But how? He’d removed the weapons. Without those, all I had was my wits.
My eyes strayed to where Thrax usually kept a wall of weapons for use in the Battle Magic classes. Of course they weren’t there. They’d been stored elsewhere for this exam, but I was willing to bet they hadn’t gone far. While we’d waited to be tested, everyone had to sit in the girls’ locker rooms. If anyone had to use the bathroom, they’d been told to use the one upstairs—not right next door in the boys locker rooms. Which meant, those who designed this exam were likely storing something in there.
The weapons.
I just had to call one to me.
Mustering up all my willpower, I thrust my hands toward the boys’ locker room and envisioned a dagger soaring through the air.
Please let this finally work.
“Vocodagger!” I whispered beneath my breath so the professor wouldn’t know what was coming. For good measure I followed up the incantation with a few blasts of magic directed squarely at him. While he was preoccupied I shot another glance at the locker room. Nothing zoomed toward me.
Dammit!
I tried again, and then three more times, all with no results. Even worse, while I’d been focusing on the locker room, Professor Thrax had managed to back me into a hedge corner.
No way in hell did I get this far to fail.I gnashed my teeth together as frustration mounted. Just the thought of failure made my arms begin to tremble with anxiety and suddenly, I had an idea.
Use it. Weave the emotions into the incantation.
Using emotion was a basic tenant of Battle Magic. And if it could work for Battle Magic, why couldn’t emotions be used to bolster incantations too?
“Vocodagger!” I screamed, releasing all my fearfulness and anger over failing.
Thrax stumbled over my use of an advanced spell. While he regained his balance, I caught sight of a glint of silver zooming across the room. My lips broke into a smile.
The spell finally worked! I thrusted out my hands and using all my concentration, I directed the dagger at Professor Thrax.
It hit, dead on.
“Ugh!” Thrax bellowed, blood spurted everywhere, and the mountain of a man fell to the floor, his right hand gripping his left shoulder. An alarming amount of blood began to pool on the floor and my heart stuttered. What if I’d severed a major artery and really hurt him?
Should I call for help?
As if he could hear the question, Thrax’s eyes flashed up at me and his lips, twisted unpleasantly with pain, lifted into a proud smirk. “Well, what are you waiting for, Wake? You’ve thoroughly disarmed your opponent. What’s next?”
I sucked in a breath, catching his meaning. Then I turned on my heel and sprinted away.
It was time to finish this thing.
Chapter Fourteen
Only those exam participants who had completed two of the three tests had been allowed to remain at Spellcasters after the magic exam. Those who remained would hear if they were officially accepted to the academy at the announcement ceremony the following day. All in all, there were about forty people left. And as I walked into the initiate tower, it seemed like every single one of them was in the dorm celebrating.
I scanned the crowd, searching for Tabby and Phoebe.
Out of the three of us, Tabitha was the most worried about making the final cut. She hadn’t finished the mental exam, and because her leg wasn’t completely healed, she’d struggled in the final test too. I hoped her use of magic had been good enough to squeak in.
When I finally found my friends my lips quirked upward. They were both perched on Hunter’s lap, giggling and chatting. I didn’t know how they could stand having a thing for the same guy, but I suspected that one of them would probably arrive at school with a boyfriend.
Speaking of potential boyfriends . . .
My friends were clearly busy, so I shifted gears and sought out Alex. I found him almost right away.
He was clear on the other side of the room, chatting animatedly with Amethyst. Tossing my hair behind my shoulder, I went to say hi. When I approached them, the pair seemed to be having a rousing discussion on tarot, something that wasn’t taught until the second-year at Spellcasters.
“Already talking about what you’ll take during Grind-year, I see,” I teased.
