Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
The berserkers led me down a winding corridor, away from the arena, through a breezeway to the smaller exhibition center next door.
“The layers of protection on the berserker spark stone can only be broken by someone with berserker blood,” Candice explained, bouncing next to me like a purple rubber ball.
“So, in theory, the Devourer wouldn’t be able to get to it, anyway.
We’re not arrogant idiots like the centaurs, though.
We already know he’s getting into realms he shouldn’t be able to, so we figure he’s found a way around blood wards. ”
I nodded grimly, keeping quiet.
“And since you have berserker blood, you should be able to break the protections.”
“So, what are the protections?”
“A challenge. You need to beat one of us in a challenge.”
“Okay.” Maybe I could challenge them to a sudoku puzzle or something. Whatever happened, I needed to get this over quickly.
“A physical challenge,” Candice amended, frowning. “The berserker who breaks the protections on the stone has to be worthy of it.”
My footsteps faltered. “You mean I have to beat you in a strength challenge? And you get to use magic?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. Look, you get to choose which one of us to challenge. Unfortunately, the berserker you challenge has to do their best to beat you. The magical protections will know if your challenger threw the competition, and the stone won’t reveal itself to the winner.”
There had to be some hope here. Maybe there was a weakling among them. “Who should I choose?”
She lowered her voice. “Tina is on her period. Avoid her. She’ll destroy you. I’d go with Gary—he’s lactose intolerant, and he’s already had two whey protein smoothies this morning.”
Cecil trotted beside me. “Should I go and get the others, Chosen? We’ve been gone for too long already. The prince will be worried by now.”
“No.” I didn’t want any of them to see me get humiliated. There was no chance of me winning, but I had to try, even just to show the berserkers that I was on their side.
What Candice had told me had unsettled me. How could anyone think that I might be as bad as Connor? “Let’s just get this over quickly.”
“I’m way ahead of you.” A mini tornado engulfed me for a second, then I looked down.
My baggy tan trousers and ugly custard polo had disappeared.
Instead, my butt was wrapped in star-spangled booty shorts.
My boobs were propped up and out in a reinforced blue-and-red sports bra.
I sighed. Cecil had put me in a sexy updated version of a Wonder Woman outfit.
Candice eyed me critically. “You don’t look so bad now. And you do have some good muscle tone. You work out?”
“Yeah.” I knew the importance of lifting weights more and more as you got older—it was crucial to maintain bone density. I used to see a personal trainer three times a week. Now, I just threw around some kettlebells I thrifted from a charity store. “I try to keep fit.”
Candice chewed on her nails nervously. “Well, do your best, Susan. You might only have a touch of berserker blood, but see if you can poke it to the surface, okay?” Her worried face turned bright purple; each muscle in her cheek swelled as her anxiety spiked.
“We need this. For the survival of our whole species.”
“No pressure or anything,” Cecil muttered.
“Here,” she said, pointing towards one of the exhibition rooms. “This is where they held the junior open yesterday. The equipment is all laid out. We need an impartial person to pick out a run, but we can keep it simple. Three challenges, max.”
“I have no idea what any of that means,” I said nervously. We filed inside, and the berserkers barred the door behind us.
“The challenge has to be unknown,” Candice explained. “This is like an obstacle course. Maybe you do a rope climb, an object carry, a hand walk?—”
“I can’t even do a handstand,” I said faintly.
“Please, Susan.” Her neck thickened. “Just try.”
I stared into her bright purple, bulging face, and sighed. “Okay. I’ll try.”
She turned and beckoned to Cecil. “You’re the only non-berserker here, you’ll have to choose the challenges and the order they are done in.
” She placed a dozen cards face-down on the mat in front of her.
Cecil dutifully trotted over and slapped his paw on three of them.
Candice flipped the cards. “Okay. Hand walk, sled push, object carry. Whoever finishes first, wins.”
I looked at the cards. Each one had a little picture on them—a pair of hands, a sled with rings stacked on top, and what looked like a big log.
The other berserkers were already moving, pushing equipment into position on the padded floor that ran the length of the room.
“So, I walk on my hands to the sled, then push the sled to the log, and carry the log to the end?”
She nodded. “That’s it.”
I grimaced. “Okay.”
“Who do you choose as your challenger?”
I shrugged. “Let’s go with Todd.”
“Woo!” He punched the air. “Let’s go!”
“This isn’t a good thing, Todd,” another male snorted. “You’re going to destroy her. And we want her to win.”
“Oh.” Todd frowned and looked at Candice. “Well, this is a stupid idea, anyway. But I guess at least I will be able to warm up for the games.” He bounced into position at the start line and whipped off his Hawaiian shirt.
“Just to clarify,” I said, moving next to him. “I’m allowed to use magic?”
“You better,” Candice said, chewing her nails. She lifted her hand. “On one! Ready? Three, two, one!”
A bang made me jump out of my skin—fucking Cecil held a starter pistol in his paw. I looked over at him, glaring—he waved his arm frantically. “Go, Chosen! Go!”
Todd jumped, flipping upside down in mid-air, came down onto his hands and bolted forward like he was born to walk upside-down.
I held out my hands and let the heat in my belly pour through me. “Stop.”
Todd froze.
I licked my lips and put my hands on the ground. Carefully, I stepped onto them and waddled forward like a duck, right, left, right, left. It wasn’t quick or graceful, but it worked. Within ten seconds, I’d passed Todd, still frozen upside-down.
The berserkers roared. “That’s cheating!”
“It’s not,” Candice said. “She’s allowed to use her magic, and the rules, as explained to her, were just ‘walk on your hands.’ And that’s exactly what she’s doing.”
Todd was going to unfreeze at any minute, though, and I was already drained. I reached the sled and looked at it—a simple metal thing with a pole in the middle. Huge circular weights were stacked on top. I gave it an experimental push. It didn’t even budge.
Thinking furiously, I bent down and pulled one of the weights off. It weighed a ton, but I managed to get it off, and I carefully slid it onto Todd’s sled next to me.
“She can’t do that!”
“Of course she can. We didn’t tell her she couldn’t.” Candice’s voice held a touch of hope. “Come on, Susan!”
The weights now gone, I got behind the sled, put my arms on the handles, and pushed. It was still heavy. My legs shook, and my quads burned. Inch by inch, I slid the huge hunk of metal down the floor.
Behind me, I heard Todd let out a furious roar. Damn, he was already unfrozen. The patpatpat of his hands on the rubber mat told me he was coming up on me fast. I put my head down and strained my legs, pushing the sled over to the massive log waiting for me.
Todd let out another outraged shout. I glanced behind me and watched him as he began to push his sled, piled high with all my weights.
I’d accidentally given him something to be angry about, and he was channeling so much fury he was twice the size he was before we started.
Every single muscle on his body stood out, his veins bulging.
I caught a glimpse of Candice, chewing her nails back at the start line. Her vivid purple eyes were shining with unshed tears.
Goddamnit, I was already exhausted. But I had to keep going.
Chest aching and legs burning, I looked at the giant log in front of me. There was no way I was going to be able to lift that. And there was no way to trick my way through it. I couldn't roll it; I had to carry this damned object to the finish line. It was impossible. There was no way.
But then again, there was no way that I should have been able to destroy my house when I’d caught Vincent in bed with Seraphina. There was no way I could ask the stones to change their structure, hardening themselves to close.
It’s called magic, Susan.
Todd was coming up on me fast, pushing his sled down the track as if it were weightless.
Yes. That was it. I needed to get this log to become weightless in the same way that I asked the stones to harden themselves.
I could do this. I bent down, put my fingers on the log, and focused.
The log came alive underneath my hands. It was the same as anything in the world, the same as anything in any world.
A collection of atoms, vibrating together in a unique resonance.
I reached deep inside myself and spoke to it.
Become weightless, I begged. Please. Light as a feather, stiff as a board.
Footsteps thundered behind me; Todd was almost here.
The log trembled beneath my fingers. I felt its structure change—before, it was solid, but now, it was something else, something lighter. I gripped the edges of the metal handles and tugged it upwards.
It lifted into the air as if it were made of cotton candy, practically weightless.
Yes.
Just in time, too. Todd was only seconds behind me, snorting like the Minotaur.
He deadlifted his own log onto his shoulder with insanely strong, practiced movements, bending at the knees to take the weight.
I put my head down and sprinted, pushing the log in front of me like a balloon, feeling my energy fade with every footstep.
Todd thundered along beside me, his feet pounding on the mat.
“Go!” Candice screamed. “Run, Susan!”
With one final, furious push, I stepped over the finish line a fraction of a second before the furious berserker beside me.
My legs gave out, and I collapsed. My exhaustion was overwhelming, and blackness and silence claimed me for a long, blissful moment.