The Sorcery Trial

by J. A. Armitage

  Next to Ario sat Phillip and Dulcina. Another pair that hadn’t seen the limelight much, although they were, by far, the best-looking couple here. They wouldn’t have looked out of place on the cover of a trendy magazine.

  Finally, there was Sophia and Tristam. My blood boiled as I took in the pair of them lapping up the attention from their artists, so I decided to concentrate on my own reflection in the makeshift mirror they’d set up.

  I looked haggard. Dark circles shadowed my eyes, and my skin looked washed out, giving me a ghostly look. If this was what a week over the Hedge did to a person, it was a miracle these faeries looked so damn beautiful all the time. Maybe it worked in opposites. What made faeries more gorgeous robbed humans of their vibrancy.

  “I think you’re going to need more make-up,” I joked half-heartedly to my artist.

  I closed my eyes as she worked away, not really caring about what I looked like. My thoughts were still firmly set on Cass and the fact that I was so close to her. If we were in the Faerie king’s palace, that meant we were right in the heart of Elfame. If only I could just stand up and walk outside without anyone noticing.

  “You’re done!” My make-up artist trilled. Someone, a member of the palace staff or a studio lackey maybe, took me to another room, this one much smaller with a long rack of dresses and one very grumpy looking Orin.

  “Now is your chance to shine,” the thin brunette said, giving me a broad grin. “I’m your personal stylist, and I’m here to help you make the right choice for the interviews later. I’ve picked out a selection of dresses from the hottest human and fae designers. You want to make an impression, so I was thinking this one…” She pulled out a dress that looked like the sparkling night sky. It was covered in black shimmering sequins interspersed with silver ones like stars. It certainly was something special. I could imagine it on an Oscar winner, but I couldn’t see me in it.

  “I’m not wearing a dress. Bring me a clean outfit for the next trial.”

  The stylist’s face dropped, and she looked at me as if I’d just asked to be dressed in a gown made of the finest artisanal dog poop.

  Beside me, Orin nodded. “Yep, same for me.”

  “You know this is going to be broadcast throughout both Earth and Faerwild. The others will be doing everything to get the attention of the audience,” she protested.

  “I suspect that if we go out in our race outfits while all the others are dolled up to the nines, we’ll be the ones getting the attention, not that I care,” I said.

  The stylist tried everything she could think of to change our minds, but it was only when Orin picked up the sky dress and said he’d like to wear it himself, that she finally left the room to get us what we wanted.

  In my mind, I could see John banging his head against his desk as he watched me walk onto the stage in my leggings and zip up FFR jacket, but I didn’t care. I didn’t join this race to be famous or popular, and I’d had enough pandering to everyone. I just wanted the interviews over so we could start the next part of the race. With any luck, it would be held in the city, making it easy for me to look into Cass’s whereabouts without drawing too much attention.

  “I’ll come back and let you know when you’re on,” huffed the woman, clearly embarrassed by our style decision. “You two are on last. Hopefully, everyone will have turned their TVs off by that point.” And with that, she stalked out, leaving us all alone.

  “I think the black would have looked good on me,” chuckled Orin as I took a seat next to him.

  “You do have the ass for it,” I agreed.

  “You’ve been checking out my ass, have you?” Orin raised an eyebrow.

  My face colored. “I was kidding. This whole thing is a pile of crap. Who cares what we wear?”

  Orin raised his other eyebrow. “But what about the adoring fans?” he said in a simpering voice that was supposed to be Patricia.

  I shook my head and laughed. “I know I should care, but those millions of people watching don’t mean anything when we’re out in the field. They won’t help us at all.”

  Orin placed his hand on my arm sending an unexpected shiver through me. “Have you ever thought your sister might be watching?”

  No, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. But it was possible. What if she’d seen everything? Had Ben or any of the secret cameras placed strategically throughout the playing field managed to capture me reading Cass’s letter? Would she have seen it and known to come find me? I threw the thought away. If she’d been watching, she’d have known where I was, and if that were the case, she’d have demanded to be let in to see me.

  “Cass wouldn’t care if I walked onto the stage naked.”

  Orin’s choked back a cough. “Now that would get the ratings up!”

  I playfully punched his arm and looked around. The room we were in was decorated so beautifully.

  “Do you think we are at the Fae palace?” I asked.

  “I think one of the smaller palaces. I’m not sure they would have transported us all the way to Elfame.” Smaller palaces? Ugh. I knew Tristam, and his dad were pompous asses, but how many palaces does a ruler need?

  The woman came back, the look of disgust still firmly set on her face. “Okay, you two are on. Come with me.”

  We followed her back into the main hall and then turned into what looked like the backstage of an auditorium. Past some curtains, I could see the stage and a wide bowl filled with rows of seating. And those seats were filled.

  I stumbled at the sight.

  “What’s the matter?” Orin asked, stopping beside me.

  The stylist continued walking, not even noticing.

  “I didn’t expect there to be people there.”

  “What did you expect?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, trying not to let the fear in. “I thought it would just be us and Patricia. When everyone kept saying stage, I thought they meant a sound stage, not an actual one.”

  Orin took my hand, gripping it firmly. “We’ve been through worse together, I’m sure we’ll get through this.”

  Taking a deep breath, I walked forward. As soon as the crowd saw us, they went wild, the noise filling the room, threatening to overwhelm me.

  I plastered a fake smile on my face as Orin and I stepped out onto the stage.

  Tristam and the others, having already been interviewed, were already sitting on two large sofas. Patricia greeted us, guiding us to the sofa. With dismay, I saw that the space left for us was next to Tristam. I tried to walk behind Orin so he’d end up sitting next to the traitor, but Patricia was having none of it.

  She pulled Orin back, so I had to sit next to Tristam. When she was happy that we were all where she wanted us, she took a seat opposite.

  “Good morning Jacqueline and Orin! It’s nice to see you here and in such interesting outfit choices.”

  I glanced over at the other females. Molly was dressed in black as usual, but she looked stunning in a long velvet ballgown. Dulcina had picked a lilac dress to match her hair, and I noticed her make-up artist had liberally sprinkled her with sparkles. On the other side of Tristam sat Sophia who must have told her stylist to find her a dress that showed as much skin as possible. Her long tanned legs showed through a split in her dress right up to her panty line, and her cleavage defied gravity.

  I’d made a huge mistake in coming out like this.

  Sophia offered me a fake smile, and I had to stifle the urge to give her a matching black eye to Tristam’s.

  “We don’t need to dress to impress,” Orin began. “We’re here to win a race, not a beauty pageant.”

  “As if they’d win one of those,” I heard Sophia whisper not so subtly to Tristam.

  “Of course,” Patricia purred. “We’ve seen some of the highlights of the others’ time in the race. Would you like to see some of yours?”

  I had a feeling that saying “no” wasn’t an option, so I nodded my head. A huge screen to the side of the stage came to life. I nearly died when I saw w
hich moment they’d chosen to show. I closed my eyes as the onscreen me followed Tristam out of the cave.

  I already knew what happened next. Tristam gave me the talisman and then kissed me slowly on the cheek. I thanked everything that was holy that we’d not kissed on the lips. I didn’t think I’d have been able to bear the embarrassment. The crowd cheered, making me open my eyes at just the wrong moment. On the screen, because of the angle of the camera, it looked like we’d kissed on the lips. Beside me, I felt Orin go stiff.

  Then his cheeks darkened as on the screen he woke up and placed the blanket over my sleeping form. So, it had been Orin, not Tristam as I had thought.

  The screen flickered, and another shot unfolded. Tristam was now kissing Sophia behind a campfire. The whole thing made me gag. I’d been royally played, and now it was being shown for all to see. Mortification didn’t cover how embarrassed I felt.

  The screen went blank, and Patricia turned her attention back to us.

  “What do you make of that Orin?”

  “She was cold, I put a blanket on her,” he answered simply, choosing not to elaborate. Patricia waited patiently for me to jump in and when it became apparent that I wasn’t going to, she turned back to the screen.

  I watched, cringing as Tristam’s necklace transported us to that infernal cave followed by a scene of him and Sophia stealing two horses that Ario and Molly had somehow found. They really were both a sack of shit, but, at least, I wasn’t the only one who had been fooled by Team Pretty Face.

  At least, it wasn’t them who’d tried to set us on fire when we were inside the enchanted mirror, burning all our supplies in the process. No, that was Phillip! Well, well. It seemed we could trust no one. I’d known from the start that we were on our own, and Orin had warned me time and time again, but I still found myself shocked at how outrageously awful the contestants had been to each other. Anger seethed within me as I took in all their misdeeds, making me more determined than ever to beat the lot of them. I was here to find Cass, but after everything I’d just witnessed, I needed something else too. I needed to win.

  “Thank you all for coming out,” boomed a voice as the large screen grew dark. The Faerie king strode onto the stage, his arms out wide in greeting towards the crowd.

  “The first trial in the Fantastic Faerie Race is over, and we’ve seen plenty of action. Before I go on, we should have a moment’s silence for our fallen contestants.”

  A montage of Genevieve and Zee brightened the screen, and throughout the auditorium, heads bowed. Anger bloomed within me at the thought of the Faerie king and Patricia feigning sorrow for the cameras. Like they hadn’t been the ones behind their deaths.

  As the king began speaking again, a flood of memories came back to me, like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Niall and Patricia meeting secretly, Niall mentioning the Brotherhood, someone stealing the books from my room. Zee’s ring not working. Something sinister was going on that went way beyond a race for TV, but what? Another memory flittered through my mind. The rose and thistle emblem on the boxes hidden in the dragon’s lair—it was the same as the earrings Patricia had been wearing when we were all at Hennington House. And then, there was Cass and her indecipherable letter to Gen. Somehow she was involved in all of this, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how.

  My mind was brought back to the present as the king raised his voice.

  “And let’s give a hand to all our remaining contestants. The next trial, the Elemental Trial, starts in two days.”

  Two days? My stomach dropped. That meant I had forty-eight hours to figure out what the hell was going on—or the next moment of silence might be for me.

  * * *

  To read the next book in The Faerie Race series, The Elemental Trial, CLICK HERE! Or, read on for a sneak peek!

  If you enjoyed The Sorcery Trial…

  And now for a Sneak Peek of The Elemental Trial, Book Two in The Faerie Race trilogy!

  * * *

  You can buy the whole series now

  The Sorcery Trial (Faerie Race book one)

  The Elemental Trial (Faerie Race book two)

  The Doomsday Trial (Faerie Race book three)

  29

  Chapter one

  I sat on the floor, holding a potted fern, talking to a magic bunny. No, the Fantastic Faerie Race hadn’t driven me completely insane. Though there were still two more legs of the race that could claim that distinguished honor.

  I closed my eyes again, breathing out a long breath. I had no idea what time it was, my room in Hennington House didn’t have a clock and my phone was across the room. I thought it was morning. In my mind’s eye, I saw the magic rabbit that represented my magic—my power over the element of earth. In the past few hours of my futile efforts, the rabbit had gotten much more comfortable with me, which seemed weird, because it was all in my head. Wasn’t it?

  The plant was nestled between my crossed legs. I was trying to move the dirt inside using my magic. I needed the bunny’s help for that, which thus far had not been forthcoming. Orin had told me that when he as a kid, he’d used magic by imagining the different elements as pets. It had worked for me in the dragon’s lair on Emerald Mountain. I needed to be able to recreate it at will. Hence, plant. Hence, bunny. “Come on,” I coaxed. “Look at this wonderful dirt! So fragrant and full of nutrients. Don’t you want to move it? Let’s move it together.”

  I knew I should be sleeping, but I’d given up on that after about three hours of tossing and turning. My mind, assaulted by flashbacks of my days over the Hedge, refused to shut down to allow me to get some much needed rest. And I did need it. I wouldn’t have the luxury of a warm comforter or a soft mattress for long. The FFR had allowed us two nights back in Wales to recuperate before we were to be thrown back into Faerie and into the second leg of the race.

  It wasn’t as though I wasn’t tired. I was completely exhausted, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Zee’s unblinking eyes looking upwards to the sky, or a plant-like monster enveloping me within its vines, trying to squeeze the life out at me. And Cass’s letter. If I was going to be honest with myself, it wasn’t the danger of the next leg that had my mind whirring, it was the letter that Cass had written to Genevieve, folded into the shape of a flower just the way she used to send messages to me when we were little. A pang of jealousy cut me as I thought of the note again. It meant she was alive—which was the part I was concentrating on but that knowledge brought another question. Why hadn’t she tried to contact me? Three years had passed without a word.

  The bunny started to hop away as my mind wandered. “Wait!” I said to it, gesturing it back. “I’m sorry. You’re such a pretty bunny.” It turned and hopped back towards me in my mind, its little nose quivering. It was adorable. It sniffed my proffered hand, and then—to my shock, it hopped into my arms. I let out a gasp of delight, stroking its soft fur. “Should we move some dirt?” I swear its little nose quivered in affirmation. I focused on the plant, pulling the power through the rabbit in my mind, and channelling it into the dirt. I just wanted to raise it into the air slightly. I cracked one eye to peek and gasped as I saw that the dirt around the fern’s base was, in fact, floating ever so slightly.

  A knock sounded on the door, and I yelped in surprise. The bunny leaped from my mental arms and dirt flew everywhere. I closed my eyes as it rained down on me. I sighed.

  The knock sounded again. “Just a minute,” I called. I opened my eyes, brushing dirt off my face and lashes. I had exploded the potted fern. “Great,” I grumbled, standing and shaking off the dirt and bits of plant as best I could.

  I swung open the door and, to my surprise, found Ben standing there. I’d not seen him since we left Faerie. As with all the other camera persons filming the FFR, he’d been taken out separately from the contestants. Emotion welled up within me, surprising me with its intensity. Ben had been there in the hardest week of my life and it was only now that we were both out, both safe, that I realised just how much his
presence had comforted me.

  “Hi Jacq,” he said awkwardly as I flung myself into his arms.

  “It’s so good to see you.”

  He held me tightly and the stress I’d been feeling since we returned to Hennington House melted away. Orin was my partner in the FFR, but Ben was my friend.

  “Come in,” I invited, untangling myself from him. “When did you get here?”

  “We left Faerie just before the contestants did, but the FFR execs took us all out for a meal and put us up for a night in a trendy hotel in Cardiff. Jacq…” he looked me up and down, and surveyed the detritus in the room. “Did you know you’re covered in dirt?”

  “It’s a long story.” I brushed my face off again and pulled my hair from its ponytail, doing my best to shake it out.

  “I won’t ask.” He grinned.

  “I think that’s best.”

  “You all healed up? Ready for round two?”

  “Hell no,” I said, shaking my head. “I haven’t even been able to sleep. It’s all churning in my head. I keep remembering the endless cave and the Erl-king chasing us and just as I think I’m on the edge of sleep, the dragon pops into my head and I’m wide awake again.”

  Ben plopped himself on the bed, a serious expression on his face. “I’m sorry Jacq. I can imagine. I was safe the whole time thanks to all the protective enchantments they put on me, but there were times I nearly shit myself out of fear. I’m not so sure you should go back in.”

  I looked across at him in surprise. “I’ve got to go back in. You know that.”

  “Why? Seriously, why do you have to go back in? There’s no law to say that you have to. It’s only a stupid TV show. Is it about the money? Because I’m not sure any amount of money is worth risking your life for.”