by Emma Dean
Of course he would. Mika begrudgingly admired him. Malachi was definitely some kind of all-American boy scout that you wanted to hate because he was so good at everything, but just too nice to really commit to that hate.
Then he was standing in front of her and Mika blinked, hoping he couldn’t tell just from her face that she’d been thinking about him.
“I’m glad you both decided to show up despite everything that happened last night,” Malachi said, his voice quiet for the first time since she’d set foot on the field. “I’ve never seen you use battle magic, Mika, but after what I saw last night I was willing to beg you to join up.”
The way he smiled down at her was disconcerting. Mika couldn’t wipe the image of him on his knees before her.
Maybe she wanted him to beg.
Then he gave Audrey a playful punch on the shoulder and the spell was broken.
Mika cleared her throat awkwardly and followed him and Audrey to their places on the field. They all lined up on one of the sidelines and Mika suddenly realized just how big a university-sized field was. Playing this game was not going to be easy.
Malachi yelled across the field, “Are you ready?”
And suddenly the electric feel of adrenaline spiked through Mika like a lightning bolt. The excitement, desperation, and determination on the field was palpable as two hundred students made promises to themselves. They psyched themselves up and Mika knew everyone was going to give their best.
So she had to as well or she’d walk off this field as a disappointment, kicked out of another group she so desperately wanted to be a part of even if she would never admit it out loud. Mika didn’t feel like she deserved to belong – to have fun like a normal witch.
Not after she’d killed someone.
But it had been an accident.
Maybe, just maybe she didn’t deserve to suffer forever.
“Twenty sprints and go!” Malachi yelled.
Her body moved without her telling it to and Mika’s muscles were still warm from her practice with Audrey at dawn. It felt good to be running – to be sprinting. To move her entire body as fast as it could go, stop on a dime, and then turn and just run hard—harder.
Limbs pumping, body moving, eye on Audrey…
Mika grinned as they hit the starting line and turned again.
Audrey was keeping pace with her, but could probably go faster if she wanted. Regardless they managed to be in the top twenty fastest runners.
It was just like riding a bike. Mika’s body recognized this and knew what was coming next – what they were going to have to do for the next few hours. After all she’d played for years before she’d had to quit.
And her hunter instructors had been even more brutal in her training as she didn’t have the super strength and speed a born hunter had.
By halfway her lungs were burning and her muscles were screaming, but this was just the beginning. They had to do whatever Malachi felt like torturing them with – to weed out the weak. And then they would have the actual battles.
Mika gritted her teeth and concentrated on each step, making sure Audrey didn’t get too ahead of her.
Potential players were dropping from the tryouts like flies after they hit the thirteenth sprint and Mika wasn’t going to lie to herself, she was seriously contemplating doing the same when she remembered she had seven more to go.
“Don’t stop,” Audrey told her. “We’ll get a break after this and they’re going to give us a little tonic. That’s what Malachi said.”
For some reason Malachi telling Audrey an insider secret so she could keep going…it pushed Mika to finish those last seven sprints even though her legs were burning and it felt like she would collapse if she stopped.
But they made it and the second her foot touched the line for the last time Mika dropped into a walk, hands on her hips, breathing hard. If she stopped walking her legs would stop working and if she fell, Mika highly doubted she’d be able to get up again.
Looked like she’d have to add runs to her daily schedule again. Fuck she hated running. It was her least favorite part of the hunter training, but her instructor had insisted she might have to run after a creature all night or run away.
The last one was what had motivated her.
A hunter could use charms to enhance speed and strength, but all that was illegal in battle magic dodgeball. So Mika had to be good, no – better than good. The only reassuring thing was that she was competing with a bunch of witches and not hunters.
For the first time she wasn’t fucking last.
Someone shoved a cup in her hand and Mika drank the cool water gratefully. It had a slight citrus tang to it that was all that told her what kind of tonic it was. A healing tonic, thank the Fates.
The burning in her thighs eased and her breathing became less ragged. Mika downed the tonic-laced water. Another deep breath and she was almost back to normal.
“All right!” Malachi yelled, clapping. “Congrats to those who survived!”
That’s basically what it felt like too – like she’d barely just survived.
“Good job,” Audrey gasped, slapping her on the back. “Had I known we were doing suicides I would have trained you from the get-go. Didn’t think you were going to make it.”
“Me either.”
Malachi started grouping people again and Mika stuck to Audrey’s side and glared, daring him to separate them.
But he was a smart dude and didn’t even try. He just directed the both of them over to a group that was going to start on the next physical activity – attacking the wooden dummies that were being brought out by some of the university staff.
Then it would be pushups.
Mika was more worried about the shielding aspect than she was about the pushups.
“Is there anything in the rules about shielding with fire?” Mika muttered, getting into place behind Audrey. “I can’t remember.”
They moved up a spot as each player attacked once. Destroy the magical shield on the wooden dummy – if they couldn’t damage it more than thirty percent they received the tap based on the amount of players who were already leaving the field.
Mika decided on a pure energy ball. It was the simplest form of attack, but also the most effective. If someone didn’t shield right it was easy to knock them back with it.
How good was this shield spelled into a wooden opponent?
“The three approved shields are all defensive,” Audrey muttered back, trying not to bring attention to them. “But fire is an approved attack along with the other elements. There’s nothing that says you can’t use an approved attack for defense. But it’ll bring attention to you.”
“If I try to use a normal shield I’m not going to make it,” Mika told her. “I didn’t realize we were going to be practicing like this. It’s a lot easier to avoid shielding in a scrimmage.”
“It’ll be fine. Use fire, or the energy spell,” Audrey told her, taking another step forward. “I don’t think you’ll get tapped.”
Audrey was next and she looked back at Mika with a quirky smile. “If you do though, I’m still proud of you for climbing out of your little bubble to try.”
The baby witch was patting her on the back and it felt weird, like Mika was slow. But she actually was, thanks to her block.
She was only good at one thing.
Audrey got over sixty percent damage and Mika smiled slightly, proud of her. Then it was her turn.
Mika stepped forward and decided for the sake of full disclosure, she wasn’t going to perform each step of the spell. She took a deep breath and it felt like the rest of the stadium did as well.
Everyone was definitely looking at her, she could feel it between her shoulders and her adrenaline was making her feel like she needed to move and fight and do something.
So she drew the sigil she’d created into the air that – combining the three required for this spell and didn’t speak. She only thought the word she needed as she bent her knees and held up
her hands.
Over and over she thought the word and cradled the ball of energy close to her chest as the power built with each thought of the word.
In a real game she would need to be able to run and dodge while doing this. Mika eyed the target and took one step forward, throwing the spell as hard as she could at the wooden player. Her spell ripped through the shield and disintegrated it – then the wooden player burst into a thousand splinters.
Everyone ducked but Mika had pulled her hands outward, thinking the word one last time as her fingers moved. The energy became a ring around the splinters, catching them before they could hurt anyone.
She dropped her hands then and the splinters fell to the ground harmlessly. Mika eyed those wooden pieces as she went to the back of the line and ignored Malachi’s grin.
Destruction was the only thing she was really good at.
27
Destroying the dummy thankfully hadn’t gotten her the tap. Mika had known it was a risk. Sometimes too much power scared people and they always wondered if it could be controlled. But Mika had learned something over the years about the only magic she could still do.
You couldn’t control it like people wanted you to.
It was not a robot programmed with exact instructions that would never vary once the commands were known.
No, her magic was like a pitbull on the end of a leash. She’d raised it as a baby and it was a part of her – if she lost it she would always feel like something was missing. It was strong and powerful and followed commands.
But Mika could never forget her magic was never truly tame. It was born wild and free and even with practice and control and domestication there was always, always a chance it would destroy something without meaning to.
If she stepped on a dog’s tail – it didn’t matter how well it was trained – it would bite her.
People would no doubt argue with her theory, saying service dogs didn’t bite, that dogs didn’t always bite, only more aggressive dogs would and the others would just whine in pain. But you could never really know which one it would be.
Aggressive magic was inherently defensive. A witch with a healing specialty would never hurt someone on purpose, but they could. Healing was a different form of aggression. The witch putting the bones back together could very easily shatter them apart too.
Only the witch controlling the magic had any real say over what was done with that power.
And Mika refused to be controlled by hers.
She still had to fight to keep it from destroying everything it touched, but she’d always locked it down – knowing her triggers and avoiding them.
Standing here on this field, knowing that she was purposefully using that aggressive magic prone to dark things – it terrified her. But it was also liberating. The magic was more acquiescent the more she used it.
Maybe she shouldn’t have sequestered herself. Maybe she should have used it more.
But that didn’t change how dangerous her odd specialty was. That was one of those things she couldn’t really practice to control – not without getting every single council member on her case.
Blood magic.
What a fucking nightmare.
“All right, you’re going to be shielding against a real attack!”
Thank goodness Malachi hadn’t bothered trying to separate them. He must have seen. He must have inherently known they would work together or not at all. Though, Mika hoped if she got the tap that Audrey would stick it out.
She deserved to be on this team after all her hard work.
The girl was good too.
“I’ll be careful,” Audrey told her before heading across the field.
It would be tricky. Make it look like she was actually attacking as hard as she would if it was anyone else.
Mika could only shield with an attack, and thankfully they were allowed to retaliate. All the pairs would go back and forth until one of them was knocked off the field into the icy water, or the time was up.
Shielding for ten minutes didn’t sound like a lot, but it would be a nightmare for Mika – no dodging allowed.
And she really didn’t want to end up in the icy water.
This was definitely an easy way to weed out more people though, and the last test before they were divided up for scrimmages. After the first fifty people dropped out in the first hour it was one here and there instead of in droves.
Audrey attacked and Mika burned up the spell before retaliating.
She didn’t use the same force as she did for that first attack on the dummy. That kind of strength she could use maybe once or twice in a game. It was her ‘special’ she supposed. Had to rebuild that kind of power back up before she could use it again.
They went back and forth – using close to full strength, but neither of them wanted to knock the other out. Splashes sounded off here and there but Mika couldn’t afford to look. Audrey was good and Mika’s shields were barely more than redirects.
She couldn’t actually redirect because the whole point of the practice was to see how she could defend. And Mika could feel Malachi’s sharp eyes on her.
He had to see it, but no one came to tap her on the shoulder.
And no one else noticed – too busy trying to keep from getting knocked into the icy water.
One last splash sounded off as the buzzer rang loud and clear.
Mika was sweating and shaking, exhausted but she also felt electric. She’d found a way around her disability and managed not to fuck it up.
“Twenty minute break to recharge, eat and drink some water. Then it’s time for scrimmages!” Malachi yelled.
Audrey jogged over to her and Mika collapsed into a sitting position on the field. She had every intention of spending ten of those minutes doing absolutely nothing. All those pushups had made her arms feel like putty.
“Only a hundred people left,” Audrey told her, sitting down cross-legged beside her. “And we made halfway.”
“Barely,” Mika muttered, throwing herself onto her back so she could just…exist.
The sky was still clear and blue. There were no birds thanks to the freezing cold winter. The owls had stayed though, but they were all asleep at the moment.
Mika hadn’t killed anyone so far.
It might be a good day after all.
“Hey, you two did excellent out there. And Mika! I knew you had some power, but that was insane!” Malachi plopped down next to them and Mika closed her eyes.
“Isn’t this considered favoritism?” she asked, not wanting to sit up or look directly at Malachi. He’d taken off his shirt for the break and she refused to give him any indication she cared about the eight pack gloriously carved into his warm brown skin.
“Nah, I’m not giving you pointers or anything. I’ll stop by a few other groups as well just to be safe,” he teased. “Audrey, you’re doing amazing. All that practice has really paid off.”
“Doesn’t hurt you trained me most of last semester,” Audrey said with a laugh.
Mika hadn’t known that, but it made sense.
“I told you I’d help you get on the team,” Malachi said, quiet pride in his voice. “We need to remind everyone how strong human born witches are.”
“Are you?” Mika asked, keeping her eyes shut.
“My mother was,” Malachi murmured, as though the memory was painful.
She didn’t ask why he used the past tense either.
“Drink some of the tonic water and make sure to eat,” he warned them both. “The scrimmages are no joke and I want you both to make it. But as Mika pointed out, I can’t play favorites.”
The sound of him getting up made her crack open one eye and Mika admired his back and shoulders as he walked away. Gorgeous of course, with his black hair shaved close to his head. She wondered what he would look like with those tight curls grown out a little.
Malachi glanced back at them and smirked when he caught her looking.
Mika sat up and grumbled nonsense, annoyed w
ith herself. “We should eat. This kind of magic uses up a lot of energy, but remember, not too much or you’ll end up vomiting everywhere.”
“Gross.” Audrey wrinkled her nose. Then she pointed up toward the bleachers. “Wanna go eat with our fans?”
“Nope.” She took Audrey’s offered hand and let the other witch pull her to her feet. “We can’t afford any distractions when we’re this close.”
They ate and went over their strategies again. Audrey would mainly defend and Mika would be offense. Together they would work on the circle strategy, always moving as they worked outward in wider circles until they’d invaded the other team’s space and knocked them over the edge of the field into the water.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Mika told her. “The three sections in enemy territory are there for a reason and we don’t want to advance alone. We don’t know the other players and have never practiced with them. It’s going to be a clusterfuck and a half.”
Audrey eyed the other players and nodded. “I’ll lead as much as I can. I’ve got a loud voice and am good at bossing people around.”
Instantly Mika was relieved. She didn’t like talking, let alone yelling. “You’re a leader,” Mika agreed. “Come on, boss lady. Let’s get this over with.”
One hundred potential players. Malachi was already separating them into teams of ten instead of fifteen. Ten teams total. Five matches. At least scrimmages were only nine minutes long – three rounds of three minutes.
Mika glanced up at the faceless audience again.
It didn’t matter that people were watching her, or that’s what she tried to tell herself.
“Ready?” Audrey asked, pounding her fist against Mika’s.
Mika smiled and gave Audrey a nod. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
28
They were the last match. It was annoying, but Mika was also grateful. It gave them the most time to recover despite also being nerve-wracking as hell.
As the whole point of the game was to get knocked into the water, and they needed eighty players to make up enough teams for the spring semester – getting knocked out wouldn’t get anyone the tap.
