Chapter 589: Lifted Above the Crowd

"Look over there," Ronan said, pointing towards the crowd.

Orion followed his line of sight.

It took him a second to find her.

Sophia.

She was near the end of the chaos, swallowed by bodies taller and broader, her smaller frame barely visible between shoulders and cloaks.

She jumped.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

Orion blinked.

Then chuckled under his breath.

"She can’t see anything," he murmured.

Ronan snorted.

"And that’s not going to stop my sister-in-law," he said. "She almost looks like a cute bunny with the jumping."

"Almost," Orion said with a laugh.

Sophia jumped again, stretching on her toes, trying to peer over the sea of people in front of her.

It was entirely futile.

The trainees were relentless—pushing, shifting, craning their necks, calling out names and scores. Those in front had no intention of moving anytime soon, too absorbed in their own results to care about the chaos behind them.

And Sophia was stuck... jumping. Given the fact that she and her friends were at the end of the chaos, taller people had gathered at the front, so even her tall friends would find it difficult to see the results.

Orion watched as she stomped her feet in annoyance and muttered something about people being ridiculously tall.

He laughed again.

---

Meanwhile, where Sophia and her friends were, chaos reigned. People were pushing each other as they tried to see the results.

"Move—move a little—"

"I can’t see anything!"

"Did you find your name?!"

Sophia jumped again, her boots barely leaving the ground.

Nothing.

All she saw were huge backs. Shoulders broader than hers, and annoying hair. Everything about this situation was annoying to her.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered under her breath.

Behind her, her friends fared no better.

Joren groaned loudly. "I can’t see anything either! This is unfair!"

"You’re literally taller than me," Sophia shot back.

"Only slightly!" Joren argued.

Uther exhaled sharply. "Even I can’t see," he muttered. "And I’m taller than both of you."

The others from Sophia’s team had joined her and her other friends.

Bianca tried to peer over someone’s shoulder and failed.

"This is a disaster," she said.

Micah stood stiffly beside them, saying nothing—but the tension in him was obvious. His hands were clenched at his sides, his breathing shallow.

If they didn’t see those results soon, he might actually collapse.

Dren, who had been scanning the situation with narrowed eyes, suddenly straightened.

"I have an idea," he said.

Everyone turned to him.

Dren looked at Miles, then smiled.

"How about you lift Sophia up?" he asked.

Miles blinked.

"...What?"

"You’re the tallest here," he said, then gestured at Sophia. "She’s the shortest. If you carry her, she’ll see everything."

There was a pause.

Miles stared at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked slowly.

Dren nodded immediately. "Perfectly. This is efficient."

Miles was on the verge of arguing with Dren.

Sophia, meanwhile, lit up instantly.

"Yes," she said, already turning to Miles. "Do it."

Miles looked between the two of them.

"You’re both serious?"

"Yes," they said at the same time.

"So no one is scared of what Alpha Orion would do?" Cat asked.

Sophia waved her off. "Orion doesn’t have a say. And besides, this isn’t about him but you guys," she said.

Nia chuckled nervously. She locked eyes with Laia. As much as they wanted to see the results, they were scared too.

Sophia pointed dramatically toward the board. "Since you guys are also scared of seeing," she said to Nia and Laia, "I’ll check the results for you. And also Micah, who looks close to collapsing from anxiety."

Micah made a small, distressed sound that did not help his case.

Uther nodded. "He’s right," he said. "This is a good idea."

Miles sighed.

"You’re all unbelievable."

Sophia was already bouncing slightly on her feet. "Hurry."

"Alright, alright," Miles muttered.

He crouched slightly.

"Get on."

Sophia didn’t hesitate.

She climbed up with ease, settling onto his shoulders as he stood back up.

He paused for a second.

"...You’re lighter than I expected," he said.

Sophia ignored that entirely.

"Can you see?" Miles asked.

"Yes!" she said immediately.

Behind them, a chorus of groans erupted.

"Hey—now we can’t see!"

"That’s not fair!"

Sophia didn’t even turn.

"Complain to the people in front!" she called over her shoulder. "They started it!"

---

Ronan and Orion had not recovered from Sophia jumping when suddenly they noticed how she became taller than everyone else.

Miles was carrying her on his shoulders.

They both burst out laughing again as they explained to Brynhild what was happening. Even she couldn’t hold it in and started laughing too.

"I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but my sister-in-law is just the best!" Ronan said, wiping tears from his eyes.

---

Meanwhile, Sophia, who had no idea that Ronan, Brynhild, and Orion were having laughing fits, focused on the board.

She did not register the noise around her nor the cold.

The names were arranged in rows along with the points gotten by each person.

Her heart pounded from fear, excitement, and anticipation. She was worried for her friends even though she put on a brave front.

She placed a hand on her chest in a gesture to calm her racing heart—not that it worked, though.

Her gaze moved quickly despite the pounding in her chest. The first name she searched for was Micah.

He was the one she was most worried for, and the goddess knew if he failed, she was going to meet Orion and get him to explain how the examiners marked—

She paused when her eyes landed on his name in the third row.

She blinked once, then twice. Her eyes moved to the number beside his name.

The points he had accumulated—

And the only thing she saw was the three zeros accompanying the number one.

A thousand points.

She broke into a grin. A small, excited sound escaped her as she did a little shimmy where she sat atop Miles’ shoulders.

Miles shifted slightly beneath her. "What’s wrong?"

She didn’t answer him, deciding first to see the results of the others.

Nia and Laia next.

She scanned for their names. She found Nia’s first, just a few names beneath Micah’s name—and it was a thousand points too.

She scanned for Laia, and it was the same.

Then she searched for Uther. He was also an old trainee, and his name too—

Everyone had a thousand points.

She didn’t even know one could get up to a thousand points.

She didn’t care.

She was excited.

Dren, Cat, Joren, Miles, Bianca—they had all passed.

A laugh bubbled up in her chest. A bright, uncontrollable smile spread across her face.

"They passed," she whispered in relief. She was going to kiss Orion for this.

Excitement surged through her so quickly it felt like it might burst out of her.

She started tapping Miles rapidly on the head.

"Put me down—put me down!"

Miles blinked. "What—?"

"Put me down!" she repeated, practically bouncing.

"Alright—alright—"

He crouched again, lowering her carefully.

The moment her feet hit the ground, she turned and threw her arms around him.

"You passed!" she said, grinning widely.

Miles froze.

"I did?" he asked in shock.

He had not finished the test, and he hadn’t even gone with the others to get Ronan and those who had gone into Nirvana.

He had only taken Tarin and Genevieve back to the pack.

Sophia nodded with a huge smile. "You did. You passed," she said excitedly.

His eyes widened.

"For real?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Yes!"

For a moment, he just stared at her.

Then a disbelieving laugh escaped him.

"I—" he shook his head. "Fuck!"

Sophia turned to Micah. She crossed the small distance between them in an instant and pulled him into a hug.

"You passed," she said into his shoulder.

Micah stiffened.

Then he exhaled.

A deep, shaking breath that seemed to release everything he’d been holding in.

He hugged her back.

"...Thank you," he murmured. "Thank fuck!"

Sophia pulled back, smiling brightly.

Then she turned to Nia and Laia.

"With those scores?" she said, laughing. "No one here is a trainee anymore."

For a second, there was silence.

Then it hit them.

"We all passed?" Joren asked.

Sophia nodded.

Nia’s legs gave out then, and Micah quickly supported her as she laughed with tears in her eyes.

"We passed," she said to him, then turned to Laia. "We passed," she repeated.

Laia nodded with a laugh. "We passed," she said with a nod. "We are no longer trainees, sis."

"My dad wouldn’t be able to live this down," Micah said with a laugh.

"I’m in shock," Bianca said too. "We passed."

Sophia nodded with a huge smile.

Joren smiled widely too. He was more excited for his friends than for himself. This was his first year as a trainee, after all—but for people like Micah, Nia, Laia, and Uther, it wasn’t.

"We did it," he told them. "Too bad Holly isn’t here to see it. I’d like to know who is beneath who now."

They broke into laughter at his words.

Then they all moved toward each other almost instinctively, pulling into a tight group hug—arms wrapping around shoulders, hands gripping tightly like they needed to confirm this was real.

Dren let out a loud, triumphant sound.

Then immediately wiped at his eyes.

"I need to find my parents," he said, his voice thick.

He pulled Sophia into another quick hug.

"Thank you, sis," he said. "It’s because of you we passed. Thank you."

He didn’t give Sophia time to reply before he turned and headed towards where his parents were.

Micah stepped back, still looking dazed.

"I need to find my father," he said.

One by one, they began to break apart.

Nia.

Laia.

Bianca.

Joren.

Cat.

Each of them turning, searching the crowd for familiar faces.

For family.

For the people who had waited just as anxiously as they had.

Sophia stood there for a moment, watching them go.

Then she too turned and searched for Orion, her eyes locking on his from the far end where he was standing with Ronan and Brynhild, a soft smile on his face.