At first, I thought about ignoring my mother’s wishes. Who cared about midterms anyway? Did she think I cared if I failed all my classes?
Right now, I didn’t care about anything.
But she didn’t leave me alone. For the next three hours, she either came to check on me and bug me, or she sent Claire, Harper, and even Harvey to check on me, and bug me in her stead.
Tired of them all buzzing in my ear, I got up and went to the arena with Claire.
A long, folding table was open to the side of the running track, with professors seated behind it, registering students as they checked in. I gave them my name, and they gave me a number.
Eight.
Claire showed me her number. Five. We were not on the same team. “Check there,” she said, pointing to a wooden board a few feet from the improvised table.
I went to the board and checked the listing by the number.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, staring at the names on the board.
My name was listed with Ava and Harvey.
“I’m not too happy about it either,” Ava said, standing on my right.
“You two are badasses,” Harvey commented as he appeared on my left. “I’m fine with that.”
I rolled my eyes.
I turned around to face them, but the first thing I saw was Rey, standing several feet away, with a clipboard in his hands, talking to some students.
My heart squeezed.
I hadn’t seen him since that night, since I thought we both would die because of the inexplicable pain we felt, because of what we had done.
And now here he was, looking as terrible as I felt, even though he too was pushing through it and doing what he had to. Did he look terrible because of the pain we had experienced?
I shook my head. It didn’t matter. What was done was done. I had nothing linking me to him anymore. No bonds, no fate, no ties.
He was free, just as he wanted.
“What are you looking at?” Ava followed my gaze.
“She’s staring at Rey,” Harvey said, his voice tight. “We need to go talk to him for the orientation before the games begin.”
Shit, Rey was working on these freaking games. And I had talk to him. This was already going downhill.
“You know what?” I said quickly. “I’m not feeling great. Why don’t you two go to the orientation while I go lie down. I need to be rested for tomorrow, right? Later, you two can tell me all about it.”
Harvey’s eyes became two slits, as if he could see right through me, but I wouldn’t change my mind. Even if I lost the first of the games because I hadn’t gone to the orientation, I didn’t care.
After a forced smile, I zipped away from the arena, leaving even Claire behind.
The next morning, all third-year students met outside the arena. We were given a special suit made of enchanted leather.
“These will protect you from being killed,” Professor Genevieve explained. “But if you’re hit, you’ll be sore afterward.”
Killed? These games were that intense? She went on to explain about how the first game worked. Two teams would enter the arena and try to hit the opposite team members with a ball to get them out of the game, while dodging obstacles. Sounded like a dodgeball on steroids.
It was so much more than that.
The students stayed on the bleachers on the side while the first two teams were taken to the arena and started the first round of the midterm games.
Claire, Peter, and Stella, against Harper, Ruby, and Justin, one of Tom’s best friends. Professor Eleanor stood in the middle of the arena with them. She tossed a coin and indicated which team started with the ball.
Justin got the ball. The game started. He threw the ball at Claire, who barely moved an inch, taking her out of the match before it even started.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, upset for Claire.
A minute after the beginning of the game, the obstacles finally showed up.
They weren’t what I was expecting.
Tall walls rose from the ground around the arena, with dozens of holes. Then, long, thick wooden spears with metal tips shot out of the holes—appearing there as if by magic.
I gasped. What the hell?
The spears zipped across the arena fast and hard. The students had not only to dodge the ball, but also the spears.
Then one spear hit Ruby in the side and she went flying several feet. I held my breath as she lay flat on the ground, more spears zooming above her head. It seemed like a shudder had fallen over the bleachers, everyone waiting to see if Ruby was okay.
She was okay, right? The professors would have stopped the match if it was more serious.
Finally, she groaned and stood up.
These will protect you from being killed, I remembered Professor Genevieve’s words about the uniforms we were wearing. Damn, she wasn’t kidding.
Ruby tried to continue playing, but she was limping, and not long after another spear hit her in the chest, driving her to the ground again.
This was nuts.
Sick to my stomach, I turned around.
“Keep watching,” Ava said from my right. “We need to make sure we understand the game. Perhaps there’s a pattern to the whole thing. If we can figure it out, we’ll win this whole thing.”
“There’s no pattern,” Harvey said from my left, his voice tight. “It’s just brutal.”
That it was.
A couple more teams played. At least one member of each team limped out of the arena, incredibly hurt because of the spears. I gulped, knowing that was my fate too.
Then it was our turn.
Ava marched into the arena like a queen. She really seemed into this thing. Harvey didn’t look happy to be here, just like me. But when our opposing team came in, I felt the blood in my veins warming up fast.
Tom, Gabe, one of his friends, and Olivia, a quiet girl.
All right. No matter what, now I refused to lose.
Because Harvey was on our team, Professor Eleanor was replaced with Professor Genevieve. She tossed the coin, and gave the ball to us.
Harvey reached out for it, but Ava snatched it before he could. “This is mine,” she said in a low voice.
Professor Genevieve retreated. She raised her hand high. “Ready?” None of us answered, too focused on our adversaries. She lowered her hand fast. “Begin!”
With the force of an amazon, Ava threw the ball to the other side of the court, taking out Olivia in less than two seconds. Tom picked up the ball and aimed at me. I was able to get out of the way, but then the shower of spears started.
While dodging the spears, Harvey got the ball and threw it at Gabe, but he moved because of a spear, and the ball missed him.
If we couldn’t stop moving because of the ball, with the spears it was so much worse.
Tom grabbed the ball and bid his time. When Ava jumped away from a spear, he threw the ball at her, hitting her square in the chest.
Ava was out.
She left the court yelling colorful words at Tom, and even at Harvey and me. Apparently, she would kill us if we lost.
Harvey had the ball. He threw it at Gabe, but a spear hit him first, sending him skidding across the ground. He stayed down for a long time, making me even more agitated, just waiting to see if he was all right.
We had been warned these uniforms would save us from being killed, but right now, I wasn’t really buying that.
I leaned forward as a spear flew behind me, whooshing an inch from my back.
This game was nuts.
Tom took the ball and threw it at me. I was so focused on the spears, I didn’t pay attention to it, until Harvey pushed me out of the way. In the process, he was hit by a spear, right in his ribs.
He fell back on the ground, gasping for air.
Shit, he had saved me, but was hit really bad because of it. Guilt snaked through my chest.
I knelt beside him. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.” He groan
ed, clutching his middle. “Now, go win this game.”
I pushed away the guilt and stood up.
It was Tom and me now.
From the other side of the court, Tom sneered at me. “This will be fun.”
He threw the ball.
Just as two spears came in my direction.
Without much choice, I jumped and rolled on the ground.
My heart beat fast in my chest, when I stopped and glanced up. The spears hadn’t hit me, neither had the ball. With a grin, I dodged the incoming spears and grabbed the ball.
Watching me, Tom lost the smile. He didn’t stop moving because of the spears. Neither did I. But I knew that at some point, I would have a chance.
I ducked from a spear coming for my shoulder line. When I straightened, I saw Tom jumping forward, moving away from a spear.
I threw the ball.
It hit him square in the chest.
Instantly, the spears stopped.
“Team eight wins!” Professor Genevieve announced.
Ava ran into the court and jumped over me, tackling me into a bear hug. “You did it!”
I had to confess, I felt freaking awesome right now. After a week of feeling like I was on my death bed, I finally made a breakthrough. And it wasn’t because I had won the game for my team.
It was because I had defeated Tom.
At least here, I wouldn’t let him beat me up.
He glared at me from the other side of the court, and like a bitch, I winked at him.
24
Rey
The midterm games changed every year. When I went through them two years ago, the games had been different, though just as brutal. My team had won two out of three games, and we had the best grades of the entire third-year class.
This year, I was a professor, which meant I had to help out with the organization and running of the games. I had hoped I could excuse myself, but no excuse stuck.
It was pure torture to stand here, so close to Erin. Seeing her face off with Tom during the first game had been nerve-wrecking. Fuck, I hadn’t seen Erin since we broke the bond over a week ago, but glancing at her was painful.
The fucking soul bond was gone, but not my feelings. I still wanted to be near, to check on her, to make sure she was safe. I still fought against myself to not get too close, to not go talk to her, to not confess my seemingly undying love.
I had thought, I had hoped, that once the soul bond was gone, so would my feelings. I thought I was so obsessed about her because we were connected.
But that wasn’t the case. I loved her, with or without a soul bond.
This past week had been torture. I had to put on a mask and continue my professor duties, while my soul ached. That was what I got for not speaking up, for not stopping the fucking ritual. Now Erin and I looked like walking zombies with a piece of our soul missing.
Breaking the soul bond had been a terrible mistake, in more ways than one.
Now Tornar, the curse-breaking demon, was on the loose. In my spare time, I had checked on Erin—she hadn’t left her dorm room in an entire week, despite Claire’s and Harper’s insane efforts to cheer her up—and I flew around the area, searching for Tornar. I had even met other demons, trying to locate him, but to no avail.
It was like Tornar had disappeared.
If he resurfaced somewhere, killing innocents, I would never forgive myself.
The next morning, the third-year students got together around the arena, which had been changed during the night, for the next round. I seriously didn’t want to be here, but because of my duties, I had been assigned to stand at the start line of the game, making sure the team on my side was ready. On the other side, Professor Genevieve stood with the other team.
It was a boring job, until it was Erin’s turn.
She, Harvey, and Ava entered the arena and walked up to me. Erin looked everywhere, but never at me.
I cleared my throat. “You saw the other teams go, so you know the drill, right?”
Erin played with the strap of her armor. They were wearing the same magical armor from yesterday, which protected them against killing blows. They would need it.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ava said, sounding bored. “We know what to do.”
“All right, then, take your positions,” I told them.
Harvey shot me a glance and patted my shoulder. That night, he had helped Claire and Harper take Erin and me out of the courtyard. While Claire and Harper watched out for Erin, Harvey had stayed at my townhouse with me until I woke up. He had given me a sermon about how stupid I had been in breaking the soul bond and releasing a fucking demon.
As if I didn’t know that.
“Easy,” Harvey muttered, before walking away with Ava. They went through the side of the arena, and took their places, farther along the track.
“Are you ready?” I asked Erin. She looked up, straight ahead to the track in front of her, but she didn’t answer me. I let out a long breath. “Erin, I’m asking as your professor. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice harsh. It sliced through my chest.
Had her feelings gone away when we broke the soul bond? I hoped so. I hoped that the way she was ignoring me now was because she hated me, because she was disgusted by me. Wasn’t that what I wanted from the beginning? I had tried being a jerk so she would take a hint and stay away from me. It hadn’t worked then, but apparently, it had worked now.
Good. That was good.
Then why did it only make me hurt more?
“Here.” I handed her the wooden baton she needed for this game.
Still not looking at me, she took the baton from me. Fuck, how I wanted her to say something. Anything. To yell at me.
I missed her, even when she was mad at me.
“Good luck,” I whispered.
A short ring echoed through the arena.
Erin shot ahead, running as fast as she could, and I watched, my heart constricted in my chest.
This game was a speed relay. After running for several yards, Erin had to vault over a tall wall, which had been enchanted to melt or crumble once the students touched it, making it difficult to climb over it.
Erin slipped when the area around her hands started melting, but eventually, she made it across, a second before her opponent. At the end of that obstacle, Harvey was waiting for her. She passed the baton to him and he zoomed off.
He had to tuck the baton in a pocket, run while throwing daggers at dummy demons that showed up along the track in no particular order. He had to hit at least seven out of ten, or his team would be disqualified. As usual, Harvey excelled at this kind of thing—he hit all ten dummies, gaining his team more points.
Next was Ava. She had to swim through a pool full of demonic fish that bit like piranhas. Her armor protected her from the worst, but when she exited the pool, she seemed tired, and her neck and ears were bleeding.
By then, Erin and Harvey had gone through the shortcuts and reached the end of Ava’s course. She touched their hands, keeping the baton, and then three of them set off on the last part of the game: to run down a long, straight track. But there was a catch. Black thorns would shoot up from the ground and try to entwine around their legs.
Repaying Harvey’s favor from the previous day, Erin pushed Harvey to the side so he wasn’t caught in the thorns, but two seconds later, more thorns jutted from the ground right in front of Erin. She tried jumping over them, but the thorns were too fast. They tied around her ankles and she fell to the ground with a loud smack.
My stomach dropped. I took half a step, in a desperate urge to go check on her. Holy fuck, this sucked.
Ava cursed, but went back to help Erin. The team would only be able to proceed to the last game if all members finished this one.
Even from a distance, it was clear Ava was yelling at Erin for being caught. They ripped the thorns from around Erin’s ankles, and started running again.
They reached the finish line, but ten seconds after the opposing tea
m. They would make it to the last game, but now points would be deducted from their total for coming in second.
After all teams had gone through and we disbanded for the day, I saw Erin walk away with Harvey and Ava. Claire tagged along with them since her team wasn’t talking to her—she hadn’t even tried to compete, and now her team was out of the game—but that meant she had to listen as Ava yelled at Erin and Harvey.
My hands twitched. I wanted to smack some sense into her. Couldn’t she see that they were all limping, even bleeding? From grabbing the thorns, Erin’s hands were bleeding too.
Fuck, how I wanted to go to her and do something.
Tired of all of this, I turned to the arena. Though I would rather go to my townhouse and rest for the rest of the day with a nice cold beer to help forget about the pain assaulting my core, I had to help set up everything for tomorrow.
I sat down at a desk and started going through each team’s papers, reporting the right point numbers to them. A moment later, Crimson sat down beside me.
“You had asked a couple of weeks,” he said, his voice low. “It has been a couple of weeks and nothing has happened.”
I knew he would come after me at some point. But he was right. It was almost time. The full moon would be in three days. “Tomorrow,” I told him. “After the final midterm game tomorrow. I’ll reveal all I know about Randall, and you’ll become the headmaster.”
I just hoped I wasn’t trading one evil dictator for another one.
25
Erin
I could only guess that it was Randall and his inexplicable magic that changed the arena so fast in one single night. First, it had been the spears coming out of walls as if magic created and flung them out. Then, it had been the magic melting wall, and black thorns that sprouted from the ground.
Now, it was a huge maze with tall hedges.
The day was cold, the coldest we had so far, but the sun, already descending on the horizon, had shone bright. Now, with its orange and pink rays, it bathed the maze with golden light. The maze took over the arena’s space and the bleachers, which had been moved back, to allow for more space.
The Soul Bond (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 3) Page 15