by Bob Dattolo
A tiny silence spell wrapped me and then extended to my allies while another small spell got my voice to go to them too. “Hey, everyone. Don’t react. I have a silence spell blocking everyone but those that I consider allies. Don’t say anything just yet. To be clear? Cleo, Cesar, and Stacey? I have others that I’m allied with that aren’t really known by a lot of people. I’ve stayed away from them all year so that people didn’t know about them.”
“Oookay?” Stacey sounds so confused, “I thought Kaylee was your only ally last year? Is she actually one this year too?”
“She’s not. No idea why she’s terrified of me, but she is. The others know about you three. There are two groups. I don’t want to announce them just yet, but we’ll make it known. We’re trying to keep them out of things for now in case others attack. They can possibly get in behind them.”
“Devious, but okay?” I’m shocked she left it like that, “Why the fancy spell to talk with us?”
“It’s like this? I was just thinking that anyone in our group that can that has a metal affinity? Start breaking down the weapons around the walls and on the ground.”
Levi laughed, “Okay, that’s funny as hell. I didn’t think about that at all. That’ll make it easier for us to work with metal later?”
“Right. It’ll also limit available weapons.”
He sucked in a breath, “Fuck. What about…what about taking weapons that people have? Should we do that? Only another metal affinity could create them again.”
“I was wondering about that. I just don’t know if it’ll cause more fighting? It’ll certainly make some of it less dangerous.”
Cesar laughed, “That’s fucking hilarious. No one did that last year. If you can? I say get rid of every weapon that we can except for what we have and anyone that we think can handle it without going after us. Not everyone here is a danger to us that way. If you all take every weapon, I think that’ll cause a riot.”
“Yeah, too true. So, those of you that can work with metal? Start seeing if you can remove the weapons around here? I got a bunch of the platforms, at least the lower ones, earlier. I also got some of the loose weapons and some on the walls when people weren’t really looking. I don’t know if it’s possible, but maybe leave the weapon, at least mostly, but leave a…shell? I don’t even know if that’s possible?”
Levi grunted, “I’m not sure any of us know a spell for that, I just don’t know if it’ll matter much once the weapons are gone. See if we can maybe get the ones people aren’t paying attention to first. That’ll leave all of the wooden weapons. Anyone that can do fire? Maybe see if you can get some to burn? Burn ‘em enough, and they won’t be useful to anyone. Try to keep the flames hidden, though? No smoke? If you can?”
Mostly silence from the group. I can tell that my other two sets of allies agree with what I proposed, so that’s a plus.
Over the next few minutes, more and more of my allies began to show that they were doing magic. From our perch overlooking things, even though it’s only like 30 feet up, we can start to see weapons on the ground in various places start to disappear.
I can feel the magic being done and where people are working, so I caught two bats starting to burn without really being obvious to others.
No one really noticed, or at least said anything, until some of the more visible weapons on the walls began to disappear.
Someone’s soft, “What the fuck?” Alerted others, and soon it became evident that someone was wiping out weapons.
Marc sent up a flare of power, “Who the fuck is messing with the weapons?” No answer as everyone starts looking around.
Louder yells from some of the more dominant kids, with blame being cast every which direction. My allies stop working their magic as others do the same thing, while even more start up that weren’t doing anything before.
My voice carries to my allies again, “Umm, metal folks? See if you can protect your weapons and the others in our ally groups? I’ll try to cover Cleo, Cesar, and Stacey.”
My power rolls out, making me grimace from the pain, and I work through a spell that should protect our weapons.
Below, our other allies try to do the same. I’m not sure they do it successfully, so I send out a spell too, just in case.
Destiny points at me, “I bet it’s her!”
My legs continue to kick, “Her what? I’m just sitting up here trying to stop you guys from killing yourself by attacking me.”
“Fuck you, freak! Bring everything back!”
The floor and walls are almost completely denuded of metal weapons now. Just not entirely. Funnily enough, I feel other spells being cast in the background by other groups, and the remaining weapons start disappearing.
And the wooden ones still there start burning. Visibly.
That starts another round of bitching and moaning and magic, with water being used to put out the flames. Too late to save things, though.
Marc pointed at me too, “I bet she did that!”
It’s easy to show my confusion, “Uh-huh, right. I’m the boogieman, is that it? I’m somehow wiping out every weapon down there? Burning wood? Right. That’s me. I’m also responsible for slow internet speeds, spam and Oreo sandwiches at McDonald’s in China, and the decrease in the dollar. My reach is global, and nothing is safe or sacred once I start prowling.”
“God damn, you really are something else. You think you can just fuck everyone here, is that it?” Nolan, this time. He steps away from his group just a tad, “We all know it was you!”
I nodded at his words, “Right. Totally. Completely. Or, better yet? Not at all. I didn’t burn any weapons down there. You guys just watched stuff disappear? I didn’t do that. You guys can’t stop spewing lies about me. It’s freaking pathetic.”
A soft voice that I wasn’t expecting seemed to reach everyone, “She’s gonna take away our weapons, I just know she is!”
Kaylee’s huddled against the wall, cradling her bloody knife. It was her voice that everyone heard and got them all to turn back to me.
“More accusations. This time from someone that was my only ally last year. Nice. Really nice, Kaylee. I’ve been trying to connect with you all year, yet you keep acting like I’m the fucking devil. I haven’t spoken a full sentence to you in months, yet you continue to run away, screaming. Or shake when I walk by. What the fuck did I ever do to you to deserve that?”
Four spells shot at me from various places, with only one hitting. The other three were blocked or missed, with the last one hitting. Pain. Why do people keep hitting me with that?
Instead of responding, I held up my fist and crushed it, getting a scream from an air mage that I’ve talked to twice, I think. She seemed nice. Now she’s bent over in pain from the backlash of her spell being broken.
And now she’s dead, as both of her allies attack her, with the more vicious taking down the other and sucking them both dry.
Pushing my voice again, I pointed towards the mess, “See now? Just like the things disappearing? That wasn’t me, either. She hit me with a spell. I broke it. All her. Those other two took advantage of her. Instead of acting like fucking allies, they struck when they thought they could. Like cowards.”
Marc scoffed at me, “Cowards? Who’s the coward hiding up on a perch? C’mon down and visit with your classmates. We promise it won’t hurt. Much. Or long.”
I’m so tempted to go down there. I really am. Instead, I wave down at him, “Since I’m up here to save your lives, I’ll stay put. Feel free to have a dragon shift and fly you up, though. That would be fun.”
More curses at me, although some laughed. A dragon shifting in this room would be killed pretty much immediately. Which is why me having Levi up here and him not shifting has got to be making them wonder just what the fuck is happening.
I’m so tempted to get my other allies up here and have them all shift. That’d put our mage allies at risk, though, and that’s not a fantastic plan.
That left me watching ev
eryone as I kicked my feet, trying to ignore the threats from below and wondering if or when we should remove the weapons in people’s hands. Assuming they haven’t worked to protect them already.
Chapter 45
We worked through some planning while we waited, although I adjusted my spell so that others heard mumbles from the various groups. They tried to make it look like they were talking to each other instead of using a spell like this to talk to others.
That means that my new allies know who the old are. They were…shocked, I’ll say. They apparently had no idea at all that there was much of a connection there. Especially given what I did to Samantha’s parents.
Weirdly enough, when that was mentioned she did say that she got a text from them before leaving her dorm that they wish her luck. Apparently they’re expecting her to take over for them, which means that they may not kill her.
It was general consensus from most of us that they plan on killing her anyway due to being connected with me, and they’ll get a new kid lined up instead.
Dicks.
When the doors opened, too many of the 89 of us jerked or screamed. They should have been counting things a little better. I happened to notice that Kaylee didn’t jerk or scream. She’s been weird this entire time. There’s something seriously off there that I can’t place.
Just like happened last time, people took off immediately, swarming the eight hallways. Ally groups led the way in some cases, with others being individuals. Not together with the others, but there at the same time. That sounds stressful to me.
Marc and his group remained behind, as did Destiny and her group. Among others.
Kaylee disappeared down the closest door to her after allowing six or seven others to lead the way.
Tiffany, Eva, and Brody were just inside one of the hallways, watching our groups and some of the others. No one approached their opening, for obvious reasons.
Levi let me bring him to the ground, where I shifted back again. Marc headed towards us immediately. “Good, now you’re back and ready for us!”
My distant allies started edging closer, while Levi moved a little farther to the side. Cleo, Cesar, and Stacy stayed in just about the same spot. We’re together, just not right on top of each other.
“Marc? Here’s my recommendation to you. Turn around and find a hallway and take it. Get to the exit. Graduate this year. Leave me the fuck alone. Leave my allies alone. I’ll gladly kill you, but I’d rather not. Even after the shit you were involved in, I’d rather see you get the fuck out of here alive.”
“You don’t get it; you don’t have a say in any of this. You’re ours.”
A shorter earth dragon next to him that I seriously don’t know at all yelled some sort of cry and broke into a run at me, machete held wide. Instead of fucking around, I waited until he was about 20 feet away and hit him with a combination of spells that he simply wasn’t prepared for. It tripped him at the same time it launched him through the air towards me, only to get caught in my shifted hand. One on his neck, crushing it instantly, one on his machete arm, stopping his attack. His hair fizzled as his ability to cast spells died, then I leaned in and sucked his eyes out one by one and swallowed them.
And his power.
My insides felt better at doing that.
Hmm, maybe I should do more?
His body got dropped, leaving me staring at Marc and his group and the others behind him. “He attacked me. Not me to him. You need to find a hallway and take it. Don’t come after me. Don’t attempt to fight me. Just. Leave. Me. Alone.”
He sneered at me, but it’s thrown off by the next person behind him tugging at him to leave. “You don’t stand a chance against us!”
Magic flared from the side, which he missed entirely, and his weapons broke apart in his hands. “I don’t stand a chance?” I began walking towards him, with Levi joining me. “I want to graduate. I want to get the fuck out of here. I don’t want to fight you. I will, and I desperately want to make you scream as you die, but I don’t want to fight you. I’m giving you a chance to leave. Right now. Take it. Go. Before I change my mind. Before my allies change their minds.”
He looked at Levi and the others near me, then let the person behind him tug him backwards, “You ain’t getting through this, freak!”
“Love you too, Marc. Take your friends and go. Watch out for the backstabbing. I’ve heard that hurts. At least for a bit.”
They were gone down the closest hallway maybe a minute later. Destiny’s group backed away as well, taking a different hallway.
Tiffany and her group watched for a little longer, then passed back into the shadows.
That left the five of us plus my other two groups of allies and just about 20 others. Small groups. Individuals. All too freaked out to pick a hallway and make it.
This is insane.
“Look,” My voice carried. Again, “just pick a group. You individual people. Get five or seven of you together and go. No one should be able to easily double cross someone else without getting taken down. Just go. Make it through the challenges and tests together. Wait for each other. Fucking work together. No more people have to die in this madhouse.”
A loud, long scream from one of the tunnels made them twitch.
“Or do that. That seems like a fantastic idea. It really does.”
Cleo laughed as she joined me, “You know they won’t do that.”
“I know. I don’t get it, but I’m starting to. If people would just fucking work together, no one would have to die. Then you’d only have to deal with the crazy parents willing to kill their kids for not testing well enough. Gang up on ‘em, and there isn’t much they can do.”
“Yeah, well, welcome to our world?” Levi patted my back, “Now, which tunnel?”
Some of the stragglers began taking tunnels, reducing the crowd here. People will start to see that we’re all together, or at least get that idea, but we want it to happen a little later if we can help it. That has me thinking about the tunnels. “Any particular one have fewer people take it?”
Two of them stood out to the others. I caught one of them being a decent option. “Then one at random and go? If we catch up to someone, don’t pressure them. Just let ‘em go through the challenge or test. If someone comes up behind us? Either defend ourselves, let ‘em follow if they’re not attacking, or let ‘em through if they want to be aggressive. If they go for you? Feel free to take ‘em down.”
Shared looks from the four of them, “Works for us.” Cleo answered for the group, and we took off at a jog down one of the possible paths. Just like year one, the walls are cinder block and wide and tall enough for a dragon to come down it. Not flying, but definitely walking. Even running.
“No shifting, right?” Levi jogged next to me.
“Not unless we can help it? I can’t see our mages liking that. Or the others that aren’t shifted.” Cesar moved ahead of us a little, scoping out the next turn.
“Yeah, please don’t? If that happens, I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to stop from going after you to protect myself.”
“Okay, then last resort it is.” I didn’t think he’d fight that.
We stayed wide around the corners, allowing us to avoid running smack dab into someone.
No bodies, but blood. Someone either fought or is bleeding from earlier, which makes me wonder who it is.
There was a body around the next corner. Rick, I think? Earth dragon. Another that I haven’t spoken with much. It looks like someone tried to cut his head off.
”Damn, man, Rick was kinda a bastard, but not that bad.” Kynal crouched near him.
“Can anyone smell who killed him?” Gage looks hopeful.
Joint no from us, “Not really. Too many scents down here and whoever did it didn’t bleed. If they did that, then maybe.” Angelica helped Kynal stand. “Let’s keep going.”
Our first obstacle was a climbing wall. They had something like this last year, too. Levi started up first. “Why do they even hav
e things like this in the trial?”
I shrugged, “Honestly? I think part of it is that it lets people at the top cave in some skulls pretty easily.”
He paused about eight feet up the 40 or so foot tall wall, “Uhh…what?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. I don’t know of anyone that can’t make it. It’s not like it’s that hard of a climb.”
Samantha started up, “I agree. So in that case? Can you fly your ass up there and make sure no one’s waiting?”
Cleo patted my back as I shifted and launched into the air, flapping straight up so that I could see over the top. Just an empty landing a hallway heading to the right. “No one there. Let me land and check the hallway, though. In case they’re waiting. I see blood.”
No answers as I landed and stayed to the side, magic flowing in case something happens. I still feel worn thin and I’m hurting, but sucking down that power did help. Sure enough, there’s a good amount of blood here and a trail leading to the hallw…
Fuck.
I pitched my voice louder, so they’d hear me, “Umm, I think her name is Sarah? Something like that? From the Indian academy? Had a blue stripe dyed in her hair?”
Grumbles from below, with Samantha and Levi joining me at about the same time.
“Yeah, that’s her. What the hell? Head nearly cut off and she’s, what, her head’s broken to hell and back, but what’re the other injuries?”
Levi crouched as others joined us, “At a guess? Mace.”
“Damn, man, that sucks. She was nice the few times we talked.” Gage shook his head and started down the hallway, “I guess we go this way?”
The rest of us followed without another comment, rounding the next corner, then the next, and finding ourselves at our first test.
No bodies this time.
Cleo reached the barrier first. It’s a mostly invisible magical barrier, although there’s a line on the ground that’s easy to identify. There’s a semicircle in the middle of the huge room, which typically denotes where you have to cross to have your spell judged. And where you die if you mess up. Potentially.