Like, a two-hundred-pound person, turning into a six-hundred-pound bear.
“He offloaded it somewhere. Not bad,” Asher said, looking impressed. “I never saw it leave his possession, but we don’t have the best view from here.”
The witch on the opposing team managed to shoot a stunning spell at the newly turned shifter, freeing her vampire counterpart. A clock appeared about the shifter’s head; the twenty second countdown was on. The vampire was on his feet in a heartbeat, and with the witch they took off. She had a clock above her head too, unable to produce another spell until her time was up.
“I feel like this could go on for hours,” I said, watching as the teams went back and forth, searching for the artefact. Both vampires had hidden it effectively.
“The artefacts have a scent,” Rone murmured, leaning forward, a gleam of competitiveness in that gaze. “Vamps and shifters can smell it, but they have to get quite close. One of them usually leaves defense to hunt it down if it’s well hidden.”
The other team’s vampire was zooming up the mountain now, the witch right beside him, as well as their shifter. They must have been pretty confident in the hiding place, because all that was left on the ground was the fey chick currently zigzagging across the land, trying to confuse and evade the other team.
On the mountain, team two had spread out, with at least three of their members up there. I couldn’t see the fourth, but I assumed they were trying to find the artefact.
Team two made a big mistake though—they stayed too close to their artefact, making it obvious where the general location was. The moment team six knew, the witch sent out a ring of fire, trapping two of the other team. The shifter took out the third. The vampire only needed about fifteen more seconds to find the artefact then, slamming his fist into the rock and disturbing its hiding place.
His fist rose in the air, gold glinting in the sun. A buzzer sounded and noise exploded around the area. We’d all been watching intently, and I hadn’t even noticed that two of the other fields had finished their first round as well. Only one was left in an endless cycle of pass the parcel with their artefact, while the other team kept trying to stun and confuse to get it back.
“There’s always one team,” Axl said, shaking his head. “Their plan is redundant. No one can win this way, because one team isn’t even trying to find the other artefact. They have all four players working on keeping theirs safe.”
“What happens if no one wins?” I asked.
“After thirty minutes, there’ll be a change up, and the limitations on spells will end for one minute. In that minute you can cast any spell and use any race gift to try and win. Generally, that sorts it out.” Asher’s eyes lit up and I could tell he was hoping that would happen, bringing with it all the chaos.
We didn’t get a chance to see though. Our number was called up. We were against team thirty, so I gave Larissa a hug as we parted. Asher, Jesse, and Rone stayed close to me, all of us stopping on the side of our field. We were not in the water territory—we ended up in the forest zone, and my thighs were thankful that I wouldn’t be climbing any mountains this round. I didn’t recognize our officiate, but he was in their yellow uniform, so there was no way to miss him.
The eight of us gathered around and he ran through the rules quickly again. I almost laughed at the slightly green tinge to the faces of the other team. They looked like first years. Most of them probably didn’t even know how to cast proper spells yet.
I almost felt bad for them. Almost.
When the officiate was done, we went back to our half of the field, and I finally noticed—not sure how I even missed it before—that there was no sound inside here. I could see hundreds of students crowding around outside, but no sound reached us.
“No distractions,” I murmured, forcing myself to focus on the game.
“I’m going to camouflage the artefact,” Asher said as soon as we were huddled together, “and then hide it before anyone even knows I have it.”
I nodded. “You’ll be knocked out magically for twenty seconds, so I’ll go with you in case I need to defend you with a spell.”
“All four of us should stick together to plant the artefact,” Rone said, “only scattering right before we hide it. That way, they’ll have no clue which direction it went in, especially when it’s camouflaged.”
“We’ll have twenty seconds of it remaining hidden,” I reminded them. “Any idea where you want to drop it?”
Our half had forest, their half had forest, and then there was a grassy section that joined the two. “Up one of the trees,” Asher said looking between them. “I’ll search for a hollow to make it a little harder.”
“I’ll find the smelliest plants to stuff around it,” Jesse said, looking focused and determined. He wasn’t even scowling and that was a fucking nice change. “That will limit their ability to scent it easily.”
“Everyone grab a stone,” Asher murmured as the officiate announced the countdown. In three seconds, the buzzer sounded and we were off. “Leta mina cora,”Asher said softly, and then the artefact swirled for a beat, turning into a stone. We’d all picked up stones at the same time, and then we took off. Asher passed me the artefact in perfect view of the other team—all who’d taken off after us. But I slipped it back to him as soon as we were out of sight.
The timer above Asher’s head was counting down slowly. When it got to five seconds we split. I took off into a particularly dense part of the forest. I wasn’t sure how much of this was real or illusion, but everything felt just as it would in an actual rainforest. Lots of associated scents and noises, even some insects and arachnids scattered around.
I couldn’t hear anyone pursuing me, so I planted my stone first, hiding it in the hollow of a giant tree. Its base was so large it was at least six feet across. I wasn’t sure anyone was watching me, but I played the part like they were.
When I was done, I exited the forest, ending up in the clearing between both sides. I was there alone, not another member of either team in sight—until a vampire dashed past me, and before I even registered what I was doing, I shoutedscrama, sending the spell into him. He tumbled down, his body motionless.
I dashed toward him, thankful there was no telltale black shirt and broad shoulders that would mean I’d spelled my own team. I’d reacted so quickly there hadn’t even been time to really see who was running past me.
When I reached the vamp, the countdown clock was at ten seconds, so I quickly flipped him over, ready to frisk him. I wasn’t expecting much, because I figured they’d dumped their artefact straight away, like we had. But as soon as he hit the ground, the golden artefact tumbled out of his hands, and with a laugh I scooped it up and held it high.
They’d clearly thought we were all busy in the forest, and I’d not only ducked out at the right time but had somehow been fast enough with my reflex shot spell to hit a vampire at full sprint. Probably that was an extra skill that most supes didn’t have, but it wasn’t like I tapped into any of my powers. Pure instinct.
