by L. C. Mawson
I smiled. “I guess. I just wish that I didn’t have to hurt anyone.”
“I know,” she said as she took my hand in hers. “It’s one of the many things I like about you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Charlotte and I both returned to Maria that night.
Maria sighed as we finished explaining how we managed to plant the device.
“It is incredibly frustrating how my reputation precedes me in this time. I guess I should be flattered, but this is making things impossible.” She shook her head. “Never mind, you managed to plant the device in the end, that’s the important thing.” She turned to me. “And that curse was quick-thinking.”
I folded my arms, not willing to accept praise for that. “So, what do we do now?”
“I’ve been using the sister-device to collect data,” Maria said. “You were right, their plan is to sabotage your trial.”
“But you’re recording the data, right? So, we can take it and expose them.”
Maria sighed before holding up a device that looked just like the listening device Charlotte had made. “You could, but if they recognised that the listening device was mine, they will also recognise the sister-device. I don’t think you want to admit to having the help of Maria Brown here.”
I groaned. “So, what? That’s it? I’m screwed?”
“No, there is another way. We know exactly how they’re planning to sabotage your trial. Which means that we can counteract their tampering and give you a fair shot.” She shrugged. “It also means that we know exactly what the trials will entail, so you will be prepared, and if we have to get in there to counteract them anyway... Well, we could always tip them in the other direction to give you a more than fair shot.”
I frowned. “You’re suggesting that I cheat?”
“Well, yes, but your life and freedom are on the line, Amelia. Under those circumstances, ‘cheating’ isn’t the worst crime.”
I suppressed a sigh.
She wasn’t wrong.
But no. After cursing Lauren...
I couldn’t take the wrong path just because it was easy.
That would make me exactly what they said I was.
“Just show us how to counteract their sabotage. Nothing more.”
WE AWOKE JUST AS NATALIE and Lena arrived with breakfast, though they were accompanied by Willow.
“Hey,” she said with a soft smile as she sat on the end of my bed. “How did things go?”
I groaned. “Maria pointed out that if Sarah recognised the listening device as hers, then so will other Amazons. And they won’t easily accept the evidence as real if they think it came from her.”
Willow frowned. “So, what do we do now?”
“Well, we know how they plan to sabotage the trial now, so we need to counter the sabotage.”
Charlotte turned to the others. “You three will have to counter it. They’re going to alter the spells that make up the course for the trials, and as it’s the same course, they’ll do it just before Amelia goes. I’ll probably be busy in the course myself, so it will be down to you three.”
Willow nodded. “Of course. Just tell us what to do.”
I smiled, taking her hand and squeezing in gratitude before answering. “The final trial will be divided into segments. They didn’t talk much about the first one, it seems they were happy to leave it alone. But the second segment of the trial apparently involves a gravity spell. They’re going to crank it all the way up when I go through the trial. Past the point that I could reasonably use counter-spells.
“And then there’s an obstacle course. There are apparently parts of this one that move, and they’re going to crank up the speed. Again, past what I could reasonably enhance myself to pass.”
Natalie frowned. “Couldn’t you spell the obstacles instead?”
“No, they’re apparently resistant to that kind of thing. This is entirely meant to test your fitness. Which is why I’m glad none of this sounds like it would hit my scars.”
Natalie nodded. “So, what else will be in the test?”
I cringed. “I don’t know. They seemed happy enough that I would struggle with the final segment, even without their meddling. So, with it, I think they’re happy to assume I will fail, even if I drag myself through the other segments.”
“Well,” Lena said with a shrug, “that’s not too bad, right? I mean, that’s only two spells for us to correct. Assuming that you do want us to just correct them. I mean, if we’re in there anyway, we could make the trials easier for you to get through.”
I shook my head. “No, no cheating. This is just about making the trial fair again.”
Lena raised an eyebrow. “And what if you fail? Lia, they shouldn’t be putting you through this trial at all. You’re still new to magic. They’re ramping up the difficulty because you’re good, but there’s still a chance that you fail this if you go through it at the usual difficulty level.”
“I know. But I’d rather do this fairly. And what happens if we get caught? If we keep things fair, they can’t argue. If we don’t, then I might be in even more trouble, and you’ll all be dragged into it as well.”
No one looked happy, but no one argued with me either.
At least, not for a moment.
Then Natalie’s unhappy look turned harder. “Amy, this is your life and freedom we’re talking about. If you don’t pass this trial, who knows what dark hole the Amazons will throw you into.”
Her words twisted at my insides, sending a shiver down my spine.
She was right, but that didn’t change anything.
“I am very well aware of the risks, Natalie. But that doesn’t change anything. There is no easy option here, and I’m not the one who will be interfering with the trial. If we get caught, you three will suffer the consequences with me. I cannot ask that of you.”
“It’s not an ask if we’re offering.”
“Yes, it is. And I can’t do it, Natalie. I cannot live with myself if you all get in trouble because of me. Now, we only have three days to prepare for the trial, so we should focus on making sure that Charlotte and I are in the best position to pass, and that you three know exactly how to untamper the spells. Maria gave us some advice on how to go about it...”
Chapter Twenty
Those three days came and went all too quickly.
It seemed that the days were getting shorter, and while I knew that part of that was the daylight hours retreating as autumn turned to winter, it seemed that it was worse than every year that had come before.
Was it stress, or just how time worked as you got older?
I tried not to think about that. Any thought of growing older was just a reminder that this might be where my life ended.
Not literally – I doubted the Amazons would outright kill me – but perhaps in every way that mattered.
As the trials approached, I tried to assure myself that even if I failed, there were people who wouldn’t let the Amazons take me.
My auntie, for one, though I doubted she could actually stand up to them. Oh, she would fight well, but there were so many of them, and just one of her.
Freya would protect me, I was sure. Even with the years between when I had last seen her, I was sure of that.
But it would plunge the magical world into political turmoil.
Political turmoil that could see an end to the school and rob my friends of their safe haven.
No, I couldn’t do that to them.
My thoughts then turned to Maria, some instinct saying that she would protect me.
But I didn’t trust that instinct.
It was likely the same gullible part of me that had fallen for her tricks in the first place.
No, the only guarantee of safety I had was to complete this trial.
And even then, I wasn’t sure how much of a guarantee it was, given how desperate the Amazons seemed to be to see me fail.
“Have you eaten this morning?” I looked up from the bench where I was hiding
to find Willow approaching.
I sighed. “I’m not sure that I could keep anything down if I tried.”
Willow gave me a sympathetic look. “Still, you should keep your energy up.” She handed me a bottle of Lucozade. “If you can’t eat, at least drink this. Using magic exhausts you, and there are also physical obstacles in the trial. You don’t want to lose through passing out. Not when the rest of us have gone to a lot of trouble to keep you safe.”
I nodded, taking the drink from her and sipping a little.
As soon as the sugary concoction hit my tongue, my body demanded more, and I downed the rest.
I guess I’d been more in need of the calories than I’d realised.
Willow smiled. “Need some more?”
I shook my head. “There’s only so much caffeine you can drink on top of stimulant medication before you become a jittery mess. But thank you. And speaking of the trouble you’re all going to, are you, Natalie and Lena prepared?”
She nodded. “Don’t worry about us, Amelia. We know exactly what we need to do.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not going to let the Amazons take you. I swear it.”
Part of me wanted to argue that there was only so much she could do against so many seasoned Witches, but I ignored it.
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it was everything I had.
There was no way for me to put into words how much it meant that she was willing to risk the danger of getting caught tampering with the trials for me.
Even if she could argue that she’d only been setting them back to normal... It was still a risk, and one that I wasn’t sure anyone outside of my immediate family would have taken for me before.
It was probably sad that this was the first time I’d ever had real friends, but the years without them meant that I appreciated them now all the more.
A bell sounded in the distance and my heart stopped.
Willow gave me a worried look. “The bell to signify the trials starting?”
I nodded, my mouth turning dry.
“Good luck.”
I SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN surprised that my name was the first one called when everyone had finished changing.
Of course, the Amazons would want to test me first.
They would want to get it out of the way and dealt with.
I just hoped that my friends were in place and ready to counteract the tampering to the course.
An Amazon led me through the same way I’d gone for the first trial and then left me alone in the entryway.
The large, wooden doors stood ominously in front of me and my lungs refused to draw in air as I waited for them to open and for the trial to begin.
Eventually, the wood creaked, and they swung open to reveal a forest before me.
I blinked. The trees were densely packed, and the ground was littered with small plants and animals.
It felt real, every instinct I had recognising this as a place of nature, not an illusion.
I stepped forward, wondering what the trial here could be.
Another maze? After all, I couldn’t see through the trees, which meant that I couldn’t see the exit.
I drew my wand, not wanting to waste time.
Show me the right path, I thought, as my other hand came to rest on the tree next to me.
This wasn’t instinctual magic as I’d cast it before. Not really.
It felt more like a prayer to the trees.
And they responded.
A rustling of branches told me the direction to walk, and I followed, certain that they would lead me the right way.
Guilt gnawed at the back of my mind. Clearly my ease with this trial was down to whatever connection to Nature I had.
But unlike Willow and Lena, I doubted the Amazons would even notice, never mind fail me for it.
All because I didn’t have scales or pointed ears.
I pushed those thoughts aside, knowing that they wouldn’t help me here, but still they stoked the embers of my rage at the Amazons, adding more and more fuel into what I worried might become an uncontrollable fire.
After winding through the trees for several minutes, while I picked up a few leaves and small plants from the ground to place in my armour’s pouch in case I needed healing later, the rustling stopped, and I found myself in a clearing, with a dark pool in the centre.
I frowned. Where was I meant to go from here? There was no exit.
The water of the pool rippled, and my frown deepened.
What had caused that?
Nothing that I could see...
I squatted down by the pool and dipped my fingers into the water.
It was water, as far as I could tell. Just a normal pool of water. Yes, it was dark, but there wasn’t much light in here.
I lifted my wand and muttered the incantation for light.
The end of my wand glowed, but the pool remained dark.
So, what was I supposed to do with it?
I reached my hand down into the pool once more, letting it go as deep as it could, wondering if maybe there was something I had to retrieve from the water.
But my hand found no bottom.
I frowned. For how small it was, the pool shouldn’t be that deep.
I looked back at the trees, hoping that they would rustle once more to tell me that the pool had just been a detour, and that there was a door just around the corner.
But I had no such luck.
I cringed. I hadn’t been swimming in years. And I’d always hated diving.
But the water rippled once more, rather insistently.
“All right, all right, I’m going,” I muttered as I kept a tight hold of my wand and dropped into the pool.
I splashed for a moment as I realised that my feet also couldn’t reach the bottom, trying to keep my head above water.
Eventually, I managed to keep afloat, and then suppressed a sigh as I realised that that wouldn’t be good enough.
Whatever I needed to leave this place was beneath me.
I looked to my wand, hoping that once underwater, the light would keep me right.
And then I took a deep breath before diving down, hoping that if I just went quick enough, my nerves wouldn’t have time to stop me.
I swam as fast as I could, glad that my heavy armour seemed to weigh me down.
Though I didn’t think about what that meant for getting back up once I’d gotten whatever I needed.
But then, as I swam, my armour stopped pushing me down, and instead became resistance, stopping me from swimming.
I frowned. I hadn’t turned, had I? I couldn’t have.
I just kept swimming, my arms aching and my lungs screaming for air.
Maybe I had to turn back. If I didn’t, I would probably drown.
But then, if I was struggling to make it this far now, how would I manage it a second time?
I pressed on out of sheer, stubborn determination.
I had to pass this trial.
I would remove my armour if I had to, but I would get whatever I needed at the bottom of this pool, and I would get back out again.
There was no going back.
Not here.
I gasped in shock as my head broke water.
Had I really gotten turned around? How?
But then I realised that I hadn’t surfaced back in the forest.
No, I was in a pool at the bottom of a set of stone stairs.
I pulled myself out of the water, my armour and hair heavy with the weight of the liquid clinging to them.
I stood up clumsily as I made my way to the stairs.
My armour and hair would dry, I knew. I just had to push on for now.
I groaned as I made my way up the first couple of steps. The stairs were steep and the muscles in my legs ached from the swimming.
If the stairs were this bad, how bad was this gravity trial going to be?
Or maybe the point of the stairs was to exhaust me before that trial.
There were certainly enough of t
hem, and my muscles burned as I headed up, each step harder than the last.
Eventually, I collapsed forward, resting my hands against the stairs in front of me.
I turned to sit down, knowing that as much as losing momentum would hurt me, my muscles refused to keep going.
Even sitting hurt, my armour weighing me down.
It had never been this heavy before, and even soaking wet, I didn’t think it would be this bad.
And then a rush of adrenaline surged through me as I realised what was happening.
This was the gravity trial.
I turned and scrambled up the stairs, knowing that the weight would only get worse until I reached the top.
My hold on my wand tightened as I cast a spell I’d memorised to make both myself and my armour lighter.
As much as I didn’t want the others to tamper with the trials for me, I wasn’t going to go as far as not preparing for the trials that I knew were coming.
The spell helped, allowing me to scramble up several more stairs before the weight started to crush me once more.
I pushed on for as long as I could, each stair harder than the last.
I was sure that I could see the top. I just had to keep going.
Just a few more...
But the weight became so heavy that lifting my hand from the stone beneath me was impossible, my body pressed tight against it.
I strained, trying to move, but my muscles just burned, the force weighing me down refusing to move.
I said the incantation again, but it was only a mild relief, and not enough to allow me to move again.
No, I was stuck here, unable to move.
Surely the trial wasn’t meant to be this hard... I’d used the most powerful counteracting spells.
But this was one of the segments of the trial that the Amazons were going to sabotage.
What if something had happened? What if Lena, Natalie and Willow hadn’t been able to counteract the sabotage?
What if they’d been caught?
Or maybe it wasn’t them. Maybe they had done everything they were supposed to, and I was just too stupid to see the obvious answer in front of me.
