by Sadie Moss
“Maybe, Princess,” Dmitri shoots back. “Or maybe I just don’t want you to make an embarrassment of the school.”
“Oh, and because you should be the one up there, right?”
It’s a bit of a low blow for me to say that—I must be more nervous than I thought. Ever since the battle royale, I’ve been expecting Dmitri to bring up the fact that he’d be up there if it wasn’t for me. It seems like something he’d want to needle me about. But he hasn’t mentioned it once, hasn’t given even a single sign that he feels slighted or screwed.
It’s… odd.
“Come on, kids, play nice,” Asher says mildly. “The ceremony’s going to start soon.”
Shit, he’s right. I hurry up to the front of the massive room and find a seat right at the end of the row, next to the competitor from Syren Academy, the school for enchanters.
My cuff reminds me that unlike the other seven people lined up with me, I’m not allowed to do magic whenever I want. Surreptitiously, I pull the sleeve of my shirt down to hide the metal brace.
Jesus. It’s so fucking unfair. I’m not going to just unleash my magic on the unsuspecting contestants, any more than the fire elementalist is going to set the podium ablaze. But I guess some people can’t stand even the possibility that one of us could start a ruckus or something.
The opening ceremony seems to be steeped in tradition and involves a bunch of dry speeches, some recitations in Latin, and a parade of school flags. It’s all tedious and makes zero sense to me, and honestly, I wish I was still in bed.
At the end of it, Provost Johnson, the bigwig head of the entire Phoenix Training Program, calls each of us up to the podium.
I’m last, and my stomach flip-flops when he intones my name.
“And finally, representing Griffin Academy, Elliot Sinclair.”
I’m not surprised to see a few raised eyebrows as I walk up to the podium and the crowd realizes I’m a girl. I know my name is typically a boy’s—don’t ask me why Mom chose it because hell if I know, but I like it.
Johnson shakes my hand. He seems about the same age as Dean Hardwick, and he’s got that same fatherly look going on, with a round face and a receding hairline. He has a few large rings on his fingers, which are the only really notable thing about his appearance. He nods at me solemnly, then I shake the hands of the other deans before moving stand with the other Trial contestants again.
Provost Johnson wraps everything up with a final speech about how this will build camaraderie and provide opportunities, foster friendships, and build community. I’m not entirely sure I buy all the feel-good vibes though; this isn’t an ordinary year of the Trials, and everybody in the auditorium knows it. I feel a bit like it’s the other magical academies against us, and I’m ready to stand up for Unpredictable magic.
They’ve all probably come here thinking I’m going to fail, or that our school is going to be shoddy and won’t live up to the standards they expect. They’ve probably come here thinking we’re nothing.
Well, I’m going to prove them wrong.
For once, I’m proud to be who I am, to have the magic that I do. We’re the underdogs, and I’m used to that, and I’m ready to do whatever I can to—as Cam put it—kick some ass.
“Let the Trials begin!” Hardwick says, and the crowd goes nuts.
I drag in a deep breath.
All right. Here we go.
Chapter 11
There’s a short break after the ceremony, and I get a text from Maddy right before the first competition starts.
Maddy: Good luck! Wish I could be there! I love you!
I smile to myself and quickly type out a reply, then hand my phone in. I’m not allowed communication with anyone during the competition.
Maddy was pretty worried when I told her I’d been chosen for the Trials. She feels bad that she’s not coming to observe, but only a few students from each school are allowed to attend, and she wasn’t chosen. I told her not to worry about it, that it’s more important for her to focus on her studies.
And there’s another reason l’m sort of glad she’s not allowed to come. If I fail miserably, I don’t want Maddy to be here to see it. I know I’m not a superwoman, but I’ve tried to set a good example, to be brave for her, tough for her. I don’t want to disappoint her—and if I do let her down, I’d rather it not be right in front of her.
After the staff member assisting with the Trials sticks my phone in a little baggie, we’re all taken out to the quad.
My brows pinch together. What the…?
There are eight small structures sitting on the grass, each about the size of a port-a-potty.
Weird.
I’m guided to stand in front of one at the end, and I stare at it. Nerves flutter in my stomach. Am I supposed to—what, go in there? Or is something going to come out instead? Like some monster bursting out of a tiny cage, and I have to defeat it or something?
“Contestants!” Hardwick announces, his voice magically magnified so we can all hear him. “You will each enter the room in front of you. The rooms are escape rooms, enchanted to be bigger on the inside. Once you enter, the door will disappear. Your goal is to find a way out of the room before the timer runs out. You have one hour.”
Ah shit. Um, okay.
I’ve heard of escape rooms before. Maddy went to one once, for the birthday party of a friend. She said they had to solve clues and puzzles to figure out how to escape. It’s probably the same thing here. Which seems simple enough, but this isn’t just your ordinary escape room. They’re going to want us to use magic to get out, or maybe the puzzles themselves are magic-based. Maybe we’ll need to know specific types of magic or be able to do certain spells to even find the clues.
Oh God. I am so fucked.
“On your mark,” Hardwick says, “get set. Go!”
There’s nothing for it.
I dash into my room as the other seven contestants disappear into theirs, and the door slams shut behind me then vanishes entirely.
My heart thrums in my chest, and I peer around, my eyes adjusting to the dim light inside the large space.
Holy shit.
These things really are bigger on the inside. It’s a simple enchanting spell, or so I hear, it just takes a lot of time because you have to layer it all over every aspect of the building or something…
Wow, I sound like a nerd. I guess I’ve been learning something in my classes after all.
Shaking my head to focus my thoughts, I take a deep, steadying breath.
Okay, okay. All I have to do is find a way out of the room. Easy enough, right? You can do this, Elliot.
I’m in what looks to be someone’s private office. There are bookshelves on two walls, a large desk in the middle, a map of the world on the third wall, and the fourth wall has a bunch of paintings hung on it. There’s a rug on the floor, a globe on a stand, and some papers on the desk, along with some miscellaneous nonsense, including a paperweight shaped like an elephant.
Up on the wall above the map is a timer. It’s steadily counting down from 60:00.
Great.
All right. So, how do I get out of this?
I could maybe try to sonic boom my way out, blow a hole in the wall—but honestly, the thought of trying that scares the shit out of me. I’m sure the walls are magically reinforced, and if I try to unleash a sonic boom strong enough to break through those enchantments, there’s no guarantee that the blowback wouldn’t kill me. Especially with my powers acting up like they have been.
Spider climb? Maybe if there were an exit on the ceiling, but I don’t see anything. I climb up the map wall and along the ceiling just in case, but nope, there’s nothing that’ll help me get out.
I end up back in front of the desk, hands fisted as I chew my lip thoughtfully.
Well, they wouldn’t have put all this shit into the room if they expected you to just blast your way out or melt the concrete.
There has to be some other way I can get myself out of here.
I start by searching through the papers on the desk, and sure enough, spread out over several sheets of paper, there’s a riddle—almost like a set of instructions, but with annoyingly vague aspects.
Okay, great. I can do this.
As I gaze at the papers I’ve laid out in order on the desk, I catch sight of tiny security cameras in the corners with their red lights blinking. My face flushes. Great. I’m being watched and probably laughed at by all the spectators.
I sarcastically salute one of the cameras and get to work on the riddle. Maddy told me after her escape room escapade that this is kind of standard, so I’m not too worried. Apparently, I have to find a keypad, and then find the code I’ll need to enter into that keypad to make a hidden door open.
Hmmm.
Okay, so, where would someone hide a keypad? Probably in the wall. But the walls are smooth concrete, no give to them.
I start methodically pulling out the books on the shelves to see if any of them are a secret lever that might reveal the keypad. One of them is a lever, thank God, but all it does is make the bookshelf slide to the left, revealing a hidden room.
Huh. That’s… not exactly what I was hoping for.
Inside the room is a flashlight and a blank wall. I pick up the heavy metal flashlight and turn it on, realizing as I do that it’s not a normal light; it’s an ultraviolet one. It also doesn’t work very well. Before I can direct the beam anywhere, the bulb flickers and dies.
Damn it.
I’m pretty sure we covered light manipulation in my Theory of Magic class, but knowing how it works and being able to do it are two different things. It’s not one of the tools in my arsenal, and I can’t see how my sonic boom or my spider climb is going to help me here.
Now would be a really great time for that strange burble of magic I felt last semester to manifest as some awesome new power that would help me out of this, but even though I close my eyes for a moment and will something to spark, nothing does.
I sigh, opening my eyes again. It was a pretty dumb idea anyway.
Looks like this is all I’ve got to work with right now.
Gripping the heavy flashlight in one hand, I smack it against my other palm, trying to jar it back to life. I’m sure there are magical ways to get out of these rooms, but I just can’t see how to do it with my magic. I feel useless. Normal.
After several attempts, I get the flashlight to turn on again. Quickly, I shine the beam on the blank black wall and see that it’s covered in various words and symbols. Okay, now, these I do know—the symbols are hieroglyphs from the Mayans and the Egyptians, and the words are in Latin. I know that thanks to my History of Magic class, where we’ve been learning about ancient spells and languages.
Well, at least I’m not entirely useless.
I use one of the pieces of paper from the desk and a spare pen to write everything down, stopping every few seconds to shake the flashlight back to life. It’s tedious going, and my palm is red from where I’ve repeatedly bashed the flashlight against it by the time I’m finished, but I get everything written down. Then I shuffle my notes around, trying to get them into a working order.
It’s literally three different languages I’m looking at here, but they have to combine in some way that makes sense, right?
Sheesh. If this were an actual escape room, I’d buzz the bored front desk worker for a clue right about now.
I glance up at the clock. Not a lot of time left. Fuck me.
Working quickly, I translate all the languages into English, which leaves me with a jumble of random words, but at least they’re all in the same language. I put them in order—and realize it’s a list of descriptions and unfinished phrases.
But descriptions of what?
Land of ice…
We’ll always have…
Don’t cry for me…
There are several more, and my gaze scans over them as I try to sort out what they have in common. My heart jumps in my chest as I read them over for the third time. Oh! They’re places.
I look up at the map.
Land of ice. Iceland. We’ll always have… Paris. A quote from the film Casablanca. Don’t cry for me… Argentina. It’s a song from the musical Evita.
I search the desk and find a bunch of red pins. I start placing them over the places mentioned, or the capital city of the place if it’s referencing a whole country. Paris, Reykjavík, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Mumbai, Cairo, Washington D.C., Cape Town…
Once the last pin is in place, they all light up, emanating a bright white light.
The map rolls up in on itself—enchanted, I’m guessing—revealing a large, rectangular keypad.
Fuck yes!
My excitement flares but dies out almost as quickly. I’ve found the keypad but not the code, and time is running out fast. Where would the code be?
I look around. There’s nothing else in the room. Just the paintings on the walls, the books, the shit on the desk…
Wait.
I look at the books again. Biography of Claude Monet.
Swiveling my head, I peer at the wall. One of the paintings is Water Lilies by Monet.
My nose wrinkles. Good thing all the paintings have the signature of the artist at the bottom of them or I’d be sunk. Art history isn’t my strong point. I grab the books that reference the artists who have art on the walls. How is this a code though?
I flip through each book, but find nothing—literally. They’re all blank inside. Am I supposed to somehow make the code appear inside them? There are potions that can do that; I’m sure the potion brewing contestant isn’t having a problem. Damn it, why am I so useless?
I turn the books so their spines are all facing me. Then I look at the keypad.
There aren’t just numbers on there, but the whole alphabet. Hmm.
Mind whirring, I order the books so they’re in the same order as the paintings on the wall, then read off the first letter on the spine of each book.
L-I-B-E-R-T-A-S. Libertas.
Latin for “liberty”.
A huff of laughter falls from my lips. I guess making the code spell out “jailbreak” would be a little too on the nose for everyone.
I punch the word into the keypad, my breath catching in my throat. What if I’m wrong? What if I just triggered some kind of tripwire that makes the whole room self-destruct or something?
But nothing explodes.
The keypad beeps, a green light comes on, and the wall in front of me dissolves.
Holy shit, I actually did it. And without any magic!
Normally, I’d be pleased that I managed this all the normal way, but the goal of this whole competition is to use magic, and I didn’t. Even though I technically completed the challenge, I feel like a failure, like I’m just scraping by.
Gathering my courage, I step out. The bright sunlight blinds me a little, and I have to shield my eyes with my hand and blink a few times before my vision adjusts.
Amidst the gathered spectators, people from our school are cheering and clapping. I can see Cam and Asher grinning, the blond-haired mage whooping and pumping his fist in the air as his more reserved friend applauds. Dmitri’s got his arms folded, but I swear his lips are tilting up at the corners.
I look around, and it slowly dawns on me… I’m the first one out of her room.
Wait, really? Did I really just manage that?
As I watch, another person steps out of his room—Jack, the fire elemental contestant. His room looks a little, uh, singed.
Damn, that was close. I might have won, but only by about thirty seconds. And this is just the first trial. How am I supposed to make it through all of them, especially if they keep getting more difficult?
The other contestants all emerge over the next few minutes, and I can see from the destroyed state of the rooms that they all used magic of some kind to get themselves out of there. A part of me wonders if the judges intended for us to use magic or to use normal means, because I feel bad for whoever set u
p all those clues only to have seven of the eight contestants pretty much ignore them to tear the place up with spells.
Doesn’t matter, really, in the end. I got out, and now I can focus on the next challenge.
“Holy shit, Sin! You did it!”
The voice makes me turn, and a second later, Cam’s large frame barrels into mine, his thick arms scooping me up and whirling me around as I laugh.
“I can’t believe you won!” Asher says, pulling me away from Cam so he can hug me too. “That was amazing!”
“We could all see it on the videos,” Cam says, pointing up into the air. “We got to watch the whole thing.”
There are four huge screens floating above the quad, each one displaying a split-screen image with the interiors of all eight rooms. Some of the spaces look a lot worse for wear.
“We got a front row seat to your panic,” Dmitri drawls, walking over to join us.
“I’m gonna assume you’re just pissed that you finally have proof I’m smarter than you?” I shoot back. “If you’d been in there, you would’ve just phased through the wall.”
His lip curls. “No, because they have runes preventing that, and it would be lazy. I’m not lazy. Unlike some people.”
“Are you saying my not solving the puzzle with magic was lazy? You’re one to talk—you don’t get out of bed before noon if you can help it.”
Dmitri doesn’t smile, but I swear I see a gleam of pride in his eyes. “Yeah, well, I guess your whole magic avoidance thing paid off. The announcers were talking about how you were the only one who followed the logic all the way through instead of creating a shortcut at any point using magic. I think that was the point of this first competition—to focus on your logic and scholarly skills instead of just relying on the brute force of your powers.”
That makes sense. Our professors are always lecturing us about how a big part of magic is knowing not just how, but when to use it. We have to be logical in our approach to spell casting and make the magic work for us, not the other way around. So I guess I ended up accidentally completing the challenge the right way?
Something makes the back of my neck prickle, and when I look out into the crowd, I catch sight of Roman. I knew he’d be watching me, even if he can’t come over to congratulate me in person like the other three men.