Maybe.
I was starting to get the vibe that it was very much like paintball and capture the flag, where you protected your flag while trying to steal the other teams. All I had to know now was what we were protecting, what the spells were, and who was on my team.
“Asher and I can’t go together,” I said, looking between our group. I’d been trying not to show my disappointment at that, but clearly I failed.
Asher chuckled. “Technically we can—we’re born of the mixed fey-magic users race and I think we can represent either one of those.”
Axl nodded. “Yep, mixed race players are allowed, they just have to declare who they’re representing and then stick to strengths only from that race. It’s a gray area, but they won’t discriminate against those not pure. So you can go together. Team up with Jesse and Rone and you’ll be a pretty unstoppable force.”
Yeah, if Jesse, Asher, and I didn’t come to blows on the field.
“What about you?” I asked Axl. He was a wizard, and in that case couldn’t be on the team with us.
“I’ll find a team,” he said, “Calen and I will both have to see who needs a magic user.”
Like we’d summoned her, Larissa appeared. I hugged her hard. “Girl, I love your braid,” I said, admiring her thick strands threaded through with glittering ribbons and gems. They stood out against her blond hair and she looked gorgeous. She’d really been rocking new funky hairstyles ever since she went shorter.
She shrugged. “Trying something new.”
“It’s working for you,” I replied. The teachers called for teams to come forward, and I moved into action. “Larissa and Calen or Axl can be on a team,” I said, pushing them together. “Now you’ll just have to find a shifter and fey.”
It didn’t take long. The Atlanteans had always been treated like gods in this school. Long before anyone knew Asher was literally a god. Other supes wanted their approval … their attention. They definitely wanted to be close to them. Calen and Larissa found their third and fourth in seconds, and Axl was dragged into a team of people he seemed to know already.
Calen coughed close to my ear. “Nerd squad,” he said softly, his teeth shining brilliant white in the early morning light. “They keep vigil in the library with Axl when he’s not in our exclusive section.”
I snorted, shaking my head at him.
“Stay in your foursome and wait for further instructions,” a teacher shouted.
Rone and Jesse stepped up shoulder to shoulder with Asher, and I faced off against the three of them, sighing at the sheer volume of devastatingly handsome dude staring at me.How was this my life?Seeing them like this, all together … it was almost too much for my poor female hormones.
Come on, I was only human. Or whatever.
“So, what’s our plan, boys?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows, determined to pretend everything was normal, and maybe, just maybe we could have a little fun. “Are we going with brute strength, underhanded-borderline-illegal combat, or stealth attack?”
Rone’s lips tilted up, and there he was, doing his avenging fallen angel thing. He’d looked the same the very first time I met him, only scarier. His somewhat permanent scowl had eased over the past two years, but he still had a reputation, a rep that might come in handy during our first SSW match. If I knew supes at all, a lot of this game would be won mentally … long before we had to get our hands dirty.
“I think Asher and Jesse on defense, Maddi and me on offense,” Rone said quickly. “Maddi is fast and small. She’ll be able to slip through areas we can’t fit, depending where they hide their artefact. I’ll be quick enough to intercept any of the spells so she can keep going.”
I waited for Jesse to argue, because lately he seemed to just want to fight, but he didn’t say a word. He must have felt the glare I was leveling at the side of his face, because his lips twitched, and he flashed me the smallest smile. For a moment, he reminded me of the old Jesse, my best friend, and not this moody stranger who had taken his place.
It was gone just as quickly though, and he was back to pretending none of us existed.
“You’re team twelve,” the teacher said when he stopped by our group. He reached out and handed Asher a small gold statue. “Keep your artefact safe. If the other team gets their hands on it, you lose.”
It looked like it weighed nothing as Asher held it, but I sensed that it was damn heavy. “We’ll call your number when you’re up.”
He left and a misty magic washed over us. I looked down to find the number “12” emblazoned across my shirt.
I loved magic.
We followed the groups across the soft grass to stand closer to the main field. Once we reached the sidelines, I noticed that it was actually divided into multiple smaller fields. “They’ll play more than one team at a time,” Asher said, watching me while I tried to take it all in. “During a game, you might be rotated into a new territory. You’ll have to adapt, hide your artefact, and keep the other team off your back.”
I snorted. “So basically the only real rule is that there are no rules, and the umpire or ref or whatever you call it can make a split-second decision that screws everyone.”
“Right,” the three of them said together, and I didn’t let on how much I loved hearing them all in sync again. Just for a second.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be the last time.
