Chapter Three
Claudia hurried over to help free Jessica from the cage of branches, but the witch was already crawling out on her own. Ava glanced around, searching for Justin and Lana, and frowned when she finally saw them several yards away. They waved at her through a small break in the trees.
They must have been smart enough to run when the attack started.
She was a little disappointed that a shifter as big as he was had chosen to flee from a fight, then she realized that wasn’t fair.
The poor guy couldn’t shift, and he was new to the class.
Reminding herself not to be so judgmental, she jogged over to join them with Starla, Claudia, and Jessica on her heels.
She pressed the button to remove her mask, then asked, “You guys okay?”
“Yeah, we made it out after frying some of the spiders with some fireballs,” Lana explained. She wagged a finger at the rest of them playfully. “Which was a lot faster than fighting with your tiny swords.”
“They are knives or daggers,” Claudia corrected.
“Whatever. Same difference.”
“We should be safe in this area, but I don’t know if we want to stay here for long,” Justin announced. “I noticed the spiders didn’t go past those trees when they attacked, but something else is waiting to attack us in this section of the maze.”
Ava silently approved.
It might have been his first day in Magical Combat, but Justin had already managed to figure out that the obstacles within the maze only happened in designated areas. The creatures didn’t travel beyond certain boundaries, and other problems were only triggered in specific sections.
“Anyone else injured?” Starla asked as she used her magic to heal a small cut on Jessica’s cheek. “Next time, remember to wear your mask.”
“I totally forgot,” Jessica admitted sheepishly.
Ava checked herself over. “I’m good.”
“I’m fine except for all the monster dust I inhaled. I forgot to put my mask on as well.” Claudia used her forearm to wipe her face. “That shit is gross.”
“That’s not all you forgot. You and Ava are supposed to be using spells, not fighting like you normally do,” Lana reminded, playfully wiggling her finger.
“Yeah, well, I fucking forgot that, too.” Claudia huffed out an annoyed breath. “And according to those same rules, shouldn’t you have been fighting with weapons instead of depending on your magic?”
“I was too busy fleeing for my bloody life to care,” Lana confessed, laughing. “At least Starla and Jessica did well.”
“Yay, us!” Starla held up her hand, and Jessica gave her a half-hearted high five.
“All I did was hide,” Jessica admitted. “Oh, but I managed to find this.” Reaching in the small crossbody bag she was carrying, she grinned triumphantly as she pulled out a small silver orb of light.
“Score!” Claudia shouted.
“Well done, Jess,” Lana praised. “Doesn’t that mean we get a one-way ticket out of here?”
As soon as she finished posing the question, the group was whisked away and instantly teleported back to the main training area.
Rather than observing the teams within the maze on the enchanted viewing screen, Professor Blevins was sound asleep on a plush lounge chair, completely oblivious to their arrival.
Remy popped up from his seat, where he had been watching their progress on the screen. He had the same green eyes and black hair streaked with gray that Ava did, but he was more than twice her size. Still, it was pretty obvious they were related just by looking at them.
Her beloved brother didn’t even spare her a glance as he made a beeline straight to Starla, lifting his mate off her feet to give her a scorching kiss.
Justin gaped, while the rest of their group simply ignored them.
They were far too used to the mated pairs’ nauseating displays of affection to even blink at their antics anymore.
Nearby, two upperclassmen who had been assigned to assist the professor in exchange for academic credits welcomed the returning group with friendly smiles.
“That was quick work. Congratulations on finding the silver ball of light. That one is really hard to find,” the female assistant said.
Jessica returned the smile as she handed over the light ball. “Thanks, Dana. Although, I have to admit it was more luck than anything.”
“It still counts.” Dana waved her hand over the ball, making it disappear. “We’ve already marked down your points, so you’re free to go.”
“Do any of you have wounds that need attention?” Frankie, the male assistant, asked.
“Already taken care of,” Starla said, leaning against her big mate.
Dana glanced over at the other male shifter standing with them. “Before you leave, should I officially add Justin to your team?”
Ava nodded. “Yeah, do that.”
“The points from today will definitely help you,” Dana told him. “But you are weeks behind the rest of the class, so you have to keep that in mind for the midterm next week and for the final at the end of the semester.”
Justin frowned. “I don’t understand what that means.”
“The points you accumulate in class give you a better starting position,” Jessica explained. “The people with the most points get to enter the maze first, and so on.”
“So, the midterm is timed?” Justin asked.
Remy nodded, still holding onto Starla. “Yeah. In the past, whatever maze we were in got harder the longer we were in there. So, the first students to enter had a big advantage.”
He shot a glance at Dana. She glanced up at the ceiling, but gave an obvious nod, silently confirming that it would be the same for this midterm.
Starla smiled at her. “Thanks for the tip.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Dana denied with a grin.
“Just to confirm, will Justin have the same points as us heading into the midterm now that he is on our team?” Jessica asked.
Frankie shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. I asked the professor about that earlier, and he was clear that Justin would only get points for the rounds he actually participated in.”
Jessica frowned. “Is that really fair? I mean, he just transferred in. It’s not his fault he doesn’t have points for the weeks he wasn’t here.”
Frankie held up his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s not up to us.”
Lana shot a glare at the still sleeping professor. “Fucking useless fool.”
“We can figure out how to deal with that later. Come on. Let’s change out of these uniforms and get the fuck out of here.” Claudia was already pulling Jessica and Lana toward the locker room. “I want a stack of pancakes smothered in syrup. You down for some breakfast, Justin?”
He looked surprised to be included. “I could eat.”
“We’ll meet you upstairs in the main greenhouse by the entrance,” Remy told him, since the locker room for the males was on the other side of the training room.
Once inside their locker room, Ava and the rest of her friends made quick work getting changed.
They didn’t have to bother with laundry since their uniforms would magically be cleaned and ready for them to wear again before the next class.
That was one of the benefits of attending a magical academy.
They didn’t even have to shower the sweat and dirt off since Starla used her fairy magic to take care of that for them as well.
Magic certainly had its benefits.
Unfortunately, it also had its pitfalls, especially for Ava.
She had tried using two different spells that had failed to work during the battle with the spiders.
Two simple spells that she had successfully used before.
She wasn’t sure what was stopping her magic from working properly, but it was clearly an ongoing issue.
However, the vision she had gotten mid-fight was even more troubling.
Ever since their magic had been returned to the shifters, a few of them had developed unique abilities.
Ava was one of those lucky few, but her new gift wasn’t a particularly helpful one.
Her gift manifested in the form of vivid images that would suddenly appear in her mind.
At first, she believed it was simply artistic inspiration, but she quickly realized there was more to it.
Sometimes, a single image would present itself so strongly that she felt compelled to sketch or paint it.
Doing so would usually provide her with a sense of relief, like she could finally forget about it and move on.
However, certain visions refused to fade until she gave them a more tangible form by transforming them into sculptures.
Only after purging those persistent images into a physical manifestation could she finally find peace and move on. This unusual ability made her feel both gifted and burdened at the same time.
What she had initially believed to be random images turned out to be real, living beings. Sometimes she saw the past. But in most instances, she ended up seeing an event before it happened.
That made her a soothsayer.
The very idea of that made her extremely uncomfortable, mainly because she had no control over the visions she got.
She had actually been doing a good job disregarding that particular ability until now.
While it had been a minor convenience before, today’s vision made it clear that it was a serious problem she could no longer ignore.
Getting hit with a vision in the middle of a battle was dangerous. That meant she had to figure out a way to deal with her new magic and her visions, and fast. If she didn’t, not only would she end up failing her magical classes, she would end up becoming a liability to everyone around her.
When she noticed Claudia shooting her a speculative look, she just shook her head in response.
Getting the hint, Claudia gave a quick, furtive nod in return.
Ava didn’t want to talk about her vision at the moment.
Discussing it would just stress her out more since she didn’t have any answers to give.
But that wasn’t the only reason.