"𝒀𝑶𝑼'𝑹𝑬 𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑻𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 this seriously." Cool wind off the river spilled in through the open windows at the far end of the warehouse. The last of the evening's heat was waning; Seraph, lying with her back against the warm concrete floor, was tracing patterns into the air with a lazy hand. She turned to glance at Ren, who had his arms folded stiffly across his chest. He was sat on the window ledge, wearing a look torn halfway between exhaustion and annoyance.
"No." She said. "I'm not."
They'd been training for hours. Flat blades made out of wood and blunt metal were scattered haphazardly underneath a makeshift wooden target. A split bag of sand was propped up against the wall. A stretch of rope connecting two of the towering, solid pillars of metal had split in the middle, the ends trailing loose onto the floor. Seraph had lost concentration around half an hour ago, exhaustion turning her muscles stiff and achy. But Ren was determined to continue into nightfall.
"You should be." He said, voice hard. Seraph rolled her eyes, hand falling flat on her chest, the ceiling above her high up and far away. "This isn't a joke, Seraph."
"It's never a joke with you." She muttered, shooting him a glare. "We've been going at this for hours. My name's in four times. The odds of me being picked—"
"—Are still there." His boots slapped against the floor as he leapt down from the window. Seraph groaned, rolling onto her stomach. Ren always cracked down on training in the weeks leading up to Reaping Day. She cast her mind back to the same time last year; only a few days left until the reaping, late sunlight glancing in through the windows. She remembered her arms aching a lot more then than they did now, though. "Seraph." He said, voice hovering somewhere above her. She felt him nudge her waist with the toe of his boot. "Seraph. Get up. You're being a pig."
"Shut up." She mumbled into the floor. She turned onto her back to face him, anyway. "You're being ridiculous."
He sighed. "Get up." He said again. She ignored him, stretching a leg up above her head to dangle in the air. "Come on, Seraph. Up."
