“Why is the hill last if it’s the hardest?” Cadence couldn’t help but think this was Aaron’s own special form of torture.

“Because you’re tired, probably more than a little angry with me for pushing you so hard, and I want to see what you’ve got when there’s not much left in the reserves.”

“Have I been acting like I’m angry with you?” she asked, a bit surprised to hear that. She wiped her forehead on her sleeve for the hundredth time.

“Actually, no. You’ve kept a good attitude the entire time even though I’ve demanded a lot of you. I’m incredibly proud of you.”

Cadence didn’t know what to say to that. She knew he was speaking to her like a coach to a pupil, but still, it was nice to hear. “Thanks,” she said with a self-conscious smile.

As if he wanted to change the subject, he returned her attention to the obstacle. “All right, this is The Hill,” he said as she took a drink out of a water bottle and set it back down on the floor. She nodded her head, and he continued. “It’s pretty simple. All you’ll need to do is just get up and get back down in six seconds.”

Cadence had never worked out like this before, but she felt she had just a little bit left to give him. “Six seconds?” she clarified. She had no way of knowing if that would be easier for her or not.

He nodded, stopwatch in hand. “Ready?”

“Okay,” she said assuming a runner’s stance. He gave the command for her to go, and she sprinted up the incline as quickly as she could, turning at the top to descend. Her legs were burning before she even reached the top and, while she knew she had gone as fast as she could, it felt longer than six seconds.

“And that was twelve seconds,” Aaron said as she attempted to catch her breath.

“Really?” she asked, panting.

“Yes, want to see?”

She shook her head. She’d take his word for it.

“Ready to try again?”

She took one more gulp of air and nodded. She was even more tired now than she was before, but she decided to try to dig deeper this time and maybe come back down backward. He gave the signal for her to go, and she climbed back up as quickly as she could, running back down the slope backward. By the time she reached the bottom, her legs were burning so badly she almost thought she needed Jamie to come and heal her.

“Well, that’s better,” Aaron admitted, “But it was still ten seconds.”

Cadence was too out of breath to say anything, but she was royally pissed. She raised her arms above her head in an attempt to open her chest cavity for air.

“You go when you’re ready.” She recognized the tone from condescending trainers on TV. He didn’t really want her to go when she was ready; he wanted her to go now. She might not have been angry at him before, but she was getting that way.

Cadence put her arms down and shook her head. This seemed impossible. But if Aaron told her to do it in six seconds, then she assumed that must be what everyone else was doing, and she needed to be able to do it, too. She assumed the position and took off up the hill. This time, however, she realized she didn’t need to run back down if she just jumped. She wasn’t sure how he would feel about that, but she decided to try it. When she reached the top, she jumped halfway back down the hill and then to the floor.

Aaron seemed impressed with her technique, but he said nothing, other than, “We’re getting there. Eight seconds.”

“What?” Cadence asked. She could think of nothing else to alter. She had given it everything within her. How was she possibly supposed to get up that hill and get back down in only six seconds?

And then she realized exactly what he had said. She felt like an idiot. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said. He gave the signal, and this time, rather than running up the hill, she simply leaped. She couldn’t quite make it in one spring but she was close, and she made it to the top on her second jump. She used the same technique to come back down. It seemed much faster this way, and she silently swore that if he said anything more than six seconds she was going to take his stopwatch and stomp it into a million pieces.

“What do you think?” he asked.

She was still busy catching her breath, and she was afraid to find out. “Not sure,” she admitted.

“Look at the stopwatch,” he said, holding it out for her to see.

“Four?” she asked, making sure she was reading it correctly. “Does that say four seconds?”

“Yes, it does,” Aaron said smiling. “You cut your initial time by eight seconds, and you beat the goal I set for you. Now, why do you think that is?”

She had just about brought her heart rate back down near normal. One other thing she noticed about this new body is that it recovered much more quickly. “Well, the first few times I didn’t think about exactly what you said. I just assumed you meant run. But you said ‘get.’ That could mean by any possible method. So, when I really stopped to think about the fastest way to get up there, I realized that I can jump a lot faster than I can run.”

“All right, so this exercise wasn’t necessarily about speed and endurance, it was more about creatively using our resources to our advantage. Don’t be afraid to try something different, even if it goes against the norm. And, I was also trying to see how carefully you listened to exactly what I told you.”

“Well, I guess I failed that,” she muttered under her breath.

“Nah,” he said shaking his head, “it usually takes me about four times to get people to understand my directions.”

“If that were the case, there’d be a lot more dead Hunters, I think. You’re just being nice.”

“Well, I think it’s about time I was nice to you. You’ve worked really hard, and I’ve been extremely impressed with your ability to follow my instructions, do what I ask of you, and give me everything you’ve got every single time. Nice work, Cadence.” He lifted his hand expectantly, and she slapped it, but she didn’t release it right away after the high five, and she noticed he didn’t seem to notice the extra few seconds of contact.

Cadence was very proud of herself, but she still didn’t know exactly how to accept a compliment from Aaron, so she just smiled. Her face was already red from exertion, so she was hopeful he wouldn’t be able to tell she was also blushing, although she assumed he could ascertain that information using his secret power if he wanted to.

“All right, it’s 6:30. I’m going to assume you will want to take a shower and eat something before Jamie takes you over to meet with Christian. What time do you want me to tell him to come by?”

He was leading her over to the door closest to her building and she followed. “Is 8:00 all right?” she asked.

“Sure, that should work fine. Christian knows you’re his first priority tonight.”

They were standing near a propped door now, and the cool December breeze was pouring through. Cadence instantly felt ten times better. “Okay,” she said. She was a little anxious about this procedure considering that last one had not been at all what she was expecting. “Aaron, will you tell me the truth. Is this going to hurt? I mean, I know I have to do it anyway, but I want to be prepared.”

He vacillated for a moment, like he didn’t want to scare her but also not wanting to lie. “It probably will hurt a bit. Mine didn’t, but I think most of them do. It’ll be all right, though. Jamie will be there, and he can heal it pretty quickly if it gets to be too much, okay?”

She could accept that. She felt like he was being completely honest with her now. “What about your Transformation?” she asked. “Did that hurt?”

“Oh, God, yes,” he said. “That was a long, long time ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. We had no assistance back then, and with my gene pool, even though it wasn’t an instantaneous serum Transformation like yours, it was basically like working out every day with a similar level of pain of what you were experiencing the other day, although it probably wasn’t quite as severe as yours or else I probably wouldn’t have made it. But, yes, it was not pleasant.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories or anything. I was just trying to gauge if the level of one’s pain during Transformation had any correlation to the pain from IAC implant, but I guess not.”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’ve never been able to establish anything anyway.”

“All right. One more question,” she said as she stepped out of the door. “What is the record on The Hill? Next time, I want to break it.”

He smiled. “I love your determination. The current record is four seconds,” he replied.

Her head cocked to the side in inquiry, she said “But that’s my time.”

“Yes, it is.”

“So, did I tie with someone?”

“No, that would be a stand-alone record.”

Puzzled, she clarified. “So, I broke the old record?”

“Yes, yes you did.”

“Well, why didn’t you tell me?” she said playfully punching him in the arm.

He winced a bit, and she realized she didn’t know her own strength. “I’m sorry. I guess it didn’t occur to me. Cadence, you broke all of the records today. All of them.”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

“Oh yes, you did. All of them. Speed, agility, endurance, everything. Shattered. The only person whose records you can improve upon now are your own.”

She didn’t know what to say. She had never thought of herself as much of an athlete, but now, she was actually impressed with herself. “Well, what was the record on The Hill before I broke it?”

“Fifteen seconds. And I know that to be a fact because it was my record that you shattered, thank you very much.”

“But, I went faster than that the first time, when I ran!”

“What can I say? You’re incredibly talented, Cadence. Now, go take a shower. You stink.”