breathe through my gills. 

Panting heavily, I staggered over to lean on the wall near Mark. I very much wanted to take off my shirt, but I wasn’t sure if it was allowed. “Hey, what’s the dress code here?”

“I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”

“I wanna take my shirt off.”

“You don’t want to show off the pancake, remember?”

“The wha-” Right, my true body. “Got it.” After sitting on the bench under an air vent, I rolled up my sleeves and leggings. My scars might draw attention, but they couldn’t draw as much attention as an alien stingray on my back. 

He sat next to me and touched my arm. “Whoah.” He pressed the back of his hand to my forehead. “You have a fever. We should go.” 

I shook my head. “It’ll pass. I’m just used to a much colder climate.”

Kiara finished her lane out of breath and took off her tank top to reveal a sports bra underneath. She tossed her top in her bag. “The dress code isn’t strict. You can take off your shirt if you want.”

“Thanks, but I can’t. For… religious reasons.” 

“But you just asked-” She frowned at Mark. 

I waved away the unspoken question. “I was confused, but I’m not now.”

Still frowning, she took a break on the neighboring bench. 

Mark took my hand and held it close to his face. He blew cold mist that soothed the burning in my digits. “How’s that feel?”

“Just like home.” I sighed. 

He took a swig from his water bottle before blowing a cloud of frost that settled on my skin. 

Closing my eyes, I leaned into the cold and pretended I was bathing in the cool mists of home. Not the home I would go back to if I ever returned--rather, I imagined life before El died. When training was casual fun instead of do or die. When I had time to rest in cool ponds with El and imagine a better future for us both. 

There was a beep, and I opened my eyes to see Olivia messing with the thermostat. The AC whirred to life, unleashing a flow of blessedly cool air. 

I smiled. “Thank you, but you really don’t have to.” 

“It’s nothing. Really, it’s nothing.” She sat next to me under the vent and tilted her head up. “You’re not the only person with heat problems.” She paused. “So, I’m guessing your oddity has something to do with fast training?”

“That’s just Mark’s magic.”

She snorted. “He’s the slowest healer in our class. Whatever you’re doing, it’s not him.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”