“Good luck. I know you’ll win,” Declan’s grandma kisses him on the cheek and waves to the rest of us, and we watch in silence as she walks away, an air of confidence and pure belief in her eyes.
The crowd murmurs among themselves as they wait for us to begin, and I move off to the side and begin to stretch, many of the other teams following suit.
Declan stands in front of me, and I look away from his hard chest. The stupid memory of his naked torso dripping with water, only a towel wrapped around his waist, fills my mind, and I wish that was one of the hazier moments of that night.
“Serena, my grandma is right. I—”
But I shake my head, staring into his eyes. “If we survive, then maybe, just maybe, we will talk. But for now, we have more important things to focus on,” I reply, and I can feel Lore and Keaira’s powers ripple around me.
“Mistress, I’m not much of a fighter so I’m going to merge. But if you need me, I will come,” Lore says softly as she sinks into my skin, the pain barely a twinge. “And besides, I may be more helpful here. I don’t want to get in the way.”
Keaira huffs as she leaps from my shoulder, her little paws landing softly on the sandy ground. “Which form of mine would you like?” she asks, proudly puffing her furry chest out.
“Stay small and hold on to my jacket. You’ll be too much of a target in your true form, and I can’t carry a staff with me.”
Keaira lets out a defeated sigh and climbs back up my body to nestle against my neck. “Fine. But at least let me bite someone. I haven’t had any fun lately.”
I laugh and nod, scratching her soft head. “Sure thing. If you need to test out your teeth or claws, Declan is there and wouldn’t say no to it.”
Declan narrows his eyes on my furry companion before shifting away from her. Her paws dance excitedly against my shoulder. “Not on your life, Keaira,” he says.
“On yours it is, then,” she replies.
The speakers crackle again. “Contestants, please move to the back of the Colosseum. We are about to create the playing field.”
We shuffle back toward the wall and away from the red line dividing the sandy area from the stone platform we stand upon. Dane wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him as the ground begins to rumble and large objects emerge from beneath the sand.
My jaw drops in awe as I watch pits drop, towers build, mountains form, and caves devour the earth. At the same time, a wave of nausea washes over me at the sheer breadth of the course. “How the hell are we meant to finish this?”
Dane leans down, his eyes trained on the world being created in front of us. “We’ve been training for this. And besides, as soon as we entered, I scanned through the ground and saw all of this,” he whispers. I stare at him, mouth agape, but he continues, “We’ll still need to beat it, but I at least know where the physical traps are and what to avoid. The magical ones, however, we’ll still need to watch for.” He frowns at that, but I’m still stuck on the whole, I saw it all underground thing.
“You are seriously the best. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I shake my head.
Dane chuckles. “You would be lost without me, Serena.”
Even though he meant it as a joke, he’s not in the slightest bit wrong. I would be lost without him, without all of them. Dane’s smile softens as he senses my warmth for him, and he kisses my lips, resting his forehead against mine. “We’re going to be fine,” he whispers.
The crackling of the speakers draws us apart, and I can’t help but notice the dark look Declan shoots our way.
It’s not like he has any say in what I do. Asshole. I glare back at him before glancing at the sure-to-be-my-death course, the hammering in my ears the only comfort I’m still alive. For now.
“Contestants, please line up. You have half an hour to make it to the end in order to pass. You all know the rules, but to reiterate, anything goes. Also, no one outside of the contestants and their weapons, magical objects, and abilities can be used during these trials. Anyone who receives outside help will forfeit the trials and will be given a failing mark. If you do not reach the end in thirty minutes, you fail. If you reach the end but do not have the trident, you will pass with a half-mark. Your team must also reach and remove a marker from each of the checkpoints littered throughout the course. If you complete the course but do not have all of the markers, you will be failed. Is that understood?”
The blood rushing through my ears intensifies as we are called to the starting line, our team jostled by the older students around us.
God, I hope we’ve got this.
Dane smiles at me reassuringly, and the crowd hushes as the commentator begins the countdown.
Five…
Four…
Do I really want to do this?
Three…
Two…
There’ll be no turning back.
One…
“Go!”
The crowd roars, and we’re off, racing toward the first obstacle. Sand whips around us as one team violently collides with another. I swear and duck a flying ax, deflected by its original target. I groan as my heavy black shoes sink into the sand with each stride; chunky Docs weren’t the smartest idea.
Dane leads us forward in an arrow formation, his eyes trained on a suspiciously vacant spot ahead. “Hermes!” he calls, and Rory jumps into action, using his wind to carry us into the air and over the sandy spot at the base of the tower and
