Scholomance 1

by Logan Jacobs

  Faye was grasping something that resembled a human man’s face, mixed with scorpion-like features. I recognized it as the creature that had chased them off into the maze.

  “It’s an aqrabuamelu,” the redhead said with pride.

  “And Morgana and I found a pair of kluddes,” Akira explained as she held up a massive, bloody head.

  When I looked closely, I saw the heads they were holding looked like a mixture of a rabid dog and a bat.

  “Well done.” I nodded. “I hate to admit it out loud, but for a moment, I was worried about you three.”

  “Whatever,” Akira scoffed as she rolled her black eyes.

  I smiled, but then my face slowly fell when I sensed something else hiding among us. I looked past the witches and stared into the thorny bushes they were standing in front of.

  I squinted and, suddenly, a white face with no eyes and a large bloody mouth appeared from behind the three women. It was closest to Morgana, and the creature lunged forward and bit down on where the brunette’s shoulder and neck met.

  Morgana screamed in pain, and I instinctively raised my hand and hurled the dagger in the creature’s direction. The sound of the blade flipping end over end through the air was like a cracking whip, and then the dagger embedded itself right in the center of the monster’s forehead.

  Morgana stifled another scream when the blade whipped past her face, and she jumped when the body of the creature fell down to the ground at her feet. A pool of black blood emerged from the corpse, and the brunette took a big step away.

  Dark blood gushed from Morgana’s shoulder, and for a moment, I thought it might have been a fatal bite. Until it started to heal on its own. The witch’s porcelain skin knitted back together before my very eyes, and it was like the wound had never even been there.

  “It’s the Blood Pact,” I said.

  She was safe, thanks to me.

  “Oh, unholy Satan,” Morgana panted with wide, blue eyes. “Thanks, Cole.”

  “Don’t mention it.” I smirked. “Guess we’re lucky we did the Blood Pact after all.”

  “You’re right,” the brunette breathed, and she still looked a little shaken. “I thought I was done for. I’ve never been so scared.”

  “We really are immortal,” Vesta breathed as she stared at Morgana in disbelief.

  “Well, to an extent,” Akira said with a frown. “I think it’s obvious we need to do whatever we can to keep Cole alive because his life is tied to our own.”

  “Agreed, and with that being said, we’re not safe out here,” Morgana whispered as she frantically looked around. “We should find a safer spot to enact the sacrificial spell, now that we’ve killed our beasts.”

  “Agreed.” I nodded. “Let’s go.”

  I cut a limb off the werewolf with my blade. I took one of its long fingers, not only for the blood, but because I would need the bone when the time to use a curse arrived.

  I also took its tongue and heart and stuffed it into my cloak pocket. It could come in handy sometime.

  Vesta followed my lead and cut off a long finger from the dead, old demonic woman.

  I slipped the bloody finger into my pocket, and we all headed down a series of twists and turns that continued north. We eventually found a small, open circular space, and I closed my eyes and felt for any danger that might be lurking around.

  This time, I didn’t sense anything.

  “We’re okay, here,” I said, “at least for now.”

  Everyone nodded, and we started to conduct a group, sacrificial spell. We had no cauldrons, so we dug a medium-sized hole in the ground and poured the ingredients in there.

  “Did you all bring the ingredients I asked for?” I questioned as the witches quickly tossed items into the hole.

  “Of course.” Faye rolled her green eyes.

  I clicked my tongue as they threw in vampire ash, black sea salt, spider’s eyes, a red moth’s wing, and nightshade in the hole. Next, we set the mixture ablaze and used our own blood, the blood of our kills, and finally, the human heart the witches had taken before the exam. We recited the incantation as a group, and we could feel the energy of our kills seep into our skin and take over our bodies. Then we all linked hands, and our bodies shook as the mist seeped into us.

  “Damn.” Vesta smiled. “I feel incredible.”

  “Me, too.” I nodded before I looked at the concoction in the dirt hole and then bent down to dip my blade into the mixture. “Everyone coat your blade. That way we can harness the power of anything we kill with our weapons from now on.”

  The witches obeyed and began to coat their own weapons, and as I stirred my blade into the mixture, it was like I’d just taken a drug of some kind. My senses were all on high alert, and I felt as if something alive was moving through my body and sending me waves of intense energy. Everything was brighter, even in the dark. My eyesight had improved, and adrenaline pumped through my veins.

  I felt feral, wild, and unstoppable. Like a wolf.

  “Let’s try and find a way out of this fucking maze,” Vesta suggested.

  “Right, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we will find the woods and the portal,” I agreed. “Come on, I can sense we need to take a right at the next turn.”

  The women all nodded their agreements, and we slowly walked on ahead. With my newfound energy and loyal premonition abilities, the path forward was growing clearer, and I felt like I was high as I moved through the maze with quick and quiet steps. I wasn’t sure how long this heightened energy and strength would last, but I wanted this sensation to last forever.

  “Do you all feel that?” I whispered a few moments after I thought I sensed something.

  “Yeah, something is coming,” Akira breathed.

  “Everyone,” Vesta urged, “protect Cole. If anything happens to him, we’re fucked.”

  Before I could protest, the witches formed a circle around me. Then there was a low rumble, and something emerged from the darkness. Whatever it was lunged on top of Vesta, who went down with a hard crash.

  “Protect Cole!” the lavender-skinned witch shouted as she grappled with her assailant.

  When I looked down to see our attacker, I saw some kind of wildcat, but it wasn’t just a feline. The beast had the body of an antelope, and its hooves were as large as an ox’s. A pair of twisted horns also protruded from its ugly head.

  Vesta screamed as her blade was knocked from her hand by the monster cat’s paw. As we all raised our own weapons to kill the cat, it bent down and tore into Vesta’s lavender throat with serrated fangs. Blackish blood spluttered from her wound, and we all brought down our weapons into the creature’s hide and stabbed it over and over again until we were all covered in its gore.

  The creature finally collapsed dead on top of Vesta. Her silver eyes were glassy and wide open, and for a moment, my heart started to pound anxiously.

  Was she dead?

  We shoved the cat’s corpse off the still witch, and then we stared down at her bloody, gaping neck wound and her frozen eyes.

  “Vesta?” I whispered, but nothing happened.

  Then she suddenly gasped as her eyelids fluttered, and her throat slowly began to stitch itself back together before our very eyes.

  “Unholy shit,” Morgana nearly sobbed.

  “For a moment, I thought we might have lost you,” I said as I helped Vesta to her feet.

  “I thought so, too,” she rasped and felt at her neck. The skin was still slick with her blood, but the jagged gash had completely healed over now. Then Vesta’s silver eyes met mine, and I knew she was grateful. There was no need for her to say it aloud. I knew exactly what she was thinking.

  “Come on,” I said to take her mind off what had happened, “let’s keep going.”

  As we navigated through the maze, the darkness grew more ominous the deeper we went. Despite my newfound energy and senses, I could no longer see where the hell I was going. It was now pitch black.

  “Illuminana,” I whispered
.

  But nothing happened. There was no fire or light to guide my way.

  “What the hell?” I muttered.

  I tried again, and so did the others, but none of us were able to light the path. I cleared my worries and then took a deep breath before I closed my eyes. I felt something brush against my skin as I breathed in and out. I didn’t move or flinch, but it felt like a cold, clammy hand, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

  “Someone is preventing us from using basic spells,” I whispered.

  I could feel eyes watching our every move, and I realized someone had created a forcefield around us. Whoever was following us, they wanted to make the exam as challenging as possible. I knew the only way we would make it out of here was through our premonition skills, since it would be the only way to figure out how to make it out of this goddamn maze and into the black wood.

  So, I tried to focus on the earth beneath my feet, the black sky above me, and the frigid air that whipped across my face.

  I could hear my heartbeat. I could hear my own blood coursing through my veins. I could feel my arteries pumping with blood. I could sense the other witches and their fear.

  I could feel it all.

  That’s when I opened my eyes. I searched around me and tried to feel for the correct route, and when my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I thought I could see a wisp of mist twirling ahead of us. Our surroundings were pitch black, but the mist was as clear as day to me. It was like a smoke signal that urged us to follow it.

  “This way,” I said as I took a step forward. “Come on.”

  We ended up at a wide patch of dirt, and on the other side, two gates led to the end of the maze. One door was red, and the other was black.

  “Which one do we take?” Morgana whispered.

  “I--” I started to say, but then something behind us made a loud noise that caused the women to jump.

  When we turned to locate the source, all our weapons were extended in front of us, but then a hand shot out of the bushes, followed by a head.

  It was Sweeny, and she crawled out of the bushes as we watched. Then she stood to her feet and looked at each of us with a frown.

  “There you are,” she said with her arms crossed.

  The scarred witch looked like hell and was covered in blood. Scratches were engraved into her sallow skin, and her dark hair was matted with black blood. If I hadn’t known it was her, I would have killed her, because she genuinely looked like a monstrous demon.

  “You made it out alive.” Akira smiled. “I can’t believe it.”

  “I told you I would,” Sweeny said as she smirked a blood-red smile. “Now come on, we have to go through there.”

  She pointed to the black iron gate.

  “No,” I said as she took a step near it. “Look, Sweeny, I know you’ve made it this far without us, but something is telling me that you’re wrong. It’s the red gate we need to go through.”

  “Troll shit,” she argued before she turned to the other witches. “I’m going through that gate, and I’m going to make it to the black wood. You can either follow my lead or follow him through the other gate. Your choice.”

  “Wait, Sweeny, stop!” I called out as she pushed the black gate open.

  The scarred witch took about five or six steps away from the rest of us and smiled when nothing happened. She turned around to keep going, but I still had a bad feeling about her choice.

  “Sweeny,” I called out again. “I’m serious, stop!”

  “I’ll stop and do this,” she said as she turned around and shot me a crude gesture with her hands.

  As soon as her arms and fingers were raised, there was a cracking noise beneath her, and it sounded like an earthquake was happening right under her feet. She looked down, eyeless, but still capable of sensing that the soil was cracking.

  Then the earth gaped open like a mouth and swallowed her whole.

  The scarred witch screamed as she fell down into the pit, and we all heard a thud as she hit the bottom.

  “Sweeny!” Vesta called out.

  The witches rushed to the hole, and I had no choice but to follow them. When we neared the pit, I pulled Vesta back before she could fall into the hole as well. Then we peered down into the ground, and Sweeny was at the very bottom of a deep, dark chasm. Her ankle looked twisted and broken as she cried out in pain, and the other women panted in panic as they stared down at their fellow classmate.

  “We should get a rope or something,” Akira suggested.

  “Maybe I can shadow transport her up here,” Faye added.

  While the witches debated on how to save Sweeny, I sensed that something was approaching. Then I heard the distant sound of cackling and giggling that made every hair on my neck stand up, and I looked down in pity.

  Something was coming for Sweeny, and it was hungry.

  “Don’t you hear that?” I hissed to the rest of the witches.

  “Hear what?” Vesta asked, and her voice was laced with panic. “Cole, there isn’t any time for this, we need to get her out of there.”

  “I don’t think we can,” I said as I peered back down.

  Suddenly, dozens of red, spider-like creatures with infant-sized heads started to emerge from the dirt underneath Sweeny. They were twice the size of crabs, and they were probably some kind of evil little beings that lived in the depths of the earth.

  We watched in horror as the tiny monsters slowly started to climb on top of Sweeny, and the scarred woman screamed as the creatures began to feed on her body. They bit her arms, face, legs, and every part of her they could snatch on to, and the little monsters giggled as they continued to tear into her raw skin. They soon began to rip off pieces of flesh as Sweeny screeched in pain and fear. Her skin and muscles were being pulled apart, and organs started to spill out from her torso bites. Intestines were being removed from her gut, and the little beasts giggled as they pulled and ate her insides.

  They were devouring her alive.

  “Coleeeeeee!” Sweeny’s mouth started to bleed, and blood gushed from every bite that was being taken out of her. She tried to fight the monsters off, but it was no use. There were dozens of dozens of them. They laughed and ate her, while the other witches covered their mouths in disgust. Eventually, Sweeny’s cries started to die down, and I knew she was seconds away from death.

  Then some of the baby-faced monsters looked up toward us.

  “Get back!” I cried out as the ground started to rumble. “Get back! Right fucking now!”

  All the witches looked at me with wide, panicked eyes. Then they started to scramble several steps back and ran out of the black gate, with me hot on their heels. I swung the gate shut and watched as the ground on the other side broke, and another massive hole took its place. If we hadn’t backed away in time, we would have been down there, too.

  I turned to look at the others.

  They were all pale, and their lips quivered. I could tell they were shaken up, and I couldn’t blame them.

  Finally, Vesta cleared her throat and turned to look at the others.

  “As fucked up as it is to say … I think we need to keep moving,” she whispered.

  “We just watched Sweeny be eaten alive,” Morgana snapped. “Give us one minute at least.”

  “Look, I don’t like it either, but I refuse to die as well,” Vesta said with tearful, silver eyes. “I won’t die here.”

  “Me either.” I nodded. “Sweeny made her choice, and she reaped the consequences. Now, come on. The woods are through the red gate.”

  Then I heard a small squeak, and when I looked down at my feet, I saw one of the infant spider demons grinning back at me. None of us had seen it until now, and it caused Akira to scream.

  The creature giggled, and then turned its attention to her. The creepy fucking thing lunged for Akira, latched onto her ankle, and started to quickly climb up her leg.

  The dark-haired witch panicked as the monster sank its tiny sharp teeth into her calf, right through her robes. We
all pulled out our weapons, but Akira was already prepared with her knife. She screamed in rage and swooped down to stab the bastard straight in the head. The spider-baby let out a wail as she stabbed it again and again, and it finally went limp, but it still had its teeth buried in her lower leg.

  “Fuck,” she groaned as she shook it off. “It burns so bad.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “I need a … ” Akira’s coal-black eyes fluttered, and then she started to fall forward.

  “Woahhhh,” I soothed as I caught her in my arms, and then her body began to twitch.

  “It … fucking … hurts … soooo bad,” Akira hissed through clenched teeth, and then she suddenly went still in my arms.

  “Shit,” Faye gasped. “Is she dea--”

  Then Akira’s body jump started with a shudder, and her eyelids fluttered.

  “Those things are poisonous,” Vesta breathed.

  “Yeah,” the black-haired woman in my arms gasped. “Fucking, fuck, shit. That was quite unpleasant. I fucking died. It hurt so bad.

  “Thank Satan for the blood oath,” Vesta sighed.

  “Yeah,” Akira said as her eyes met mine.

  I was still holding her in my arms, so I gently let her go so she could stand on her own wobbly legs.

  The women all glanced at me, and I could tell the reality of what we’d done had finally settled in for them.

  “Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  The witches nodded shakily and followed me through the correct gate. Then I slowly pushed the red bars open and held my breath as I took a step outside the labyrinth.

  When nothing happened, I breathed a long sigh of relief.

  We’d finally made it out of that maze.

  “Thank Satan,” Vesta whispered.

  “We’re alive,” I said. “For now. Come on, the exam isn’t over just yet.”

  We might have completed the maze, but now we had to find a way to the portal and the village.

  The witches followed me as I headed down a cobblestone pathway that led downhill, and I could see the black woods from here. Tall, naked, ebony trees loomed over each other, and crows flew up into the dark sky.