Another week has passed, and the boys have still not completed the challenge Brace gave them.

  “We’re running out of days,” said Spliff on their way to training in the morning. “It might not rain again before time is up.”

  “I know,” said Axel. “Not good, and we haven’t found a way to get even close without the rain.”

  “I might have a way we could complete the challenge today,” said Spliff, looking at Axel with a smirk.

  “What? How?” Axel asked with excitement.

  “There’s a low-hanging branch about twenty yards in and twenty yards to the right of our starting location. If we can both reach it, maybe I can lift you onto my shoulders, and you can climb to the center of the tree and drop in at the end location.

  “That’s awesome, Spliff! Great thinking!” Axel thought the idea was fantastic and was happy that the day would not follow the same pattern of insanity as the last week.

  “But we might want to hold off on trying this method.”

  “What? What would we do that?” asked Axel

  “Because we might want to wait for it to rain again to try this?”

  “I see.” Axel paused for a minute, considering whether it was best to try the new strategy as soon as possible or wait to see if it would rain again before the time was up.

  “I’m willing to try it today if you are. But I’m also nervous that failing today will ruin our chance of trying it later when it’s raining. So I think you should decide. What will it be, Axel? Should we wait to see if it rains later or try it today?

  Axel thought again for a moment. “Let’s try it today,” he said. At least if we fail today, we’ll have as much time as possible to figure something out later.”

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  “Alright.” Said Spliff with seriousness in his voice.

  Once again, Brace was at the training ground when the boys arrived. After the three said their hellos, Brace wasted little time before blindfolding himself and saying once again.

  “Begin!”

  Axel and Spliff took their first few steps out together. Then, the two took turns stepping toward the low-hanging branch far to the left of Brace. The boys circled around as quietly as possible until they were directly beneath the lowest-hanging branch on the tree. Spliff rapped his hands together and lowered his stance, bracing himself for Axel's weight, who soon after stepped up onto Spliff's hands and then his shoulders. Axel, on Spliff's shoulders, was a few inches shy of being able to touch the branch with his hand. He would need to jump; as Axel realized this, so too did Spliff, who looked up at Axel as Axel looked down at him to make sure they both understood what would need to happen next. Axel kicked off Spliff and bought the sturdy branch with one hand. Then he swung his second hand onto the branch and pulled himself up. Lying down on his stomach, Axel looked down at Spliff with an uncontrollable smile. And Spliff, too, couldn’t help but smile as they could barely hold in their laughter. Spliff then took a knee and looked down at the ground. He wouldn’t even risk breathing in Brace's direction, let alone taking another step, before Axel did his best to complete the test. When Axel stood up on the branch, he realized how close he was to finally finishing this challenge. He would only need to circle around the middle of the tree and then drop down. Axel started around the middle of the tree, slowly and carefully, until Axel was looking down at Brace. He would only need to jump out onto the finish zone, and the challenge would be completed. Axel was ten feet off the ground at that moment. However, he had practiced falling from high heights before he started training with Brace. He leaped out into the air and pulled in his legs as they touched the ground, bracing himself and rolling into the finish zone. Spliff, who had heard Axel's landing, jumped around, cheering after looking up to find Axel in the finish zone. The boys yelled and cheered, bouncing up and down.

  “Congratulations, boys. You two are progressing faster than I expected.” The boys were still celebrating their victory. “Pay attention, “ said Brace. “I’ll be going out of town for a week or two.”

  “Where are you going?” Asked Spilff.

  “I’ll be visiting a friend to learn about some information he found out about dungeons. But that’s not important,” said Brace. “I want you two to take a break from training when I’m away. You two have been working hard, and I want you to rest while I'm away. On top of that, I’d like you two to try something you’ve never tried before.”

  “Like what?” Asked Axel.

  “That’s for you to decide,” said Brace. “Anyway, I’m out of here. If I don’t see you guys before I leave, goodbye, and don’t forget to try something new, ok?”

  “Okay,” said Axel.

  “Safe travels,” said Spliff.