Chapter 33 Avery #2
The lights dimmed as they did before the start of every challenge, and I walked out onto the floor. Heath, Aiden, and Wyatt were already there, standing in a neat line, their weapons strapped to their backs.
Not one of them looked at me as I stepped up next to Heath.
The floor lit up with the soft glow of the magic as it conjured our first opponents.
“Care to tell me what your problem is?” I asked in a low voice.
Heath didn’t reply as the usual opening salvo materialized on the floor—a dozen swarmers, this batch a mix of two-headed feline things and some bat-bodied spiders the size of a Rottweiler.
“Just follow my commands and don’t ask fucking questions, Avery.” He turned to say something to Wyatt, giving me his back.
Dismissed.
The wraiths formed their swarm. Adrenaline pulsed through my body, bringing my beast on high alert.
I reached behind my head and pulled my swords from their sheaths.
Heath, Wyatt, and Aiden ceased to exist as anything except the extra blades and brawn I needed by my side to slay every grotesque thing on this floor.
The wraiths charged, and I let the fight take me.
We were seamless. It was as if I was fighting alongside Ian and my dads.
I didn’t have to wonder who was going to be where or whether someone had the monster at my back while I dealt with the one at my front.
Wyatt swung his ax. Heath and Aiden wielded their sabers.
I carved with my swords. In concert, we tore through all dozen of the wraiths in record time.
When they flickered out, four Rippers appeared, spaced evenly around the edges of the arena. Huge horned beasts with glowing void eyes, clawed feet, and rotting flesh that would smell rancid if they’d been real.
Cash wasn’t messing around. For the rest of the teams, the Rippers had been run two at a time, but he’d thrown all four at us at once.
Heath became his majestic golden wolf and Wyatt his sleek and powerful bear. Aiden twirled his sword expertly around his wrist, his Moon-blessing runes visible under the radiant magic of the arena. I dismissed with a furious shove the ache that punched me at sight of them.
We clawed and cut and stabbed and dodged in concert.
Phantom talons raked my skin. Behind me, Wyatt’s bear bellowed in pain and roared with rage.
Heath’s wolf snarled and tore out a wraith’s throat, and I sliced through its neck.
Wyatt did the same to another, and Aiden was there to take its head off with his blade.
We destroyed all four wraiths. The crowd was deafening around us.
The final two Giants flickered onto the floor.
Humanoid, twelve feet tall, claws, antlers, spikes, and tails.
One charged immediately at Aiden. He shifted smoothly into his jaguar, dodged, and jumped onto its back.
He and Heath worked that one while Wyatt and I handled the other.
Giant hands battered me. More pain as phantom fangs sank into my skin.
A hit from a tail simulated a cracked rib.
Heath and Aiden downed their wraith. I dodged another swipe of the tail, sheathed my swords, and sprinted to Heath and Aiden’s target. I picked up Wyatt’s heavy ax and swung it with all my strength, removing the fallen wraith’s head.
Heath and Aiden, still beasts, bolted for the remaining wraith. They joined Wyatt’s bear, all three of them piling onto the monster as it screeched and clawed and bellowed in pain. They took it to the floor. I ran for it, heaving the ax again and bringing it down, cleaving the head from the body.
It flickered out. The crowd roared. The leaderboard flashed in blinding LED above us.
Thousands and thousands of points were awarded to each of us and to the Blackwell Quad. The words RECORD TIME flashed in red across the top of the board.
I leaned on Wyatt’s ax, sucking in huge, panting breaths. I closed my eyes.
I did it. We did it.
Had I ever had so much fun in my life? At my core, I was a predator. Killing wraiths, even fake ones, made my beast soul fucking sing, and doing it alongside talented and powerful teammates was a high like none I’d ever experienced.
Opening my eyes, I found Ian in the crowd.
He stood on top of his seat, wearing a huge smile and clapping wildly for me.
Brody jumped up and down next to him. Mallory, Allen, Chance, and Ash were the stands somewhere too.
If I listened hard enough, I was just able to make out Mal’s exuberant shouting above the noise.
Heath, Wyatt, and Aiden had ducked into the shadows at the edge of the arena to shift back to human form and dress, and they returned to the floor to stand under the lights and bask in the cheers of their adoring fans.
Their expressions were blank, devoid of any joy or even pride at what we’d accomplished out here.
I wiped my brow, and then I went to hand Wyatt’s ax back to him.
A strong hand wrapped around my bicep, stopping me in my tracks.
I met Heath’s furious hazel glare, and I yanked my arm out of his grip like he’d burned me.
“Don’t think this means anything, Avery,” he growled. “It isn’t happening again.”
“What isn’t?” I spat. “Us fighting as a unit? Or you fucking touching me?”
His nostrils flared, and golden starbursts ignited in his eyes. “Both.”
Wyatt was on Heath’s other side, sweaty and shirtless. He laughed, and it sounded mean. Reaching across Heath, he snatched his ax from my hands without a word.
Aiden stood behind them both, his gym bag slung lazily over his shoulder and his glasses back on his face. “Can we get a move on?” he asked irritably, like I wasn’t even standing there. “I have papers to grade.”
Tears welled in my eyes. Horrified, I blinked them away. It’d taken them a mere handful of words to eviscerate my high. To tear me down and make me feel so fucking small.
I needed to go.
Without a backwards glance, I hurried to my bench, grabbed my bag, and headed for the arena doors, wiping the stray tear from my cheek before anyone could see it.