Dark Heart of Magic

by Jennifer Estep

  “Tough course,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Devon agreed. “But how fast you finish it determines where you’ll be seeded in the tournament. So you want to get through as quickly as you can.”

  The tournament had one hundred twenty-eight competitors, all members of the Families. After we finished the obstacle course, the one-on-one matches would begin, continuing over the next couple of days until there were two folks left standing, who would duke it out to see who won.

  When I finished sizing up the obstacle course, I turned my attention to the competition. I recognized almost all the guards milling around the fence, since they were the same guards that I’d spent the last four years ducking when I was picking pockets, stealing cameras, and swiping phones on the Midway. But there were a few people I didn’t recognize.

  Lucky for me, Felix was already chattering a hundred words a minute, telling me all about the Family members, including their strengths and weaknesses.

  “See that Volkov guard? He has a major strength Talent. Don’t let him hit you, or he’ll knock you out with one blow. And that Salazar dude? He can form fireballs with his bare hands. Don’t let him touch you, or he’ll burn you so badly you won’t even be able to hold your own sword. And that Ito woman over there, well, she’s been known to. . . . ”

  After a while, all the names, faces, and Talents ran together, and I couldn’t remember who did what. And still, Felix kept right on talking. Sometimes, I thought that he must have speed magic to talk as much and as fast as he did.

  “Hey, guys,” a voice called out, interrupting Felix. “What’s up?”

  We turned to find a slim, petite girl standing behind us. She was wearing a purple T-shirt patterned with a cluster of purple wisteria flowers and matching shorts, along with a silver cuff stamped with the same design. The number twenty-one was pinned to her shirt, and her black hair was pulled back into a pretty braid.

  “Poppy!” I said, reaching out and hugging the other girl. “It’s so good to see you.”

  Poppy Ito laughed and returned my hug. “You too, Lila.”

  She hugged Felix and Devon as well, then drew back, grinning at us. “You guys ready to rock ’n’ roll?”

  Felix jerked his thumb at Devon and me. “They are. I’m just a spectator, as usual.”

  “Well, I’ll be hanging out with you soon enough,” Poppy said. “Probably by round three or four.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do great,” Devon said.

  She waved her hand. “Don’t sugarcoat it. I’m quick, but my fighting skills aren’t the best. But it’s always fun to compete.”

  Poppy was the daughter of Hiroshi Ito, the head of the Ito Family, and was training to take over as the Family broker. She was as powerful and well respected in her Family as Devon was with the Sinclairs.

  She grinned again, her dark eyes gleaming with mischief, then balled her hands into fists and threw a couple of mock punches. “Besides, this is the only chance I get during the year to bust out all the cool moves I see in the movies. Right, Lila?”

  I laughed. “Don’t you know it.”

  Poppy loved action movies just like I did; a couple of weeks ago, we’d had a girls’ night in where we’d stayed up late, eaten way too much junk food, and watched a whole bunch of superhero and other movies we both loved.

  Felix slung his arm around her shoulder. “Well, no matter where you finish, you’re still my girl.”

  Poppy huffed at his flirty tone and smacked his arm away. “I’m not your girl, remember? That would be Katia. I’m surprised you’re not glued to her side, like you were last year.”

  Felix winced. “Is every single person going to bring up Katia and me? It was just a summer fling.”

  “Not from the looks she’s giving you right now,” Poppy said.

  Katia was standing about twenty feet away, staring at Felix and frowning at how close he was standing to the other girl. But Poppy, being Poppy, waved at Katia and went over to talk to her. Soon, the two of them were smiling and laughing.

  Devon drifted off to talk to some of the Sinclair guards, but I stayed with Felix.

  “You need to talk to Katia,” I said. “It’s obvious that she still likes you. You need to tell her there’s someone else. It’s not fair to keep avoiding her and letting her think the two of you are going to hook up again.”

  Felix sighed. “I know. I’ll tell her . . . after the tournament today.”

  I eyed him.

  “What?” he said in a defensive tone. “The tournament’s going to start in a few minutes. I wouldn’t want to wreck her concentration.”

  “Someone has a rather high opinion of himself.”

  “I am rather handsome. And charming. And an exceptionally good kisser.” Felix waggled his eyebrows. “Or so I’ve been told.”

  I snorted. “Well, you’d better tell her soon, or she’s likely to punch you right in your good kisser. And don’t worry about upsetting Katia’s mojo for the tournament. You might even help her.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  I shrugged. “Because there’s nothing more vicious than a girl who’s just had her heart broken.”

  The workers put a few finishing touches on the obstacle course, and the officials strolled out into the middle of the stadium and lined up in front of the cold spring. There were five of them, one from each Family, dressed in white cloaks and cavalier hats, which was supposed to be a sign of their neutrality. Heh. We’d see about that.

  I looked around the stadium, scanning the crowd. Claudia, Reginald, and Mo were sitting up in the Sinclair box, with Oscar buzzing back and forth from one side of the glass windows to the other, a stick of cherry cotton candy clutched in his hand. The pixie noticed me staring and whipped his cotton candy back and forth like a flag, almost knocking Mo’s hat off. Mo grabbed for the cotton candy, but Oscar was too quick and darted out of his reach. I grinned and waved back at them.

  I swung my gaze to the opposite side of the stadium and the Draconi box. To my surprise, the box was empty except for a single woman. She was wearing a large white hat with a black ribbon around the floppy brim, so I couldn’t see her face, just the long, blond hair trailing down her shoulders. I wondered who she was, but it didn’t matter. If she was sitting in the Family box, then she was a Draconi and an enemy.

  Three men carrying trumpets strode out into the middle of the stadium and blasted out several loud, cheery notes. The crowd hushed, and a low drumbeat rang out, getting louder and faster with every second. Everyone on the bleachers leaned forward, while the competitors did the same around the chain-link fence.

  “And now, the event you’ve all been waiting for, the Tournament of Blades!” a voice called out through the sound system.

  Everyone inside the stadium went wild, including me. I didn’t know why, but I was yelling, cheering, and clapping as loudly as everyone else. The noise went on for more than a minute before the officials waved their hands, calling for quiet.

  “And now, to get things started, let’s welcome last year’s returning champion, Deah Draconi!” the announcer boomed.

  Hearty cheers filled the air as Deah left the fence behind and strode over to the start of the obstacle course. As the reigning champion, she had the honor of being introduced first. A smile split her face, and she bowed to one side of the stadium, then the other.

  Beside me, Felix clapped and clapped his hands before letting out a loud, ear-splitting whistle. I looked at him, and he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t help himself. Not where Deah was concerned. I didn’t know if that was sweet or stupid.

  Once the cheers died down, the officials welcomed everyone, then started randomly calling out numbers, since the competitors would be split into four groups for the obstacle course.

  Devon’s number was the first one called. He winked at me, waved to the crowd, and went over to stand beside Deah. They nodded at each other.

  More numbers were called, including Blake’s, Poppy’s, Katia’s, and Van
ce’s, until there was only one spot left for the opening round of the obstacle course.

  “Number three, Lila Merriweather!”

  What was it with me always being picked last? If this kept up, I was going to develop a complex or something. But I fist-bumped Felix, waved to the crowd, and took my place at the starting line next to Devon.

  “I would wish you good luck, but you don’t need it,” he said.

  I grinned. “You’re right. I don’t. Eat my dust, Sinclair.”

  He laughed and nudged me with his shoulder. I nudged him back, staring into his eyes—

  “Well, isn’t this sweet?” a snide voice said. “You going to help your girlfriend get through the course too, Devon? I mean, you already got her into the tournament.”

  Vance swaggered up next to me, the number nine pinned to his chest. He nudged me with his elbow too, but it wasn’t a friendly gesture. I nudged him back even harder, right in his stomach, making him wince.

  “The only one who needs help here is you, Vance,” I snarked. “How are you going to get through the course without messing up your hair?”

  Vance reached up to pat his golden locks and make sure they were slicked back into place. When he realized what he was doing, he dropped his hand and scowled at me.

  Then, he noticed Katia standing on his other side, and he perked right back up again. “Hello, there,” he purred. “I don’t think we’ve met. Vance Groves, future winner of this tournament.”

  “Charmed,” Katia replied in a dry tone, rolling her greenish eyes.

  Vance would have kept trying to flirt with her, but the officials called us to the starting line, and we all took our places single file. I looked out over the course, the hurdles, the cold spring in the middle, the towering rope ladder at the far end of the stadium, visualizing how I would get from here to there.

  An official stepped forward, drew the sword from the scabbard belted to his waist, and raised the weapon high. The crowd hushed, and we all leaned forward, trying to get every inch of advantage we could.

  “For honor . . . for glory . . . for Family!”

  The official dropped his sword, and the tournament was on.

  The first stretch of the obstacle course was a flat, straight, mad dash, and the folks with speed Talents sprinted to the front of the pack, led by Katia. Felix was right. She was fast—faster than anyone else—and she jumped out to a big lead. Katia had already reached the hurdles before I was even halfway there. But there were plenty of obstacles up ahead to slow her and the other speedsters down.

  I hit the hurdles right in the middle of the pack, which was exactly where I wanted to be. Despite Devon, Mo, and Claudia claiming that I could win the tournament, I didn’t necessarily want to. Oh, I enjoyed winning as much as the next person, but doing so would draw the unwanted attention of everyone in town, including Victor Draconi. So my plan was to do just enough to appear completely average.

  But everyone else was giving it their all, including Devon, who was several feet ahead of me, along with Blake and Vance. Deah and Poppy were right on Katia’s tail, something that the other girl didn’t like, judging from the dark scowls she kept shooting over her shoulder at them, especially Deah.

  All the while, the crowd cheered, yelled, and screamed, urging us to go, go, go, go! I blocked the noise out of my mind and concentrated on getting through the course.

  I cleared the hurdles and sprinted over to the next section, where the competitors had to climb one of several knotted ropes twenty feet up to a platform. Katia slowed down considerably here, since she wasn’t nearly as strong as she was fast, but climbing was one of my specialties, and I was able to make up some time on her and everyone else ahead of me.

  Katia, Deah, and Poppy all reached the platform at the same time, with Devon, Blake, and Vance right behind them. The girls took hold of the multiple zip lines that had been strung up and leaped off the platform, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. I got to the top of the platform just in time to see the three of them drop into the soft sand at the bottom, scramble to their feet, and start running again.

  Then it was my turn.

  I grabbed hold of the metal handles attached to the zip line and pushed off from the platform, the air rushing over my body. The sensation was almost as good as free-falling down a drainpipe, and a happy laugh escaped my lips. Maybe the tournament would be more fun than I’d thought.

  I let go, landed in the sandpit, and rolled up onto my feet. Vance grunted as he landed beside me. I glanced at him, and he scooped up a handful of sand and flung it at my face, trying to blind me. I jerked my head to the side, barely avoiding getting the wad of sand in my eyes, although it still hit my neck and sprayed all over my body. Vance laughed, surged to his feet, and rushed over to the cold spring.

  So that’s how it was going to be? Well, if Vance wanted to play dirty, I could give as good as I got.

  It was so on.

  I put on an extra burst of speed and leaped out as far as I could into the spring, tucking my knees up into my chest.

  “Cannonball!” I yelled.

  Vance’s head snapped up, and I landed right beside him.

  Splash!

  I went all the way under. The water was shockingly cold, and I came up shivering. But it was worth it to see Vance soaked through and through. He growled and pretended to stumble into me. Down in the water, out of sight, Vance hooked his foot around mine, trying to use his strength magic to trip me and make me plunge under the surface again.

  But the instant he touched me, my transference Talent kicked in, and my body absorbed all the energy, all the power, he was using to try to take me down.

  I welcomed the cold burn of magic in my veins and used the extra burst of strength to put my shoulder down and plow right through him. Vance slipped and did a face-plant into the water. I kept going, grabbed the far edge of the spring, and pulled myself up and out of the water. Behind me, I could hear Vance sputtering and cursing.

  I grinned. Oh, yeah. This was fun.

  After the cold spring, there were more sprints and hurdles, along with several balance beams, and then the big finale of the fifty-foot rope ladder. I made it through the other obstacles and ran over to the base of the ladder, glancing up.

  Katia was still in the lead, but Deah was right behind her, with Poppy a few feet farther down and about ten feet off to the side, on the far section of the ladder. Devon was directly below Poppy, with Blake beneath Katia and Deah. The ladder was as wide as it was tall, and since I didn’t want to impact Poppy’s and Devon’s climbs, I took hold of the side where Katia, Deah, and Blake were. I’d just started to pull myself up the first rung, when I felt a shoulder slam into mine, knocking me to the ground.

  “See you at the top, loser,” Vance hissed, throwing himself up onto the ladder.

  I cursed and got to my feet, determined to beat him to the platform.

  But it wasn’t going to happen.

  Vance had the perfect combination of speed and strength magic to scale the rope ladder, and he was already halfway up before I even got started. But I moved as quickly as I could, stretching and reaching and climbing, trying to make up as much ground as possible.

  I looked up, judging my progress. Several feet above my head, near the top of the platform, something flashed a bright silver before winking out. I blinked. What was that?

  A loud cheer rang out all around the stadium, telling me that someone had already reached the top, but I couldn’t tell if it was Katia or Deah. A few seconds later, Vance joined them, leaning over the edge and sneering down at me.

  I ground my teeth together, angry that he’d beaten me, but I kept climbing. Poppy and Blake had both made it to the top as well, but Devon was still on the ladder, and he glanced over at me.

  “Race you to the top!” he called out, a grin spreading across his face.

  “You’re on!” I shouted back.

  I was only about ten feet from the platform now, and I reached up for the next rung.
r />   An ominous creak sounded.

  My head snapped up. Above me, at the very top of the ladder, long, thick fibers sprouted up like weeds where one of the ropes connected to the wooden platform. It took me a second to realize that the rope was actually unraveling.

  And it wasn’t the only one.

  More and more of those fibers appeared, running all along the top of the ladder like kudzu unfurling everywhere. A sick feeling filled my stomach. I knew what was going to happen next.

  “Watch out!” I yelled, hoping to warn everyone else on the ladder and trying to scramble to my right, away from the unraveling ropes.

  But it was already too late.

  With a series of loud, crack-crack-cracks, this entire section of rope snapped free from the top of the wooden platform, and the ladder started to fall.

  Dragging me down with it.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Screams and shouts sounded as the crowd realized what was happening, and horrible thoughts shot through my mind one after another as I started to fall.

  I was forty feet up in the air, and there was no soft sandpit at the bottom of the ladder. This was going to hurt—a lot. I’d be lucky if I only broke an arm or leg, instead of my neck—

  I stopped in midair, my right arm feeling like it was being torn out of my shoulder socket. A hand gripped my wrist, and I looked up.

  Devon grimaced, his fingers digging into my arm. “I’ve got you, Lila!”

  Somehow, he had realized what was happening and had crawled close enough to reach out and catch me. Gasps rang out from the crowd, but I blocked out the noise and focused on Devon.

  He stared at me, his green gaze locking with mine. “Hold on!”

  His voice cracked with his compulsion magic, and his power wrapped around my entire body as though I were nothing more than a puppet and he was the one pulling my strings. I had no choice but to do as he asked, so I locked my fingers around his wrist.

  But my own transference magic kicked in as well, and Devon’s compulsion quickly melted into pure, cold power surging through me. He wasn’t controlling me anymore, and his magic increased my own, giving me a welcome boost of extra strength and making my grip even tighter than his.