“I think she’s waking up!” a familiar voice—Eva’s—said.
A hand landed on my arm and someone came closer. A scent that reminded me of the Spellcasters Healing sanctuary washed over me.
Alex.
But where was I? And why was it so hard to open my eyes?
I released a moan, and with great effort, forced my eyes to open the rest of the way. Bright lights assaulted me, making me whimper.
“Turn them off.”
Someone moved to shut off the lights, and slowly, I opened my eyes again.
Alex, Hunter, Eva, and Sam hovered around my bedside. Past them, the Spellcasters infirmary spread out before me.
At this rate, I should ask if they have a punchcard or something.
“Hey sweets,” Alex said, his voice soothing. “How you feeling?”
“Awful. What happened?”
I wiggled my jaw. My words had come out garbled, which was just as distressing as how terrible my body felt—like a dozen trucks had run me over.
“You came back from the Spy Games yesterday afternoon. Headmistress Wake brought you straight here,” Eva said. “You got knocked out, although no one has told us how yet.” She glared at Sam, but the third-year didn’t seem bothered by it.
“I told Headmistress Wake,” Sam said. “She was the only person who needed to know what happened before Odette woke up. But if Odette wants, I’m more than happy to fill the rest of you in.”
“They can hear,” I said.
“See?” Eva crossed her arms over her chest, eliciting a chuckle from Hunter.
“Sugar, she just did what she thought was right.” Hunter kissed Eva’s cheek. “Calm down. We won’t be in the dark anymore.”
“Whatever,” Eva said. “Just spill it.”
Sam arched her eyebrows. “Keep that attitude. It’ll serve you well in your Crucible year.” She turned to me and leaned closer so I wouldn’t have trouble hearing her. “Remember the troll?”
“Yeah.”
“Troll?! What the actual hell!” Eva looked gobsmacked, and if laughing wasn’t such a painful prospect, I would have done so.
“Oh, girl, you don’t know thehalfof what we did,” Sam gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “The troll was gross, but the least difficult task. That much has to be true, because we beat him even with Odette passed the eff out.”
My lips curled up, and Sam patted me on the shoulder. “You know it’s true. We would never have made it through the other challenges without you—particularly Andre and me. Thanks for keeping the team together. And for being an amazing warper.”
“Oh my God, will you just tell the whole story already?!” Eva looked about ready to burst.
“So we went through this three-part challenge, which washell on a stick, mind you, only to have to beat a mountain troll for the final task.” Sam turned to my friends. “The vampire champions had poisoned us the night before, so Andre and I were barely hanging on. If we’d had to run the many miles from task to task, weneverwould have made it. But because Odette is a warper, we got to skip the mileage and just perform the tasks.”
“Andre still can’t warp yet?” Hunter asked.
“Let me finish!” Sam said. “Anyway, I was clinging to the troll’s calf and had carved half a rune meant to petrify him when the asshole went after Odette. She was too close to the corpse of another troll that the vampires had killed, and she tripped over it. That’s where things got sticky—literally.” Sam stuck out her tongue.
Alex sucked in a breath. “Troll saliva is sticky. Did you touch it, Odie?”
My eyebrows furrowed. “Maybe?”
“She sure did,” Sam said. “Her arm fell right in his mouth, so she couldn’t move. The other troll was going after her fast. I only finished carving the rune right before he got to her.” Sam gave me a look of pure repentance. “I had no way of knowing that the momentum from his run would pitch him forward—right on top of you.”
