Wally’s voice dipped. “Keep your enemies close, and your friends closer.”
“You have that saying wrong,” I said.
The six of us stepped through the door and shut it behind us.
Hands banged on it—the goblins who’d followed us.
We stood in a nondescript white room, empty but for a stooped figure in a suit with a huge, pointed nose and large, globe-like eyes. Obviously another goblin. His expression didn’t change as we passed, though he seemed to watch us longer than was prudent.
The only way to go was through an empty white corridor. Our footsteps echoed and none of us spoke. We reached another white room devoid of furnishing, art, or any identifying marks whatsoever. A padded room wouldn’t have been so uncomfortable—at least the upholstery wouldn’t have had such a bright, punishing gleam. Three doors stood side by side, not labeled.
“I hate this place,” I said, feeling a strange urge to drift toward the door on my right.
“We have that much in common,” Ethan said, marching toward the door I would’ve picked. “We’re almost done. The last challenge will be the easiest.”
“Oh really? Fantastic. I could use a break,” Wally said, starting off after him.
Ethan grabbed the door handle with the confidence born of a leader—or of a cheater who knew where he was going. As we shuffled in after him, my mouth dropped open.
An enormous field stretched out as far as the eye could see filled with nothing but row upon row of hay stacks. Equal distance apart, the same size and height, there was no telling them apart, and once the door behind us closed and disappeared, there were no doorways out.
“I think I’d rather be back in the white room,” I muttered, now glad to follow Ethan. I had a feeling a person could walk for an eternity in these fields, the landscape never changing, the bright though sunless sky never dulling, and never find a way out.
“I thought you were a farmer,” Wally said. “You should be familiar with hay.”
“Being familiar with hay is vastly different than…this.” I shook my head as we wound through the rows.
Ethan pulled out his paper and tapped it with his wand. Blue lines slowly soaked into the page, forming into a map, which then rose up as a 3D configuration of the area around us, including Ethan. A miniature figure bent over an even smaller piece of paper, appeared within the 3D map.
“Wow,” I said, stepping closer. On the map, another figure popped into existence, standing beside the first—me, I was guessing—and circled in red. A warning. Someone was too close and would know what he was doing. “Your source is thorough with the details.”
Ethan turned, getting his bearings before setting out, the rest of us in tow like the little ducklings the troll had thought us. “My family employs only the best,” he said, stalling occasionally when he needed a prompt from his paper. The thing was idiot proof.
“But surely some other high-powered family who lacks morals also has a good insider,” I said, grabbing a piece of hay and rolling it between my fingers. It didn’t feel quite right, a little silkier than what I was used to—not scratchy enough to be real.
“We employ the best, because we are the best,” Ethan answered. “There are others with similar information, sure, but as you’ve seen, they can’t cut it in the trials. They aren’t good enough, even with the guiding hand.” He paused for a moment. “And it isn’t a moral issue. These trials are rigged. They are geared toward those with the right magic. That’s unfair for everyone else. I’m simply…making it fair.”
“No.” I smiled and shook my head. “You’re not evening the playing field for everyone, just for yourself. Nice try, though, with the whole justification speech.”
“The trials are supposed to sort people into houses, and the big prizes are intended for the best of each house,” Wally said, “No one is good at all five houses. Except for the Shadowkiller, but he doesn’t count. He was an anomaly. Basically, by trying to win a prize in the houses you’re weak in, Ethan, you’re stealing while also confusing the selection process. You don’t want to be put in the same category as the Shadowkiller.”
“Bull,” Ethan said, winding ever closer to the glowing spot on the map. “I’ll be in the House of Wonder. Everyone in my family history has been in that house. We only marry within the house to keep the magical lines pure. I use a wand, for Christ’s sake. Finding the gold is just a boon, and why should it only go to someone from a specific house? How is that fair? It should be fair game for everyone.”
“It is,” Wally replied. “We work in groups so we can pool the strength of all the houses. We would not have done this well in this challenge without Gregory’s help.”
Ethan huffed, and I had the feeling he was rolling his eyes. “How many intact groups made it to the top of that tower?”
“One,” Orin said. “And it is rather miraculous that we should have done so. The strategy of working in diversified groups has largely failed across magical society. Of course, that is why the trials are set up this way, to encourage groupings like ours.”
“See?” Wally put her finger in the air in triumph. “Our success is what makes this setup fair.”
“Except we’re currently being led by a cheater because we don’t know which way to go,” I reminded them. “We’re all cheating at this point. Which should probably make me feel bad.”
Uncomfortably, it didn’t. I didn’t want to lose any more than Ethan did.
“I know the way,” Gregory said quietly.
“What’s that?” I asked, half turning back to look.
“We’re getting closer. It’s another gemstone. Sapphire, I think. I can feel it. I’d be able to find it. The proverbial needle in the haystack. That’s the game here.”
“There you go. See?” Ethan walked three-fourths of the way around a haystack before cutting between two others. “Not cheating. We could be using the goblin’s cursed talents to win.”
“Talking about morals with someone that has none is a journey of dead ends,” Wally said and then sighed.
“Here.” Ethan stopped in front of a haystack like any other. The 3D person projected above the paper stood next to the glowing treasure spot.
“No.” I pointed to the haystack to his right. “There. Your figure on the map is next to it, not in front of it.”
Gregory didn’t wait for Ethan to figure it out. He circled the haystack, his focus totally engaged on the task at hand, and then stopped to face the pile. He ran his hand down the angled sides, barely touching the hay. A few seconds later, about halfway down the pile, he slowly pushed his fingers through the hay. His eyes were half closed, his head angled—he was feeling for the sapphire with his magic.
Ethan folded up the paper and tucked it back into his pocket.
“No, no.” I pointed at it. “We need that to get back out of here.”
He rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. Clearly, I was incorrect.
Gregory leaned farther in, up to his elbow. Further still, nearly to his shoulder now. He closed his eyes fully and drew in deep breaths.
“No wonder the goblins have all the money,” Wally said softly. “They can just wander around and collect it like in a video game.”
“Precious gemstones don’t just lie around in the world in perfect, ready-to-sell pieces,” Orin said. “They are usually stripes in lesser rocks. They must be dug out, broken apart, harvested. Gold, as well, is not just found—there is more work to it.”
Wally shrugged. “Same difference.”
A muscle in Gregory’s arm jumped, and he pulled back, faster now. Hand out of the haystack, he opened it. A perfect square sapphire, the same size and shape as both the ruby and Ethan’s gold square.
“It’s very pretty,” I gushed as it caught the light. Ethan gave me a funny look.
Crap. Guys clearly didn’t gush about gems. Or if they did, not in that way.
I had opened my mouth to fix the situation when the scene around us shivered, melting away. Haystacks wobb
led, then spun through the air, sending straw whipping around us, like we were at the heart of a tornado.
I reached out and gripped Wally to steady myself, my stomach flipping with dizziness. Before I could adjust, smoke rose from below our feet and the spinning scene faded. The illusion dimmed. Darkness rushed in, muting our surroundings until a new scene presented itself.
Two or three torches were attached to each of the dark gray walls around us, which shimmered and danced as though wet. The room was triangular. In front of us, behind a heavy metal gate, sat a robust chest decked out in precious gems, overflowing with gold coins that sparkled in the glow of the room. This haul was definitely bigger than the last one—enough riches to buy my entire family a whole new life. Several lives maybe.
Staring at all that wealth, I let a breath slowly tumble out of my mouth. They were just giving it away. All these trials—this whole organization—clearly had more money than they knew what to do with.
“We just need to fit the pieces where they go,” Ethan said, looking down at his square chunk of gold. “Put all the trinkets on the table so we can figure this out.”
The table in front of us hadn’t commanded my attention as much as the heap of gold behind it, but it was triangular, same as the room we stood in. An odd shape to say the least. There were three square openings embedded in it—one for each of the treasures.
Gregory hesitated, not that I blamed him. Arranging the pieces on the table would mean putting them within striking distance of Ethan.
“There’s nowhere to go,” I said, motioning for Gregory to comply. “We’ll finish this one up together. We have to, or we won’t be finishing it at all.”
With all the square pieces on the table, Ethan put his hand over his pocket. He didn’t pull out his paper, however, and after catching his eyes flicking around us, I knew why. He didn’t want to get caught. This room was probably closely monitored, and while some cheating was allowed, if not condoned, it wouldn’t be accepted here, not when there was so much money on the table.
“Puzzles. I can do a puzzle.” I leaned forward, seeing each piece as it stood alone. All square, all cut exactly the same. I moved the pieces around, but each would fit into any of the openings on the table.
I frowned, trying to figure it out. I knew gold was a softer metal, and the two gemstones would be a fair bit harder, but that’s about all I could come up with from my limited geology instruction in school. I thought of them as a whole. Given that there were only three of them, there were only six possible permutations. But which were they looking for?
I knew without asking that whatever I entered into the squares in the table would be our final answer. We’d need to sort this out before placing the stones.
“This wall is inlaid with rubies,” Gregory said softly, turning to the wall on his right.
I reached over and ran my hand over it, feeling tiny little bumps against my palm, the source of the shimmering. A strange sensation washed over me, sliding along my skin before soaking down into me. Suddenly, the wall took on a different feel, impossible to describe, slight but persistent. Back at the table, the same feeling, though much more potent, throbbed along my skin.
The ruby. I was feeling the gem. Just like Gregory could.
I could feel the other squares we’d gathered too.
How the hell?
I didn’t stop to question the how. I could mull over it later when I no longer needed to focus.
“Can you feel sapphires in one of the other walls, Gregory?” I asked.
He didn’t even need to stop and consider it. “The wall behind us,” he said, his ability to feel gems much stronger than my borrowed ability.
“Right, right,” I said, my hands working, already connecting the dots. “And gold is to the left of us.” The triangular room was set up just like the table.
Just. Like. The. Table.
I arranged the gems and gold beside the openings in the table, feeling the satisfying click as they fit together. I pointed at the red square “Ruby”—then the wall—“wall inlaid with rubies. Sapphire, wall inlaid with sapphires. Gold…with gold.”
“So easy,” Ethan murmured.
“Only easy for those who can feel it,” I said, running the scenario through in my mind to make double sure I was right. “You wouldn’t know gems made these walls shimmer. Even if you figured it out, there’s no color to the shine. You would have gotten the gold right, sure, but you’d only have a fifty-fifty chance of choosing the gems correctly.”
“I’m not sure I would’ve put two and two together,” Gregory said, rubbing his nose. “I mean, it is easy now that I know, but…it hadn’t occurred to me that the walls would be the hint.”
“And that is why they want magical factions to work together. You see?” Wally braced her fists against her hips and nodded.
“I’m going with this, unless there’s an argument…” I let the statement linger for a moment, and when I didn’t get pushback, delicately placed the stones in the corresponding openings on the triangular table.
The squares sank into the stone table, and a flash of light made me stagger backward. The wall to our right glittered red. Blue twinkled behind us. The gold shimmered, and for a moment I thought it would all disappear just like the haystacks, but the metal gate shimmied upward instead.
We’d done it. We’d won!
As if on cue, Ethan stepped forward with his chest puffed out, and I knew he would try to claim the victory for himself, just like last time.
Chapter 7
“Not this time,” I ground out before rushing forward and grabbing Ethan. There was no way he was going to claim this victory as his own. I flung him back with all my strength. His legs caught the edge of the table, which swept them out from under him. He dove, head first, onto the ground, skidding to a stop on his face. That was going to leave a mark.
Pete snarled and hissed before nipping Gregory’s heels, clearly in agreement with what I was trying to do. Gregory shrieked and danced forward as a line of light traced a shape in the far wall behind the gold, outlining a hidden door
“It wasn’t my win,” Gregory said as the door slowly swung open, revealing a short, stooped figure with large, circular glasses over crazy big eyeballs.
“We did it together,” Wally said, “especially you and Wild, except he’s not supposed to win, since the Sandman and his really hot sidekick said so, so you need to be the frontman. You were the second most valuable player, not including the cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.”
“Shut up about the cheating,” I grumbled through the side of my mouth as I fell back behind Wally and next to Orin.
Two other people, thin and slightly taller, flanked the lead figure as they all walked slowly through the door. The lead figure’s large, slightly glassy brown eyes took us all in, shrewd and calculating. His gaze paused on me for a fraction of a second longer than the others, before flicking to Ethan getting up from the floor.
Busted.
Whatever. Knocking someone over wouldn’t draw the same notice as claiming an enormous stack of gold from someone else’s house.
“I am impressed,” the lead figure said, stepping forward on his spindly legs. His clothes had to be made special—not even a master tailor could transform a regular suit to fit this creature’s oddly shaped body with the long, swinging arms, and bowed legs. Was this what Gregory would eventually morph into? “No winner in our history has ever stood before us with their group intact, let alone with so many of you. You do realize that larger groups have a harder time going through? We rarely, if ever, see six team members.”
Wally preened, and Pete looked up at me, chittering.
I’d really like to change back into my human form, but this would be an awkward time to stand around naked.
I suppressed a grin as Ethan threw back his wide shoulders and sauntered to the front of the group with Gregory. He clapped his hand on Gregory’s shoulder, making the smaller guy jump.
“Gregory was integra
l to helping me find the hidden gemstones and solve the final puzzle. He really did our group proud.”
Though he didn’t say it outright, it was clear from Ethan’s tone and manner that he was claiming the leadership role. He was magnanimously patting Gregory on the back for his role, while at the same time calling him a spoke in the wheel turned by Ethan.
I ground my teeth, and Pete growled.
Wally didn’t seem troubled. “Yes, without Gregory, none of us would’ve gotten up that wall,” she said. “Ethan had the right idea. I should’ve climbed straight up, away from the danger, like he did. It would’ve saved my arms. Gregory handled the danger like a pro. I believe he did his house rather proud.”
I couldn’t suppress a smile at Wally’s less-than-subtle jab at Ethan. Pete’s growl cut off and turned into a funny little snicker.
The authorities came to a stop behind the gold. No one else rushed in to congratulate us like they had in the last trial.
“We certainly saw some great leadership in this trial,” the lead figure said, though he didn’t look at any one person when he said it. “But you have claimed champion of the trial as a group, and therefore, the proceeds will be divided accordingly.”
“Oh yes, of course,” Ethan said, all ease and bravado. “It was a group win. That’s the right thing to do.”
The lead figure stared at Ethan silently for a moment. “Do any of you need healing?”
“I’ll live,” I said quickly, putting a hand to my throbbing arm where the gargoyle had slashed me. Maybe I could go to the healers later. Right now, I didn’t want to chance a meeting with Sideburns and his lying jackass of a sidekick. I didn’t want to upset Wally, who thought he was dreamy, when I had to rearrange Mr. Tall Drink of Water’s face. “I’ll just head back.”
Through the door and beyond another of those strange, nondescript, white rooms, we found ourselves in a small, closed-in corridor that angled upward. At the end, the circular metal handle clunked after a quarter turn. The metal door swung inward.
Shadowspell Academy: The Culling Trials, Book 2 Page 5