Sam plummeted, and reflexively, I kicked my leg out at her. “Grab on!”
“Oomph!” she grunted as my leg smacked her in the face and torso.
But I’ll be damned if she didn’t latch on like a baby monkey.
Correction, a desperate baby monkey. Her nails dug deep into my skin as she tried to climb my leg. I winced and grasped for any part of her to hold on to. Unfortunately for Sam, the first thing I grabbed was her hair. She released a yelp of pain as we soared backward toward the second platform.
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on,I chanted as if it was one of my tried-and-true mantras.
She held steady and when we reached the other platform, Andre caught us.
“That was so amazing!” he said as soon as we were stable. “Quick thinking, Odette.”
“Thanks,” I said, glad I’d taken the risk even though my legs ached.
Sam said nothing, merely crawled over to the edge of the platform and vomited.
Andre watched her, pity in his eyes. “It sucks, but I think it’s better she gets it out of her system. I’ve puked four times now, and I actually feel a lot better. I think I can rally for the rest of this course.”
Examining his face, I noticed that he was no longer sweating, and his cheeks seemed to have a healthier glow. Maybe he was right, and Sam needed to purge.
I didn’t have much time to dwell on the idea, though, because a few seconds later, Diana joined us on the final platform.
“Let’s get moving.” She gestured to the ladder.
“Hold on.” I held out a hand to stop her. “I can see the second flag, so I’m going to warp us from up here to save some time.”
“Excellentidea,” Diana said.
“Everyone stand behind me,” I ordered.
They complied, and I focused on the flag and pushed my magic out. A warphole appeared in front of us, and throwing up a prayer that it would lead us directly to the second obstacle, I led the way through.
Hot air, then cold enveloped me. No longer did I find the contrast striking. It was simply a part of making a warphole.
When I stepped out of the warphole, frigid, thin mountain air caressed my arms. I shuddered as I took in my surroundings. My mouth fell open with relief.
By some miracle of the universe, we’d exited only about twenty feet from the flagpole.
“I can’t believe it!” I shouted and began jumping up and down.
My team piled out after me, and Diana was so pumped that she actually wrapped her arms around me. “Thank God you’re on this team! We’d be so screwed otherwise.”
I blinked. Having her like me was still so odd, but it was way better than the alternative, so I rolled with it. “Let’s figure out this next challenge.”
We approached the flagpole, which was pressed up against the side of a cliff. Four holes barely large enough for a person to fit through dotted the mountainside, each with a little sign over it indicating which species should enter which tunnel.
I moved closer to the hole bearing the sign of a witch and peered inside. It was black as night. My skin began to crawl as flashbacks of walking through the underground of Portland hit me hard.
Well, shit. This sucks.
“We have to go in there?” Sam croaked.
“It appears so,” Diana sighed. “I can go first this time, if you want, Odette? I cast a good illumination spell. I’ll spread it on the walls too, so everyone else can see.”
Sounded fan-freaking-tastic to me. My nerves already tingled at the idea of army-crawling through a dark tunnel, and visions of demons were popping up left and right in my brain.I was in no position to lead this time.
I nodded, and Diana wasted no time climbing in the hole and disappearing into the mountainside.
