by S T G Hill
But not missing Thorn.
A horrible crunch sounded behind her, and Ellie realized what had happened before she even turned around.
When she glanced over her shoulder, Thorn wasn't there anymore. A few wisps of steam marked the spot on the ground.
"No!" Ellie’s eyes went wide. Hot fingers squeezed around her chest.
She dropped to her knees and slammed both glowing fists into the floor. The entire room shook, threatening to come down on her head.
And part of her didn't care if it did.
Then the Minotaur snorted and pulled the rest of the way free from the rubble pile. It struck at her with one meaty fist.
Ellie caught that fist with both hands and threw it back hard enough that the beast stumbled. Its weirdly human eyes rolled in surprise, but then it moved forward again.
Ellie burned with the magic. So much of it. More than ever before.
He's not gone. He can't be gone, she kept thinking.
But he was gone. Because she had only protected herself.
"No!" Ellie screamed again, her voice twisting with the power.
The Minotaur covered its ears at her shriek and then shook its head when she quieted.
Then it balled both fists into one and tried to bring them crashing down on her head. Ellie caught them, grunting at the effort.
It felt like someone had just dropped the world on her.
She grew tired of defending. With a savage roar, she threw the beast's fists away. Then she leapt forward, hard and fast, crashing into the Minotaur and bowling it over.
"Die! Just die!" she said, slamming hard-knuckled fists of her own into its bovine face.
But no matter how hard she punched it, it didn't burst into steam like all the other monsters. Like Jackie and Thorn and Casey.
It hurt just to think about them. It ached deep inside.
Then something caught her eye. The top half of the robed statue, now reaching out with only one hand.
It clicked in her mind.
Instead of punching, she grabbed the Minotaur by its pointed horns. It gave a roar when she did, but she shut it up by slamming the back of its head off the ground.
Except that didn't kill it, either.
She felt it, then: the rage.
Except this was an alien rage. Someone else's rage. It was coarse against her thoughts, rubbing against her own feelings like sandpaper.
It was an ugly feeling. One that made her momentarily release the Minotaur's horns.
That other rage disappeared. Ellie's breath caught. She grabbed the horns once more and that fury returned, almost a match for her own.
"The empath's school..." Ellie breathed, remembering Arabella's final lesson to her.
The Minotaur, she realized, couldn't be beaten by force like the other monsters in the trial.
Somehow, the Minotaur knew that Ellie learned its secret. It struggled harder beneath her, bucking both their bodies around.
"Stop it!" Ellie screamed into its face, bouncing the back of its head off the floor hard enough to crack the stone.
It knew that she found the key because she knew. It felt what she felt.
The only way to stop its rage was to stop her own, Ellie realized.
She squeezed her eyes shut while gripping the Minotaur's horns as hard as she could.
She thought of sharing her birthday cupcake with Chauncy the alley cat. Thought of petting his lovely, soft fur and thought of the pleasant rumble of his purr.
She thought of Sybil, of how their friendship just felt so easy and right.
The Minotaur shuddered beneath her. She could feel it weakening.
But she could also feel herself weakening. Rage and anger unlocked her inner magic, and releasing her rage started closing that door.
The Minotaur bucked and she almost lost her grip on one of its horns.
She thought of Magister Cassiodorian, the grandfatherly figure she never knew that she wished she had. The way he smiled so kindly, the way he sat with her, the way he comforted her after her test to get into Sourcewell.
The Minotaur felt these things, too. But it also felt the way she weakened with those thoughts.
It seized on the last of its energy and it wrapped its big hands around her torso.
They squeezed so hard she couldn't breathe. She tried to take in a breath but her ribs wouldn't budge to allow room for her lungs to expand.
And then it squeezed her harder. Her head felt like it wanted to pop off.
Finally, her thoughts dwindling as the blackness of unconsciousness threatened to swallow her up, she dredged up a final set of nice memories.
She thought of Arabella fixing her shoes for her. She thought of Arabella offering kind words and a gentle touch.
She thought of Arabella telling her that she knew Ellie wasn't an ab. That Arabella had faith.
Her mind seemed to turn into a single dot of awareness, with that too about to wink out.
Ellie willed those final feelings into the Minotaur.
The Minotaur's crushing fingers ground her ribs together, but she wasn't aware enough to feel any pain.
Too late, Ellie thought.
And then those fingers relaxed. Then she fell. She took a deep breath when she landed heavily on the uneven pile of rubble, the pain that shot up her back sharp and fresh.
Her mind expanded to its full waking state once again, and she opened her eyes. She sat in a rapidly dissipating cloud of steam.
All that remained of the Minotaur.
Grimacing at the pain, she pushed up to her feet. She worked her fingers a bit. They hurt from squeezing those horns so hard.
I won, she thought, turning a slow circle.
Funny how winning didn't feel so good. Funny how it felt more like losing.
Her eyes fixed on the spot where Thorn had lain.
You and Miles better be right. You all better still be alive somewhere.
Then a sharp clang brought her out of her thoughts. She spun around, wondering what could possibly happen next.
The sound had been the heavy chain guarding the door falling down.
The door swung inward, just a little. Just enough to invite her to go over and open it the rest of the way.
She went over to it and paused, taking a few moments to beat some of the dust from her clothes and wipe it from her face.
A large steel ring acted as the doorknob. It was cool and smooth to the touch.
Ellie yanked on it, pulling the door open with some effort. White light emanated from the door. She swallowed hard while looking at it, wondering what waited on the other side.
She didn't think she could stand another trial.
Only one way to find out, she thought. Steeling herself, she stepped through the threshold and into the light.
Chapter 38
Ellie's hands shook. The lines of power made by the magic just beneath her skin pulsed hotly.
Everything was black around her. A lightless void that stretched to infinity. Lightless but for the fading power within her.
She sank down to her knees. She wanted to sink all the way down and just pass out.
But she needed to know where Thorn was, and whether he was okay.
He might not be okay though, she realized. None of them might be okay. They might all be gone, well and truly gone. Evaporated into the air like steam as though they’d never been real.
I can't lose you, too. Not after she lost Casey.
"Let me out of here!" she called out.
The sound died quickly, absorbed by the vast space around her.
Then a light appeared off in the distance, her hungry eyes picking it out of the blackness.
It raced towards her, getting bigger and bigger, brighter and brighter, until she squinted to see. She pushed herself up to her feet and held her hands up.
"Not another one," she said. If this was some sort of final trial, she would fail, she knew.
She had nothing left inside of her. Nothing at all.
&
nbsp; With the light came warmth. Warmth that swallowed her up. The light swallowed her up, too.
She closed her eyes against it and still it was too bright.
Then she heard something.
Chanting?
Chanting her name.
"Ellie! Ellie! Ellie!" over and over, a great crowd of voices.
The light faded, but the warmth didn't.
Someone touched her shoulder. She jerked back away from it, remembering the way the apes reached out of the darkness to grab at them.
"Ellie? It's me. It's okay; you're safe now," Arabella said, her hand warm against Ellie’s cheek, "Open your eyes."
Ellie did, squinting against the brightness of the sun.
She stood in the amphitheater. It was the students who cheered her name. When they saw her look out at them, they burst into another round of applause.
Ellie staggered back, putting a hand against her head.
None of this made sense.
And it felt like someone had just spun her around in circles. The dizziness washed over her.
Arabella held her by the shoulders, kept her from falling.
"It's okay. It will pass," Arabella said, some calming magic flowing from her fingers.
Darius Belt and Magister Cassiodorian stood near the front of the stage, both of them gripping that ancient staff again.
Belt let go and lifted his hands up. "Sourcewell Academy, I give you your victor in the Trial of Minos: Eleonora Ashwood!"
Cassiodorian sagged, supporting himself with one hand on Parker Stonebridge's shoulder.
Ellie could empathize with his exhaustion. Powerful magic took a powerful toll.
Ellie didn't care about any of that. She didn't care about Belt, Belt's plan, or Thorn's plan to beat him.
"Where are they?" Ellie turned her head back and forth, searching, "Where's Thorn? Where's Casey? Are... are they dead?"
When she blinked she could see Casey in her mind's eye. See him holding up that last block, telling them to go on.
She could hear the wall come crashing down on top of him, the thunderous grinding of sandstone slabs.
And below all that, Casey's scream.
She could see the desperation in Thorn's bloodied face, the fear.
The worst was the silence, though. After he told her to let him go so she could defeat the Minotaur. The way he just slipped down into the blackness without a sound.
"No, they're not dead," Arabella said. Her tone told her the news wasn't much better than that.
Still, a cool feeling of relief washed temporarily over the pounding exhaustion inside of her. A very temporary relief.
"How long...?" was Ellie's next question.
It had been days at least, she knew. Maybe even a week or more.
"You and the others stepped through the doorway a few minutes ago," Arabella said.
Ellie clapped her hands to her face. None of this made sense. "Where are they? The others?"
"The Trial sent them directly to the infirmary," Arabella said.
"I have to go there. I have to go there now," Ellie replied, attempting to shrug away from Arabella's supporting grip.
Darius Belt approached them, smiling and with his hands held up, palms up. "I had a feeling it would be you, Eleonora. It's time to claim your prize."
She wanted to destroy him. To smash him aside and get rid of the problem once and for all.
Except that she could barely stand up, let alone cast a spell.
"Not until I see them," Ellie’s chin jutted out in defiance.
"They'll be fine," Belt smiled just a little, "The Trial exacts a toll on the losers, but they'll survive. Come, your training must begin immediately."
"No..." Ellie said, teeth clenched, hands balled into tight fists.
"This isn't an offer you can refuse," Belt said, clasping his hands against his stomach.
"You can't," Arabella didn’t let go of her, "Look at her! She's dead on her feet."
"Something easily rectified," Belt said, lifting up one hand to snap his fingers and clear away her exhaustion.
Arabella held up her hand to stall him, "But she can't just go. Not... not without a victory ceremony. After she's gotten some natural rest. If this whole thing was to lift school spirits, then we need a celebration."
"Yes," Master Shaffir said, joining them, "Tomorrow, after a rest. Then she's free to leave with you."
Belt's jaw tightened, and Ellie knew he saw right through the little game Arabella played.
But she also thought she knew what he was thinking: What's one more day?
"I shall have to come up with some suitable display for your victory," Belt said, eyes fixed on Ellie.
"I want to see my friends," Ellie said.
Belt let her go.
Pretty much everyone stayed behind in the amphitheater, corralled by the teachers, when she and Arabella left.
"Ellie!" Sybil said, standing just down the path. She rushed over and pulled Ellie into a big hug. Arabella stood back politely.
"Hasn't it only been a few minutes for you?" Ellie said, still trying to wrap her head around that one.
It felt to Ellie like days. The longest days ever.
"The longest minutes of my life!" Sybil replied.
"Come on, I'm going to see Thorn and the others," Ellie said.
Just before the doors to the infirmary hall, Arabella stopped them. "Ellie, you may not like what you're going to see. I know the dangers in the Trial felt real, and in a way they were.
"I also know how tired you are. And you're the winner. You can go in and see them... but they likely won't see you."
"What do you mean?" Ellie frowned, her frayed nerves buzzing inside of her.
And tired was an understatement. Her eyelids wanted to slam shut like a castle gate before a siege.
"Go in and see," Arabella told her.
Sybil went with her. They got directions from the snake statue and found themselves on the third floor in a long ward.
All five of the other Chosen were there, lying in bed, their hands clasped against the white sheets. The vitalights floated and hovered over them all.
Matilda and Miles were at the far end, with Jackie close by.
Ellie tried to summon some hard feelings for them. Especially Miles and Matilda. But couldn't. The exhaustion hung from her like weights.
Then she saw Casey and Thorn. Thorn's face was clean instead of bloody, but even in sleep his features were drawn and tight with worry.
"Casey! I'm so sorry..." Ellie said, rushing over to his bedside.
Well, something like rushing. She slid her feet along the polished floor, lacking the energy to lift them fully.
She took one of his hands in both of hers, but he still didn't wake up.
"Casey?" Ellie squeezed his small fingers.
Arabella stood at the entrance to the ward. "The Trial took energy from all of you. It's going to be a while before any of them wake up. You probably won't be able to talk to them before you leave with Darius."
Ellie leaned hard against Casey's bed. She didn't want to leave them like this.
"There's no chance they'll wake up?" Ellie looked back at Arabella.
"Not if they've been drained like Master Thrace says," Sybil replied, "They have to recover from the spell."
Ellie wanted to sit down. But she knew if she did that she'd pass out. And when she woke up again it would be that much closer to the time that Belt took her.
"We should let them rest," Arabella said, "Ellie, I know I stopped Belt from refreshing you, but I can do the same. Let me help you."
Ellie sighed, then pushed herself away from Casey's bed.
At least they're alive, she told herself. The three of them started for the door.
"El... Ellie..."
Ellie whipped around. A big mistake. The vertigo swept over her and she nearly tumbled over. Except Sybil caught her.
Thorn groaned at the effort of lifting his head. His eyes were narrow slits, bleary with
exhaustion.
Arabella stayed back once more, though even she couldn't keep the shock from her face.
"Thorn!" Ellie said, half rushing, half stumbling to his bedside.
"Still here," Thorn groaned, his legs shifting beneath the thin blanket.
"Thorn, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to let you go. Please, you have to believe me," Ellie clutched at the mattress.
Thorn slid one hand over hers and squeezed it. There was no strength in his fingers. "You still talk too much," he said, the corners of his mouth ticking up in a smile.
"Thorn, I did it. I won. The Trial's over. You're all going to be okay," Ellie said.
"Shh... Listen. Just listen to me for a second. I can't stay awake much longer..."
Ellie listened.
Chapter 39
Ellie got the dorm room to herself, finally. The doorplate accepted her touch and let her in.
“I just want to sleep for a whole week!” she rubbed at her heavy eyelids.
She almost collapsed onto Matilda’s bed. Almost. It took what little willpower she had left to divert herself to her small cot shoved up against the wall.
She was glad that Matilda was ok. Well, some part of her was glad.
The rest of her didn’t know if she could ever forgive her for what happened in the Trial.
That everyone was still alive was an immense relief, to say the least. But that didn’t change what had happened.
Some small spark within urged her to stay awake, to prepare for what she needed to do.
But in the end exhaustion won. Her head hit the pillow. Her eyes closed. And sleep overtook her.
Arabella woke her up the next day, morning light streaming in through the window.
“Ellie? Ellie, wake up. It’s time to wake up,” Arabella said, her voice a lovely thread in the end of Ellie’s dream.
Arabella’s cool, smooth fingers brushed stray strands of hair from Ellie’s face and she used a small spell of wakefulness to spare Ellie her usual morning grogginess.
Ellie’s eyes popped up and she blinked the sleep from them. “Arabella?”
Arabella crouched beside the cot. “Yes. It’s almost time, Ellie.”
Ellie sat up, heart wanting to race. “Time? Isn’t it still the morning?”
