by ERIN BEDFORD
My teeth gritted together at the thought of the redhead. She'd done her best to make this year as uncomfortable as possible. I couldn't imagine what would happen if she knew me and Ian weren't together anymore. She'd probably drop Chad like last week's trash. Good for Callie but bad for me.
Wait. No. I broke up with him. He was keeping secrets.
Didn't mean I didn't still love him though.
Unfortunately, that was true. I wanted to be with Ian, but I just couldn't do it if he wasn't going to be all in. While I had four of them to myself, I just couldn't see myself being second to his work or anyone else.
I was just about to change directions when I felt something. The air already had a kind of static feeling to it from the magical barrier around us, but this was different. Harsher but familiar. My brows furrowed and I found my feet moving toward the feeling instead of toward the flag.
The gun shots were getting closer now, but I ignored them in search of the magic so nearby. It wasn't the barrier, that much I was certain of now. The barrier buzzed, and this magic was warmer, more sensual, with a hint of darkness. What was that?
I didn't realize how far I'd gone until my feet touched the line of the arena's barrier. If I crossed it, my team wouldn't get to count me if there was a tie. If I didn't, then I wouldn't know what or who was doing that magic. How much was my curiosity worth?
But what if I just go look for a second?
Dale said that I just had to be back before the game ended. The game was far from over. There was still time. I could get to whoever was doing this and back before they ever even missed me. Plus, I had no doubt in my mind that Trina would capture the flag. She had a fierceness about her that won't be easily subdued.
Another pulse of magic solidified it for me. I knew why it felt so familiar. Ian. His magic had that dark sort of tinge to it a smoky aftertaste that left me always wanting more.
My choice made I took the final step across the line and out of bounds. Here outside the barrier I could feel the magic against my skin as if a caress of a hand. I knew within an instant whose magic it was now.
Ian.
As I raced through the woods toward the magic, questions filled my head. What was he doing out here? I thought he had work to do. Suddenly, my throat clogged with worry and distress. What if he was doing something with the Dark Arts that was dangerous to have others around. I mean, the woods wasn’t really the ideal spot for hardcore magic, but it was quiet and not many came out here. Except now.
Pushing those thoughts down, I figured the only way I was going to get an answer was to find out for myself. That meant I had to keep going.
With a renewed determination, my feet moved quicker than before. I searched for Ian’s familiar head of hair but couldn't see him anywhere. It wasn't until I followed that trail of magic to a clearing in the trees that I saw him.
Kneeling on the ground in front of a body, Ian had his hands out in front of him and hovering over the legs of the body. Several others stood around him, and I recognized a few of them from the Dark Arts induction ceremony. The girl who had been so nice before, Faith if I remembered her name right, was standing off to one side as they all watched.
None of them seemed to be helping Ian. They all simply watched. The magic buzzed in the air, getting thicker the closer I got. My eyes dropped to Ian where he sat. I then noticed the white plastic sheet on the ground and the blood spilled on it. Fresh blood.
My hand shoved my mask off my face as my skin grew damp and my stomach rolled. What was Ian doing here?
"Ian?" I called out moving slowly toward them.
That’s when Faith noticed me. She stood up and tried to intercept me. "Max, you need to get back! You can't be here."
"What is he doing?" I gasped as I tried to push past her to see. "Is that guy dead?"
"You need to leave," she reiterated without answering the question.
"No." I shook my head. "Not until Ian tells me what's going on here.” I called past Faith towards Ian. Is this what you've been doing here this whole time?"
He didn't respond. It was as if he didn't hear me.
Faith tried to push me back once more, but I shoved back... with magic. With the air already full of magic, it amplified my little mystical shove into a full-on bull rush. Faith flew through the air, and one of the other members was quick to go after her, catching her with their magic mid-air before she smacked into the ground. While they were otherwise occupied, I rushed to Ian's side.
I fell to the ground beside him and reached out to touch him, but his eyes were clouded over. If he was in there, he couldn't see me, and judging by my cry before, he probably couldn't even hear me. Afraid of hurting him, I dropped my gaze to the person on the ground.
The man was the contestant from the second game, the one who had his legs cut off at the knee. He wasn't dead. I could see his chest rising and falling, but his eyes were closed, his skin pale.
What was Ian doing to him?
"Don't touch him," one of the other members told me, standing by my side but not moving to remove me. "If you break his concentration you could kill them both."
My heart leapt. "What is he doing?"
"Something remarkable." Faith approached, her voice in awe as she watched Ian with a strange kind of reverence. "Something no one has done before."
I tried to figure out what exactly Ian was doing on my own since they were being cryptic about the whole damn thing. My eyes fell to the legs of the guy where Ian's eyes were focused. That was when I noticed something strange. His lower legs, the part that had been cut off, were grey while the part above the knee was the same as the rest of his body. My brows furrowed.
"He's reattaching his legs," I observed.
"Yes," the guy next to me said.
"But that's not anything remarkable. I mean it is, but not anything a normal healer couldn't do." I chewed on my lower and tried to figure out what was wrong with this situation.
Faith kneeled on the other side of the guy and pointed at the calves. "A normal healer could reattach legs that were severed within the first twenty-four hours, but no one can bring a dead limb back to life."
My mouth dropped open. "But that's... that's crazy. Wouldn't the cells and everything be too far gone? It'd be..." I scrambled for the word, something to describe what Ian was trying to do.
"Necromancy," Faith filled in for me but then added, "Or a form of it."
I shook my head too overwhelmed by the whole thing, and then something came to me. "Why is he doing this to him? He was hurt two months ago. The healers should have taken care of him then. Why didn't they?"
Before they could answer, the guy on the ground gasped and writhed. Ian's hands shook and sweat dripped down his face. I could practically see the magic he forced into the guy. It was similar to the way I'd healed the Headmasters daughter. I knew he was seconds away from collapsing, and it would all be for nothing.
Before I could second guess myself, I placed my hand on Ian's shoulder. The others yelled at me, trying to stop me, but I wouldn't do it. I couldn't stop now. I had to help him.
I guided my magic into Ian, giving him my strength, my burning light to help him finish what he started. The wounded man stopped groaning in pain as the healing began in earnest, and that was enough to change the other Dark Arts students to change their cries of worry to encouraging cheers. I could feel our magic, mine and Ian’s, moving into the legs as one, but I never removed my eyes from Ian's face.
I memorized every inch of it, every aspect that I might have missed before, as if I would never see it again. For all I knew, I wouldn't. He graduated this year, and I'd dumped him. For keeping this a secret, for not trusting me to understand.
But I did now.
This could revolutionize the way we practiced medicine. People who had no hope could finally have it. If we could reattach this guy's legs after two months, who was to say we couldn't transplant them for those who had lost them? Or even someone's eyes. The sky was the limit.
<
br /> The other members were murmuring something low that I couldn't make out. My focus was all on Ian and making sure neither of us passed out.
Suddenly, my heart burst with emotion, and I let out a rasping gasp. Ian grunted shortly after me before he finally lowered his hands. His eyes fluttered open as the pull of my magic ebbed. Those swirling pools of green and brown moved down the guy and then to mine.
"Max, what are you doing here?" Ian's voice was scratchy as if he hadn't used it in a long time. I didn't know how long they'd been here, but it had to have been several hours for him to be like this.
I gave a small smile, lifting the gun that I'd laid on the ground next to me. "There's a game going on over there." Then my eyes widened as I realized what I'd just said. "There's a game going on. Shit. Shit. I have to go." I jumped to my feet, but Ian grabbed my hand.
"Wait, Max. Please." Ian tried to stand, but he shook and fell back to the ground. I went for him before he went face first into the ground. The guy next to him grabbed him too.
"Slow down, Ian." He told him with a gruff pull. "You just performed a medical miracle. I think you need to take a second to get your strength back."
"We did?" Ian's eyes widened, and they turned back to look at the once-injured man on the ground. "We did it, Max. We did it!"
The grey of the guy's legs was now the same color as the rest of him, flush with blood and oxygen. If I didn't know they had been severed and reattached, I wouldn't have been able to tell.
"No, you did it." I kissed him on the cheek with a grin. "I just gave you an extra boost. You did all the heavy lifting."
"Still... if you hadn’t been here... I wouldn’t have had the strength to do it." Ian shook his head in awe of what we had done. I was still a bit surprised too. "You have no idea how this will change the world. How much this means to me... to us." He held my hand in his bringing it to his mouth. "I'm sorry I wasn't up front with you about what I was doing... I just didn't want anything to go wrong... and if I failed... I didn’t want you to think I was a failure..."
I shook my head. "No, Ian. I understand. This is big. I get that now, and I’d never think you were anything like that.” I laughed a little. “I just have to realize that I don't get to know everything in your life. Some things just have to stay yours."
"But, just so you know," he stroked my face with his hand, our mouths close together, "you were never second, Max. You could never be second. This was just a time sensitive project."
I ducked my head. "I get that now."
A whistle blew from somewhere behind me, reminding me that I was in the middle of something important too. The warning signal. They're about to do the final count.
"I really have to go, but we'll talk later. Right?"
Ian inclined his head. "I wouldn't miss it."
Kissing Ian on the mouth one more time with everything I had, I abruptly released him to run back toward the woods. I didn't know how long I had sat there with Ian, pushing power into him, but it must have been a long time if the warning call had sounded. I just hoped I got back before I was too late.
I came upon the buzzing of the barrier seconds later, and without hesitation this time, I stepped through it. Without a care for stealth now, I raced through the woods. There were students everywhere. Some of them passed out on the ground. Some were frozen in place, their guns still lifted to shoot the others. There were even a few squirrels and rabbits with school armbands, transmuted students that I knew would transform back before the game ended.
That’s when Aris suddenly flared brightly and shot behind me, a clear alert me to someone coming up on my six. Her warning was just in time as I quickly dropped just as a potion ball flew over my head. It splattered against a tree in front of me, hissing as it melted the surface of the tree. I jumped to my feet, my guardian light freaking out as I dodged a few more acidic shots until I was semi-safe behind a tree.
"I'm pretty sure those are not regulation!" I called out to whoever my assailant was.
"I would imagine not." A sharp peal of laughter filled the forest, and I cringed. Fucking Beth Ann. "Of course, Swordson is too much of a softy to use any real ammunition. In Texas, we aren't afraid to bring out the big guns."
I rolled my eyes. "Does the rest of Texas know that you're a psycho?!" I shouted and then ducked around the corner to fire off three balls in the direction her voice came from. I missed my initial flurry, but I was close enough that Beth Ann had to fall to the ground to avoid them. Not out of the fight yet, she returned fire with another two shots. One almost got me as I ducked back behind the tree, and my hair hissed where a little acid had splashed on the ends.
"The game's almost over, Beth Ann. Just give up." I tried to reason with her, but I knew it was all for nothing. Sabrina might have been a raging bitch, but Beth Ann made Sabrina look like Mother Teresa.
"They haven't blown the whistle yet, and even then, I have a score to settle with you,” she practically hissed. “Maybe if I mark up that pretty face of yours, then you won't be so appealing to all the gentlemen you seemed to have lured into your bed."
"Lured?" I laughed, leaning my head back against the tree. "Really? I'm not a spider."
"Aren't you though?" Beth Ann questioned as her voice came closer. "My mama might have taught me to be a lady, but my daddy taught me never to leave a pest to their own business. They'll multiply, and the next thing you know... you're living in a house of inequity."
She was trying to distract me with her words. It wouldn't work. I had her. I just needed one good shot.
"I have a rat in my house, Maxine," Beth Ann called out with a nasty laugh, "and I intend to clean house."
I caught under her rant the snapping of a branch to the left, and a second later, I dropped to my knees, my gun pointed up as she jerked around the tree. The world seemed to go into slow motion, she shot off another ball... but her eyes widened as she realized I wasn't there. By time she realized I was below her, I'd already hit her in the chest.
The potion ball splattered against her pink chest plate, the bright lime green of the potion coloring the plate. A transformation potion. Nice.
I watched with growing delight as Beth Ann shrank down. Her skin scaled over, and her face melted down until she was smooth and slithering on the ground. A common garden snake. It was fitting for someone like her. All bite, but no venom. While it might hurt a little, in the end, she was just a nuance.
I was about to turn to head back toward the front when my guardian light dinged slightly as snake Beth Ann hissed and tried to bite me. I kicked her with my black boot, only a little sorry when she vaulted through the air.
The final whistle shrieked out as I hustled to the front of the woods. I could tell right away as I entered the gathering point that my team had done well while I was helping Ian.
Trina had the Mountaineers flag clasped in her hand, and our team had her hoisted up on their shoulders as they chanted her name. Only a couple of students from each team appeared in the clearing except for ours, while everyone but Jared and Christy had made it safe to the end.
"Well, it looks like there will not be any need for a tie breaker," Headmaster Swordson said without even trying to hold back his glee. "Winchester Academy has won this challenge and, if my calculations are correct, the MagiX Games as well!"
Our team let out a loud cheer, and I ran into the arms of my guys. They kissed and hugged me, none of them the least bit wondering where I had been. Still, my eyes trailed back to the woods where I had left Ian with his dream.
We'd won... in more ways than one.
Chapter 21
The celebratory party lasted two whole days. I was pretty sure most of the students were just partying to party, because school was over and the summer was here, but still, it was pretty awesome to be part of the team who won the MagiX Games.
"Are you ever going to stop staring at that?" I giggled at Trina who sat on her bed and gazed at her trophy lovingly like it was her newfound god or something.
> As she let out a long and happy sigh, Trina stroked the side of the golden statue in the shape of a broom and witch hat. "I just miss the games. The excitement. The danger. The praise."
I shook my head and laughed, folding my last article of clothing before putting it in my bag. "You're addicted to the fame, huh?"
Trina glanced away from the trophy and pinched her fingers together. "Just a bit. But can you blame me? [number] siblings and not once have I ever won any of the contests we did. Either my older sisters dominated, or they let the babies win. It's nice to be appreciated."
I chuckled. "I bet. Well, next year, you can compete again. I'm sure you'll be as badass as this year."
Trina grinned at me and then turned back to her trophy, her eyes glazing over. "Yeah, but there's no guarantee. This... this is definite. Already done. You should have seen me, Max. I was like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. A Mad Max of Potion Ball. No one could touch me."
My cheeks ached from smiling so much. "So you've told me. Over and over and over again."
"Well, I want to be sure you know how much you missed. I mean, who gets lost in the woods? We were in a spelled bubble!" Trina threw her hands up in the air.
"I didn't get lost..." I grumbled under my breath, but I didn't explain further.
As far as everyone else knew, I'd gotten turned around and only found my way back when the game was almost over. They didn't know I'd gone out of the arena and helped Ian perform a medical miracle, a miracle that Ian was now practiced enough to replicate on his own. It was all about having enough magical power to get through the whole process. Ian could revive small pieces of the body, like a finger or an ear on his own, but anything bigger like an arm and he needed more juice than he could provide on his own. Still, he'd developed a technique that no one else had and was now being courted by some of the leading research and development teams around the world. The magical world that is.
