“This is our Battle Magic classroom,” Mother swept her arm behind her. “It’s one of the most secure rooms in the academy. As such it is also the best place to deduce how well students can defend themselves and react under pressure.” My mother blew her whistle.
In response, something moved near the locker room and the crowd behind me parted.
I sucked in a breath as what they were moving for became obvious. A group of people had appeared from the locker room. Right away I knew they were magicals brought to Spellcasters specifically for this exam—our opponents.
One, a boy so pale that his skin was almost luminescent, was certainly a vampire. He looked younger than me, but I wasn’t putting any stock in that meaning that he was unskilled. Being a vampire meant he could be a thousand years old and still look like a scrawny teenager.
Another magical prowled along the edges of the group. She was a couple of years older than me and her amber eyes marked her as a wolf-shifter. My gaze trailed to the person beside her, also around my age. While I couldn’t tell what animal he turned into, I knew that he was also a shifter, perhaps feline if his loping gait was any indication. I suspect that the Shifter School of Spies had sent the pair at my mother’s behest.
Then there were the demi-fae, almost definitely from the Fae Academy of Elemental and Arcane Arts. One of the girls had thrown off the glamour that allowed her to pass as human, revealing her blue skin and gills that graced her neck. The other was short with pointed ears and long, claw-like nails.
Last to leave the locker room were the witches. Professor Thrax of Battle Magic, Professor de Spina of Demonology, and Professor Umbra of Conjuring. Each wore a sly smile, like they were itching to get the exam started.
“These are your opponents,” Mother announced. “You will be put through a test against each variant of magical. As ever, the test will be timed. If you take longer than forty minutes, you will be disqualified from this exam. Those with the fastest times will be awarded the most points. And yes, we are prepared to keep you here all day and night, should that be necessary to complete the exams.”
“And we’re taking the test in here?” someone asked, their tone disbelieving.
Collectively, the crowd’s gaze scanned the vast cement room, and a mixture of emotions cropped up on everyone’s faces. A wide open space had both pros and cons. If we faced each adversary individually, it would be a benefit. Whereas fighting all the adversaries at once would be a total nightmare.
A smile grew on Mother’s face. She then turned to the Spellcasters professors and nodded.
Suddenly, conjurings appeared before us in the shape of hedges. It was a maze, or hopefully just a trail, that we’d have to fight our way through. My heart rate sped up, and Father stiffened, clearly already anticipating all the things that could go wrong within the hedges.
“Actually, you’ll be taking the exam in there,” Mother said. “And we’ve already chosen the order in which you’ll take the exam. The first participant up to the plate is Amethyst Rhines. Everyone else, please wait in the girls’ locker rooms.”
I was only five minutes into the magical exam and had already conquered two physical obstacles and one opponent. The mountain lion-shifter had been surprisingly easy to defeat. I’d managed to pin him down using a massive wooden pallet. The ease in which I’d beaten him basically solidified a suspicion I’d had that most of our adversaries were students from other spy schools.
I was just beginning to wonder which magical would appear next, when the vampire leapt in front of me.
“Holy crap!” I leapt back against a hedge. Before I was completely out of his way, however, the vampire’s fist slammed into my shoulder.
Pain shot down my arm. But in spite of the pain my other hand was already thrust out and shooting magic to force the vampire back. He retreated slightly, giving me just enough time to figure out what to do.
We hadn’t been given any weapons to fight off any of our opponents. Magic was supposed to be our weapon of choice.
Where vampires were concerned, I knew of only one spell to stop them from coming after me. It was advanced, and had I been in motion I couldn’t handle it. Luckily for me, the vampire had cornered me, so movement wasn’t an issue.
Painstakingly, I wove a shield between myself and the vamp, allowing it to cover me.
The vampire watched as the boundary became stronger, the strands weaving together and forming a translucent purple dome. When they finally solidified, sealing me inside, he shook his head. “Interesting choice. The others were much more aggressive.” He smirked. “And I have to say, smarter. You have to come out sometime if you plan on passing this test. But me? I have all the time in the world.” He leaned up against the hedge and crossed his arms over his chest lazily.
A grin bloomed on my face. Clearly, none of the five participants who’d gone before me had tried this tactic yet. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have played right into my hands.
How’s this for smarter?
With a mighty heave I thrust my hands outward. The dome inverted, flew across the narrow space, and slammed down over the vampire, who released a cry of surprise. I didn’t even bother looking back as I took off.
Three more turns later and my fae adversary turned up. She was the one with gills, which puzzled me. Why would they choose a water fae for this challenge? I soon discovered why when the gills shot a strong stream of water straight into my eye.
I screamed and from the side of the classroom I heard people—those judging the competition and a couple of ex-headmasters—chuckle. I scowled as I wiped the water from my face. I wasn’t sure how they were seeing everything through the hedges, but I’d heard enough of their reactions to know that somehow, they’d made the foliage see-through.
And it pissed me off that they were getting enjoyment out of this. More than that, none of the participants who had gone before me seemed to have exited hurt. Were they better at avoiding injury? Or just better in general? Three of them had only taken about twenty minutes to complete the exam. I felt like I’d been in here for at least that long already.
Was I falling behind?
Frustration surged through me, almost blinding me. I was about to ignore it again, to tamp it down and just keep soldiering on, when suddenly I realized I shouldn’t be avoiding it—but using it. Harnessing emotions and transforming them into magic was a powerful tenant of Battle Magic. A tenant that, so far, I’d neglected to utilize.
Focusing instantly, I harnessed my emotions and dug into every single nuance of anxiety, annoyance, and anger. Then I envisioned what I wanted. A buildup began and when I felt like I could hold it no longer, I finally let the well of emotion fly through me as magic. Strong nets of purple power blasted from my hands and flew over the fae.
My adversary squirmed but I knew she wouldn’t be able to get out—at least not in time to catch me, because I was already sprinting away.
Only one species of magical left.
While the thought should have been comforting, I knew better. The witches I’d be facing weren’t students, like the other opponents. They were instructors and would want to test us thoroughly.
Which meant that I really had to bring it.
Chapter Thirteen
I was running down a very long stretch of straight tunnel when an arrow flew at me from the side. I whipped around to face where it’d come from. My eyes widened, taking in the array of bows sticking out of a hedge, every single one of them already loaded with arrows. Before I could even blink, ten other arrows soared my way.
I sucked in a breath. One deflection, two, then three. My magic flew from me again and again as weapons soared toward me. When I vanquished the final arrow, I was sweating and panting.
And then, the damn bows reloaded.
Oh hell no. I sprang into motion, dashing down the hall of hedges. The bows pivoted, chasing me. A bend in the hedgerow came into view up ahead, and I pushed harder. My legs burned like no other, but when I felt the whoosh of an arrow fly
past my back, barely missing me, I forced myself to run faster. All my training paid off and a dozen thundering heartbeats later I made it to the end of the leafy corridor unscathed. I swung around the corner, flipping the bird at the barrage of arrows as I went.
Ha! Screw—
“Ahhh!” I cried out as I slammed into something hard. Immediately, stars appeared in my vision. I nearly toppled to the ground but managed to keep from colliding with the floor by grabbing the hedge. Something—the thing I’d run into—moved and my eyes snapped up from the floor to find Professor Thrax, the Battle Magic instructor at Spellcasters standing before me. His green eyes glinted as a grin spread across his face.
“Good to see you this morning, Diana,” Thrax said, his Scottish brogue thick. “We quarreled over who would put you through the paces.”
The hedges still spun a bit from running into Thrax, but I forced myself to stand up straight all the same. Never let an opponent see your anxiety, one of Mother’s life lessons, ran through my mind.
“I don’t see how you won against de Spina and Umbra.”
“He didn’t.” A few feet past Thrax, Professor de Spina stepped out from behind a tall, vertical pallet dotted with blunt spikes. It was probably meant to be another obstacle judging by its proximity to the blind corner. If something or someone had been chasing me, I could easily imagine myself rushing around the corner and running straight into it. Thankfully—or unthankfully, I still wasn’t sure which—Thrax’s barrel chest had saved me from being pummeled by dull spikes.
“Great. So where’s Umbra?” I asked, buying time as I assessed the space around me. For the first time since I’d entered the course, I found myself in a sort of room instead of a corridor. This allowed for obstacles to dot the floor. In addition to the spiky palette, there was a mountain of shovels and, worst of all, an open cage—which could only have one purpose: to trap me.
“Said she’d save her talents for the other students,” Professor de Spina smirked. “But we wanted to make sure that you earned your place in the next Spellcasters Culling year.”
“You understand, right?” Thrax moved forward. “We won’t go easy on you.”
The fact that they were making my test harder than the others had me bursting with pride. I’d grown up around these men. I knew that they didn’t just let pansies walk around Spellcasters, that they took their job of honing students into powerful and skilled spies extremely seriously. I just had to prove that I should be one of those students.
My lips quirked up, and acting fast, purple magic blasted from my hands. My unexpected attack sent Thrax reeling backward into the hedge.
But de Spina wasn’t so easily taken aback. He threw up a shield and grinned a smile that had incited many school-girl crushes on the young Demonology professor.
“Nice work. But we’re not going down so easily,” de Spina said as he swiped his shield aside and gray magic met my purple in midair. The colors swirled together, forming a ball of pulsing light. Mustering as much energy as I could, I surged my power forward, hoping to gain some influence. To my delight, de Spina stumbled a few feet backward.
Taking advantage of his momentary upheaval, I released the magic and dashed around him. I made it almost to the center of the room, but was stopped by a wall of gray forming in front of me.
“Leaving so soon?” de Spina asked.
I whirled about and hurled a stream of power at the professor. With a lazy wave of his hand de Spina conjured his own magic, gray as storm clouds. The steely power ate up mine and spun off to slam against the far wall. A crack sounded and a hole the size of one of the smaller Spellcasters’ gargoyles appeared in the cement.
My eyes bulged at the blatant show of power.
“Focus, Diana.” A shimmer of navy magic, Thrax’s, blasted just past my left shoulder.
I cursed and turned to run deeper into the room. A cold laugh sounded, de Spina’s, and a moment later Thrax joined in. The bastards.
You can’t run for forever. You have to beat them for it to count. Think, Diana, think!
I looked around wildly and my eyes latched onto the mountain of shovels. Flinging myself at the pile, I grabbed one and leapt up just in time to fend Thrax off. The flat side of the shovel collided with his back as he twirled with a grace that men his size rarely exhibited. Then, suddenly, a wall of de Spina’s gray magic was hurtling toward me.
My feet left the floor and I flew backward, into the shovels. I groaned as my head hit metal and my eyelids fluttered. Warm, wet blood began to seep down my neck.
“Bloody hell, de Spina. Don’t you think that was a bit much?”
Clearly Professor de Spina did, because all of a sudden he bent down in front of me. “Diana!” he said much too loudly. “Are you alright? Are you awake?”
My head pounded at the sound of his voice and I let out a groan. My hand lifted to feel for the cut. I found it almost right away. It was small, probably not serious, although it hurt like a bugger. Head wounds just bled a lot.
“She’s moving, which means she’s fine. We should put her in the cage.” Thrax’s words forced all concerns about my injury from my mind.
No. I couldn’t go in the cage. If I went in there, I failed the test. Sure I could still get into Spellcasters, but failing one of three entry exams would look terrible on my record. I blinked a few times and my vision cleared. Professor de Spina was still leaning over me, his handsome face lined with worry. Right behind him was the vertical pallet.
My eyes zoned in on the pallet, and suddenly, I knew that I had to do.
“Crap! Thrax her eyes went all funny,” de Spina said, misunderstanding my focus and swiveling to face the Battle Magic professor.
Seizing the moment, I lifted my hands and sent a beam of power right at his back. Professor de Spina let out a cry of astonishment and went soaring across the room and straight into the pallet. I cringed as his body hit the dull metal spikes with a thud, and he fell to the ground unconscious.
One down, one to go.
“Bloody hell,” Thrax mumbled, his gaze firmly on his partner. His moment of astonishment bought me a few seconds to force myself to standing and dart backwards.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make it far before Thrax recovered and began advancing with incredible speed.
“That was vicious, Diana.” Magic burst from Thrax’s hands. Suddenly the entire mountain of shovels—my best weapons—levitated over the hedges and soared away. Then, without missing a beat, he launched another stream of magic at me. I staggered to the side, his power just barely missing me.
I barely had a chance to take a breath before yet another stream of navy power came at me. Without thinking, I dropped to the floor and rolled out of the way. Professor Thrax let out an amused laugh and hoping that meant he was somewhat distracted, I jumped up and took aim.
He grinned as my magic seared past his shoulder—seemingly excited by the close call.
We parried and after a few minutes it became painfully clear that I’d never defeat the professor with just magic alone. He was too strong. I had to disarm him or capture him in an unexpected manner.
But how? He’d removed the weapons. Without those, all I had was my wits.
My eyes strayed to where Thrax usually kept a wall of weapons for use in the Battle Magic classes. Of course, they weren’t there. They’d been stored elsewhere for this exam, but I was willing to bet they hadn’t gone far. While we’d waited to be tested, everyone had to sit in the girls’ locker rooms. If anyone had to use the bathroom, they’d been told to use the one upstairs—not right next door in the boy’s locker rooms. Which meant, those who designed this exam were likely storing something in there.
The weapons.
I just had to call one to me.
Mustering up all my willpower, I thrust my hands toward the boys’ locker room and envisioned a dagger soaring through the air.
Please let this finally work.
“Voco dagger!” I whispered beneath my breath so the professor
wouldn’t know what was coming. For good measure I followed up the incantation with a few blasts of magic directed squarely at him. While he was preoccupied I shot another glance at the locker room. Nothing zoomed toward me.
Dammit!
I tried again, and then three more times, all with no results. Even worse, while I’d been focusing on the locker room, Professor Thrax had managed to back me into a hedge corner.
No way in hell did I get this far to fail. I gnashed my teeth together as frustration mounted. Just the thought of failure made my arms begin to tremble with anxiety and suddenly, I had an idea.
Use it. Weave the emotions into the incantation.
Using emotion was a basic tenant of Battle Magic. And if it could work for Battle Magic, why couldn’t emotions be used to bolster incantations too?
“Voco dagger!” I screamed, releasing all my fearfulness and anger over failing.
Thrax stumbled over my use of an advanced spell. While he regained his balance, I caught sight of a glint of silver zooming across the room. My lips broke into a smile.
The spell finally worked! I thrusted out my hands and using all my concentration, I directed the dagger at Professor Thrax.
It hit, dead on.
“Ugh!” Thrax bellowed, blood spurted everywhere, and the mountain of a man fell to the floor, his right hand gripping his left shoulder. An alarming amount of blood began to pool on the floor and my heart stuttered. What if I’d severed a major artery and really hurt him?
Should I call for help?
As if he could hear the question, Thrax’s eyes flashed up at me and his lips, twisted unpleasantly with pain, lifted into a proud smirk. “Well, what are you waiting for, Wake? You’ve thoroughly disarmed your opponent. What’s next?”
Academy of Magic Collection Page 105
