“There are red flags to guide your way, and another positioned at each obstacle. Those at the obstacles should be plain, just as the obstacles themselves will be.” The headmaster’s arms swept up the mountain.
My gaze followed the motion, and once I caught sight of what he was referring to, my mouth dropped open.
About halfway up the tall mountainside stood a pole with a massive red flag. Next to the flag were four towering trapeze apparatuses that made my heart skip a few beats. The headmaster continued to point to the right, and against my better judgment, I followed with my eyes. My heart sank to my knees.
Miles and miles of snow-covered mountainside spanned the space in between each obstacle.
We’re at such a disadvantage.
Hell, even if half of my team wasn’t sick, that would be the case. Vampires and shifters were both super fast. The fae were still glamoured, but I thought it was likely that at least one of them had wings.
“The rules are as follows,” Headmaster Ezra clapped to ensure he had the crowd’s attention. “Everyone on your team must complete each obstacle. Impartial representatives from each magical race are present at the obstacles to ensure that no one skips a step. They have been instructed to remain invisible, so just because you don’t see them, do not assume they are not there.” A sly smile crossed the vampire’s face. “First place gets ten points, and every team after gets two fewer. That scoring will be standard throughout the tournament. Understood?”
I nodded because my throat was too dry to speak.
“Splendid. Now if the champions would line up behind the red ribbon, we’ll begin on my mark.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The starting pistol went off, and the Nightdwellers’ champions shot out of the gate, their legs moving so fast that they seemed to hover above the snow. Within seconds they’d disappeared into the trees. Just behind the vamps, the shifters transformed. My mouth dropped open when they revealed their animal aspect for the first time.
White wolves. Of course they would be wolves acclimated to snow.I grunted as the wolves entered the forest while my team ran laboriously through the powder.
The fae remained only slightly ahead of us, but the moment their glamours began to fade, I knew we were in for trouble. My fists clenched as Luzon and Volwin sprouted wings, grabbed Ayla and Sana, and soared after the shifters and vamps.
“Dammit!” Diana swore.
I knew how she felt. We hadn’t even gone one hundred yards, and already Andre had fallen, and Sam clutched her stomach like she would die any second.
Oh my God, what if we don’t even finish the first challenge?
“This can’t be happening.” Diana shook her head as she helped Andre haul himself up. “Why would they even bother poisoning us? It’s obvious we’re at a disadvantage.”
I huffed out a breath of air. “Yeah it’s not like we have super strength or super speed or wings. All we have is—” My mouth snapped shut, and I whirled to face my team. “Warping. We have warping.”
Diana’s eyes grew round. “Can you do it even though you haven’t seen the obstacles yet?”
“It will be hard, but being able to see those flags should help. I won’t have enough juice to get us through all the obstacles and back to the finish, though.”
My eyes shifted to Andre, whose dark brown skin had taken on an off-putting gray tone. He looked awful. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t ask him to expend his energy, but he was the only one who could help.
“If you waited until the very end and saved your strength, do you think you can get us from the third obstacle to the finish line?”
Andre looked doubtful, and I didn’t blame him. Besides being sick, he’d only created two warpholes in the few lessons that we’d had so far.
“You can do it,” I encouraged because he looked like he needed it. “I’ll talk you through it, and if I have any energy left over, I’ll help. We might be able to morph our energies together.” Alex and I had used our totems to create a warphole once. Andre didn’t have a totem that connected to mine, but it might still work.
“I’ll try my best,” he said and shot Diana a look. “I might need help getting through the obstacles, though. You know, to save my energy for warping.” His dusky cheeks grew red at the admission.
I felt a little bad for the guy. Diana was a formidable woman, and to have to admit he needed her help in physical challenges when he was supposed to be the stronger, older guy . . . well, it would suck. To Diana’s credit, however, she merely placed Andre’s arm around her shoulder.
“I’m here for you,” she said. “I have a bit of experience helping people through trials. Just like Odette, here.” Diana gave me a small smile.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I thrust my hands out and called on the energies all around me. “Then it looks like I should get a warphole started.”
It took two tries, but I got us to the first obstacle. When I looked down the mountainside, I was astonished to see how far we’d come. The Nightdwellers students standing at the starting line looked like insects.
When we arrived, the shifters and vampires were already flying through the air on their academy-specific trapeze apparatuses. Unsurprisingly, the vampire champions were almost done with the obstacle, and yet, seeing the outraged looks on Simone’s and Francis’ faces when we popped into existence made their clear lead less annoying.
