by Eva Ashwood
“I won’t.” I smiled at her reassuringly. “Promise.”
It was complete and utter bullshit, and she obviously knew it. Even though her gray eyes still shimmered with tears, she snorted a laugh.
“Uh huh. Sure.”
“In order to make the competition fair, you will all be transported to the godly realm before the challenge starts,” Frost continued. “Only once the final competitor has arrived will the challenge begin.”
School admins began clearing a space in the middle of the pavilion. The bodies around me pressed tighter as everyone shifted to make room. Once they had cleared an area that was about twenty feet across, five portals sprang up in a neat row.
“Good luck, everyone.” Dean Frost dipped her head, her expression serious. “Mageía mésa, ísos se óli.”
Magic Within, Might Throughout.
It was the same thing she’d said every semester before the start of the games, but as the crowd repeated it back to her, their voices rising as a single sound, I found myself joining in, saying the words with a fervency I’d never felt before.
Magic Within, Might Throughout.
The gods didn’t want wild magic users to exist. But we did. They hadn’t granted us our magic, but we had it anyway, and that made us strong.
And what about me? Where does my magic come from? Is it truly godly power, or is it yet another mutation in the natural magic of the world—a new generation of wild magic?
Those questions beat at my chest, but I couldn’t focus on them now. One day, I would dig up the answers. But first, I had to survive.
The admins began ushering students through the five portals, one after another after another.
It was unnerving to watch, somehow. The steady stream of students stepping through the portals and disappearing seemed like a terrifying premonition of what was to come, of what the gods wanted with us.
Our disappearance.
Our annihilation.
Finally, the crowd ahead of us thinned, and the guys and I stepped forward, followed by Eden. We spread out and took our places in line, and just before I stepped through the portal, I looked over to see my three men and the girl who had become my unlikely best friend all poised to step through too.
My stomach clenched.
We better fucking survive this. I didn’t find all of this just to lose it so soon.
Despite all the lies, the danger, and the betrayal we’d faced, this past year had been the happiest of my life in some ways. I’d found love with not one, but three amazing men. I had let down my walls, and amazing things had happened.
Now it was up to me to protect it.
Holding that thought close to my heart, I took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.
Wind immediately whipped at my hair as I emerged on the other side. Little pieces of sand pelted my skin, biting like bee stings, and I held an arm up to shield my face.
Oh, fuck.
Maybe we had walked into a slaughter.
All around me, sand dunes rose and fell. This was nothing like the jungle we’d been dropped in the first time, and as scary as that had been, somehow this barren landscape was way more terrifying.
There was nowhere to hide, no place to take cover. In the distance, I could see mountains rising up, and when I looked the other way, I noticed a forest of scraggly trees on the horizon.
If we can get into the trees or up in the mountains, we’ll have a better chance.
All around me, students continued to appear, stepping out of the ether and glancing around in fear as the wind whipped up little dust devils at their feet.
My heart beat hard and fast in my chest, and I stepped closer to Merrick as Lachlan and Trace came to join us. Eden caught my gaze and gave me a solemn nod as she went to gather her own team.
As pissed as Wesley had been about the guys and I working together during our first challenge, it was truly the best way. It hadn’t taken too much convincing to get the students we had trained to see it that way too. Facing the prospect of going up against the gods, most of them were only too happy to have backup.
“We’re almost all here by now.” Trace glanced around, his blue eyes squinting slightly against the wind and the sand. “The last few will be through soon, and the portals will close. We should be ready for anything.”
“Ye can say that again.” Lach snorted. “After those fuckin’ earth monsters and the damn bird Wesley unleashed on me last time, nothin’ would surprise me.”
As if to punctuate his words, five more students appeared out of thin air, and the portals fizzled into nothingness behind them.
That was it. We were all through.
The men and I fell into a battle formation as easily as if it were second nature. We formed a tight circle, each of us facing out, our hands raised and magic thrumming between our fingers.
But it wasn’t monsters that attacked.
It wasn’t magical creatures.
Nope.
It was the gods themselves.
One moment, there was nothing around us but sand and the occasional rolling tumbleweed.
Then, in a flash, over twenty gods appeared, arrayed around the large group of students as if they were trying to box us in.
I jolted, adrenaline surging through my system, as the gods raised their hands.
“Shields!” I screamed, and the call went up among the rest of our allies, who had bunched into tight groups like me and my men.
All of us threw our arms up, sending out bursts of magic that twined together, creating a dome-like shield around our entire group.
Purple and blue and red magic hurtled into the shimmering dome, and I swore I could feel the impact down to my soul.
Shit, the gods were strong.
I fed more of my magic into the dome surrounding us, trying to strengthen the spots where the blast had weakened it.
The gods barely even hesitated, sending another attack right on the heels of the first. I screamed as the dome around us shook, but I kept pouring my own magic into the barrier, doing what I could to strengthen and fortify it.
And incredibly, it held.
Is that because of my power? Is godly magic strong enough to repel other gods’ magic?
Whatever the cause, I wasn’t going to question it. This was keeping us alive, but we couldn’t hold it up forever. We needed to break through the gods’ ranks so that we could find that damn gem. We were sitting ducks here, but once we spread out, we’d have a better chance of evading them until we could find the prize.
The gods around us raised their hands again, and I scanned my gaze over them quickly.
“I don’t see Omari,” I muttered to the others. “Or Ryker either.”
“Me neither.” Trace’s voice was strained with effort. “But I do see a god I recognize from when we snuck into the palace. Looks like Omari sent some lower level peons to deal with us. Must not’ve thought we were worth coming to kill himself.”
“I’m weirdly offended by that,” Merrick remarked, and I almost laughed.
“That’s good.” Lach’s lips drew back in a snarl. “If they’re lower level, it means we’ve got a better chance of kickin’ their arses.”
Good point.
I braced for another strike, already planning a counter-attack, but before it came, a sound to my left caught my attention.
“Great gods!” Wesley, who was protected by the dome just like the rest of us were, lifted his arms in a gesture of supplication. “I am honored to compete in your challenges, and I am proud of winning the competition last year. But I do not want to fight you.”
“What the fuck?” Trace sounded disgusted.
“I will happily compete against my fellow students, but I won’t compete against the gods who gave me everything—who granted me my magic,” Wesley continued, and my stomach twisted. “So I offer you my allegiance, my help, and my loyalty.”
“What the actual fuck?” This time, Trace yelled his comment, and several students echoed his sentime
nt.
But I saw other people nodding along with Wesley before turning to face the gods with awe in their faces. Whatever insane impulse had prompted Wesley to speak, he wasn’t alone.
And unlike the gods, they were inside the dome with the rest of us.
“I will prove my loyalty to you right now!” Wesley continued, his voice rising and his eyes shining.
Then he turned toward a group of students, ones who had spent the week training with the guys and me. He lifted one hand and then snapped it forward, sending out a whip of magic.
My breath caught in my throat.
Oh, no you fucking don’t.
Chapter Twelve
Fury lanced through me, and I threw out my own hand, sending a bright beam of magic hurtling toward Wesley’s magical whip.
My magic intercepted his just before it reached the girl he’d been aiming for. She and the others around her dived out of the way as a loud crack filled the air. Wesley’s magic and mine exploded, sending a shock wave through the dome.
“You son of a fucking bitch!” I screamed, advancing on him with my men at my side.
This asshole. This smelly little shit stain.
I remembered thinking to myself that I would protect even him from the gods if they tried to take us out—and now, here he was, offering to be their fucking lackey and kill his own people in service to them.
Well, fuck that noise.
The shield dome around us was still holding, but now that Wesley had turned traitor, others followed his example, turning on their fellow students. They probably hoped that attacking us would earn them leniency from the gods, and they were willing to sell us out if it helped them.
As more people turned their attention to defending themselves from attacks inside the dome, I watched the powerful, shimmering shield begin to grow more faint.
Fuck. Wesley and his cronies might not be good enough to take us all down, but if they weakened us to the point where the shield dropped, the gods would be able to pick us off easily.
“The shield!” I yelled, turning to face Lach, Merrick, and Trace. “Tell everyone to put everything they have into the shield!”
Trace’s dark brows pulled together. “Everything? Snow, we’re under attack here. Are you sure—”
“Yes.” I nodded, holding his gaze. “I’m sure.”
He didn’t question me any further. He didn’t know what I had planned or if it would work, but he trusted me enough not to make me explain it in detail. Which was good, because there wasn’t time.
“Bolster the shield!” Lach bellowed, his voice rising over the shouts and grunts inside the dome.
“Come on. Do it! Hurry!” Trace sent out the little balls of magic I’d seen him use before in combat—only this time, he used them as a sort of beacon, drawing our allies’ attention back to us as the floating spheres zipped around the dome.
The shield began to strengthen, and I pushed as much magic as I could muster into it. My gaze slid sideways, catching on Merrick’s amber eyes.
“On my signal,” I said, “we need to push outward. With everything we have.”
His eyes sparked with understanding, and he and the other men began calling out directions, spreading the word among our fellow students.
Fuck, I hope this works.
I had wondered once if the collective power of many wild magic users would be enough to defeat a god. We were about to find out.
“On my signal!” I screamed. “Three… Two… One. Now!”
As one, all of the students who had joined together to create the shield shoved their magic outward. The dome burst apart with a boom so loud I felt it more than I heard it. Just like my magic and Wesley’s had met and exploded, the magic of over a hundred students combusted.
It was like being at the epicenter of a bomb.
As the magic dome burst, the force of it hurled the gods backward, sending sand flying and making the ground shake.
“Split up!” I screamed, grabbing Merrick’s hand and pulling him after me as I sprinted away, heading in the direction of the foothills in the distance.
I didn’t have to tell the other students twice. They all saw their opening just I like had, and groups of them splintered away from the small crater the dome had once covered, racing across the sand in all directions. A twinge of worry went through me as I thought of each of those groups potentially having to fight off a god on their own. But if it was only one god, they would have a chance. I had to believe that.
The sand churned under my feet as the men and I ran, making it hard to keep my balance. As I tried to take another step, a rope of magic wrapped around my ankle, sending me sprawling.
“Oh, no, you don’t, you little fucker,” I heard Lach mutter before he and the other guys unleashed several blasts of magic behind us.
Wesley. I was sure that was who had tried to attack me.
He was a fawning, sniveling idiot and a coward, but he had it out for me. If he was going to come after any group, of course it would be me and my guys.
Well, good.
We could hold him off, keep him distracted while the other teams got away.
I scrambled to my feet again, whipping my hand out behind me and using magic to make sand spray into the air. Wesley’s shrieked curse met my ears, and I smiled grimly.
“Come on, Snow!” Trace grabbed my arm, pulling me along and helping me stay on my feet as my men and I ran again.
Part of me wanted to stop right where we were, to plant my feet and fight Wesley head on until either he died or I did.
But we needed to be smart. We needed to live so we could help the other students win this damn challenge. And as satisfying as killing Wesley would be, our ultimate enemies were the gods.
Lach sent another burst of magic behind us, making more sand spray into the air. It was slowing Wesley down and hampering his sight, making it harder for him to pursue us.
Hmm. Hampering his sight…
Letting Trace’s grip on my arm keep me steady, I turned my focus inward, reaching for the magic inside me. I let it spill out through my fingertips, but instead of sending the glowing tendrils behind me in an attack, I began to wrap them around the men and myself.
“Uh, Aria, what are you doing?” Merrick glanced down as he sprinted.
“Trying something.” I was panting from exertion—not just from the running, but from the amount of magic I’d used in a short time. “Let me know if it works.”
Summoning as much concentration as I could muster, I imagined the magic around us turning to a shimmering glow, just like the heat waves coming up off the sand all around us. Making us look like mirages, and hopefully making us blend in with our surroundings enough that Wesley wouldn’t be able to track us.
For a long moment, the three of us just ran in silence as I worked. Then Merrick made a low noise in his throat. “Holy shit. Nice work, Ari.”
“Do you see it?” I panted.
“Yeah. Or rather, I barely see it. And I barely see you. You keep shimmering out of sight.”
“We all do.” Lach sounded proud.
“Good.”
I pulled away from Trace, turning to look at the dark-haired man beside me. Just as Merrick had said, I could barely see the ex-rock star, although I could hear him breathing heavily beside me.
Slowing my pace a little, I glanced over my shoulder. In the distance, I could see other groups scattering from the place where we’d first arrived. The gods had been blown back far enough by the blast, and probably stunned enough too, that it had allowed our classmates to make a break for it.
Wesley was still running behind us, but as my men and I veered in a new direction, he didn’t follow. He couldn’t see us well enough to know we’d changed course.
Thank fuck.
My legs ached from the effort of sprinting on shifting sand, my lungs were burning, and my skin felt raw from the sand that had pelted my skin earlier as we fought. But we couldn’t stop. Not until we were someplace with at least a modic
um of cover. I didn’t think any gods had followed us, but it was only a matter of time before they tracked us down.
“There,” I gasped, pointing toward the foothills. They were nearer than they had been, but still so far away that my muscles ached just thinking about it.
I’d forgotten the men couldn’t see me thanks to my mirage spell, but it didn’t matter. They all recognized the foothills as our best chance of finding shelter too.
Now that we were no longer fleeing from Wesley, our pace slowed a little. We pushed ourselves hard though, jogging across rising and falling sand dunes as we approached the foothills and the mountains that towered beyond.
It started to feel a little like the mountains themselves were a mirage, like we’d never make it. But just when I thought my legs might straight-up give out, the ground began to slope upward, turning from sand to hard-packed dirt beneath our feet.
“Okay, seriously. I’m not running up a damn mountain,” Trace grunted. “You all saw how shitty my balance is. I try running up this thing, I’m just gonna end up sliding back down ass first.”
I laughed at the visual, but I was only too happy to stop running. The immediate danger had passed for now anyway.
It took another two hours of hiking before we reached a stream running down the side of the foothills.
“Oh, thank fuck.” I threw myself down beside it, slurping up water like—well, like I’d just sprinted several miles through the desert. Which I had.
Merrick, always the smartest and most organized of us, had brought a refillable canteen made out of a soft plastic. Technically, we weren’t supposed to bring anything that could help us in the challenge to the godly realm, but after witnessing Wesley cheat his ass off last semester, I didn’t give a single fuck about the rules.
We all drank our fill, and Merrick filled up the canteen before we moved on, following the path of the stream for a while.
Finally, we reached a small plateau where several large boulders clustered together, creating a naturally sheltered area between them. From inside the circle of boulders, we could peek out over the lower foothills and the landscape beyond, but our position wouldn’t be immediately obvious to anyone passing by.