by Ilana Waters
This time, it was my turn to hand Victor a superior smile. “So, Specs failed to mention I wasn’t expelled? Or suspended? Or even barred from Tournament?” I looked at Pen. She tentatively removed her hands from my arm. Suyin lowered her holding spell, but did not dissolve it completely. “How profoundly disappointed you must be,” I said to Victor.
“But he—you—” Victor’s face wasn’t pale anymore, but pink with rage.
“It’s fine.” Mason still looked unnerved, but managed to put one hand on Victor’s shoulder.
“Just fine,” Dirk agreed. He stepped in front of Victor, trying to catch his boss’s eye as the latter glared at me. Then, in a lower voice: “We can still do this thing.”
Victor’s chest heaved in and out. His nostrils flared. Finally, he spoke through clenched teeth. “I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt. It’s like I always say: this is what you get for letting the lesser elements into our school.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. With nothing holding me back this time, I lunged at Victor.
I managed to land two or three punches to his face, and he to mine, before Suyin’s holding spell yanked me back. This time, Miles’s and Pen’s magic was like ropes around me. I could barely move an inch. Victor was bellowing animal cries of fury with no distinguishable words. It took all Mason and Dirk had to keep him off me. Now, the ruckus was drawing other students out of their rooms and into the hall.
“What in gods’ names is going on?”
“Ooo—is there a row?”
“Wright and Alderman are at it again. My money’s on Wright.”
“You just wait until Tournament tonight,” Victor growled. A trickle of blood ran from his nose to his chin. “May all the gods be my witnesses, you’ll wish you’d never set foot at Equinox Academy.”
“Are you threatening me, you asshole?” Despite my friends’ magical bonds, I was so close to Victor, I could see specks of saliva on his bottom lip. My jaw throbbed with pain where it had met Victor’s fist.
“No, I’m promising you, you half-breed little nothing.” Now, I could feel his wrath, rising like the waves of heat.
“Well, I promise to find the bastard who almost murdered Colleen and make him pay.” I stared hard into Victor’s eyes. They seemed to pulse out a darkness I had never known before. “We’ll see who’s better at keeping promises, Victor.
“You or me.”
Chapter 24
I stood in front of air’s dugout, my boot tapping nervously on the hardened earth. My eyes scanned the bleachers as they filled with professors, family, and students. In the air section, I spotted Professor Yen—still drowsy from the sleep spell—rubbing his eyes. I didn’t bother looking for Titus. Even if the Tournament went on after nightfall, I knew he wouldn’t be here.
Greggers was running around like mad. She barked orders at her helpers as they set up the hourglass and two large spectators’ screens. Bolts of magic zigzagged across the sky as the hourglass formed. Two enormous rectangles that would comprise the screens appeared. Images formed inside them, and I could just make out Victor in his dugout, arms folded across his chest, smiling at the crowd.
Arrogant ponce. I rubbed my jaw, still sore from where he punched me earlier. Then, I caught a glimpse of myself in the second screen, frowning like I’d swallowed a lemon. Quickly, I turned around.
“If you keep tapping your foot like that, you’re going to plow through to the center of the earth.” Liza raised her eyebrows at my boot. I looked down. My nervous magic had indeed made a sizable divot on the ground.
“Er, right.” I forced my foot to stop tapping. “Can’t have that.” Especially when the only thing I want to plow my foot through is Victor’s face, I thought to myself.
“Don’t worry, Captain.” Liza gave me half a smile and a light punch on the shoulder. “This is gonna be our best Tournament yet. You’ll see.” But I wasn’t sure she believed it. I couldn’t blame her. Especially since there was a rumor going around that her captain just tried to kill someone.
Although the final Tournament match could take place anywhere on school grounds, it always started on the same field as the play-offs. This was mainly because the field was the only place that could hold all the spectators. And Tournament was twice as long as play-off matches: an hour and a half, but without the break. That meant I had less than two hours to find the Chalice, prove my innocence, and show it was actually Victor who was guilty of, well, everything.
The stands were a riot of hues as everyone dressed in their house’s colors, whether their teams were competing or not. The fire and air sections were especially festive, draped with banners and bunting with “House of Air forever!” and “Burn ’em out, fire!” in large block letters. The professors were in their most formal robes, including Specs, presently seated in his box. We players had special hooded cloaks as part of our Tournament uniforms. On the back, our numbers were stitched over the Equinox school crest. And even though Tournament hadn’t started yet, parents were already screaming down onto the field for their kids to win. I was pretty sure I saw a few professors making bets in a corner.
The marching band was in the center of the field. They blasted trumpets and beat drums, playing for all they were worth. From where I stood, I could see red cheeks puffed out with the effort it took to play some of the instruments.
Awful lot of fanfare for a scavenger hunt, I thought. But it was time I admitted it was much more than that. It wasn’t that Tournament was so important in the grand scheme of things. But it was important here. I looked at the microcosm all around me. For one brief moment in time, we were on a level playing field—literally. The way we would rarely be in life. Here, anyone could be a winner.
Likewise, here, I had a chance to be a leader—and not the kind my father was. It was likely the only such opportunity I would have in my lifetime. Not an easy thing to do when your team is probably wondering if you tried to kill the opponent’s former captain. I turned around and looked back at them. Some were nervously eyeing the stands. Others were pacing back and forth, or mumbling to themselves. I saw Jae pat his lucky quartz at least twenty times. It was my job to give hope and a sense of self-worth to this team—even if I lacked them myself.
And this year’s Tournament was different. I could tell. For all the enthusiasm, unanswered questions hung heavy in the air. Everyone was afraid that another disaster would occur. Would a second student lose their magic, like Oliver, and this time for good? Or would they lose their life, as Colleen almost had? The tension was like a poisonous gas we couldn’t help but breathe.
At least Colleen was well enough to watch the Tournament with her father and brother. She’d visited me in the dugout not long ago, where we shared a quick embrace, and I shared what had happened at the House of Air during lunchtime.
“He’d better not muck up that handsome face.” Colleen stroked her thumb across my slightly swollen jaw. “That’s mine.” We smiled and stood, nose to nose, our arms wrapped around one another. She bit her lip. “If only we could prove it. I can’t have the Council locking you away, or doing gods know what else. Not when I just found you.” She pressed her soft cheek against my rougher one. “So, you really think he targeted me specifically, huh?”
“It was Victor,” I said. “I’d stake my life on it.”
“I think you’re right.” Suddenly, she grabbed me fiercely. “Get that bastard for me, Joshua.” She breathed in my ear, squeezing my shoulders. “Get the Chalice. I know you will.” Then, she grabbed both sides of my face, and I ignored the pain in my jaw while we kissed as hard as we could.
But it seemed that getting Victor—as well as the Chalice—would be easier said than done. Especially since Miles, Pen, and Suyin informed me earlier of a little detail I hadn’t known regarding Tournament.
“So, the Chalice can be glamoured to look like something else?” My mouth hung open as we all walked to the locker room.
“Oh, yes. All
the time.” Suyin, on my right side, was already pulling on her gloves.
“But it’s fairly easy to spot something with glamour magic on it if you’re a witch—or mage,” Pen said quickly, glancing at me. “So the Chalice is usually hidden hidden as well. As in hidden from sight.”
“Great,” I groaned. “Now we’re looking for something that doesn’t even look like what it’s supposed to look like.”
“Well, you don’t want the game to be too easy, do you?” Miles asked.
“I do when I suspect the Victors of the world are willing to murder people to get the prize,” I said. After that, Pen, Suyin, and I had to part ways and go to our respective locker rooms. Miles headed for the stands.
Greggers’s shrill whistle pierced the air, loud and long, even over the marching band’s music. I glanced up at the two screens hanging in the sky. The spectator spell was in full force; I could see every member of both teams. The hourglass was completely finished as well, light from the low-hanging sun shining through it. Golden flecks of sand floated in the top portion, just waiting to fall. Greggers chased her helpers off the side of the field, and the band closed to a glorious finish. I turned to my team and cleared my throat.
“All right, everyone. This is it.” They lined up in a row in front of me, all furrowed brows and expectant faces. Damn. I’m no good at speeches. My father, on the other hand, probably roused thousands of men to slaughter other men on a regular basis. Oh, well. Here goes.
“We’ve put in the time, the dedication.” I nodded. “We’ve practiced our asses off. We know the magic needed inside and out. But no matter what happens out there . . .” I indicated Equinox. “Ah, no matter what happens out there . . .” I coughed. Liza shuffled her feet. Jae put his hand to his lucky quartz. Then, a thought came to me.
“The magic we’ll use here is only a taste of that which we will call on throughout our lives.” I picked my head up. My gaze was steady. My voice took on a deep, resonant tone that brought out the power in my words. “For decades, and centuries, even, we will be in a circle of searching and finding. But the most important magic we find today has nothing to do with the Chalice. It’s within ourselves. Always has been, always will be, regardless of whether we grasp a silver cup at the end. And that is what I want you to remember as we venture on this quest. If you use the power that is in you to its utmost, you will have found what you sought. Your hands can never truly be empty, because they will always be filled with magic.”
My team was looking at one another, nodding and smiling. “But I know we all still want that bloody Chalice,” I added. Everyone laughed. “And we have what it takes to claim it. So, say it with me: House of Air!”
“House of Air!” they cried joyously, and we raised our fists to the sky.
Once the applause for the band died down, Specs walked soberly from his box onto the field. The two teams achieved the same formation they had for the play-offs. Specs stood in the center. I could see Victor at the front, only a few yards away, with Dirk and Mason on either side. Behind him were Nadine, Geoffrey, Pen, Suyin, and the rest. Specs raised his hands to the crowd, and any lingering talk evaporated.
“Families, staff, alumni, and students,” he boomed. “Welcome to this year’s final Equinox Tournament. Due to several . . . unfortunate mishaps this year, for the first time in the school’s history, Tournament will be held with two teams of eleven players as opposed to twelve.” Anxious murmurs rippled throughout the crowd.
Unfortunate mishaps. I narrowed my eyes to slits at Victor. Oliver and Colleen getting hurt weren’t mishaps. They were crimes. And I was going to use Tournament to rectify those crimes, one way or another, once and for good.
“Nevertheless,” Specs continued, his wide sleeves billowing in the light wind, “I fully expect both teams to play with the spirit of Equinox integrity, sportsmanship, and high Wiccan principles.”
Hear that, Alderman? Victor let his whole team in on the message. Sportsmanship. Dirk, Mason, Nadine, and Geoffrey grinned and nodded at each other. Pen, Suyin, and a few others just looked worried.
You can go to hell, Wright, I thought back. You and the mangy, conniving, demon horse you rode in on.
“As always,” Specs finished, “may the best team win. Now, let this year’s Tournament for the Sylvan Chalice officially . . . BEGIN!” Light burst from behind the hourglass, and the number 90 appeared, quickly counting down the seconds.
You’d think a gunshot had gone off, the way the crowd reacted. Everyone stood in their seats and started screaming at once. Unlike during the play-off, neither team had priority to throw the first spell. We just dashed off to wherever we thought the Chalice might be. House of Fire turned and ran into the school, while I charged with my team to the grounds outside.
“Move it, you ugly buggers!” I heard Victor roar. “Find me that Chalice!”
“This way, team!” I yelled. They hurried with me to one of the side courtyards, just like we planned.
You see, reader, I learned long ago that when you are Titus Aurelius’s son, you do not lose. Ever. Even though my father had essentially left me for dead at this school, if my team lost with me as captain, I’d never hear the end of it from him. And if Victor won—by any means and for any reason—I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.
And if the Council decided I was guilty of attempted murder, I might not be able to live at all.
***
“Bloody hell. This is pointless,” Grace moaned.
“We’re running out of places to look.” Jae tugged at the quartz around his neck.
They weren’t entirely wrong. We’d been going hard for an hour, but no sign of the Chalice. Twice, we’d had to turn around and search a different area because the fire team got somewhere first. There wasn’t much we could do under those circumstances, except pray the Chalice wasn’t there, and that they didn’t find it before us.
We searched the library, the dining hall, several classrooms, and the courtyard where I’d had my first fight with Victor. We already knew that House of Fire had searched the auditorium, the front of the school, and the gardens in back. Because of what happened with Colleen, the gym had been sealed off, so we knew the Chalice couldn’t be in there. As we sat on the benches in House of Air’s locker room, we were all exhausted from using searching incantations, locator charms, and glamour-dispel magic.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t re-search the places House of Fire did?” Liza wiped perspiration from her forehead with the sleeve of her cloak. “It’s possible the Chalice is there, and they just missed it.”
I shook my head. “Victor is very, very clever. And I’m sure he’s a beast when it comes to working his team. If they searched and came up empty-handed, the Chalice isn’t there.” I snapped my fingers. “We haven’t looked in Burgess’s classroom yet—or any of the classrooms in that section of the school. And I don’t think House of Fire did, either. You all head there. I’ll finish searching the locker hall and Stone’s classroom. Then I’ll catch up to you.”
“You sure, Alderman?” asked Rami.
“He’s the captain; sure he’s sure.” Grace grabbed Rami’s arm. “C’mon, everyone. House of Fire might be there as we speak.” And they rushed off.
I came up empty in the locker hall, so I dragged myself to Stone’s classroom. I mustered all the magic I could, but felt nothing remotely like a glamour spell that might be used to disguise a chalice. I searched every crevice and corner. Still nothing. I looked out the wall of windows. The sun was even lower now. I could see the field filled with spectators witnessing our every failure, see the golden hourglass above them. Only half an hour left.
At least House of Fire didn’t get it yet, I thought to myself, grateful the spectator spell did not allow mind reading. Maybe no team will win the Chalice this year. I may never find out what Victor is up to. I closed my eyes, dreading the end of Tournament. Then, I’d be under lock and key during Specs’s promised investigation, the outcome of w
hich was not likely to go in my favor.
With one last grunt, I telekinetically lifted Stone’s desk off the floor and peeked underneath. Nothing. No Chalice, no aura of magic. I let it fall again. My shoulders ached from the effort it took to lift it. The desk hit the floor a little harder than I intended. That was when I saw it.
It was just a flicker at first, at a desk a few rows back. A flash of light with streaks across it, like a television set on the fritz. My heart leapt. The Chalice! It had to be. A huge smile hijacked my face, and I rushed toward the desk. But when I got there, who should I see in the seat but . . . Victor.
“You son of a bitch!” I snarled, not caring if the spectators saw or heard. “Who do you think you are, sneaking up on me like that? I don’t know what Tournament rule covers this, but I’m pretty sure Specs will have something to say about it. Your sorry ass is as good as disqualified.”
Victor didn’t even glance at me. He kept his eyes focused forward, smiling and nodding, as if something very interesting were happening at the front of the room.
Did he already find the Chalice, the smug little bastard? I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t care if I was barred from Tournament. Victor had this coming. I pulled back my fist and threw it toward his head with all my might.
It went right through him.
Chapter 25
“Oof!” I doubled over onto the desk, jumping back up before I fell into Victor’s lap. I blinked rapidly. The image of Victor—for that was all it was—flashed again in wavy, static lines.
A hologram, I realized. Victor wasn’t actually here. But he would never be so careless as to leave obvious spell remnants exposed like that. He must have wiped the area clean of magic at some point, but a little got left behind. Just enough to get jarred loose when I slammed Stone’s desk on the floor.
