“How was what?” I asked, smelling lilac on the air, a strange fragrance for the Old West town.
“Kissing a Helix. I mean, he’s the worst, don’t get me wrong, but he’s hot. Can’t say I’m not curious…” She waggled her eyebrows at me.
I ignored her, focusing on Ethan and his notes. “Let’s concentrate on getting out of this trial. Not winning it, but just getting out of it with all of us alive.”
Ethan looked up at me, and for a wonder, I didn’t see disappointment in his eyes. “Are you sure about that?” he asked.
All eyes turned my way, and I hated that Orin wasn’t there to lend us another strategic brain. I hated that we’d have to leave him behind. It went against everything in me. Just like Rory, though, I couldn’t fix this. He would live. We might not.
“Nothing we encounter is going to go how your cheat sheet tells you, Ethan,” I said, feeling the urgency to get moving. “It won’t do us any good, and I doubt we’ll be able to beat any of the challenges. We didn’t even get to do the last one.”
“You did.” Wally pointed at me. “And he did.” Her finger swung to Ethan. “Orin failed at it, but they cheated—”
“The best course of action is getting out of here and getting to safety,” I said. “No amount of gold or glory is worth our lives.”
Ethan nodded and looked down at his sheet. “We can stick to the easier challenges, then. After what just happened, my father will understand the rationale behind that. He can push for a retesting if necessary. I can all but fast track us through the next one, but we’ll all have to do the final one.”
“What’s the final—”
As if on cue, an enormous roar ripped through the air, sparking fear in my heart.
“T-rex,” Wally said, suddenly out of breath. I knew how she felt. “We’re going to take on the T-rex.”
“How the hell is that magical?” I asked as Ethan started jogging, heading northwest. “And do you know where you’re going?”
“The scenery isn’t how it should be.” He picked up his pace. “I don’t know who you pissed off, Wild, but you sure don’t have many friends in the magical world. My father won’t be impressed that the security is so lax. Going after you is one thing, but dragging me into it isn’t a good look. Not when he’s on the board.”
“Sometimes you’re a good guy, Ethan, and sometimes I want to bitch slap you.” I increased my speed, knowing it wouldn’t be long before the next attack came.
The scenery around us changed again, turning rocky with surprise dips and falls dug into the landscaping. Mountains rose on one side and waves crashed away on the other. It was like the engineers had gotten into a fight about what they wanted the scene to look like, and settled it by drawing a line and each doing their own thing.
“This isn’t an easy one, Ethan,” Wally said, frustration ringing loud and clear. “You’re the only one that can do it.”
“What?” I asked as white lines appeared near our feet, rolling to a stop ten yards away. Sand filled in between the lines. Four people, two men and two women in robes of all shades, decorated with stitched moons and stars and a dusting of glitter, stood at the end of the white lines, facing our way. Like a weird bowling alley...and we were the pins. “What can’t we do?”
“He’s planning to leave us behind again,” Wally accused, grabbing his arm and getting in his face. “You low-life, cheating—”
“We’re a group,” Ethan yelled over her comments, shaking her off. “As long as one member can defeat the enemy, the group can continue on.”
“Then why do we each get our own lane?” Wally demanded amid Pete’s growling.
Ethan gestured everyone toward the lines. “Trust me. Just keep yourself from being taken down until I deal with this guy. You’ll see.”
“We’ll see? Trust you? What kind of a stupid idea is that?” Wally screeched, closer to losing it than I’d thought possible. “We trusted you on that tower. We trusted you when we faced that troll. We trusted—”
“Okay, okay.” I put out my hands, eyeing the people on the other end of the lines. Their robes hid their bodies, but these were mages—trained to attack with magic, not their bodies.
They expected to face off and trade spells. That was it.
“Whoever is messing with these trials probably expected us to go for gold. They planned for the wrong contingency. So this is just a simple challenge, like Ethan said.” I wished I felt as confident as I sounded.
“There’s nothing simple about this, Wild. Do you know the type of spells they hit people with in these—”
I put up my hand to quiet Wally. She’d clearly reached the end of her rope. I couldn’t blame her, but I also couldn’t let her give in to it.
“This is fine,” I said, walking along the end of the lines, reading our opponents. I silently noted their stance and balance, judging how they’d react to a charge and, more importantly, their general stance on violence. All the information I needed was right there in front of me—in the way they held themselves, in the way they sized us up or didn’t.
“In poker, they say play the player, not the hand. This is the same.” I pointed at the line leading to a man in a black robe with more glitter than was really necessary. “Wally, you here. Act like a damsel in distress. He’ll take it easier on you. Deflect his spells like you did back at the saloon. Ethan…” I pointed at a woman with a bob and a pink robe. “She’s the meanest. You’d better take her.”
“No.” Ethan pointed at the man across from him, with a drab brown robe and impatience written all over his face. “I’ll take him. He’s the highest magical worker.”
“He’s bored, look at him. He won’t try as hard as—”
Ethan didn’t wait for my assessment. He stepped up to the lane, aligning each foot with the lines on either side of it. With a snap, he, the lane, and the man on the end disappeared.
“Damn it,” I whispered, shoving Wally to her lane. “I’ll take the pink robe then. Pete, you’re the last. The woman in purple. Charge her, move fast, lots of snarling.”
“Watch yourself, Wild,” Wally said, her eyes solemn. “If you fail this challenge, you don’t come back to the trial. They’ll have you alone. We won’t be able to get to you.”
Wally’s words sunk in slowly, casting a new light on Ethan’s sudden interest in being a team player. He was passing up an opportunity for gold. He was taking an easy challenge.
He was not acting like he’d always acted, and I’d fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.
You’ll see. Trust me.
Chapter 13
“I’ll be fine.” I put a hand on Wally’s shoulder. “You watch you, okay? Use your power. Charge him. Dodge his attacks and throw him around. Knock his wand away—anything you can. Try to beat him, or hold out until Ethan finishes and saves us.” Maybe he was playing us, maybe he wasn’t. All we could do now was hope for the best. Orin wasn’t even there to point out a logical solution.
She gave me a dry look, as though asking, He kissed you and now you believe in him?
I was thankful she didn’t ask me outright. It seemed shallow to blame my lack of judgement on my continuously pounding headache.
Pete snarled, snorted, and trotted to his lane, kicking at the dirt with his back feet as though prepping for a race. Wally gave me a slow wave before doing the same, minus the dirt kicking.
I faced off against the woman in soft pink before purposely placing my feet on either side of the lane. The scene around me dizzied, but I ignored it.
Play the player.
“You love that color, don’t you?” I asked in an easy tone, my feet magically stuck to the ground. I didn’t know if it was a preliminary measure, keeping everyone put as the challenge got underway, or I’d have to leave my boots behind when I charged her. “Not because of the actual color, but because that color tells people certain things about the wearer. It makes you seem more feminine, which people read as softer, gentler, more eager to please.” The woman’s exp
ression didn’t change. “But I bet you’re an old battle-axe under that godawful robe, aren’t you?”
Her lips pressed together and her eyes tightened at the edges.
A farm spread out around us, and with a start, I realized it was my farm back home, my house hunkering in the distance and the barn not far away. No cows grazed in the fields, though, and no horses flicked their tails in their pens.
“Ah. Trying to make me homesick?” I guessed. It was working. At least the place wasn’t burning like in my dream.
“More comfortable, actually,” she responded in a flat, dry voice. “But Shades are always comfortable, are they not?”
“No, but it’s interesting that you think so.”
“You must make contact with me with three spells,” she went on as though reading from a rule book. “The types of spells do not matter. They simply must get past my defenses. In addition, you will need to counteract my attacks. Any questions?”
“Yeah. What happens when your opponent doesn’t have a wand and can’t hit you with a spell?”
“You lose.”
“Right.”
“And…”
A small chime sounded. My feet came unstuck. She brandished her wand like a quick draw and flicked her wrist at me.
But I was already off and running.
I dove under the beam of magic, rolled, nearly stood, and realized she’d already gotten off another shot. I flung myself to the side, hit an invisible wall, and rolled the other way as a flare of green dug into the ground at my side.
“How many spells have to hit me before I lose?” I grunted out, popping up and ripping out my knife. I sliced at the invisible wall, throwing up sparks. It didn’t help. I was stuck in this ten-foot-wide space that was part of the game. .
“As many as you can stand.” She flicked her wrist and the stream of yellow turned into a blob of yellow, spreading out to catch me.
“Good call with that spell.” I ran and jumped at the wall, hit it high with my toes, pushed off, and attempted a really cool backflip. I landed on my stomach and the air pushed out of me. “Ouch,” I wheezed.
“Spirited, this shall be enjoyable,” she murmured.
I leapt up and zagged right, drawing her fire, before pivoting. She moved her wand, expecting me to run left. Instead, I dashed right again, scraped against the wall, barely missed by the spell, and sprinted straight at her. Her eyes widened and her wand hand jerked, a muscle memory reaction, no doubt. I rolled under it, but not fast enough. The spell screamed across my shoulder, ripping away my shirt and slashing my skin.
“Ouch,” I said again. But at least it took my mind off my headache.
I bounced up, five feet away, as she swept her wand from one side to the other. A spell materialized, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge it.
So I didn’t try.
Knife held out, teeth gritted, I sprinted at her and launched myself through the spell. It parted around my knife, but the sides clung to my body. It didn’t stop my forward progress.
I slammed into the mage as heat flared across my skin. It seeped down into my blood, burning so hot, I had to glance down to make sure they weren’t real flames. She landed with an oomph, then grunted when I smashed down on top of her, taller and stronger.
Without thinking, body burning, I went for her weapon, knowing that if I could get it from her, we’d be at an impasse. Or, at least, she couldn’t magically light me on fire again.
Screaming with the pain, I grabbed her wand hand and jammed my other elbow across her face. Her lips curled and her fingers loosened. I elbowed her again. And again, forcing out a whimper. As expected, she wasn’t used to physical violence.
“Let…go,” I said, banging her wand hand against the ground.
“It’ll…kill…you!”
Too late. Another elbowing made her cry out, and her fingers released their grip. The wand was in my hand before her words had properly sunk in.
The agony of the magical fire cut off, but a sharp blast of pain shot up through my hand, my arm, and into my chest. My middle turned to ice, spreading out before sinking into my limbs. I sucked in a breath, trying to let go of the wand, but I couldn’t. Like a wave pulling back to the sea, the cold dimmed before leaving my body all together.
Shaking, confused, I pushed back to standing, holding the small stick that now sent vibrations through my body. It felt…wrong, somehow. Off. Not as natural as Ethan’s wand had. But it didn’t kill me.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
“Give me that back!” She flopped, trying to turn over and stand, but wasn’t able to push through the pain. “That’s mine!” Her voice was weak.
I frowned at the vehemence of her reaction. It struck me, again, that this was the second wand I’d handled without any serious injury. Maybe the danger of stealing someone’s wand was a myth magic users drummed up to deter theft.
“I need to get out of here. What’s a spell I can do on you?” I asked, flicking the wand like she’d done. Red sparkles flew from the end and cracked all around us.
“No! How?” Her eyes widened as she looked at me. “How are you doing that?”
“Presto change-o,” I said, flicking the wand again. This time blue sparks curled into the air. “What if I just…” I did the same again, but right next to her leg so the sparks would hit her.
“Ah!” Surprise lit her features and she scooted away. Mud spread across her light pink robe.
“I bet you hope that’s mud, at any rate,” I said, remembering how I’d wrestled with Bluebell the day before I left the farm. Not allowing myself to dwell, I bent and did the swooping move again. Then a third time.
The scene wobbled. She disappeared. My farm melted around me. Ethan, his wand freshly stowed in his stupid holster, pulled out his sheet of paper ten feet away, back on the open plains that we’d started with.
There was no sign of the others.
I walked over and punched him in the face.
“You lying piece of crap!” I yelled, waiting for him to sprawl out before kicking him in the side. “You were setting us up the whole time!” I bent over and blasted some wand sparks at him.
“What in the—” His hand shot out and he gripped my wrist, his eyes pinned to the wand.
I grabbed his wrist with my other hand, twisted so he’d have to turn onto his belly, then pushed up, keeping him in place. “Not wise,” I ground out.
“Whose wand is that?” he asked, his voice high pitched in pain.
“Don’t ask stupid questions.” I dropped the wand since the sparks didn’t seem to have an effect, then punched him in the ribs. He grunted and tried to move away. I did it again, but his thick slab of muscle shielded him from my blows.
“Stop,” he said, his body tensed. “Stop!”
I picked up the wand again. The annoying vibrating feeling ran up my arm, so I stuffed it into my back pocket.
“Trust me, huh?” I said, my hands on my hips. “We’ll see?” It was my turn for high pitched. “Now the other two are lost in limbo!”
“All they had to do was hang on, like I said,” Ethan shouted back at me, his face red and dirt smeared across his cheek. “Who do you think got you out?”
“I did.” I pulled out the wand for emphasis. “With this.”
“With what, a few sparks? That wasn’t a spell! It wouldn’t trigger your win.” He jabbed his chest. “I won. I shut everything down.”
Breathing heavily, I stowed my stolen wand. The timing was close enough that he could be right, especially since he hadn’t reacted to the sparks I’d made with the wand. They’d surprised the wand owner, but they hadn’t really hurt her. Still, it was possible the bit of magic I’d done had been enough. Either way, Wally and Pete hadn’t been so lucky.
“This challenge would be impossible for anyone but a wand wielder.” I stalled, waiting just a bit longer to make sure Wally or Pete wouldn’t materialize near us. “It’s not fair.”
Ethan painfully rose to his feet and dust
ed himself off. “Everyone is supposed to be in groups. All a group needs is one wielder.”
“Well, clearly that isn’t the case, since the one wielder was the only one to make it through. Where are Pete and Wally? They should be here too if you’re right.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t count. I cheated.”
He made a disgusted sound and snatched his fallen paper up off the ground. “I don’t get you, Wild. You didn’t know anything about magic, yet you made it through to the gold on the Shade trial. It’s in your nature, so okay, I guess. But you practically led the Claw and Unmentionables trials, and you saved our asses in the Night trial by speaking to ghosts. Now here you are, probably the first trial goer in history to steal an instructor’s wand, and you’re yelling about the fairness of things. No one should be this good at everything. No one. And that’s coming from someone who is expected to be this good at everything.” He shook his head and took off walking. “Something isn’t right with you. I mean, you’ve got people trying to kill you for Christ’s sake. You! A girl!”
“Girls aren’t good enough to be targeted, is that what you’re saying?”
He shot me a narrowed-eyed glare. “You’re supposed to be a fifteen-year-old boy, aren’t you? Well, that cover has been blown, and yet people are still after you. Doesn’t that seem odd to you?”
My step hitched, because I’d never thought of it like that. Yes, as a matter of fact, it kind of did.
He threw up his hands. “This whole thing is messed up. All of it. And I hate that I’ve been dragged into it. I don’t want anything to do with the Sandman. My father can rein in most people, but the Sandman isn’t one of them. I’ve got no protection from him. None of us do. I don’t need any part of—”
“Wait, the Sandman? What do you mean?” Memories fluttered my awareness, so close, I could practically grab them. Darkness lining a face. Sweat dripping from sideburns. A twinkle of light on something metallic. The missing day was right there on the edge of my mind.
A sudden ground-shaking roar blotted out my thoughts. My feet nearly started dancing, ready to run without my body attached if need be. The scene around us dissolved, replaced with a big open area, a cave to one side, a cropping of rocks to the other, and an enormous beast out of the past directly in front of us. Green and black mottled skin, flesh hanging from its jagged bottom teeth, and too-small eyes zeroing in on us.
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials, Omnibus Page 41