Thankfully, unlike Phoebe, I’d been expecting her. I kicked with all my might, slamming my foot into the beast’s mouth. The fae groaned and blood dribbled down her chin as her green eyes glinted malevolently.
“Stupid move, little witchling,” the fae lifted her arms and whips of water followed the motion. One smacked me right in the face, while another tried to take me out at the knees. I faltered and the damnable creature laughed. “One less student for the little witchy spy school.”
Oh hell no, she did not just say that.
I fought to stay on the rock and thrust my hands forward, channeling my fear and anger into raw magical power. When I let it fly, a stream of vibrant purple barreled toward the fae.
She disappeared beneath the waves to dodge my magic, but I didn’t wait to see where she’d come up. I sprinted over the rocks. The riverbank grew closer and closer. Hope that I’d made it had just begun to bloom in my chest, when Phoebe loosed a scream.
“Jump, Di! She’s right behind you!”
Unable to help myself I shot a glance back. Sure as hell, the creature was torpedoing toward me, her arms outstretched and a lasso of green weeds flying my way.
Everything shifted into slow motion.
I threw myself forward. Phoebe reached out and my fingers brushed hers just as a wet tendril caressed my calf. The tendril wrapped tightly around my leg and yanked, trying to pull me back—actuallypulling me back. A scream ripped out of my throat as an image of me failing the first exam flashed in my mind.
And then, suddenly, something heavy and hard slammed into me from behind and I careened forward, to land face-first in the dirt.
I groaned and blinked my eyes open. Beneath me, my hands felt soil. I was on the ground.
What the hell had just happened?
A noise—the water fae’s hisses—hit my ear, followed by a stream of curses. My muscles tensed as the events of the river trial came rushing back.
“Di! Tabby! Are you alright?”
Tabitha? How did she get across the river so fast?
I struggled to sit up and when my vision cleared I saw Tabitha was laying just a couple of feet from me. The only reasonable scenario presented itself right away. Tabby had to have been the thing that hit me from behind.
But how?
Tabitha moaned and all of a sudden Hunter and Phoebe were both there, helping us up.
“What happened? How long was I out?” I asked, the exam’s time limit ever on my mind.
“Less than a minute,” Phoebe answered before her eyes darted to Hunter. Her face softened and she looked at him adoringly. “Hunter levitated Tabitha across the river.”
He what?!
I shook my head. The levitation incantation was difficult and not taught until the end of Culling-year. Memories of Jackson practicing it on me, and failing miserably, flashed in my mind. He hadn’t been alone in his failures, either. Half of last years initiate class had trouble with that particular incantation. Which only made the fact that Hunter could pull it off even more impressive.
“It’s a specialty of my dad’s,” Hunter explained. “He made sure I knew it before coming here. Although I’ll admit, that was the best it’s ever worked.”
“Hmm,” I hummed accepting Phoebe’s hand to help me stand. “Any other specialties we should know about,teammate?”
Hunter’s lips quirked up and despite the fact that Tabitha was still blinking as if she was disoriented, I swear the boy-crazy girl swooned. “Not yet, but that’s what Spellcasters is for, isn’t it? Rest assured, I havemanynon-magical specialities.” He winked.
My friends giggled, but I rolled my eyes. How was I the only one immune to this guy’s charms? “Right. Well, keep those skills to yourself for now. We have a race to finish.”
Everyone snapped back to attention and once we’d slipped the vine ropes off, Hunter and I situated Tabby between us once again. As we rushed forward, my nerves began to jangle uncontrollably. How much time did we have left? I estimated that we’d already run about two miles—but that still left one and some change to go.
Suddenly, Phoebe jerked to a stop and Hunter, Tabitha, and I nearly plowed over her. I caught my breath, only to lose it again when I saw what had made Phoebe stop so abruptly.
A climbing wall was shooting out of the ground right in front of us. We watched it climb to the height of three stories before it stopped.
“Holy crap. Good work spotting that, Phoebe. A second later and it would have knocked us out.” I motioned for Hunter to move left, keeping away from the boundary and whatever creature would bust into the course and chase us should we attempt to set foot outside the red lights.
