Plus, now that we had a plan, I was sure that if we could complete the obstacles within a decent time frame, we wouldn’t come in last. After all, we hadn’t regularly experienced the hell of physical conditioning since our first week at Spellcasters for nothing.
I sucked in a breath to amp myself up. We were strong, even if half of us were severely poisoned. We could do this.
I looped my arm through Sam’s and helped her shuffle to the trapeze station designated for our school. “I’ll climb first. Diana, you’re good at levitation spells, right?”
She nodded.
“Then you go last, and levitate Sam and Andre if they need help. I’ll assist from the top.”
“Sounds good.”
The climb was hard and taxing, which made me worry about Sam and Andre. But when I got to the top, I saw that Sam was already halfway up the ladder. She grimaced with every rung she conquered, and she looked super sweaty even from where I stood, but the determination etched on her face gave me hope.
Since she was still a ways away, I scanned the area.
A camera was positioned on our platform, and judging by the blinking red light on the other platform the end one too. The televisions down by the starting line sprang to mind, and I realized that the students were all watching us—and would be the whole time.
Wonderful, I thought, my gaze trailing down the line of trapeze apparatuses.
The vampire champions were long gone. And the fae, who had arrived just after us, were already finishing up the task. As it turned out, trapeze was cake when you had wings.
The shifters, however, were a different story. Although they were athletic-looking in their human aspects, both Howley and Heath had already fallen into the safety net below. Only Dasha had made it across. She was now trying hard to coax Gregor off the ledge so she could swing out and get him.
Even from a distance of thirty feet away, I could see Gregor tremble. I felt bad for the guy, but also a little bolstered by his reluctance to make the leap. It gave us a fighting chance in the competition.
In the time it took for my team to make it to the top of the platform, I watched both Howley and Heath swing across the expanse once more. Heath succeeded, but Howley fell again. Now that I’d seen an example of the right and wrong techniques, I had a plan.
“Unfortunately, warping is no good here. The bar moves too fast for accuracy. But what do you guys think about a magnetism or sticking spell?” Although I didn’t know how to do those spells, I hoped that the Crucibles would have learned something along those lines.
“Genius,” Sam said, and her tired eyes brightened a bit. “I can do that. Let’s try the sticking one first.”
I held out my hands, and Sam cast the spell on them and the bar. When I wrapped my fingers around the bar, my grip felt strong—like I could hold on for a really long time and not slip.
A smile broke on my face. “Perfect. I’ll cross first. If I give you the thumbs-up, that means this solution worked well, and you should enchant the others’ hands too.”
“You got it,” Sam said.
I turned and faced the vast expanse between platforms. My hands stuck to the bar, but that didn’t stop my anxiety from rising. There was a shitload of open air below me. I wasn’t sure of the exact distance that we had to swing, but the second platform wasreallyfar away. Even with the safety net, the idea of falling terrified me.
But I didn’t have a choice. We had to move.
Taking a massive breath, I stepped off the platform.
Cold air whistled in my ears, and my stomach dropped to my knees as I plummeted down. Suddenly, the line pulled tight, and with a terrifyingsnap,I swung forward. Although I wanted to close my eyes, I kept them wide open. The bar on the other side was clearly magically enchanted, because it soared toward me at the same pace that I was approaching it. I just needed to grab it in midair.
My stomach twisted as the bar came closer. I hoped that spelling my hands to be sticky wouldn’t work against me. I hoped that I could continue to hold on with one hand as I reached for the other. I hoped I was dexterous enough for the transition. I hoped—
Nope. The bar was almost to me. I was all outta hopes.
With trembling arms, I released one hand off the bar. To my surprise, the stickiness of Sam’s spell was a little difficult to overcome, but not really that bad. I’d have to ask Sam exactly how it worked later.
My heart thundered as my fingers stretched. Suddenly, they hit something hard—the bar!—and I clung to it.
“Oh crap!” I squealed. Caught between two bars and carrying a crapload of momentum, my body twisted wildly. Instinctively, I let go of the first bar to grip the second for dear life.
Cheering rose from behind me, but I didn’t dare twist my neck around. The second platform was approaching fast, and there was no way in hell I would miss my landing.
When my feet hit the platform with athunk, I let out a massive sigh of relief and released the bar. Amazingly, it stilled, waiting in midair for the next champion to traverse the expanse. Now that I wasn’t moving, the deluge of sweat running down my spine became apparent.
