CHAPTER 2 #2
Nooooo! I wailed at the darkness, struggling to push it back down.
But it was relentless, a leviathan fighting to break free of its cage.
It had been so long, too long since I’d let it out.
There was too much pent-up energy, and I was too rusty.
Too scared. My magic was about to explode, and there was nothing, nothing I could do to stop it.
Just as the pain from keeping it contained grew unbearable, just as my body started to convulse from the lack of oxygen, the pressure keeping me under the water vanished.
I raised my head and immediately breached the surface, sucking in a frantic gasp.
A mixture of air and water speared down my throat, and I succumbed to a violent fit of coughing.
The fresh pain in my chest was the perfect distraction, though, and I nearly cried out in relief when I felt my magic pause. I quickly locked it up, shoving it down, down, down so it couldn’t escape again.
That was close. Too close.
As I continued to drag in life-giving air, my body shook uncontrollably, hyped up on fear and adrenaline from the near disastrous event.
Although I could no longer sense death, my fear remained.
It had never left empty-handed before. I’d robbed it.
Cheated it out of its victim. Did death ever seek revenge?
I didn’t know and didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.
Shivering and no-doubt looking like a half-drowned muskrat, I struggled against the current toward the riverbank.
As I did, I spotted movement on shore. A girl, a witch, was following the river upstream like I’d been doing.
Her back was to me, so I only caught a glimpse of her long swinging braid.
Right before she faded into the gloom, she glanced over her shoulder at me still struggling in the river.
Her skin was darker than mine by a few shades, but the bronze hue was light enough for me to see her lips curve into a wicked grin.
Why, that conniving little devil.
Her smile confirmed what I’d already begun to suspect.
She had done this to me. Based on how the water had held me under, she must be a Water Elemental.
It had been stupid of me to think that a spell was the only thing I’d be up against in this trial.
Heartstone Academy was cutthroat, but so were the students.
We were each other’s competition, after all.
The more students that failed earlier on, the less competition we’d have to face later.
This girl obviously wasn’t afraid to eliminate her competition, and if I was going to survive this world, I’d need to adopt that same bloodthirsty attitude.
For a moment, I’d almost forgotten, almost convinced myself that the other students and I were fighting the same battle and not each other.
That delusional moment had nearly been my undoing, and I couldn’t make that mistake again.
These students would sooner kill me than help me, especially when they found out who I was. I had to protect myself, to be smart, or I was going to wind up as Heartstone’s next casualty.
By the time I made it onto solid ground again, the Water Elemental was long gone. So much for thinking I’d be the first student to complete the trial. At this rate, I’d end up last. Well, almost last. I couldn’t forget the girl trapped in tree roots and the crushed warlock.
More aware of my deadly surroundings than ever, I ignored my fresh injuries and took off along the riverbank again, determined to make up the time I’d just lost. My socks squelched in my waterlogged shoes with each step, my hair and clothing stiffening with the growing chill.
I could easily utter a spell that would have me dry in seconds, but one glance at the trees nearby, and I clamped my shivering lips shut.
The Water Elemental had risked using her magic, but something inside me, some instinct warned me not to reveal mine. I’d rather arrive at the school last than not at all.
At least an hour went by without spotting a single soul.
My intuition sharpened the farther I went, letting me know that I was getting closer to my destination, but the weather had taken a turn for the worse.
The higher I climbed into the mountains, the colder the temperature became, the harsh winds tearing at my hair, clothing, and exposed skin.
Each step became harder to take, my ragged breaths gusting from me in white plumes as I struggled to keep climbing.
It was only when the snow began to fall at an alarming rate that I truly started to worry.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled unintelligibly, my jaw practically frozen shut. If it wasn’t for my little dip in the river, I could handle the snowstorm. I was used to them, to the freezing temperatures and harsh winds from my winters spent in New Hampshire.
But this? This was unbearable. I couldn’t survive this. Not with my damp clothing and hair sucking up all my body heat.
I had to risk using my magic.
That or portal back home with my dignity in shreds. The latter wasn’t an option, so magic it was.
The spell I chose was considered simple magic, the energy use minimal.
Any witch or warlock could do it, no matter their affinity, most learning how to at an early age.
My dad had taught me when I was only twelve, and I thought of the memory now as I raised my stiff hands and, with a little flourish, muttered, “Arida.”
The barest of energy illuminated my fingers a deep purple as my magic responded to the spell with focused precision.
Within seconds, my hair and clothing were bone dry, including my socks and shoes.
I immediately felt better, but before I could breathe out a relieved sigh, the world around me blurred white.
Snow and wind swirled around me like a tornado, screaming their fury.
They tore at my clothes and whipped my hair into my face, beyond pissed that I’d dared use my magic.
Little shards of ice joined the maelstrom, mercilessly pelting my exposed skin.
I covered my face, but the storm was everywhere, pounding into me so hard that I was forced to crouch in the snow.
The storm roared and roared, stealing my sight and the breath from my lungs. I opened my mouth to drag in air, but snow and sleet filled it instead. Panic fluttered in my chest, and in an instant, the darkness within me surged up again.
Use meeeeee.
As more and more snow dumped on me, so fast that I was waist-deep in it within seconds, the fear of being buried alive nearly made me give in.
But that fear wasn’t as great as my fear of letting the darkness out after nearly two years of suppressing it.
There had to be another way out of this, a way that didn’t involve losing myself to the malevolent magic simmering in my blood.
Angry that I wouldn’t let it out, the darkness shoved at the cage I kept it in, making it nearly impossible to think.
Remembering another storm I’d recently been caught in, I quickly threw up my hands to conjure a shield.
The snow and wind immediately stopped pelting me, thwarted by the invisible barrier.
But the storm didn’t let up, screaming and pounding against the shield in search of weakness. Already exhausted from my near-drowning in the river and freezing hour-long trek, I knew I couldn’t hold it back indefinitely. I needed to get out of here and fast.
Struggling to my feet again, I waded through the snow, my hands stretched out before me to better support the shield.
I walked blind, my only guide the river to my right.
No longer able to hear it over the raging snowstorm, I stuck closely to the edge, the slick, snow-covered rocks slowing my progress significantly.
Minutes felt like hours, but I kept going, one laborious step after another.
If it wasn’t for the instinct letting me know that I was still headed in the right direction, I might have lost hope.
The storm was relentless, growing in volume with no signs of stopping.
I slipped and stumbled over the rocks, nearly ending up in the river several times.
Everything ached, including my teeth, which were clenched tightly so they wouldn’t clack together from the cold.
My job at Rudy’s Diner had kept me on my feet for nine hours a day as I’d bustled around waiting on tables, but it hadn’t prepared me for this trial.
I felt woefully out of shape, my legs like jello beneath me.
My body screamed at me to sit down, to take a break, but if I did, I’d probably never get up again.
The air was growing thinner, and each breath was an effort as I doggedly plowed up the mountain. It might as well be Mount Everest at this rate, an impossible task that I had no hope of completing. I wasn’t ready for this. Wasn’t prepared. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.
Why the hell hadn’t I told Gran the truth? That I hadn’t even sent in my application to Heartstone, that this was all a huge mistake?
Minutes turned into hours turned into days.
My body weakened, my shield weakened, on the verge of collapsing.
I felt it thin, felt it crack beneath the storm’s rage.
Any second now, and it would be over. I’d given all I could give, and I had nothing left.
Water sloshed onto my shoes, and I finally noticed how rough the river’s current had become.
A few steps later, and I understood why.
A waterfall. There was a freaking waterfall.
Which meant that I had to climb to the top somehow, and I didn’t .
. . I didn’t have the energy. Just as defeat welled in my chest, just as my shield began to crumble to dust, my shoe landed on something flat.
I glanced down and saw stone. Stone. Not rock.
It was hewn into a man-made shape, a shape that instantly made me want to cry out in joy.
A stair!
I changed course and found another, then another and another, carved into the rocky mountainside to create a staircase beside the waterfall.
Halfway up, my magic completely gave out.
The snowstorm rushed back in and surrounded me, nearly knocking me backward.
I blindly lurched forward and felt for the next step with my hands, crawling, clawing my way up.
I was close. I could feel it in my bones.
Just one more step. One more. I couldn’t give up when I was this close. It felt like an eternity, but I reached the top. Unable to see a thing through the screaming storm, I continued to crawl, not caring how pathetic I looked.
One step. Just one step more.
I didn’t know how long I crawled, blindly using my hands to follow the paved stone path beside the river, but I was suddenly there.
As if someone had flipped a switch, the raging storm ceased and the air cleared, allowing me to see the world around me for the first time in what felt like forever.
I was at the foot of a steep set of polished stone stairs, and when I lifted my gritty eyes, I beheld the towering might that was Heartstone Academy.
The building was huge, jutting up so high that the pointed pinnacles got swallowed up by the night sky.
The design was like that of a gothic cathedral, imposing and sinister, built out of stone nearly as dark as the heartstone it was named after.
Most of the tall and narrow stained-glass windows were devoid of light, making the structure appear that much more unwelcoming.
The few lights I saw flickered weakly, going in and out of focus.
Or maybe that was my vision.
As I tried to stand, the ground dangerously tilted, and I knew that it was me. I was out of steam and fading fast. If I didn’t make it up those stairs, if I passed out right before reaching the entrance, would they fail me?
Unwilling for that to happen, I dragged myself forward and started to climb one last time. One more step. Just one more. I was close, so close. I had to complete the trial. Had to. There was no other choice.
Every step was agony, my heart trilling dangerously fast as I pushed myself past my limits. Darkness edged my vision, my exhausted body on the brink of collapse.
One more step. Just. One. More. Step.
I barely remembered reaching the top. Barely remembered stumbling toward the menacing building’s front doors. Barely remembered grasping one of the thick metal handles and pulling, yanking to pry it open.
But I remembered stepping foot inside. One step, and I was sprawled on the hard floor, unable to carry my weight a second longer.
I managed to roll onto my back before everything dimmed, before the faces peering down at me blurred and started to fade.
But as I succumbed to the darkness, one face sharpened long enough for me to recognize it.
A face I’d hoped to never see again.
A face that immediately flooded my mind with memory after painful memory.
A face that made me think of her. Of my best friend.
The friend that I’d murdered almost two years ago.