Chapter 31
Sabine
On the night of the games, Dagmar threatened to use her cauldron-brewed healing potions on me if I didn’t get out of bed. Even though I loved eye of newt and wolf anal glands as much as the next witch, I decided to rally and attend the end-of-summer games.
I hid amidst the throng of counselors, tucked like a kid behind Iris’s voluminous obsidian skirt, which was an entirely impractical outfit choice, but it was the camp games, and that meant dressing up.
Iris’s version of dressing up was like a witchy cosplay of Effie Trinket.
I, on the other hand, had donned my crushed velvet dress in a shade of emerald green that I hoped would make me blend in with the forest behind me.
I didn’t want Gwen to see me, and worse, I didn’t want to see her because one glimpse would probably make my heart crack all over again.
I hadn’t known Gwen for long enough to warrant such a reaction, I knew that, but I wished someone could send my hormones that message.
Feelings were illogical little cretins. I wasn’t grieving what we had, but what we could’ve had.
I could see it clearer than a divination spell—our cozy, witchy future in the city all laid out before me—a future that would never come to fruition.
But I’d cried enough over the last few days. Now, I needed the break to calcify. I needed to be resilient enough to pretend I was okay, and eventually I knew I would be again.
Still, I scoured the crowd, searching for Gwen against my will.
Every flash of dark hair snagged my gaze.
It took several minutes, but eventually my wandering eyes betrayed me and I found her.
She wore her matching olive-green shirt and bandana, looking like she was a contestant on Survivor, ready to compete against the other camps.
Dagmar had dropped the wards around SCUW for the event so that the games could take place across all three camps, but still, it felt strange to have people other than witches on our turf.
I folded my arms tightly and forced myself to stare at the counselors from the other camps instead of at her.
Normally, they were all community members, wolves, vampires, and monsters.
They were coworkers and council members and even family members to some of the witches at camp.
But right then, they were the competition, and every witch knew it.
We had to win this year or Dagmar might turn into a butch fire-breathing dragon.
As the moon started rising, the three heads of camp stepped to the center of the field: Dagmar, our camp director, Augustus, who ran the Lycanthrope Wilderness Camp, and Xivan, the pumpkin-headed monster in charge of Camp Cryptwood.
The three met like umpires on a pitch, calling the game before shaking hands, splitting apart, and walking back to their groups.
A wolf streaked down the aisle made by the three camps and howled in the center, the wolf camp howling back.
Then, a slithering monster crept into that spot, and all the monsters hissed.
Then Iris left me and stalked to the middle, hands filling with static that lit up the night, and all the witches did the same, the sky dancing with our lightning.
My eyes landed on Gwen. Her magic zipped around her fingertips with ease, and I knew she was fully tapped into her power now, so different from the surly girl at the start of summer who’d just wanted her phone and to go home.
I was happy for her, even as it made my insides twinge anew.
“Let the games begin!” a voice boomed, and the field filled with cheering. “Relay racers, take your positions.”
Tears welled in my eyes as Gwen high-fived Faith, a big smile on her face. I wanted that for her. It was a strange duality, being happy for someone while wishing circumstances were different. When Iris came back to my side, I was still wiping under my eyes.
“Cutting onions again?” she gently quipped.
“Yep, just some impromptu cooking,” I replied as I tried to stymy the tears. I cleared my throat. “I think I’m going to go work on the decorations in the rec center for the show.”
“Good idea,” Iris said. “Probably better not to watch. Your gloom will bring us bad luck that even all those shiny medals won’t counter.”
“I feel particularly unlucky right now, so that tracks.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder and wandered off, even as the crowd cheered and roared and howled behind me.
Suddenly, it didn’t matter who won the end-of-summer games. Even if SCUW were the victors, I knew I’d be walking away a loser.