by Eva Ashwood
Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, I leaned toward her. “So, I’ve given this a lot of thought. And I don’t think we have any other choice. The gods want to kill us, and this is how they’re gonna try to do it. So I’m going to call them out.”
Eden’s eyes widened, a squeak falling from her lips. “Wait, did you just say you’re going to call them out? As in, reveal that you know the truth? As in, let it all fly to the whole school?”
I pursed my lips against the smile that tugged at them. Eden was scared shitless, and she wouldn’t appreciate me laughing at her. But her way of summarizing my plan made it sound like I was planning on stealing the gods’ underpants and stringing them up the flagpole.
“Yeah,” I told her. “Basically. We can’t stop this, and we can’t fight it. So what we need to do is change the game.”
By the time everyone had gathered on the pavilion, my heart was thumping hard in my chest, adrenaline surging through my veins. I was nervous, but ready.
Or as ready as I was ever gonna be anyway.
Dean Frost stepped up onto a small platform at one end of the pavilion.
“Welcome, students, to the Gods’ Challenge,” she said with a dramatic flair.
The entire crowd was almost silent. A few idiots and assholes cheered, but most people were too were scared out of their minds to do more than watch her quietly as she continued.
“Every semester, we hold these challenges as a way of rewarding our best students and honoring the gods who granted us our magic. The challenge is not only sacred, but a valuable opportunity to use your magic in a real-world scenario. Today…”
“Ready?” Lach murmured to me as the dean continued to drone on.
Licking my lips, I nodded.
He joined Trace and Merrick in elbowing students out of the way, leading me up toward the podium where Dean Frost stood. I walked halfway up the steps to the small stage, and Trace raised his hand, sending a small burst of magic toward me.
I felt it hit my throat, and a little tingle spread over my skin as I cleared my throat, the sound rising up over the large crowd of gathered students. The guys all stood at the base of the stairs, their gazes cutting back and forth between me and the audience. I knew they were ready to jump to my defense at any moment if needed.
Dean Frost broke off, turning to stare at me with narrowed eyes. “What are you doing, Miss Banks?”
“I don’t mean to interrupt you, Dean Frost,” I said, my magically amplified voice seeming to fill the air. “But I believe what I have to say is extremely important.” I turned to face the crowd. “This is for all of you—for those that have never been here before, and for those who are unaware of what’s going on around them. This is also for the gods themselves, if they’re even listening.”
By now, everyone in the place had gone silent. I couldn’t even hear an echo of a whisper or cry. They were all staring at me, wondering what in the world I was talking about.
Hell, I didn’t really blame them. Most of them hated me, and the rest barely even knew who I was. Winning the Gods’ Challenge had gained me a bit of notoriety at first, but after Wesley won last semester, he’d sucked up the spotlight, reveling in the attention and jealousy of the other students.
But it didn’t matter. They didn’t need to like me to listen to me.
“They took away the qualifiers from all of us,” I said, speaking quickly before Dean Frost could have me physically hauled away from the stage. “They’ve required that every single one of us march into the godly realm today. Am I the only one who finds that unfair? Am I the only one who looks around at those who never had any intention of fighting and wonders how they’ll stand a chance in that wild, dangerous place? Does anyone else think this whole situation is lopsided? Leading a group of magical students into a realm full of creatures and threats that could kill us?”
There was a murmur among the gathered students. Wesley and his hangers-on were glaring at me, but some of the other kids were nodding fervently.
“I’m going to have to ask you to resume your place, Aria,” the dean snapped as she gestured to the crowd, her voice echoing across the pavilion.
I ignored her, lifting my chin and spreading my arms. “The entire school has been commanded to participate in the Gods’ Challenge. And here we all are, ready to compete. But if we’re going to be challenged by the gods themselves, the competition should be against the gods themselves, not their creations.” My heart slammed against my ribs as I curled my hands into fists. “So if any gods are listening, hear this: fight us yourselves, you fucking cowards.”
As the words left my mouth, a wave of silence washed over the pavilion, as if every bit of oxygen had been sucked from the atmosphere.
Then a loud crack split the air.
Chapter Eight
The air in front of us seemed to split in half.
It was like a portal, only there were no swirling magic sparks—just a rift in the ether, right there in front of all of us. It was a big rift, allowing a cadre of gods to emerge out onto the field. They stepped through, and the gathered students drew back instantly, bodies squishing together as they all crowded away from the gods in their midst.
My stomach twisted so violently I thought I might throw up. But there was no backing out of this now.
I’d thrown the gauntlet down, and the gods had heard me.
Even though my blood felt like water, I kept my head high and my shoulders back. As the last one stepped through the portal, I counted ten imposing figures. Their raw power was almost overwhelming, and I could see a ripple in the crowd as they began to walk toward the podium, people shrinking back from the sight of them. They were majestic and terrifying, and far too perfect to belong to our world.
One of the gods, a bit older than the others with long white hair, gazed up at me.
“We have heard your call, human. And we have come to answer. The gods of the godly realm, creators of all magic and all things magical, agree to accept your challenge.” He smiled, spreading his arms as he scanned the crowd, looking for all the world like a king surveying his domain. “Due to the enormity of this challenge, the great leader of the gods himself, Omari, has come to negotiate.”
I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to hurl taunts at him. While everybody else was in awe of his stature and power, I had seen another side of him. I knew just how much of a coward he really was—that he was afraid of wild magic users like us.
But I also knew that fear made him dangerous.
Don’t poke the bear any more than you already are, Ari.
To his right, the god named Ryker stepped forward.
I recognized him immediately, and the sight of his angular features and raven-black hair made a thrill of fear run through me.
Omari scared me because of the conviction he had that wild magic users should be eliminated, violently if necessary. But Ryker scared me for a whole different set of reasons, not least of which was the fact that he had seen me sneaking around the godly realm last semester.
Did he recognize me from that moment? He’d only gotten a quick glance at me before I’d disappeared. I wasn’t even sure he had been able to see my face.
When he looked at me, his expression was inscrutable. It made me want to stare back at him, to dissect every micro-expression on his face, to try to pry off the lid and see what was hidden underneath. But instead, I quickly looked away. Even as my gaze left him though, I had a feeling he was still staring at me.
Trying to regain my footing, I looked back at Omari. The fucker was laughing.
Heat burned through me—the kind of anger that fueled my aggression in fights where my opponent had bragged about me being an easy win because I was a girl.
Fuck that shit.
“I find it hard to believe there’s humor in this situation,” I said, acid dripping from my voice, which was still magically amplified.
Omari dropped his head, his bright eyes finding mine. “I find humor in everything. Even you
r lack of intelligence.”
I gripped my fists tightly and clenched my jaw, trying to keep my cool. He was an asshole. Cocky and self-assured to the point to where it was going to make me reckless. The kind of pompous dickbag that needed a good punch to the face and a swift kick in the ass.
Fucking coward. I know you fear wild magic. Yet standing here on this pavilion, you act like we’re tiny insects and you’re ready to crush us to bits.
Omari just smiled more widely, looking around at the gathered crowd. “We welcome the challenge from strong new magical users. Don’t be too hard on this young lady, and don’t blame her for this. She just wants to show us just how powerful you all really are. It’s spirited, I’ll give you that.”
Wesley and a few other students actually preened at hearing the god call them powerful, and I had to choke back the bile that rose in my throat. Omari might act like he was impressed with us, but I knew better than that. I knew he had every intention of annihilating each person standing on the pavilion under the guise of his stupid fucking “competition.”
I cleared my throat. “Well? Are we going to negotiate? What are your terms?”
Omari spun around with his eyebrows raised, a broad, almost genial smile curving his lips. “Of course. As you demanded, we will meet your challenge. Each student’s goal will still be to find the gem hidden somewhere in the playing area. And we, the gods, will simply try to stop you from retrieving it.”
I wanted to look at the guys, but I kept my gaze firmly on Omari. All it would take would be a small flicker of the eyelid, a flinch, to show my fear—and I refused to give him that.
“So instead of meeting the monsters in the arena that you normally send us, we’ll be going up against you and your brethren,” I said. “Do we have your word that you will not send extra threats our way?”
Omari nodded, an emotion I couldn’t identify burning in his eyes. “Just us against you. Is it a deal?”
My heart thudded unevenly in my chest. I was half expecting Dean Frost to raise an objection, or someone in the crowd to yell out a denial. But no one spoke. So I dipped my chin once in a solemn nod. “It’s a deal.”
Omari’s features flickered again. Fuck, I wish I knew what he was thinking.
I had put him off-balance. I could tell that much, at least. The gods hadn’t expected this challenge to be thrown down, but since it had been, they’d been compelled to respond. But whether it ultimately favored us or them? Well, that remained to be seen.
“It’s settled then,” the white-haired god intoned. He shifted his gaze to the dean. “There will be a slight delay of a few days so that everyone may prepare for their new challenge.” His gaze found mine again, and I swore his next words were meant only for me. “I look forward to facing you on the battlefield.”
Without another word, Omari turned and strode toward the portal—the rift they had torn in the ether. Having spent most of the summer practicing shifting back and forth between the godly realm and earth, I knew that shit wasn’t necessary. They had done it as a demonstration of power.
To show off. To scare us.
The other gods followed in Omari’s wake. The last one through the rift was Ryker, and he stared at me for just another moment before disappearing. I didn’t move a muscle until the rift closed with another loud clap, like thunder breaking over a plain.
When they disappeared, I let out a long, deep breath as everyone in the stands began to talk loudly and wildly.
The school staff and admins moved quickly, trying to herd everyone back to the main building. But before I could step off the stairs, Dean Frost marched over to me and grabbed me by the arm.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing, Miss Banks?” she hissed. “That was reckless and foolhardy. Next time—if they allow you to have a next time—you might want to think your decisions through beforehand. Whatever idiotic pride makes you think you can go up against the gods, it’s just put all of your classmates in a war against them too. All of these people?” She gestured to the crowd. “Their blood will be on your hands.”
“My hands?” Fury bubbled up, and I slapped her hand away. Fuck decorum. We were way beyond that at this point. “You want to see blood on someone’s hands? Take a look at your own.”
Her eyes widened, and she drew in a sharp breath. But before she could reply, I continued.
“And if you think I’m doing this out of pride, you’re insane. I’m not trying to prove a damn point, and I’m not doing this for glory or a godsdamn medal. I’m doing it because it gives all of these people the best chance they have of surviving.”
“She’s right.”
The voice beside me made me jump, and when I looked over, I saw Professor Wist regarding me with a serious expression. The Power and Precision teacher turned to face Dean Frost, her expression serious.
“What are you talking about, Wist?” the dean demanded, looking irritated and still slightly shaken. She obviously hadn’t known I was aware of her complicity in Omari’s plan to cull the numbers of wild magic users.
“The students are all being forced to compete in the Gods’ Challenge,” Wist said, squaring her shoulders. “They should have the right to face those who are putting them in this situation. And the gods should fight their own battles.”
For a moment, Dean Frost stared at Wist as if the professor had grown a second head. I got the feeling it was the first time Wist—or anyone, really—had stood up to Frost, and a little swell of satisfaction rose up in me.
It was far from a mass mutiny, but if Wist still supported me, then there had to be other people at the school who would too, and those people could make the difference. I needed to rally people—both students and teachers. I needed to make them see the truth of what was going on, and drive home the fact that the only chance we really had to survive this was to band together against the gods.
They had never planned to let us win this challenge.
But now, we could at least fight on our terms.
And maybe, just maybe, we could win.
Wist and Dean Frost held each other’s gazes in a long, tense, and completely silent battle of wills. Then Frost finally looked away, her lip curling in disgust. She shot me one more scathing look. “Play the martyr and the hero all you like, Miss Banks. You’re not fooling me.”
“Okay, whatever,” I muttered as she swept down the stairs, shoving her way between me and Professor Wist.
Students were filing back toward the school, a loud murmur of confused conversation rising up in their midst. Wist watched the crowd begin to disperse, then turned to me, shaking her head.
“I do hope you know what you’re doing, Aria.”
With that, she was gone too.
I stared at her retreating back, agitation churning in my stomach.
Well, that makes two of us.
It wasn’t exactly the most shining endorsement of my action, but at least Wist had stood up to Dean Frost. It gave me hope that I would be able to win more people to my side. Because just like Eden had said, that’s what we needed.
An army.
The sky crackled above. Clouds began rolling in, and a few fat drops of rain hit my face. The storm gathering on the horizon moved quickly, and the remaining students begin hurrying toward the school.
My three men all looked at me, and Lachlan extended a hand as I stepped down the stairs. Eden had approached too, and I tried to ignore the worry in four sets of eyes as my friend and my boyfriends all regarded me with serious expressions.
Truthfully, no one was more worried about this than me. Fear that I might’ve made the wrong choice twisted in my gut. But it was too late to take it back. And there hadn’t been any other options.
Now that the gauntlet had been thrown down, we needed to focus on what came next. On preparing as many people as possible to face the threats of the godly realm.
There was a lot of work to be done, and a very short amount of time to do it in.
Gods, I hope my hands stay clean
.
As if he could sense the turmoil roiling inside me, Trace shot me a lopsided smile. “Come on, Snow. Let’s get inside before we get soaked.”
The five of us headed quickly toward the school. Everyone else had already disappeared inside the massive stone building, and when we stepped through the large front doors, the place felt strangely quiet. Eerily so. As if the entire school was collectively holding its breath.
“I did the right thing,” I blurted quietly as we made our way up the stairs toward the dorms. I couldn’t take the gloomy silence anymore.
“Are you sure?” Eden didn’t sound like she was trying to cut me down, but more like she genuinely wanted to know.
If only I knew.
“We didn’t have any other options,” I insisted. “Or rather, our only other option was to go along with the challenge and let them wipe us out like they intended. At least this way, we get a chance to take some of them down with us. And at least now people know what they’re walking into.”
“Yeah.” Trace snorted. “The biggest fucking problem around here is that everyone’s been brainwashed to believe that the gods are magnanimous and caring beings. That they want us to succeed. When actually, it’s the complete opposite.”
“Agreed,” Lach muttered. “If people are goin’ to die, at least they can do it with their eyes wide open.”
Eden winced at his words, and I squeezed her hand gently, trying to comfort her a little.
Okay, so that wasn’t the most optimistic way of putting it. But he’s not wrong.
“Every day since I got back from the palace, I’ve replayed that conversation between Omari and Ryker in my head,” I said, speaking mainly for Eden’s benefit. I knew that as nervous as they were about the fight, the guys were already on board with my plan. “Every word that was said, I’ve analyzed and dissected a million different ways. I thought about the motives behind Omari’s actions, the reason for the fear, how it could be changed. After listening to their fight though, I’m pretty sure Omari’s mind is made up. He doesn’t believe our kind should exist.”