For the first Friday of the month until the end of the year, I’ll be posting snippets of Power Unbound, to whet your appetite. Power Unbound is due to hit the shelves in early January.
Last month, we got a sense of where Ione (who we met in Secret Ones) was up to. You can read that here: http://nicolermurphy.com/post/Flash-Preview-Friday.aspx Now it’s time to meet her love interest – Stephen O’Malley.
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Muscles straining, teeth clenched, Stephen O’Malley pushed the barbell up from his chest one last time. He held it there, counted to three, and then leant his arms back. His trainer grabbed it and helped him guide it onto the rest above his head.
Stephen sat up and spun his legs around to the side of the bench. He pulled off his gloves as he looked at Mike. ‘Good?’
‘More than good.’ Mike leant on the end of the dumbbell and looked down at Stephen. ‘Are you sure I can’t convince you to come to the body building championships in Dallas with us? You’d blow them away in the novices, and could probably even take intermediate too. Bit more sculpting and you’ll be giving me a run for my money.’
‘No.’ Stephen stood and held out his hand. ‘Thanks for a good session.’
Mike shook it, his eyes running over Stephen. ‘It’s a waste of all this work, that you look this good and won’t use it.’
‘I use it. Just not in any way you’d imagine.’ Stephen nodded and then made his way through the weight machines towards the men’s locker room.
His daily workout in the gym was an important part of a bigger plan, but it wasn’t the plan to win the bodybuilding titles that Mike and his friends were chasing. Being physically fit and strong was more about his mental strength than the way he looked. He wanted to be at the peak of his health and fitness, so he could cope with whatever the sixth order test threw at him.
He knew Mike didn’t understand why Stephen was putting in all this effort for seemingly no reward. Unfortunately, Stephen wasn’t able to explain that he was the member of a secret magical race and the training was to ensure he was ready to pass one of the most challenging ordeals any living creature could face.
At the edge of the weight machines, he hesitated. In order to reach the locker room, he had to skirt the edges of the aerobics floor. He knew that for many people here, male and female, this moment was the reason for their workouts. Good bodies admiring good bodies. However, it wasn’t something that interested him. He had more important things to focus on.
‘Hi, Stephen.’ A woman stepped in front of him.
Damn, not quick enough. ‘Hi, Mandy.’
She smiled, and then shifted her weight, sticking one hip out and pulling her shoulders back. He knew he was supposed to admire her figure — the lack of fat, the slender arms and waist, the strong thighs, the magnificent and all too-pert-for-its-size bosom. He admired the work she’d put in to achieve this look, but that was all.
‘I was watching you. So sensational.’ Her eyes trailed a mental finger over his chest and down to his stomach.
‘Thanks.’ Then he stepped around her and continued across the floor.
On the other side, another of the gym junkies stepped in his way. Julia was into body sculpting, and her brief leotard displayed muscles that many men would kill for.
‘Great workout today, Stephen. You’re getting bigger each time I see you. I’d love to catch up and chat about your routine.’ She smiled, her teeth blindingly white.
‘Sorry, Julia, another time.’ He escaped into the locker room with a sigh of relief. He quickly showered and changed, not speaking to any of the other men in the room. It was the way he preferred things, being left alone.
He nodded to the girl at the desk as he made his way out, and he breathed in deeply as he stepped from the artificial, sweat-laden air of the gym into the dry, heated air of a Texas summer morning.
He hefted his gym bag on his shoulder and then started the walk home. It was half an hour each way, and constituted good exercise in and of itself. Add to it the hour at the gym, and the run he took each evening, and there could be no doubt that he was doing well in ensuring he remained physically fit.
He watched what he ate, didn’t drink and made sure he got eight to nine hours sleep a night, so his health was perfect. The rest of the time was devoted to his studies. Training drills, research, practice, practice, practice. This was what he needed to do to achieve what he dreamed of, and he was so bloody close.
In just over a week, he would be facing the bardria, and the Sabhamir would be testing him for sixth order. If he passed, he would be the second youngest gadda ever to reach the highest level. The O’Malley name would be burnt into gadda history.
It would be a hard test, Stephen thought as he strode along the footpath. The bardria couldn’t take the risk of anyone saying Stephen O’Malley only passed because the test was easy. The Sabhamir had probably been working on it, researching it as diligently as Stephen had. And he liked the idea that he would be tested to the extreme. Not only would the gadda world know; he would know that he was one of the best.