I shriek as a dagger shoots past my ear, then Dane’s, then Declan’s, continuing in a perpetual circle with the tornado around us until we land with a thud on top of the stone structure. As Rory’s winds die down, various deadly projectiles clatter to the floor around us. I glance down and swallow, my feet carrying me back, away from the edge. That’s a hell of a long way to fall.
Below us, screams fill the air as the first teams reach the tower. This time, I crouch to look over the edge again, my stomach still somersaulting at the height, but only see a couple of girls standing just away from the seemingly fine stretch of sand with their hands over their mouths. I turn to Dane who grimaces. “They’re fine. It wasn’t a long fall.”
Declan reaches into the red orb and waits for it to flash green before removing his hand, a small, golden coin in his grip. “We’ve got the first one. Only four more to go.”
We nod, and shouts coming from just below the edge of the tower echo up to us. We run toward the rickety bridge leading from the tower to the next stage of the course, and my stomach falls at the sea of serpents rippling far beneath it.
“If someone falls, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stop you,” Rory whispers, his eyes wide as he wipes sweat from his face.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You flew us up five stories and repelled the air attacks at the same time. You did your job, man, now let us do ours,” Paxton whispers.
The bridge wobbles as we trek across it, but the team following closely behind us urges us forward. Wind swirls around us, and I close my eyes, my hands gripping the flimsy rope like it’s my lifeline. Rory, Declan, and Dane continue ahead of me, making their way across the wooden planks at speed. But the farther away they get, the more the world tilts around me and my legs turn to jelly. “Oh boy…”
“Serena… you okay?” Paxton whispers from behind me, and I shake my head.
“Nope. Nuh-uh,” I shake my head and let out a loud curse as the bridge jostles precariously while we’re stuck in the middle. I’m going to die in a pit of snakes. I’m going to die in a pit of snakes. “I’m going to die in a pit of snakes,” I moan.
“Come on, Serena. You can do this,” Pax’s hand brushes my back for a second before I assume he whips it back to the safety of the rope. “Just pretend we’re outside our house, and this is just for fun.”
I scoff as I peer over my shoulder, the bridge swaying even more now that more people are on it. “Fun? A pit of giant snakes and a fraying bridge is what you would call fun?”
His lips twitch, but his eyes harden as the bridge trembles beneath me, and I let out a soft whimper. When I look forward again, I can see Dane and the others waving us over frantically from the other side.
“What are you waiting for, slowpoke?!” Declan yells.
“Come and say that to my face!” I scream back.
Pax sighs loudly. “Serena, do you trust me?” he asks, and I nod without looking back. “Then close your eyes and hold on.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing this entire time?!” I screech, but it is swallowed by Paxton’s laugh. He pulls my hands from the rope and wraps them around his neck, and I hold on for dear life.
His body tenses for a moment before we lurch upwards, a piercing scream ripping from my throat. I wrap my legs around Paxton’s waist and hold on tight, squeezing my eyes closed. “I swear to the gods, Paxton, if I die, you’re coming with me!”
Then the sound of crunching rocks fills my ears, followed by the deep chuckles I’ve come to know very well. Lifting my face from the crook of Pax’s neck, I glance up and meet the eyes of my team.
But the hissing behind me comes to a crescendo, and I twist around as a giant snake leaps from the pit of its babies, opens its mouth, and swallows one of the students falling through the air. I let out a strangled cry and turn back to the others while pointing at the pit. “You can’t seriously tell me this course isn’t deadly now!”
Declan rolls his eyes. “Calm down, Serena. The snakes are a spell. They’re not real. Anyone eaten just sits in their stomach for a while. They aren’t digested or chewed.”
My stomach churns. “Okay, ew…”
I turn back to the pit again and finally notice where there was once a bridge connecting the two towers, nothing remains. The tattered bridge holds on by a single rope, swaying in the breeze at the other tower. A couple of guys from the team on our tail are attempting to climb up it like a ladder, their remaining members—bar the one eaten by Mother Snake—grasping for their hands at the top.
I look back at Pax. “You broke the bridge?”
“When I pushed to jump, it snapped behind me.”
A strangled gasp escapes my lips. “You nearly killed me! I was almost snake food.”
Dane snorts, and I glare at him, but he shrugs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you have such a girly reaction before.”
“It’s a pit of snakes, slithering and hissing, and they’re all soft and silky and it’s… ugh,” I shudder, unable to hold my revulsion in any longer.
To my side, Dane’s eyes widen, and he yells, “Duck!” and I do, the tower rumbling beneath my feet as scorching heat erupts around me.
When I peer over my shoulder from the floor, I spot the rock wall towering behind me that definitely hadn’t been there before, the edges rimmed bright red from the heat of the blast being shot our way.
“I guess they’re
