I never thought about other mages. I wonder how many there are out there. I know that we’re largely outnumbered, but I never thought about how many there actually were. We stop in front of a small storage barn. This can’t be any longer than a few feet in length and width. There’s no way that we can train in there.
“That’s the large training center?” Emma asks.
“Looks can be deceiving Emma,” Tom says and glances my way. He walks up to the door and pulls it open. I gasp as I see the bright lights. Stepping into the barn, I am overwhelmed by the sight in front of me. This ‘small barn’ is twice the size of the attic. It is built with a similar design. The blue flooring contrasts with the bright red mats lining the walls. A large pile of mats are stacked and pushed up against the far wall. There is a rack on the left wall where the weapons are located. I gasp when I see the equipment pushed against the opposite wall. A gymnastics balance beam, uneven bars and vault are sitting on the floor. They just need to be pulled toward the center of the room to be used. I glance down at the floor and notice the familiar blue material. “This is a spring floor.”
“Yeah, I thought you’d like this. The family who built this have a young daughter who is very interested in gymnastics, but they have an older son who’s into weapons training. So there is equipment here for everyone.” While he talks, I continue to eye the balance beam. “I’m going to stay in here with you guys today, but I think you all know how to train now. I’m basically just going to watch.”
Once Tom is done speaking, we all walk to the middle of the room and start stretching. I sit between Liam and Colton and have just finished stretching my legs when Colton turns toward me. “Go.”
“What?”
His eyes flicker to the area I’ve been staring at since we entered the room. “You’ve been staring at that balance beam since we came in here. Go.” I smile at him. I do want to get on the balance beam, just to see if I can still do anything on it. I jump up and jog over there. I stand at the end and assess it. It appears to be the standard four feet tall, four inches wide beam. I glance around until I find the small chalk bucket in the corner. After chalking my hands and feet, I slowly walk over to the balance beam again.
“Do you need help up?” Colton asks.
“No, just keep standing there. I haven’t done this is a very long time. I always preferred to do floor routines,” I tell him. I walk over to the end and place my hands firmly on the suede bar. Jumping, I easily push myself onto it and stand up. Staring down at the beam, I find my center of balance. “I forgot how high these actually were,” I say while looking down at the ground.
Since working with Colton, David, and Liam, I’ve noticed an improvement in my balance…during training. I’m still pretty clumsy, but in training it’s like I’m a whole different person.
Once I am firmly balanced, I take a deep breath. I am just going to do simple moves. I don’t want to push it. Leaning forward, I place my hands on both sides of the beam, making sure I have a tight grip. When my grip is secure, I kick my legs up and do a split handstand. Keeping concentration, I tune out all outside noise. I don’t know if anyone is watching me, and I don’t care. Making sure to keep my body tight, I stay in the handstand for a couple of seconds, before leaning slightly toward my right pinky. My old gymnastics coach warned me that this was a difficult move and not really necessary, but I always wanted to do it. When my balance is steady, I slowly pick up my left hand from the beam and move it outward, supporting all my body weight with one hand. With my arm parallel with the bar, I lean back and finish the move with a walkover.
I walk backward to the end of the beam. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Colton standing there, prepared to catch me if I fall. I don’t look to see if anyone else is watching because I know I will tense up. I lift my arms into the air and take a deep breath. Making sure to keep my balance, I point my right leg forward and jump into an aerial cartwheel. Without stopping, I transition from the cartwheel into a back handspring back layout.
I sway as my feet land on the beam, but I manage to stay on. I smile down at Colton when I hear him laughing beside me. He reaches his arms out to help me off the beam. I jump down and let him catch me. I stumble back into his arms. If he hadn’t been there, I would have landed on my butt. “How is it that you can be that graceful on a four inch beam but can barely walk straight?” David asks me. I look behind Colton. My thoughts are confirmed. Everyone was watching me. I knew it. It’s a good thing I didn’t look while on the beam.