by Logan Jacobs
It almost seemed like she was praying for us, so I closed my eyes and took in long, deep breaths. As I kept my eyes tightly shut, I could feel a presence surrounding me. It was heavy, like a thick cloud of smoke, but I reveled in it.
As I breathed in and out, though, I felt something. I couldn’t say precisely what it was, but it kept me cool, calm, and collected.
After a moment, I opened my eyes and looked around. Everyone seemed to be a little calmer, but not by much. I could still feel their energy, and I knew they were terrified.
“Alright, now that that’s out of the way, everyone gather round in a circle,” Theodora instructed. “Come on, quickly now.”
Everyone slowly stood up, and I could see some of their legs shaking as they went to the back of the class and formed a circle.
Theodora’s pale face remained neutral as we all huddled together. Vesta was at my right side, and when my hand accidentally brushed against her palm, she flinched and shot me a dirty look.
I ignored it. There was no time for childish quarrels right now. All my attention was directed to the quiz.
“Everyone, hold hands, now,” Theodora demanded.
There was a pause, and everyone glanced at me.
Theodora noticed, and she sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes. “Oh, for hell’s sake, you fools, Cole can’t impregnate you just by holding your hand. Stop being dumb bitches.”
Vesta grumbled under her breath before she snatched my hand. Akira did the same, and both women’s palms were slick with sweat.
“Dimittunt corpore animaque,” Theodora muttered.
The room then began to spin, and my stomach lurched as we all turned around and around. Theodora and the classroom dissolved into dust, and everything became a blur. All the witches’ cloaks formed a blur of colors, and I wondered how long we would be spinning for.
Finally, everything started to slow down, and when I looked around me, I caught wisps of green and gray appearing from out of nowhere. Soon, we all started to come to a gradual stop, and when the air around us calmed, I realized we were standing on top of a green hill. More emerald hills and full trees surrounded us, and I spotted yellow, gold, amber, and red leaves that rustled through the wind. It was a serene view, filled with more life than I’d seen on the academy grounds.
The class was gone and replaced with an open sky above us that was the color of steel. I smiled and inhaled the fresh air, but when I looked at the other witches, they all had their eyes tightly shut, and their faces were ashen. I tried not to laugh at their expressions. It looked as if they were about to throw up.
“We’re here,” a familiar voice said when no one moved.
The witches slowly opened their eyes and exhaled loudly, but when they realized it was Theodora’s voice that pulled them out of their trance, they all gasped.
“Oh, Professor.” Faye blinked in shock. “You’re here.”
“Of course, I am,” Theodora said as she dusted off her dark skirts. “Now, let me be clear about the quiz. First, you will need to find the mythical village. Somewhere inside their gates, there will be a red-stoned castle. That will be the casino. You’ll each have to earn three-hundred gold coins in total by any means necessary and then find your way back to me.”
“But, where will you be?” Vesta asked in a small voice.
“Back here,” Theodora replied as she pointed at the ground. “You will return to this exact location at noon tomorrow, and I will take us back to our realm and Scholomance. But a word of caution. If you are late, even by a minute, or if you failed to procure three-hundred gold coins, I will leave you in this world to live out the rest of your pathetic lives. Now … I suggest you get a move on.”
She snapped her fingers and disappeared into a cloud of black smoke, and we all just stood there as we absorbed the information she’d just dumped on us.
“Fuck … I didn’t know that would be so terrible,” Akira sighed after a long moment.
“Teleporting wasn’t so bad,” I replied.
“No, I meant holding onto your hand like that,” she sneered, and her coal-black eyes glinted with cruel light. “It was excruciating.”
Fucking hell. I’d had enough.
“Jesus Christ,” I exhaled, to which all the witches gasped in horror. “Would you stop being so goddamn immature and focus on the quiz? If we want to survive, we’re clearly going to have to work together. So, get your shit together.”
“You should watch your tongue--” Morgana snapped, but then Vesta sharply cut in.
“No, he’s right,” the lavender-skinned woman said, and all the witches turned to look at her with wide, confused eyes. “Look, I hate to admit it, but if we want to survive this quiz, we need to put our bickering aside and work together. I’m not a fan of the idea either, but what else are we supposed to do?”
The others muttered their agreements and slowly nodded.
“No way, fuck that,” Sweeny hissed suddenly, and she pulled away from our circle. “If you want to follow him like a string of puppies, be my fucking guest. I’m working alone.”
“Sweeny--” Vesta pleaded, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
“No,” the auburn-haired witch snapped with her thin-lipped mouth, and she turned her hideous, eyeless, and scarred face toward the others. “I’m sick of hearing his name over and over again, and I refuse to let him help me. I’ve gotten this far without his help, and without any one of you, as a matter of fact.”
The scarred witch broke away fully from the circle and stormed off, and we all watched as she headed downhill.
I didn’t even consider trying to stop her. If she wanted to work alone, then she could die alone for all I cared.
“She’s impossible,” Vesta sighed.
“She’s not your responsibility,” Morgana said, and her pale face creased with a frown. “She’s in charge of her own fate.”
“That’s right,” Akira agreed with a nod. “If she wants to be a dumbass, let her.”
“So, can we stop talking about Sweeny for one fucking second and make a move?” I suggested. “We’re just standing here like a bunch of clueless morons. Come on, let’s go.”
I headed downhill while the others followed. I had a strong feeling we were supposed to head past the trees and through the forest, so I followed my gut and headed through the thicket. We walked for about ten minutes when Morgana suddenly stopped in her tracks.
The rest of us came to a halt and stared back at her.
“Wait a damn minute … how do you even know where we’re supposed to go?” Morgana asked as she spun toward me and put her hands on her slim hips. “We’ve been following you like blind fools, and we have no idea if we’re even going in the right direction.”
Before I could answer her, I smelled something. It smelled like cooked meat, and I also heard whispers, so I looked behind me.
I knew we had to keep going south.
“Trust me, I know where we’re going,” I replied as I took another step forward. “You can follow me if you want to, or you can stay here in the woods. It doesn’t matter to me one bit.”
The witches sighed, and I heard the leaves crunching underneath their boots as they continued to follow me.
It seemed like they needed me after all.
“Damn, that smells good,” I said as the aroma of cooked, spiced meat grew stronger.
“What?” Faye demanded from behind me. “I don’t smell a damn thing.”
“Well, I do,” I said as I walked on. “You still aren’t using your senses. Try to feel everything around you.”
“Here he goes, lecturing us as if he’s the fucking prof--” Morgana started to rant, but then Vesta interrupted.
“Stop it,” the green-haired woman said. “We need to focus.”
“You’re right,” Morgana sighed. “Fine, Cole. Lead the way.”
“Thank you,” I muttered as I rolled my eyes. I continued to lead the way, and the witches followed.
“I don’t see Sweeny anywher
e,” Faye commented after a while.
“Maybe she took a different path?” Vesta suggested. “Maybe she went north?”
“Maybe we should have followed her instead,” Akira grumbled under her breath.
I pushed another branch out of my way and smiled when I saw what laid in front of me. We’d come to the end of the woods, and down below the hill, there was an entire village. Each roof was a different color, and rainbow-colored smoke emerged from their stone chimneys. I could see people, as small as ants, walking and navigating through the village. Their voices boomed, and we could hear the distant chattering from where we stood.
We were definitely here.
“Maybe you should learn to trust me instead.” I grinned.
The women all gasped when they saw the village below us. It was full of life and spicy scents that the air carried over to our spot atop the hill. It was a little but thriving community, and we’d found it.
Or rather, I found it.
“I can’t believe it,” Morgana whispered, and her blue eyes were wide with awe. “You did it, Cole.”
“You shouldn’t have doubted me.” I winked. “I told you I knew where I was going.”
The witches all nodded, and I led the way down to the village, eager to see what laid before us.
I was ready for the hard part to begin.
Chapter 10
“Keep close to me,” I whispered to the others as we approached the village gates. “Pull up your cloaks and make sure your weapons are within reach. We have no idea what’s waiting for us beyond those gates.”
I thought the women would put up some kind of argument or hurl some snappy comment in my direction, but instead, they nodded and hoisted their hoods over their heads.
I had a feeling that, for once, we were all on the same page.
The wooden gate did not look sturdy or well-guarded at all. It appeared to be made out of flimsy wood, and it only reached a little over our heads. The gate was clearly very cheaply designed, and I knew it could be knocked down with one solid push from some kind of heavy log. In fact, I also couldn’t see any guards at their posts, and I wondered if anyone was behind the gates. We needed to get inside the village, and from what my senses were telling me, this was the only way in.
So, I raised my fist and knocked on the gate. My heavy knock made the entire wooden gate vibrate, and we waited.
I expected someone to come immediately. How many guests actually went to the gate and knocked? But when I pressed my ear against the wood, all I could hear were the birds chirping high above us and the sound of villagers chatting and laughing behind the gate. The loud, howling wind screeched as I took a step back, but there was no sound of anyone coming to greet us.
I knocked again and waited a moment.
“How can there be no one standing guard?” Morgana snapped. “This is ridiculous.”
The brunette witch brushed past me and then pounded on the door with her small white fist, as if her knock would make any difference.
“Maybe we should just climb over it,” Faye suggested. “Or break it down.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I replied with a roll of my eyes. “The last thing we should do is aggravate the villagers by breaking into their home.”
“But no one is coming to the fucking gate,” the redhead hissed back.
“Cole’s right.” Vesta nodded and brushed a lock of green hair from her face. “Breaking in would be like placing a bullseye on our backs. We have to be as inconspicuous as possible.”
“Why must you always agree with him?” Morgana demanded, and her pale face flushed a ruddy red. “It’s getting irritating. Who’s side or you even on?”
“It’s not about picking fucking sides,” Vesta snapped as her silver eyes flared. “It’s about completing the damn quiz and surviving until the exam, and I don’t know about you, but I want to make it out alive.”
“But he’s a fucking man--” Morgana started to say, but Akira tossed her head back and groaned.
“Morgana, drop it,” Akira sighed. “They’re right, we can’t just barge in there, or we’ll be chased out as soon as we climb over the gates. We need to be welcomed inside, formally. This is a Wicca friendly village, but I imagine intruders, no matter who they are, will be punished for violating the law. Think about it.”
Morgana’s light blue eyes darted from the gate back to the group.
“Fine,” she sighed after a long moment. “I get it. Let’s try again.”
I looked at the gate, took in a long, deep breath, and wondered what the hell we were going to do to get inside. The casino was undoubtedly in there, and I knew we needed to get into the village as soon as possible.
As I raised my hand to knock one more time, a small opening pulled apart, and I was face to face with an old man. Except this man wasn’t human. He looked more like a toad. His skin was covered in bumps and boils and was tinted a deep, sickly green, and his eyes were wide and yellow. They were as small as mice eyes and utterly disproportionate from the rest of his face, and I tried not to stare as he looked at all of us, one by one. Then his lips curled up, and he snarled at me.
“What do you want?” he croaked.
“We’re here to explore your gracious and well-renowned village.” I grinned. “We mean no harm or disrespect, we’re simply wanderers who came across your gates. May we enter?”
“Oh?” He smiled. “Just wanderers, eh? Well, in that case, you have to answer a riddle for me.”
I knew I could have used my powers of premonition to come up with the answer, but I was feeling confident, so I repressed the urge to use the incantation.
“Alright,” I replied, “go on.”
He grinned, and I caught a glimpse of his brown, rotting baby-sized teeth. He was a hideous looking little thing, and I wondered how many strange looking creatures were beyond these gates.
“Excellent,” he croaked.
“Oh, Satan,” I heard Faye breathe behind me.
Vesta shushed her, and I focused all my attention on the toad.
“I have a heart that never beats, I live in a home, but I never sleep, I can take a man’s house and build another, and I love to play games with my many brothers,” the toad recited in a sing-song voice, and then he smirked wickedly. “I am a king among fools, but who am I?”
I thought for a moment. A heart that never beats. So, it was not a living creature. It never sleeps, so it had to be an object. What about the games, though? Games, games, games … It loved to play games with many brothers and was a king among fools. I racked my brain as I tried to think of the answer, and I grinned when it finally hit me.
“The king of hearts,” I told the toad-man with confidence.
His rotting smile faded into a mask of grave disappointment. Then he growled and shook his small, wrinkly head.
“One more,” he muttered. “You have to answer one more.”
“Wait a fucking minute,” Akira snapped. “You said a riddle, not riddles!”
Akira’s impatience was going to get us in to trouble before we even made it past the gates, so I gently touched her arm and smiled down at her.
“It’s fine,” I muttered. “I can do it.”
“Let’s hope so,” the black-haired witch huffed, crossed her arms, and took a step back. “Our lives depend on it.”
I ignored her last comment and turned my attention back to the toad.
“Okay.” I nodded. “Go ahead.”
He smiled his ugly grin and rubbed his green, boil-covered hands together.
“Excellent,” he growled. Then he flicked his yellow eyes upward as if he were deep in thought and put a bony finger to his mouth.
I knew he was trying to make me anxious, but I didn’t care.
I knew I could do it.
I could feel Akira impatiently tapping her foot by my side as I waited, but finally, the toad grinned at me and then leaned his head through the opening.
“What is red and blue and purple and green?” he asked as h
is long tongue protruded from his lips like a snake. “No one can reach it, not even the queen?”
“Hey, wait a minute, that’s too vague,” Morgana argued. “You’re not being fair, old man!”
“I’m the guard,” he hissed with his long tongue. “I make the rules.”
“It’s fine, ladies,” I insisted. “I’ve got this.”
I took a step back and looked up to the open sky as if the answer lay in the steel covered clouds high above me. Then I drummed my fingers along my thigh as I thought deeply about the riddle.
No one could reach it, and it was red, blue, purple and green. A multitude of colors that were entirely out of reach.
I snapped my fingers when it hit me.
“The rainbow,” I chuckled.
The toad’s crooked, brown smile faltered again, and I saw anger flash across his small, beady eyes.
“Fine,” he growled. “You win. Come in, but beware of friends who tend to overspend.”
“Enough with the rhymes and riddles,” Faye sighed in impatience.
With a little more force than was necessary, the toad huffed and then slammed the small window shut, and we took a small step back as the gates started to gently pull open.
When we saw what laid behind the bleak, brown wooden doors, we all gasped.
Inside was the most dreadful and dim village I could ever imagine. There were huts made of flimsy wood and dirty panels. The market booths hung with dark clothing, rotting food, and murky jewels that dangled under the faint sunlight. Sinister music floated through the air, and when I looked around, I saw a group of young, ugly goblin looking children dressed in vibrant veils and cloaks. They were walking through the marketplace as they tried to sell goods like dates and charms.
“Wicked Satan.” Akira released a dream-like sigh. “We made it.”
“I hate to say this … but well done, Cole,” Morgana whispered from my right side.
When I turned to look at the brunette witch, she was smiling faintly in my direction, and I realized it was the first time I ever caught her smiling in my vicinity. Even though she was a goddamn pain in my ass, a small warmth actually radiated through me when I met her blue eyes.