In the early pre-morning dawn, a silent figure was scaling the creamy white palace walls. She was a quick and stealthy dark shadow, in a black bodysuit that revealed more than it concealed.

From a distance, the men stood watching her move like a spider up the vertical palace walls with admiration.

“Wow. She’s good.” One of them muttered.

“Yeah. Look at the gorgeous curves of her body!” Another chimed in only to be slapped on the head with a fist by one of the men standing behind him.

“Owww!” He gave a startled yelp and rubbed his green head. “What?” He turned back and growled. “I only mentioned it because me and Jason had to measure her from top to bottom to get her accurately suited!”

“Let’s hope it’s enough to get her into one of the five slots that’s available.” Another man chimed in.

“Are you kidding? You think that fish woman can go up the steep slopes of the Palisades?”

The men were silent for a moment. Suddenly, one of them burst out laughing and the rest joined in the infectious laughter.

???

High up on sheer rocky Palace walls, Candi was hooking and grappling in a steady manner.

She moved quickly, from one tower to another, testing and retesting all her equipment.

There was little challenge for her, even at this height, because the walls were regular square boulders that jutted out and perfect intervals.

There were plenty of spaces for hooks and foot holds to wedge her toes in. It was a good place to test out her equipment to ensure it would hold up on use.

Candi had no illusions however, to the rigors of a real cliff face, with all of its irregularities and uneven toe holds. She would also have to deal with wind gusts and the heat of the sun beating down upon her equipment and her body.

The Palisades would not be this simple to scale, that she was sure.

As the early morning twilight changed from a grayish tinge to a bright crisp dawn, she swung back down to the ground, landing with a gentle thump on the soft grass.

There was a maid waiting for her at the bottom.

“Milady. Breakfast is waiting for you at the gazebo.”

She nodded and followed the maid, hoping there would be something she could eat. It couldn’t be too heavy but it had to be enough to give her energy to do what she needed to do.

At the gazebo, Jason, Jared, Byron, and Slate were sitting there waiting for her. They were casually munching on eggs and bacon and various pastries.

The maid seated her at a spot in between Slate and Byron and indicated to her plate.

“Your breakfast, Milady.” She bowed and took a step back.

Candi smiled.

On her fancy plate with gold edges was a single crystal glass of some thick goopy greenish liquid.

“What is this?”

“Eat up.” Slate indicated the glass with his finger. “It’s a super concentrated food drink made of spirulina and trehalose. It will give you enough energy to do what you must.”

Candi smiled gratefully. Leave it to Tree-Trunk body builder Slate to know what a girl needs to scale cliff sides.

She grabbed the glass and took a sip. It tasted like a fruit smoothie!

She smiled, threw back her head and gulped down the entire thing in one go.

Setting the glass back down onto the table, she licked her lips with a pink tongue and announced with a bright gleam in her eyes.

“I’m done. We can leave anytime you men have finished eating.”

Jason and Jared threw their heads back and laughed.

“Aren’t women supposed to take longer than that to get ready to go anywhere?”

“Not if we’re in work mode.” Candi waggled a finger. “When do we have to be there?”

“Relax, we have about three hours before you have to be at the Palisades.”

???

Three hours flew by quickly and soon, she was seated in a pod with Slate, hovering towards her destination.

The pod ride took about half an hour during which time, Candi got a chance to see the entire valley that the Royal Capital of Erenveil was settled within.

They moved away from the densely populated areas, towards the coastal region where the mountains dropped off straight down into a dazzling sandy beach so soft and white that it looked like ground flour.

The Palisades was a jaw-dropping line of steep cliffs that faced into the rising sun over a deep blue ocean.

He pointed to the destination.

“We’re almost there. That is the Palisades Cliffs overlooking Baria Ocean.”

She nodded, staring at the cliff face. It would be a challenge, even with her current rock climbing skill level.

The hover craft swooped down to the sandy beach that one section of the Palisades jutted out towards.

Since there was no space for a huge audience, there were dozens of hover pods with their visual receptors pointing at a round white platform at the base of the cliff.

There were six small dais on top of the platform, two of which was already occupied by Jenna Natoli and Anaïse Paroles. This time, it looked as if they were standing in the positions at which they won from the last contest.

Anaïse was standing on the second dais and Jenna took the third dais. Although technically, Bethany Dresden was also third-place winner, it seemed that the early bird got the preferred position.

“Looks like you get the first dais, Candace.” Slate murmured with a smile.

She nodded and was about to step out of the pod when he pulled her back with a roughness that startled her.

“A kiss for luck.” Slate muttered, mostly to himself.

His fingers wound into her hair as he pulled her body into his embrace.

Dropping his head, he crushed his lips onto hers.

Prying her lips open with his tongue, he began tasting every inch of her mouth with his warm wet tongue.

Taken by surprise, Candi could not hold back as she returned his kiss with ardent fervor.

With a half muffled groan, he increased his assault of her mouth and senses, devouring her with an intensity that was almost frightening. He suckled her tongue and ate her lips greedily, giving and taking in equal doses.

It was as if he was starving and needed to assuage his hunger for her taste.

When it seemed as if she could not even stand on her own feet, Slate lifted his head. His passion-drunk blazing blue eyes fixed on hers.

“Go, before I make you stay here with me.”

He gently nudged her towards the opening.

“I’ll be right here watching over you.”