CHAPTER 36
I struggled to keep the shield around my magical orb while the current carried us deep into the belly of the lake.
If Alma wanted to betray me, now was the perfect time to do it.
I’d put her arm around my neck again before we’d submerged together, but this was her domain.
One flick of her wrist, and she could draw the oxygen from my lungs and take off without me.
I would be helpless to stop her and unable to reach the surface again before my lungs gave out.
I’d always known that trusting the wrong person could spell my doom, but I had to hope, pray that Alma wouldn’t stab me in the back.
I needed her, maybe even more than she needed me.
The fact that she’d chosen not to drown me earlier had to mean something, and I clung to that as the current whisked us down, down, down into the watery bowels below.
Just when I started to worry that Alma had indeed sent me to my watery grave, the current veered left toward the cave wall. I held my orb higher and squinted through the inky gloom, relief filling me when I saw an opening in the wall. An exit.
The current pushed us through it and changed course again, lifting us up, up, up.
I started to kick, desperate to reach the surface.
Alma kicked as well, and we breached seconds later, sucking in twin gasps for air.
Alma’s strength suddenly failed, and she went limp against me.
I let my orb fizzle out so I could keep us afloat, glad when I discovered that this cavern had glowworms too. And that wasn’t all.
“Look, Alma. Light!” I shouted, excitement zipping through me when I spotted a tiny bright dot on the far side of the chamber. It was an exit. The exit. “We’re almost there!”
She didn’t respond, and I glanced at her face to see that she was barely holding on to consciousness.
Fresh determination rushed through me, and I began to swim toward the nearest shoreline.
Seeing that little speck of light was all I needed to fuel me onward, to carry Alma’s limp body through the water until my feet finally, finally connected with solid ground again.
“Alma. Alma,” I panted, dragging her deadweight out of the water. She was a good five inches taller than me, and being barefoot sure didn’t help. The jagged rocks cut into the soles of my feet, but I ignored the pain, unwilling to leave Alma behind when we were so close.
“I’m sorry,” she abruptly moaned, trying and failing to make her legs work.
“It’s okay. You got us through the water, so I’ll get us the rest of the way.”
“No,” she rasped, her breaths shallow and faint. “I’m sorry for . . . for what Blaze did to you. At the gala.”
Beyond surprised that she was apologizing to me, I easily responded, “That wasn’t your fault. Neither were the other awful things he did to me, including the curse.”
“Curse?” she said, sounding confused.
I slipped on a wet rock and caught myself. “Yeah, the curse that was placed on my spellbook a couple months back. The one that almost killed me.”
She dragged in another weak breath before saying, “Blaze didn’t curse you. Believe me, he would have . . . would have bragged about it if he had.”
I stumbled and barely caught myself again, almost losing my grip on Alma. Blaze hadn’t cursed me? If he hadn’t, then who had?
My mind reeled with the possibilities, dread tightening my chest when I realized it could be anyone. I’d been so certain that Blaze was the culprit that I’d focused my suspicion on him this entire time. In reality, I should have been focused on everyone else.
Someone besides Blaze was out for my blood, and hearing that firsthand made me feel nauseous all over again.
Focusing on the task at hand so I wouldn’t throw up, I lapsed into silence and continued the trek toward that glimmering speck of light. Alma did her best to help, hobbling on one leg as I propelled us forward one awkward step at a time.
Almost there. Only a few hundred feet. Only a dozen. A few more. One. More. Step.
After so much time spent in darkness, the light coming from outside was almost blinding. I kept my eyes wide open, hoping to never set foot in a cave ever again after this. A blast of cold air blew into the cave, racking my wet body with shivers, but nothing had ever felt so good.
“We made it, Alma,” I panted, my trembling legs ready to give out. All we had to do now was portal back to Heartstone.
“You go first,” she said and stopped just shy of exiting the cave. “It’s only fair.”
Wow. I definitely hadn’t expected her to say that. Hesitating, I nodded before carefully leaning her up against the cave wall. But when I let go and stepped outside, raising my hands to form a portal, I heard a fleshy thump behind me.
I whipped my head around to see Alma splayed on the cave floor, passed out cold.
“Alma!”
I turned toward her just as a voice called out my name. I whirled again, blinking in surprise when none other than Professor Holt materialized before me. Certain it was an apparition spell, one last test of the Labyrinth Trial, I raised my hands to defend myself.
“It’s me, Winter,” the apparition said, sounding so lifelike that I paused. “There’s nothing to fear, child. I’m here to assure students when they’ve reached the end of their trial. You made it.”
She sounded so pleased, so proud that my suspicion started to fade. It was her. It was really her. The one person at Heartstone who’d shown me nothing but kindness from the very beginning.
I let my hands fall back to my sides. “Alma is badly injured. She needs help getting back to Heartstone.”
“Oh, the poor dear,” Professor Holt clucked, moving forward to check on her. After a quick examination, she added, “I’ll have to portal her back. Those burns look serious.”
“And she won’t be penalized?”
The professor glanced at me as if surprised by my question. “She will be, but she made it through the trial, so she won’t be expelled.”
Not ideal, but at least the school wouldn’t fail her.
“You, on the other hand, are the first to reach the end, so I believe congratulations are in order.”
My heart stopped, then started up again with a jolt. “Really?”
She smiled at me warmly. “Really. You’ve come a long way in just one semester, Miss Mayweather. Everything’s going to change for you after this.”
I continued to gape, struck speechless. I was in first place?
The professor laughed, then raised her hands to conjure a portal. It sprang into existence, the edges glowing a vibrant green. “I’ll take Miss Ramirez directly to the infirmary so we don’t disrupt your moment of glory. Help me lift her up, dear.”
I turned toward Alma again, and just as I did, arms snaked around me and yanked. Thrown off balance, I fell back, unable to catch myself in time. I saw the glowing portal closing in around me, but it was too late. I tumbled inside, helpless as the darkness swept me away.