by Eva Ashwood
Messengers of the gods, huh?
Curiosity burned in my gut. My mind replayed the conversation I had overheard between Miss Avery and Dean Frost after the Gods’ Challenge last semester.
They aren’t happy about how it went. They expected far more from us than this.
I was almost positive the “they” in that sentence referred to the gods themselves. And the thing they’d expected more of? Death.
Yeah. Fucked up. Give people magic then kill them for it.
But if these were messengers of the gods, then maybe they were here to discuss the challenge. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the preliminaries were coming up soon and now they were here. It had to have something to do with the Gods’ Challenge, and the fact that all of those people had died. The messengers could be my key to understanding what exactly was going on here.
Biting my lip, I shot a glance at Eden, who was talking in whispered voices with Angela.
I knew I had to sneak off. I had to try to find a way to eavesdrop on the meeting, and I couldn’t risk her getting into trouble with me. As she and Angela stared after the messengers, I stepped back and hurried down the hallway into the crowd of people heading to class. Wesley had disappeared in the crowd too, and although I kind of wanted to finish our fight, this was way more important.
When I emerged through an archway into a common area, I slipped around the corner and hid, allowing the rest of the students around me to continue moving on. Once the hallways were quiet, I stepped out, trying to find the best route to reach the messengers.
As I headed down the hallway in a new direction, a heavy a hand fell on my shoulder. My heart leapt in my chest, and I spun around, hands rising to attack.
But it wasn’t one of the messengers, or a professor, or even Wesley.
It was Merrick. And he was flanked by the other two men. They were all standing in almost identical postures, their chins tilted down and their eyebrows lifted.
Gods. They really do share a fucking brain sometimes.
I let out a breath and shook my head. “Fucking hell. You could’ve said something. You scared the shit out of me.”
Merrick crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, like you could’ve said something?”
My brows pulled together. “What do you mean?”
His amber eyes burned, and he chuckled softly. “Where are you going, Aria?”
Oh. Oops. Busted.
“Um, nowhere. Just for a walk.”
Lachlan let out a full laugh at that. Then he lowered his voice, stepping forward. “Nah, lass. Come on now. We know ye far too well to believe that shite. As soon as we heard the messengers had come, we knew ye’d try to go and find out what they were talking about.”
I stared at them for a moment, then decided not even to try to deny it. They did know me too well, and they definitely wouldn’t believe me if I said I didn’t plan to do anything.
So instead I said, “Well, are you going to come with me or not?”
Trace, Lachlan, and Merrick all glanced at each other for a moment. Then Trace shrugged, nodding toward the front door. “Yeah. Of course, Snow.”
My heart warmed, and a little smile tugged at my lips. Of course they were willing to go with me. They wanted to know the truth about this place just as much as I did; and just like Lachlan had said, they wouldn’t let me walk into danger alone no matter what.
“We need to get close, but we can’t get caught,” I murmured, stepping closer to the three of them. “If we get caught, everything ends. They will know we’re on to them, and they’ll never let us compete in the challenge.”
Carefully, we eased our way out of the front doors and down the steps, then moved around to the side of the large, castle-like building. We hid next to a large stone staircase, looking up two floors to where the meeting room was. I could hear muffled voices from above us, but I couldn’t make out the distinct sounds. But if we could get closer to the room’s window, we might be able to hear something.
Turning to the guys, I leaned in and whispered. “We can use the balcony from the bottom floor to hoist ourselves up near the window so that we can hear what the admins are saying. We should be able to use our magic to climb the side of the building. Just like that dome back in the Gods’ Challenge.”
All three men nodded, their expressions serious. I went first, heading over to the first-floor balcony and carefully climbing up onto the rail that surrounded it. When I was balanced on the low stone railing, I pulsed some energy through my hands, creating the same sticky feeling that I had when I had climbed the dome in the godly realm.
Of course, the guys were all assholes and raced up the wall around me. They might be developing feelings for me, but that didn’t mean they weren’t all competitive as fuck.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head as they waited, hovering around the window. I took my time, not wanting to make a mistake.
As I approached the window, I kept myself pressed tightly to the wall. When I was level with the large window, I craned my neck slightly, trying to peer inside the room without being seen.
Miss Avery’s face appeared at the window, looking out across the school grounds. My heart lurched into my throat, and I swiftly moved to the side, my hands slipping.
“Fuck!”
The word was barely more than a whisper, but Lachlan heard it. His hand shot down and grabbed me by the shirt, holding me in the air as I pressed my body against the wall, my pulse fluttering like a hummingbird. All four of us clung to the wall, trying desperately not to be seen.
Miss Avery looked back and forth for several moments before finally walking away from the window. I was able to put my hands back together, bringing the magic forward, and then I climbed up alongside the guys again.
I gave Lachlan an exhausted look of thanks and rolled my eyes, annoyed at myself for losing my magical grip like that. He grinned and shook his head. The four of us stayed perfectly still, hanging from the walls of the school, trying to listen in on the conversation inside the room. Because it’d taken us time to sneak around the building and climb up the wall, we had missed what seemed to be a good portion of the conversation. Not to mention the fact that the voices were still so fucking muffled it was difficult to put together the bits and pieces of people’s words.
“Keep sending us your best and strongest,” a deep voice echoed out.
One of the messengers. It must be. There was something almost inhuman about it.
My eyes narrowed at that statement, anger burning through me. So they wanted the admins to send the best and strongest of us, and they also wanted to make sure that a good portion of the competitors died?
How fucked up is that?
One of the admin’s voices replied to the messenger. I didn’t think it was Miss Avery or Dean Frost, but whoever as speaking sounded shrill and nervous. The powerful resonance of the messenger’s voice had carried through the windowpane, but this voice didn’t boom in the same way, so I couldn’t make out the words.
But whatever the person said, it didn’t go over well.
There was a bit of commotion inside and a clap of thunder that sent a wave of energy reverberating through the window. Cold sweat bathed my body, and all four of us held on strongly, trying not to be forced off the wall. When the power settled down, I had a feeling something had happened inside the room. Probably something I didn’t want to know about.
“It’s not a perfect system, but it’s the only way.”
That was Dean Frost, and she sounded like she was trying to convince someone. But who was she talking to? The other admins? Or the gods’ messengers?
I furrowed my brow and looked over at the guys, trying to piece together what Frost’s pronouncement meant. What “system” was she talking about? Just another question to add to my long list of unknowns.
The one thing I did know, though, was that I was unusually strong. Several of my teachers had mentioned it along the way. That meant the admins and messengers were talking about people like
me.
They were talking about people like Merrick, Trace, and Lachlan.
The messengers wanted them to send the best and most talented students into a deadly challenge in the godly realm.
Fear chilled my skin at the same time a grim smile spread across my face. Eden had been worried that the admins wouldn’t let me compete in the preliminary again, since I’d already won the challenge once.
But from the sounds of it, they’d be all too willing to give me another chance to go to the godly realm.
Another chance to die there.
Chapter Eight
Leaning back in my chair, I let my eyes drift shut for a moment.
I hadn’t slept more than a few hours last night. I had snuck into Merrick’s room for two rounds of toe-curling sex, which had helped calm my whirling thoughts for a while. But the calm hadn’t lasted long. I’d had confusing, terrifying dreams, and had spent a good portion of the night staring up at the ceiling.
The preliminary competition for the Gods’ Challenge was growing nearer and nearer. I was trying so hard to stay focused, to continue working hard in my classes and absorb everything our professors were teaching us. But with everything going on, it was hard to focus. Even though I’d only gotten to hear a portion of it, what the messengers had said during that meeting had really messed with my head.
It was like I had fifty pieces of a thousand piece puzzle, and I kept shuffling them around in my head, trying to make them fit without knowing the shapes of any of the pieces that should connect to them.
There was so much I didn’t know, and what I did made no sense.
Why would the gods request the best magic users the school had and then express disappointment when more of them didn’t die in the Gods’ Challenge?
Are we meant to be some sort of… sacrifice?
The thought sent chills running down my spine, and my eyes popped open. Professor Cantwell scowled at me before resuming his lecture, obviously having caught me dozing in his class.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. Fuck. I don’t know. I wanted to unravel the secrets that surrounded this place, but I knew it would take time. And I knew the real answers weren’t buried here anyway.
The answers were in the godly realm, and I was more determined than ever to get there.
Class finally let out, and I met up with Eden in the hall. She beamed at me, but her smile faltered as she got a good look at me. “Are you okay, Ari? You don’t look great.”
I shrugged, not even able to come up with the energy to make up a proper lie. “I’m exhausted. I don’t know why today, maybe because it’s raining outside, but I feel beat down today. Like I got run over by a truck.”
Eden snorted. “If you feel beat down, imagine what the rest of us feel like. You’re one of the strongest students at the academy.”
We made our way down the hall, and I cut my gaze to her, pulling a face. “Sure, except the teachers don’t seem to be very happy about that. I thought it was a good thing to do well in school. That’s what I always heard anyway.”
My grades in high school hadn’t exactly been stellar. I’d had bigger things to worry about. Like, you know, staying alive.
Eden shrugged. “Maybe they’re jealous. You could probably be more powerful than a lot of professors here someday. Or maybe they see it a lot, and it doesn’t faze them. Or maybe they just don’t pay attention. I mean, have you met some of our teachers?”
I chuckled, slowing as we passed by a window and watching water droplets run down the pane. “You’re right. Still doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better about today.”
“Are you nervous about the preliminaries?” she asked quietly.
She had given up trying to talk me and the men out of competing again, but I knew she didn’t think it was a great idea. I couldn’t blame her. I’d been a wreck after last semester’s challenge, and she’d had a front-row seat to my turmoil.
“Nah. You know I can kick ass at that.” I grinned, nudging her shoulder in what I hoped was a reassuring gesture. “The guys and I will be fine.”
She nodded, not looking convinced.
I hefted my bag higher on my shoulder, turning from the window. “Come on. We should probably get going. I don’t want to be late and get the stink eye from Professor Wist.”
Eden, in an amazing show of sass, shrugged her narrow shoulders. “What are they gonna do, kick us out? It’s kind of a requirement that we get through this.”
I gave her a forced smile, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but think that they could do much worse than kick us out. The treachery and darkness of this place ran so deep that I couldn’t help but wonder if the “school” part of it was even important at all. There was another reason we were all here—I was sure of it.
“Damn. What’s with all the poison darts being thrown at you?” Eden whispered as we made our way down the corridor toward Wist’s classroom.
“Oh.” I grimaced. “That.”
It’d been getting worse and worse over the past week. More students than just Wesley were shooting me unhappy glares as I walked past, and whispered voices seemed to trail in my wake, people putting their heads together and talking in voices too low for me to hear. It was annoying as fuck, but I kept my chin up stubbornly and ignored it.
“Who knows,” I went on. “It’s raining, and I blame that for everything. Plus, I seem to rub a lot of people the wrong way, so it’s not surprising.”
The look Eden shot me told me I hadn’t alleviated her concern about this either, but she didn’t press the issue.
Wist’s class seemed to fly by, and I pointedly ignored Wesley’s burning looks. We still needed to finish our fight, but I wasn’t gonna do it in front of one of the few professors at school I actually respected.
After class, Eden gave me a hurried wave and headed out toward her next class. I had a free period, so I grabbed my books and headed for the library, wanting to do some more research on the history of magic. After my altercation with Professor Twine, I’d learned that asking anyone here was a bad choice. The library was disgracefully small, and I hadn’t been able to find any useful books there yet. But I was convinced that something worthwhile must be hidden in the stacks.
The hallways were relatively quiet, and I held my books close to my chest as I walked through the halls.
Rounding a corner, I slowed my pace as I heard my name whispered just a few feet away from me—voices coming from a small alcove in the hallway up ahead. I backed up quickly, hiding out of sight as I craned my neck to listen.
“There are a lot of us involved in this, you don’t have to be worried.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m scared of Aria, because I’m not,” another voice whispered. Oh, fuck. That’s Wesley. “I just think it’s dangerous to let her do the challenge again. Someone has to stop them.”
A female voice piped in. “Exactly. Someone has to stop them. And no matter how powerful she or her little harem are, we’ll have power in numbers. We’ve got a whole group that’s committed to sabotaging Aria and her men. They can’t win the preliminary competition. It’s fucking unacceptable that she and three men teamed up.”
The first speaker agreed. “I don’t know what they were thinking. These competitions have been going on for years, and no one’s ever done that in previous challenges. Each person competes against the others, individually. It’s not meant to be a team effort.”
Wesley snorted. “Exactly. I mean, joining forces isn’t against the rules, but I think it should be. At least there are enough people who feel the same way as us. We’ll stop them before they even make it to the Gods’ Challenge. Then the competition for the real prize can be among people who will do it right. Who won’t fucking cheat.”
“I agree,” the girl said. “So we’re working on the plan right now, and we’ll be ready for the preliminary competition.” She giggled softly. “Honestly, it shouldn’t be that hard to drive a wedge between them. Seriously, she thinks she can keep three m
en on the hook like that? It’s a disaster waiting to happen. We’ll just make sure it happens.”
I stood there and listened, trying to gather as many details of what they were planning as I possibly could, but it was hard to hear over the rushing in my ears.
My hands clenched into fists so tight that my nails dug into my palms. I wanted to storm around the corner, yank them out of the nook, and beat them senseless. I was fucking fuming.
Why would anybody try to sabotage us? We were the ones who were trying to help everyone else. These idiots had no idea that the school was trying to hurt them, and we were trying to save them. Instead, they were mad at us because their feelings were hurt because we did something no one else had done? Because we actually helped each other instead of turning on each other?
How childish and juvenile is that? Is this what happens when you take grown adults and put them back into school? They regress?
I listened for as long as I could—long enough to get a solid sense of what they had planned.
When the sound of other people heading down the hallway met my ears, I moved quickly, veering away down the hall in the opposite direction from the students I’d been eavesdropping on. Instead of going to the library, I headed straight for the guys. They had a free period too, so I was almost certain I’d find them studying in the common room.
Sure enough, Lachlan and Trace were sitting in the center of the room. “Where’s Merrick?”
“His dorm room, I think.” Lachlan closed his textbook and stretched, making the thick muscles of his biceps flex and shift. He cocked his head at me. “What’s goin’ on, Ari?”
I shook my head, anger ratcheting up inside me again. “Come on, I have to talk to you guys about something. It’s important.”
The two slowly got up and followed me to Merrick’s room. I knocked, and a second later, the blond man opened the door. He looked like he’d been sleeping, and I suddenly wondered how much of my tossing and turning last night he’d been privy to. Had I kept him awake? Fuck.