#Chapter 19 – Free Run

The next morning I wake up with a groan, because they really did torture us yesterday. It was an endurance competition that lasted pretty much all day. We had to stand on a balance beam with a pail of water, of all things, on our heads and a staff stretched across our shoulders. At regular intervals, the Lieutenants would come around and add weights to our staffs so that it was a test not only of how long you could stand there and whether or not you could stay straight, but also how long you could endure increasing weight on your shoulders. It was absolute agony, only compounded by the fact that I somehow got placed next to Jackson during it, so I had the added challenge of enduring his exquisite smoke-and-pine scent the entire time I stood there. And god, the more I smelled it, the more I realized that there was something else layered beneath it – something warm, and rich, and delicious, like…cherries? God, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it works. Needless to say, I did not win t