Sweat runs down my forehead as I deliver blow after satisfying blow. The punching bag sways where it hangs, and I wait for it to rock forward, arms up in a defensive position like Daniel taught us, as I strike it over and over again. It's been two weeks since my vision, two weeks, and no sign that Simon Says is any closer to getting out of his cell. I keep thinking that maybe we did it, we stopped my vision from fulfilling itself. But how would we know? We couldn't be sure. And until someone, or something, told us otherwise, until we were certain that Simon Says wasn't a threat anymore, I would keep my guard up.

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.

Kalen kept his promise and has been helping me with my training during our free hours, while Mara helped Cassie. She is two punching bags over, panting and sweating as much as I am.

"Keep your arms higher," says Kalen, showing me what he wants me to do, putting his own arms in front of his face.

I mimic his position and start again, going through the routine he put together for me.

"Nice, nice! That's it!"

Eventually I get lost in the movements, forgetting everything that has been plaguing my mind these past few days, so that when Kalen hands me a towel twenty minutes later it feels like its barely been five. I stop and bend over, catching my breath after our intensive training session and take the towel gratefully, wiping the sweat off my face.

"I think I'm done for today!" says Cassie, and I glance over to find her sprawled on the floor like a starfish. Mara is also handing her a towel and a bottle of water, a proud look on her face.

"You guys have gotten so much better these past two weeks."

Kalen nods in agreement, and I feel my cheeks flush as he sends an actual smile my way.

"You're doing good," he says, and the rare compliment has my heart doing weird flip flops. I don't know why it does that, when Jayson compliments me I don't feel as if butterflies were flying around in my stomach. It must be the workout, that's why it's beating faster than usual, that's all.

"Well," I say, bending over to grab the blue jacket I had discarded at the beginning of our session "We should probably be heading to class."

"Class? Really Bri, you should have learned our schedule by now," pants Cassie, still laying on her back.

"It's our free day, remember?" Says Mara, as she comes over to where Kalen is helping me put away our gear.

"We have the rest of the afternoon off."

Oh right, Friday's were free days! I kept forgetting about that. I usually spent them in extra training with Daniel or just reading a book in our room. But I had finished my latest book, one that left me a bit dead on the inside if I'm honest. I mean, how could she fall in love with the prince? It was obvious that she and the royal guard were made for each other! And then he had to go and die! Just thinking about it again makes me want to cry. I guess that means that I have nothing to do, I've had enough training for one day, and I'm not ready to pick up another book just yet.

Kalen watches me out of the corner of his eye as I debate with myself about what I should do with my day, and I think I see the corners of his mouth turn upwards in a fond smile. But it's only for a split second, so I could have just imagined it.

Cassie decides she's done laying on the floor and pushes herself upwards with a groan, stretching out her back and sighing when she hears a satisfying 'pop'. She comes to join the rest of us, and we just stand in a circle, a comfortable silence enveloping the room.

"Well," says Kalen, being the first one to speak, "I think I'm going to enjoy my afternoon and watch some TV back at the dorm, so if you need me," I pretend not to notice how his eyes linger on me, but the little smirk Mara sends my way is proof that I wasn't the only one to notice. "You know where to find me."

With that, he strolls out of the room, leaving us three girls alone.

"I sense some romance!" teases Cassie, bumping me in the shoulder and wiggling her eyebrows. "Is there something between the two of you that I'm not aware of?"

So I really wasn't the only one to notice.

"Yeah, you and Kalen have gotten awfully close these past few weeks," adds Mara, wanting in on the conversation.

"Oh, stop it. What, can we not be friends now? And I don't know what you're talking about because we definitely haven't gotten closer, he still treats me like he always does."

They both look at me as if I'm clueless, twin looks of frustration on their faces.

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed how he looks at you," sighs Mara, stuffing her towel and water bottle in her bag.

Cassie shakes her head, as if I've somehow disappointed her, and I can't help but find their reactions quite amusing. I mean, sure, maybe we have gotten closer. But that's because we got to spend more time together and we've come to know each other better. It turns out Kalen and I have quite a lot in common. We are both an only child, we both like the color blue and.... yeah that's pretty much it. Okay so we don't have much in common, at least not that I know of, but we have bonded over our training sessions. There is something about sparring with someone and trusting them not to hurt you that just, makes you click.

He is a great listener, probably because he doesn't like to talk much about himself, but he always has opinions to share when I tell him about my worries. Sure, they aren't always valid opinions, but sometimes he surprises me.

I stop thinking about Kalen and find Cassie and Mara both looking at me with smug smiles painted on their faces.

"Stop it!" I whine, as I threaten to hit them with my sweaty towel. They both laugh at my childish antics, and Cassie holds up her hands in mock surrender.

"Hey, how about we have a girls' day. Just the three of us," Mara suggests, obviously excited by the idea.

We haven't had much time for just the three of us to hang out, and it would be nice to get to know Mara better. I bet she wants to know more about me and Cassie as well. She finally isn't the only girl in the group. Cassie and I already have a strong bond, but we were completely new to Mara when we first got here. And we might have gotten closer during our stay, but we didn't actually get quality time to connect. So, I nod at her idea, warmth blossoming in my chest at her grateful expression.

"Where can we go? It's not like there's a movie theatre around here, I haven't seen any virtual reality game rooms, and we can't leave the compound," says Cassie.

She makes a good point. The facilities are amazing, but there was only so much the compound could hold, and I'm pretty sure a VR room wasn't one of them.

Mara's face seems to fall at the reminder that our options are limited, but after thinking for a while she seems to come up with an idea.

"How about we go to the pool!"

"Wait," I hold my hand up. "This place has a pool? Why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?"

She nods excitedly and starts for the door, and Cassie and I speed walk to keep up with her.

"Yeah, you probably just never saw it because it's on the lower level. I mean, we have the right to have some fun while we're here."

That's true, but the idea that there could be a pool had never crossed my mind.

"I'm pretty sure I have a few extra bathing suits I could lend you. Cassie and I are practically the same size, and I bet my sister wouldn't mind lending Bri one for the time being."

We walk into the hallway, but instead of turning right, we go down the left-wing of the building, towards the black rooms, kept for the teams made up of older Elites, between the ages of 19 and 25. Mara's sister was one of the older trainees, a noble year.

During our first week we learned that trainees were referred to by the time they spent at the compound, not by age. Of course, the youngest Elites were trained differently than the older ones, it wouldn't be fair to have a seven-year-old go through the same routine that a sixteen-year-old went through, but if both were to start their program at the same time, they would both be first years.

There were the first, second, and third years; the noble years, which were between four and ten years at the compound, the general years; between eleven and fifteen years, and then the unlimited, which was anything more than sixteen years. Usually, trainees completed their training during their noble years, but there were cases of people having to stay for over twenty years to complete their training. I, for one, am determined to complete my own during my noble years. As much as I love it here, I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a trainee. Maybe I'll stay as a mentor, but if I do decide to stay it will be on my own accord, not because I have to.

Mara and her sister were both in their noble years, which is why they are both tutors, they have been here for more than three years. They both started coming to the compound when they were young, but only started their official training by the time they were 9 and 11. Which means they both completed 7 years of training. Leti is just a couple years older than Mara, but her Gift presented itself two years before Maras own. We got to meet her during one of our classes with Daniel, when he had the older kids come in and tell us about their own experiences. She is a Creator, a pretty common Gift between Elites. She's able to make whichever object she wants out of clay, but she had to have seen the object to be able to make it. It was a useful Gift if you ever needed to swap a ten-thousand-dollar necklace with a fake, without having the owner realize it had ever been stolen. Of course, the government only ever used that sort of Gift to get back stolen artifacts, not for personal gain. She demonstrated by making a golden bracelet in the shape of a snake, with rubies for eyes, out of a piece of clay she told us she always carried with her.

She told us it was a piece she had needed to create when they were retrieving the bracelet of Nefertiti's tomb, which had been stolen by a band of common thieves about five years ago. I had heard about that robbery on the news and was excited to put a face to the heroes that got the priceless jewelry back.

She is a lot like Mara in the sense that they are both headstrong and very independent, and they both have the same dark hair and eyes. But Mara is much more outgoing than her sister, whereas Leti is much more patient and meticulous than Mara.

We make it to the black rooms, having gotten that name because of its dark furniture and black walls, which were a stark contrast to our own white ones. That's why our side of the building is where the "white rooms" are.

Mara walks in as if she owns the place, Cassie following suit, always the adventurous one. I stay close beside them, trying not to get lost in the crowd. I guess it's not only our day off because tons of Elites are lounging in the common area, while others are coming in and out of their rooms to relax. They watch us as we make our way to Leti's room, some waving at Mara when they recognize who she is.

We finally make it to her sister's room, and lucky for us, she is still there.

"Oh, hi!" She greets us, a kind smile on her face, closing the door behind her to come stand in the hall with us.

"What are you three doing here?" She asks. "You're Mara's new teammates right? I'm pretty sure we met the other day."

I'm internally thrilled that she remembers, but I try to act cool and not let my excitement show. Cassie and I both nod our heads, and her smile seems to get even bigger.

"See!" She says, giving her little sister a nudge. "I told you that you would find someone new. Who wouldn't want to be on a team with you?"

Mara playfully pushes her away, but I can tell Leti's comment made her day. One thing I've learned about Mara is that she looks up to her older sister, she practically worships her. Even though she would never admit it.

"Yeah, yeah. We actually came by to ask you if you had an extra swimsuit we could borrow? We were thinking about heading down to the pool, and I don't think any of mine will fit Brianna. Do you have anything you could lend her?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment, asking us to wait outside while she goes back in to check. She comes back out with a beautiful green bikini top, with gold hoops holding the front together and intricate patterns crisscrossing over the back, paired with a plain black bottom.

"Here," she says, handing me the swimsuit. "This should be about your size. I haven't worn that in ages. Don't worry, it's clean."

I take the swimwear, liking the feel of the smooth fabric against my fingertips, and promise to give it back to her once we are done. But to my surprise she shakes her head.

"Keep it, I'm not going to be using it anyway, and you might need it for another occasion." She winks at me, and I thank her for the kind gesture.

We say our goodbyes and head back to our own dorm, where we get changed and wrap ourselves in our robes. The bikini fits me like a glove, bringing out my curves in all the right ways. I wouldn't call myself exceptionally pretty, I'm not super skinny, and I don't have beautiful blue eyes. But I know I'm not ugly, I've had plenty of people compliment me on my looks, and this bathing suit was making me feel pretty good about myself. I tie my unruly red hair up into a messy bun and pull on my robe, slipping my feet into my plain white slippers, the ones I stole from a hotel my mom and I stayed at during Easter break last year. Mara says towels are provided at the pool, so together the three of us head down to the lower level.

I didn't know that this level even existed, I thought the compound ended at the labs, but there were actually two more floors under that. We arrive at the lowest floor; where we find a group of boys playing in the indoor basketball court and some girls playing darts in a corner. We walk towards a set of familiar glass doors and wait as Mara scans her thumb and inputs her password. What we find on the other side makes my breath catch in my lungs.

An Olympic sized pool waits for us, with little waterfalls cascading into a smaller pool that I can only guess is a jacuzzi from the steam coming out of it. We walk into the large swimming area and leave our things on one of the lounge chairs that are propped up against the wall, and I shrug out of my robe, letting the steamy air hit my bare skin. I sigh at the feeling.

"I think I've found paradise," says Cassie, wiping away a fake tear. Mara laughs, spreading her arms out wide as if she were announcing a TV show.

"Welcome to the pool ladies."