Dawn's POV

-Two Days Later- 

I woke up to the sound of clanging metal. I blinked my eyes a few times and quickly sat up in bed, pushing the covers off my body.

Lucy had already hopped down off the top bunk and was over at our closet grabbing our clothes out for today.

Today was exam day.

We had been working extra hard the past two days going over the last two sections of the Adroit, making sure we practiced and succeeded in completing it. After my almost fall at the rock wall, I made sure to fight through the entire second section of the Adroit, trying to learn it like the back of my hand.

Yesterday just about every single trainee was running through the course until curfew, I wasn't sure if it was just for extra practice, or because of the paranoia of not passing.

"Dawn, get your ass out of bed before we're late for our exam today!" Lucy whisper yelled across the room from by the closet, bringing me out of my thoughts. I could hear her voice waiver a bit.

"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," I whispered back as I quickly swung my legs out of bed.

I stood up and jogged past Lucy, who was tying up her boots on a chair pulled out from the table. I made my way over to the closet where I quickly changed into my training clothes and grabbed my boots from off the closet floor. I quietly shut the closet door and headed over to the table to put my boots on.

Lucy was patiently leaning on the table and kindly waiting for me. "Are you ready for today?" she asked me with a nervousness laced throughout her voice.

I pulled on my second boot and laced it up as I thought about my answer. "Yes, and No," I answered as I stood up and pushed the chair in.

"What do you mean, yes and no?" Lucy asked me as we walked over to the door. "What kind of shit is that?"

I chuckled quietly with a smile, Lucy always swore when she was really nervous. I quietly opened the door, pushing it open so Lucy could get through too. We walked out into the quiet hallway and Lucy shut the door behind us.

"Yes, as in I'm pretty sure that I'm ready for our exam," I explained as we started walking down the hall towards Ground Zero.

"And the No?" Lucy asked as we joined the crowd of people already buzzing around Ground Zero.

"I don't know if I'm ready for what comes after," I said with a shrug as we both walked into the dining hall.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked me as we headed over to the growing line to get food.

"You know," I said as we claimed our spot In line. "The wait time to see if we pass, and then the special one-on-one training for the last two weeks before our final exam. Aren't you worried about that?"

Lucy was quiet to herself for a moment as we both grabbed an apple and some bread before heading over to the trainee tables.

"I mean I guess I hadn't really thought about what came after," Lucy answered as we took our seats down towards the end of the table. "I guess I was just too busy worrying about our exam today."

I nodded as I took a bite of my apple. "The only thing I'm worried about for today, is who will pass and who won't?" I said after I had swallowed my bite.

Lucy shook her head and looked at me worriedly. "I have absolutely no idea Dawn...."she trailed off at the end while taking a bite of bread. "I really don't want anyone to have to leave."

Nodding I took another bite of my apple and looked down at the table. A few others had joined us by now. They looked just as nervous as I felt on the inside. My famous butterflies had returned and were bouncing around off the walls of my stomach.

"Good morning Dawn, Lucy," Levi said as he sat down at the table in front of us. "Today's the day huh?"

"Yeah it is," Lucy said quietly. "How are you not nervous?" she asked him.

"And why aren't you eating anything?" I questioned him, noticing he hadn't sat down with anything to eat.

Levi smiled at us and laughed. "I'm acting like it's a normal training day so I don't psych myself out,"he explained calmly. "And I'm not eating any food because if I do get nervous, I don't want to be blowing chunks everywhere as I try to complete the Adroit," he added.

I cringed a little bit while Levi painted the disgusting picture of him running the Adroit in my head. Suddenly losing my appetite, I took one last bite of my apple for good measure before deciding I was done with it.

"That's an absolutely disgusting thing you've managed to get into my head," Lucy said while rolling her eyes at Levi. "Thanks a lot."

Levi smirked at her. "Anything for a friend!" he said with a quiet chuckle.

Margaret and Spencer had also joined us at the table by now. Ever since Spencer had put his arm around her the other day when he was joking around, the two had been spending more time together. I would've raised the suspicion of them having something going on, but i knew that everyone was too worried and preoccupied with thinking about the Exam today.

"Are you ready to go Dawn?" Lucy asked while nudging my shoulder.

I looked at her and Levi and smiled. "I guess i'm as ready as I'll ever be," I said as I stood up from the table.

Levi and Lucy stood up from the table as well, Lucy and I quickly walked over the the trash bins to throw away the last bits of our breakfast. We walked back over to Levi, where he took the lead and led us out of the Dining Hall. We made our way over to, and then down the stairs that lead down to the training floors.

Down to the test that will affect the rest of our life at the Midnight Mafia.

We all stepped off the stairwell and gathered with all the other trainees who were waiting in front of the closed metal door. Yesterday after training ended, we were told to wait outside quietly, no indication of how long we were supposed to wait for.

Levi along with Lucy and I feel into place amongst the other trainees patiently waiting for the door to open. I looked around to count the heads and there was only 13 there.

Still no Alyson.

I shook my head in wonder, just as the metal door slid upwards with a bang. All heads whipped around to face the door and the person who stood under it.

"Good Morning trainees," Max said seriously. "Welcome to your exam day," he added without giving us a chance to reciprocate his greeting.

Everyone stared at him silently. No one really knew what to do, it was the first time for all of us.

Max nodded at us with a smirk. "Glad to see you can all follow directions," he joked with a straight face. "Now follow me and line up like normal," he said before he turned around and walked back into the training room.

Rather quietly, we all funneled into the room after him. All the trainers were lined up in the front of the room, even Kaiden was standing in the very front and center. Jake flanked his side, giving them both an extremely powerful presence in the room.

You could feel the nervous tension in the air. There was so much of it you could prick it with a pin, and several nervous ticks would start flowing out of people just like the air in a balloon.

Everyone lined up quickly, by now knowing exactly where their claimed spot was. We all faced the trainers and waited for it all to start.

"Welcome trainees," Kaiden said calmly, "You all know that today is your exam day."

With everyone nodding at what he said, the tension in the room started to slowly deflate.

Kaiden smirked at us as he put his hands behind his back. "You all know you've been training hard for this day, and I hope you make your gang proud," he said while looking over at Jake.

Jake smiled with a small nod. "You may not know this, but you've all already completed the first part of you exam," he said while glancing at all of us down the line. "With that knowledge, know that two of you are already at the bottom of the list," he added.

We were all shocked to say the least. The nervous tension returned, and several people were looking around, not sure what to do.

I know I was preparing for a long grueling day of strength and endurance tests before then going on and running the Adroit. The fact that the first half of our exam was already completed scared the shit out of me. What if I was one of the two at the bottom? What if I was kicked out of the gang?

"You will only be going through the Adroit for the second half of your exam," Karla explained while chiming in. "Your goal is to complete in the fastest you possibly can."

Max nodded at us all. "Your time will be used to rank you, but we will also be scoring you as you make your way through the Adroit," Max explained further. "On what, we can't tell you."

"Determined on your time, and points you've received," Kaiden said cooly. "You will be ranked first to last. The two trainees at the bottom will be leaving us later this afternoon, after we've shared the results."

I felt my stomach drop a bit. One run through the Adroit and that was it. That one run determined who was staying and who was going. To make it worse, two people were leaving this afternoon. That was such a fast pace to go at.

"You will have a fifteen minute time limit while running the Adroit," Jake said while stepping forward towards us. "Failure to complete the course in that allotted time will reflect poorly on your ranking." He paused and smirked at all of us. "We will be announcing the time at every five minute interval." he said before stepping backwards.

Nodding my head I realized I was going to have to be on my A game. I quickly did the math and figured out that I couldn't spend more than about a minute and a half on each sub-part. This was going to be the hardest run through I've ever done.

"At first two trainees will leave with us," Karla said as she put her hands on her hips. "One will run the Adroit while the other will be taken to a room where they can prepare themselves," she explained.

"Every fifteen minutes Karla or myself will come and retrieve one of you," Max said while looking all of us in the eye as his gaze swept down the line. "The rest of you must wait here in silence. Any talking will result in point deductions from your score." he added.

"Last but not least," Kaiden said chillingly while looking at all of us. "Once you've completed the course, we will dismiss you back to your dorm. There you will gather all your belongings together in the case you will be leaving us this afternoon."

Everyone's face was pale. You could see the worrisome glances as we glanced sideways at the person standing next to us. Nobody wanted to be one of the two that left.

"Are there any questions?" Kaiden asked while eyeing us. "No?" he added as our silence was his answer. He nodded at us, "Good, may the strongest survive."

Kaiden and Jake waited a moment before the exited the room in perfect unison, It was almost as if they had practiced it countless times before. Max and Karla were left behind, examining us all as if they were choosing what specimen they wanted to use first.

You could feel the weight on everyone's shoulders as we waited in anticipation for them to announce the first two names. I knew we were all wondering who would be the unlucky first.

"Lucas and Rachel," Max called out. "Come with me."

They both stepped forward out of line. Lucas looked pale and sickly, while Rachel had a little more color to her face but looked horrified.

"The rest of you will wait here in silence like we previously mentioned," Karla called out as Max lead Lucas and Rachel through the room and out the door that lead to the Adroit.  "Again, talking will lead to point deductions, and believe me," she said before taking a short pause. "We will know if you've been talking or not."

Karla stalked out of the room and left us to wait in silence for our own turn to run the Adroit. We all relaxed a bit physically and stepped out of line, but the apprehension and uneasiness in the room spiked to almost dangerous levels.

Staring blankly at each other, we all sat down in clusters on the floor. Sitting with people who you were comfortable with, even though we couldn't speak. Lucy and I were sitting together, along with Parker and surprisingly Xavier. Levi had made his way over by us as well.

Even though the room was drowned in silence, only breathing and the occasional movement disrupting it, I knew we were all thinking about the same thing.

It was now or it'd turn into never, failure not being an option for any of us. We would try our hardest and push ourselves to our limits to secure our spot of safety high up in the ranks.

The only problem with that thinking, was that for two unlucky people, trying our absolute hardest wouldn't be good enough in the end.

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Hi everyone! At first I wrote this chapter and it was waaaaaaaay to long...... so I just broke it into two chapters to make it easier to read! Pt. 2 will be up soon! Possibly in the next few hours.

Thank you so much for reading! It's amazing that there's people still reading this book after so many chapters. I really do hope that you are enjoying the story.

Please consider giving this chapter a vote if you enjoyed it! I'd appreciate it! Also don't forget that you can leave me thoughts or feedback in the comments! I'd love to actually hear from some of you guys.

- Delaney :)