Dawn's POV

I wasn't sure how much time had passed.

One by one Karla and Max took turns retrieving trainees until our number was dwindled to two. The two happened to be me and Xavier.

Before you have a chance to wonder, yes it was somewhat awkward.

Xavier was my friend, and it wasn't that bad being alone with him in a room enveloped in silence. I kept thinking about what Alyson had said to me however, making it at least somewhat awkward for me.

Not being able to talk, we mostly just sat on the ground near each other and looked around the room. Sometimes we made eye contact, nodding as if we were having a silent conversation.

Eventually Karla showed up at the door, signaling to us. "Xavier," she said while taking a step into the room. "You're next."

He looked at me one last time before giving me a nod and getting up to walk over to Karla. They quickly disappeared from sight leaving me completely alone.

Thinking about it, it was really weird being by myself. I felt somewhat calm by now, even though I knew someone was in the middle of doing their final Exam. One of the most important parts of training.

I glanced around at the room I had been coming to every morning since I had arrived at the Midnight Mafia. The table was still in the same place, along with the chairs that had never changed sides. The lockers hadn't been used, making me wonder if they were ever used, and Max's desk was still the most prominent piece of furniture in the room.

"Dawn," called out a voice, breaking me from my observations.

I looked and saw Karla sating in the doorway with a small smile on her face.

"It's your turn," she said as she motioned me towards the door.

Quickly standing up, I felt butterflies bang against the sides of my stomach. I made my way across the room and walked through the doorway, following Karla who had taken the lead.

Following Karla, we speedily took a right and I followed her down the hall, passing the courtyard and ending up in front of a unmarked black door.

"Someone will be back to retrieve you soon," Karla said as she opened and held the door for me.

Nodding I walked into the room, listening to the door shut directly behind me. My eyes widened as I saw the contents of the room I walked into.

There was a single metal table standing in the middle of the room. A black chair was slightly pulled out behind it, but the oddest part was that there was only a single beam of sunlight coming through a small circular window on the back wall.

I walked over and sat down at the table, letting the realization of what was about to happen fully sink into my head so I would be ready.

Sighing I ran my hands over the metal table in front of me. The metal was cool under my hand, but I ran into a large warm spot and I shook my head chuckling. It had to have been from Xavier.

My thoughts wandered back to the right place and I mentally went through the Adroit. Parts one and two should be easy enough, it was numbers three and four that would be the tricky.

I could feel my chest starting to get heavy. Fear was starting to work its way into my system, that was the one emotion I wanted to keep out. Especially today.

The door opened suddenly, making my heart start pounding faster. I knew what it meant, I knew it was finally time.

Max stepped into the room, and his eyes locked onto mine. "Dawn," he said with a small nod.

Standing up, I pushed the chair into the table and walked over to where Max was waiting for me. He stared at me for a moment before turning around and walking into the hall. Following him, he lead me to the door of the courtyard, but paused before opening the door.

"Alright Dawn," Max said seriously with his hand resting on the door handle. "I'm going to explain what you need to do."

I nodded at him as I tried to push down all the fear I had expanding through my body.

"You're going to climb up onto the starting platform," he said while giving me an intense stare. "When you're ready to start, give us a thumbs up, and Karla will yell Go as she starts the timer." He twisted the door handle. "You know what to do from there. Your time stops as soon as you feet are flat on the ground," he said as he opened the door for me.

As the door opened, a blast of fresh air whipped across my face. The sunlight was somewhat blinding as I took my first step out into the courtyard and towards the massive obstacle course.

It was time. My time to prove myself to them.

I walked at a brisk pace over the grass as I made my way over to the ladder that would get me up onto the starting platform.

Making my way across the space, I glanced up at the viewing platform. Karla was standing up straight while staring at me as she held a clipboard to her chest. Kaiden and Jake were both staring at me and following my every step with a masked expression.

Quickly looking away as I neared the ladder, I realized it probably wasn't such a good idea to look up at the platform. Seeing Them all watching me with such intensity made me feel a lot more pressured.

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the ladder and climbed the fifteen or twenty feet into the air up to the starting platform. I quickly thought about the Adroit and all the obstacles I had to get through. Closing my eyes, I took another deep breath. I slowly opened my eyes to see the first obstacle before me.

I was ready.

Stepping closer to the edge of the starting platform, I looked ahead at the course. The first obstacle, the monkey bars staring right back at me. Slowly raising my arm, I threw a thumb up into the air.

Not even a few seconds later there was a shouted "Go" from the platform. I didn't even need a moment to process the command. My body sprang into action.

I bolted forward, Jumping onto the first platform. I then leaped as far as I could, grabbing onto the third or fourth bar. Using my lower body for extra momentum, I swung backwards before pushing myself forwards and quickly grabbing the next few bars.

Grabbing the last bar with my right hand, I swung myself forward and jumped down onto the platform below me. Looking ahead, I had come to the small platforms tilted at weird angles.

Taking a quick breath, I exploded from the platform and quickly leapt between each platform, my foot barely staying in contact with each one before it was on to the next. I took the final jump onto the platform at the end and took a deep breath.

Sub-part 1 completed.

I looked at my next obstacle, the balance beam. I set my right foot on the edge of the beam, and hopped onto it while putting my left foot comfortably in front of it. Holding both my arms out for balance, I somewhat quickly made my way across the beam, not even thinking about the possibility of falling.

Hopping down onto the other side, I quickly slid under the next obstacle. A low wall that barely gave you enough room to crawl under.

I started to breath somewhat heavy at this point, coming out on the other side of the wall. I was satisfied with my performance through Part one.

Only three more parts to go.

Continuing on, I felt like several minutes had already passed. The feeling made me speed up as I jumped onto the next obstacle, the swinging ropes. Having gone through the course so many times, I knew that If I stopped my momentum, I wouldn't be able to swing through all four ropes.

As soon as I felt the first rope in my hands, I reached out to grab the next one with my left hand. As soon as I made contact with that rope, my right arm went out and grabbed the next rope. I cringed as I felt the rough material scrape against my hand. Swinging my body forward, I grabbed the last rope with my left hand and propelled my body forward onto the next platform.

I quickly rubbed the palm of my now raw hand, scraped up by the rope. I jogged around the curved platform to get to my next obstacle which was the tunnel.This was my absolute least favorite obstacle of the entire course. The tunnel was a small circular tube that you had to pull yourself through. It was long, enclosed, and made me feel claustrophobic.

Remembering that I always had more room to move my arms when I was on my back going through it, that's exactly what I did. At the base of the tunnel I sat down on the edge and put my head inside, my back scraping against the bottom. Reaching in front of me, I grabbed one of the hand notches and pulled myself backwards through the cramped space.

Eventually I slid out through the other side, grabbing the top edge of he tunnel to stable myself before I pulled my legs out. Stepping down onto the platform I turned around to see the rotating wheels.

I was really breathing heavy now. Sweat had started to drip down my face, I had forgotten to try and put my hair up again. Wiping back the hair that was sticking to my face, I walked to the edge of the platform staring at the wheels.

"Five minutes!" Shouted out a voice from behind me.

Silently cursing I shook my head. I wasn't even halfway through the course yet.

Squatting down, I burst upwards and outwards and latched onto the second wheel, quickly grabbing the third wheel before the second one stopped spinning. I let myself fall down onto the platform below me, taking a shaky breath.

I was at the rock wall.

Having a sudden flashback to when I almost completely fell off the wall, I shook my head and buried the thoughts deep in my brain. I'm sure they were all watching to see if I would hesitate at the wall because of my incident.

Not wasting any more time, I stepped forward and grabbed two of the rocks. I looked upwards, trying to scan the wall and discover the quickest route.

Smiling a bit, I could see a shallow indent near the overhang that would make it easier to get over it. I pushed off the ground and got my feet on some rocks, and started climbing as quickly as I could. Making sure my feet were stable before I continued on.

After climbing up more than halfway, I remembered how high up I really was, and that there was nothing below me. The thought made my arms a little shaky as I continued climbing up towards the overhang.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest because of this wall. Adrenaline was pumping through my body. I knew that I was getting so close to being done with the course. I had to keep pushing myself.

I quickly came to the overhang, already having gone diagonally to line myself up with the shallower indent. Instead of having to completely jump and let go of the wall to reach the next hold, all I had to do was fully extend my arm and grab it. It made me feel a lot more comfortable on the wall.

Pulling myself up past the overhang, I climbed the last few feet and over the top of the wall, scrambling to my feet. I took a deep breath while wiping away the sweat gathered on my face.

Two parts down, two to go.

I walked over to the edge of the platform and looked down at my next problem, the net walk.

It was a white net strung between the platform I was on, and the one I wanted to get to. If I had to pick a second least favorite obstacle, this one would be it. Because It wasn't one that I particularly liked, I hadn't practiced it many times, therefore I didn't know the best way to go about it.

I stared at the white netting lacing through itself, making large holes I would have to try and walk through. I looked at it closer, and I realized that If I walked on the edge of the netting, I could stay out of all the holes.

Quickly stepping on the outer edges of the net, I bent down and grabbed hold of the net in front of me. I knew my choice could be a potentially risky one, I could easily loose my balance and fall off the edge. Basically doing the bear crawl across the net, I managed to get to the other side rather quickly without getting caught up in the netting.

By now I could feel my arms and legs getting tired. I had never tried to run through the course this fast before. I don't think anyone had.

Breathing heavier than before, I walked over to the next obstacle, the zig-zag maze. I knew for a fact that it was Lucy's favorite obstacle, making me very skilled at it because of the fact she made me constantly go through it with her.

It was a very small maze, the walls in a zig-zag shape that you had to squeeze by while also trying to find your way through the maze. It was very easy to get lost or stuck between the walls.

Entering at the opening, I took the first right as I wiggled my way through the walls. I figured that they would've changed the maze for the exam, but I remembered that an old friends once told me that if you ever found yourself in a maze, keep your hand on the right wall and you should find your way out.

Trusting what i'd been told I kept my hand on the right wall as I made my way through the maze. Jumping up I could see that I was about halfway through, but definitely getting closer to the exit. Squeezing through a few more walls, and around one more turn, I finally stepped out of the maze.

"Ten Minutes!" Another voice shouted. I shivered recognizing it as Kaiden's, and I knew I had to impress him for the sake of proving my importance.

I was at the fourth part of the Adroit, just one last section and I was done. I was drenched in sweat and was breathing rather heavily. I knew the wall walk was going to take the longest amount of time and it scared me. I only had five minutes left.

Deciding I couldn't waste anymore time, I jogged to the edge of the platform and put my hands on the two walls on my left and right. Looking down at the gap in the middle of them, I took a deep breath knowing I couldn't fall. It would be an instant failure right there.

I knew it was now or never, so I jumped and kicked my feet up against both sides of the wall, preventing myself from sliding down. Moving both my hands forward, I made sure I had a stable base before I kicked my feet forward and followed my hands. I did this all the way down the wall, focusing on the single platform at the end.

By the time I jumped off the wall and onto the platform, it felt like an eternity had passed by. Terrified that I had wasted too much time playing it safe on the wall walk, I took a running start and launched myself forward grabbing the zip-line's single handlebar.

Air rushed past me as I zoomed down the zip-line. With my feet dangling freely below me, I was scared my hands would slip because they were sweaty, and I would fall to the ground below.

As I neared the bottom, I lifted up my legs in preparation for stopping myself. I let myself get closer, and closer, until the ground was about five feet below me. I swung my legs backward to try and counteract my forwards acceleration, and I let go of the zip-line's handlebar.

I was in an almost free fall like state momentarily, before I felt my feet hit the ground. As soon as I hit, I squatted down to absorb the shock from my fall. Standing up straight I looked up to see that I had landed on the other side of the courtyard in front of the viewing platform.

As soon as my feet had hit the ground, I heard Jake yell "time". I wasn't sure if it was because I had finished, or because I had ran out of time.

Either way, I had done it. I completed the Adroit and it was over.

Karla was watching me with a somewhat impressed look on her face, while Jake was giving me a small smile. I saw that Max had joined the group, he was busy writing things on his clipboard. Kaiden was the only one who had a straight and masked face. He stared at me intensely, making me feel like I didn't accomplish anything.

Kaiden nodded at me while writing something down on his clipboard. "You are dismissed Dawn," he said calmly. "Exit through the doors on your left and then take the stairs that will also be on your left. You will find yourself in Ground Zero. I'm assuming you can find your way from there." he said without looking at me again.

Looking at Karla, Max and Jake, they all nodded at me while watching me patiently. I nodded at them and walked across the somewhat beaten grass to the doors on my left. Opening the one on the right, I quickly glanced behind me to see them all talking together on the platform.

So that was that I guess.

I exited the courtyard and turned left down the short hallway I found myself in. I jogged up the stairs, barely managing it after the tiring run through the course.

Nearing the top of the stairs, I could hear the faint and distinct chatter of the people walking around Ground Zero. Smiling a bit to myself, I got to the top of the stairs and found myself in another hallway. I walked down it, and it had lead me past several doors and right to Ground Zero like Kaiden had said.

I still felt the adrenaline somewhat rushing through my body. My heart rate hadn't returned to normal, and I was soaked from sweating.

I was just glad it was all over for the moment.

Walking out into the crowd of people, no one gave me a second glance even in my sweaty exhausted state. I made my way over to the hallway where the dorms were at and started walking down it, escaping the mass of people.

I speedily walked down the hallway until I stopped in front of the door marked C3. Closing my eyes I grabbed the door handle and swung open the door.

When I opened my eyes I saw Xavier, Parker and Lucy all sitting at the table in the middle of the room, staring at me with scared looks on their faces.

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Hi everyone! The exam is finally over! Drum roll for the results that will be coming soon..... school starts for me in a few days so updates are probably going to end up being every two or three days.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked this chapter! And more importantly I hope you're liking the story! If you are let me know!

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 love hearing from you guys.

- Delaney :)