Chapter 20
We all gather in the Main Hall. They’ve cleared it out for the exam, probably because no other hall in the castle can hold all first-year shifter students.
Everyone seems to be chatting as if this is yet another class we’ll be having. But there’s an obstacle course stretching from the entrance all the way to the back. We’re standing in two lines, one on each side of the course. On my side, the line is broken by the desk where Professor Ahearn will be sitting, observing us as we take the exam.
I keep waiting, barely registering the chatter all around me. What have I done with my time since completing the ritual? I’m more fit because I’ve been hitting the gym a lot. I feel much stronger, physically at least. My senses are now consistently slightly sharper. I can make little sparks start shooting out of my fingers.
But that’s about it. I still have no actual, usable powers. Being able to talk to my wolf has gotten me no closer to shifting, that’s for sure.
Laughter drifts up to me, and I don’t turn to look at the students making the noise, but I do listen to them cracking jokes about their professors.
So carefree, at least that’s what they seem from my perspective. To most of them, passing this exam will be a piece of cake.
But I can’t let myself get defeated before I’ve even tried.
I throw a glance at Raven, who’s all the way on the other side of the hall. My sight having gotten better, I can clearly see her giving me a smile.
I smile back, hyping myself up.
The hall goes silent and I turn to look in the direction of the archway, seeing none other than Bane saunter in.
I frown, my heart starting to race merely from looking at him. Where’s Professor Ahearn?
“Morning, everyone,” his voice booms across the hall as he makes his way to the desk where she’s supposed to be sitting. “Your Professor Ahearn’s been detained,” he explains, “so I’ll be the one conducting the exam today.”
Damn it, I think as the other students start cheering. I don’t think he’ll necessarily be making this any harder for me on purpose. After all, he did help me get my first gift.
However, I no longer know how to behave around him, and it’s with more than good reason that I’ve been avoiding him for the past week.
What am I supposed to do now?
I watch him take a seat with a smirk on his face, his eyes sweeping the room.
They never land on mine.
I tear my gaze away from him, confused and only partly relieved.
“Why don’t we get started?” his voice booms once again, the way it seems to echo through me making me grit my teeth in annoyance.
***
I take deep breaths until I no longer feel so annoyed. But I’m watching the other students go through the obstacle course, Bane chatting with Professor Ahearn’s assistant and lifting green cards whenever someone passes. They’re all so good, only one person gets a red one. So I’m finding it hard to hype myself up for a win.
When it’s my turn, and I walk up to the first obstacle — the wall with the hidden spikes…
I can’t force myself to stop staring at it and fucking move.
“Yes, Miss Novak?” I hear Bane’s smirking voice boom from behind me. “Need a pep talk or what?”
I grit my teeth, but I finally get moving.
Here we go — the moment that will decide my future for the next year and a half. I take a deep breath and I move to start climbing, all my muscles tense in anticipation of the first spike to shoot out.
It surprises me, how easily I push myself up. There’s such strength in my arms, and my reflexes are better than ever before, so when the wall finally fires the first spike, I just let go of one of the hand holds, avoiding the impact as my core muscles keep me hanging with ease.
I breathe a sigh of relief, my lips curling into a smile. With just as little effort, I grab onto the hand hold again and keep climbing.
I avoid another spike. And another one. And another one.
It’s making me feel uncomfortable, the thought that he can see me doing this, but before I know it, I’m over the first obstacle and onto the next, this thrill coursing through me as I notice the absence of sniggers around me.
I pass the second obstacle and move on to the third — a pit filled with spikes pointing upwards.
Holy shit, am I actually going to pass this exam, I think as I prepare to jump.
Then I hear Bane let out a laugh and say, “Well well, aren’t you a clever one, Ingrid?”
It throws me off.
Just shrug it off, I tell myself. I take a deep breath and move to jump over the pit, but the second I lunge into the air, I feel my strength abandon me and I start falling.
Instinct kicks in and I spread my arms and legs so I catch onto the edges of the pit.
But now, I’m barely holding on and I can feel one of the spikes digging into my skin just above my belly button. It’s so hard keeping myself from falling. I feel the presence of my wolf, but she doesn’t do anything.
No, I won’t be begging. I have the worst fucking animal ever.
Somehow, clenching all my muscles, I push myself up and back, falling onto the ground on my ass. I’m panting, my skin covered in sweat.
I push myself to my feet and ball my hands into fists. I move to try to get over the pit again.
I will not be doing this again next year.
Before I can lunge over the pit, a blinding light that comes from my own body makes me close my eyes shut and I feel myself being flung backwards, my ears ringing with a sudden, violent sound of things exploding all around me.
When I come to, my ears still ringing and my teeth gritting, I’m lying on the ground and I have to push myself up on my elbows to take a look around.
What the…
There’s silence in the Main Hall, everyone staring at the wasteland that until a second ago was the obstacle course. There’s rubble all around me, and a circle of burnt ground stretching from where I’m lying.
My eyes dart to Bane, who’s watching me intently.
Now everyone else is, too, neither moving a muscle nor making a sound.
The very next second, I hear people starting to shout, argue and talk over each other from all around me.
“What did she just do?” one of the voices rises above the surface.
“Calm,” Bane’s voice booms, silencing them all. “The fuck. Down.”
I push myself up, watching him stare everyone down and feeling on the verge of throwing up.
What’s really worrying me is the feeling of something swelling inside me. Something that’s about to burst.
Before I even realize what I’m doing, I start rushing out of the Main Hall.
“Miss Novak,” I hear Bane call out at the same time I feel Raven trying to catch up with me.
I don’t stop moving, I just wave my arm to make them stop focusing on me.
“What’re the rest of us supposed to do now?” I hear someone demand of the professor.
“I’m moving you to a different location,” he says in a controlled but pissed-off voice, “that’s what we’re doing.”
I don’t hear anything else. I’m out in the Entrance Hall, doing my best to get back to my room as quickly as humanly possible.
Before I even reach the Elevator, just as I’m walking past the Brothers Grimm statue, it grabs ahold of me. I stop, grabbing onto the top step of the pedestal, getting down on my knees and resting my forehead on the cool, smooth stone of the statue itself.
That ‘something’ in me bursts.
The next thing I know, the world around me falls silent, and I hear the knock.
***
There’s a sharp smell of spring in the air, and I’m walking through a blur of people, all looking up at me with smiles on their faces. Their clothes are festive, and there are flowers being tossed into the air, and up ahead, at the end of the path I already see my mother and my father sitting in their chairs, their warm, smiling eyes following me closely.
All the while, the sky above us is growing heavy with clouds, and among the smiling faces around me, there are pairs of eyes throwing me sneaky looks, cold like edges of blades.
I start running, my mother and father’s faces getting lost in the crowd. Now they’re lifting me up, and I’m looking down from high above and I see all the little altars, the metal bowls, the lit candles.
It makes my breath turn shallow, when I realize there’s something missing. There’s not a single spindle anywhere around me.
When I look down, there’s blood on my hands, and the arms are starting to drop me, and I’m falling and falling, hearing a deep, echoing laugh boom from somewhere behind me.