Chapter Seven #2
Taking note of the footsteps left in the sand, she decided to take a different route so she wouldn’t run into the others. Competition could be fierce during a normal session, but the midterm was even worse.
The corridor was dark, but it wasn’t pitch black.
Still, she didn’t waste time using a spell to light the torches.
As a shifter, she had exceptional eyesight, even in the dark.
While the dim light wasn’t ideal, it gave her an added advantage of being able to see the orbs of light she needed to collect for points.
That was proven true when she noticed a faint blue light coming from beneath the sand.
Bending down, she dug the orb of light out and slipped it into the small crossbody bag she wore.
When she arrived at the end of the path, there were two hallways leading in opposite directions.
Unsure which path to take, she made a random choice and turned to the right, letting chance guide her steps.
That turned out to be a big mistake.
She let out a scream as the ground beneath her gave way. One second, she was jogging, boots thudding on packed sand. Then, the next, the floor vanished as if it had never existed at all. Her stomach lurched as she fell, weightless and blind, into the darkness.
Her shoulder struck the jagged rock wall, the impact sending a hot spike of pain shooting through her arm.
Sand rained down with her in a waterfall, making it difficult to see any protruding rocks that she could grab hold of.
Instinct took over. She tried to shift her hands into claws, and excruciating pain shot through her as the enchanted bracelet she was wearing prevented the change.
Her motherfucking professor deserved to die for that.
Panic flared to life. She tried to teleport back to the main corridor, but nothing happened.
Too much fear, too much chaos was clouding her mind for her magic to work properly.
Suddenly, it felt as if she were falling a little slower.
She was probably just imagining it since that would have been impossible.
Still, that silly thought was enough to clear her mind.
Digging for control, she imagined Castiel telling her to focus and whispering words of encouragement.
Breathe. Picture the destination. Commit.
As expected, even the memory of his voice was enough to calm her.
On the next attempt, she was finally able to teleport.
She hit the floor with a violent thud next to where she had originally fallen.
Scooting away from the hole, she kept going until her back hit the wall.
She was covered with sand, and the pain in her shoulder hurt like a bitch, but she was still alive.
Still, that had been too damn close.
The maze wasn’t meant to kill the students.
It was designed to make them bleed, make them suffer, and above all else, to slow them down and waste their time.
If she had kept falling, she probably would have ended up in a pool of water or something.
The detour would have cost her a lot of time and energy, but it wouldn’t have killed her.
Maybe.
The collapsed sand was already magically settling over the dark hole, once again hiding the trap she had just fallen down.
Gritting her teeth, she crawled around the dangerous opening.
Continuing down the path she’d chosen was probably her best bet since the trap wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t guarding something.
Once she was safely on the other side, she allowed herself to take a minute to rest. Rolling her shoulder made her see stars, but it still moved.
It was bruised, maybe strained, but not broken.
She breathed through the ache and tried to take stock of the rest of her body.
She had more aches and pains than she initially realized, but no major injuries.
Her hand landed on something hard in the sand.
Digging around, she pulled out another blue orb.
Score. That made the whole ordeal worth it…
sort of. Even as she sat there, she started to feel a little better.
Slipping the orb into her bag, she got to her feet.
When she rolled her shoulder again, it only felt a little sore this time.
That was a relief. Now, she just had to focus on making it through the rest of the maze unscathed.
She cautiously started down the dark corridor again. While it was unlikely there would be another hole in the floor, she was careful to stick to the sides of the hallway instead of traveling down the middle.
Less than an hour later, she had crawled her way through a hallway blocked with rocks, barely managed to avoid getting shot with a volley of darts triggered by stepping on the wrong stone tile, and made it past a room that had started flooding with water by using the rope she had brought with her.
There were probably smarter ways to beat the flooding room.
A floating spell. A clever shortcut. Something a confident magic user would have thought of in the first ten seconds instead of ten minutes after finishing.
Ava’s default setting had her using strength and momentum rather than spells.
To her credit, she had initially tried teleporting, but that hadn’t worked.
The room had been warded against it. So, she’d had to climb her way across instead.
That last obstacle had taken a lot of time and energy to get through, leaving her feeling exhausted and weaker than expected.
None of the obstacles had been easy. The maze was as difficult as it always was. Like facing death by a thousand cuts, a thousand little choices meant to wear her down little by little. And it was annoying as fuck. But something seemed different. She wasn’t sure what it was, but something felt off.
Her legs and arms burned from crawling, climbing, and hauling herself through spaces that seemed designed for someone smaller, lighter, and far less stubborn.
Still, she kept moving. Despite the difficulties she’d faced, she’d been moving through the maze faster than she’d ever managed before, and that was freaking her out.
Every few turns, she found another orb, light glinting from the cracks in stone or buried just beneath the sand like the maze couldn’t resist taunting her with points. The weight of them in her bag was a steadying reassurance. She was going to pass the midterm.
Now, all she needed to do was find the exit.
Picking up the pace, she forced her breathing to stay controlled. A fresh jolt of determination shot through her, but she couldn’t rush it. She had to remain vigilant and cautious because the moment she let her guard slip, the maze would surely figure out a way to punish her for it.
She just wanted to freaking finish and get the hell out of there.
Ava let out a yelp of surprise when a hand shot out from a break in the rock wall, and she was yanked into a side room that she hadn’t known was there. She felt a dark presence looming over her. Glancing up, she saw one of the male shifters who always tried to sabotage her and her friends.
At first, she’d thought Brody Manning was simply annoying, but it hadn’t taken long to figure out he was an aggressive asshole with violent tendencies.
He came from a wolf pack in the Shifter Realm that prided themselves on preserving their bloodlines rather than finding their true mates.
It was an archaic way of thinking, but there were still several shifter groups that believed the races shouldn’t mix.
“Hello, little wolf. I’ve been waiting for you,” he taunted.
That didn’t make sense. Lowering her face mask so she could spit fire at him without her words being muffled, she snapped, “Cut the shit, Brody.”
“No, really. I slipped a locator beacon on you before we began, so I knew you were here.”
She wasn’t sure if she believed him or not, but that didn’t matter since he really had found her. “Why? Are you that eager to die?”
“Let’s just say I wanted a moment alone with you.”
Slapping his hand away when he tried to reach out and touch her, she took a few steps back to put some distance between them.
At a glance, she saw they were in a small room that seemed to be a storage area.
There were a few boxes, but little else.
Brody stood in front of the opening, blocking the only exit out of the room.
It made her want to hurt him…badly.
“Move,” she growled. “I’m not in the mood for one of your games.”
“Oh, but I really do want to play with you, Ava. Don’t bother trying to get past me.
” He raised his hand with a smirk, showing off his bare wrist. “The first thing I did once I was inside the maze was figure out a way to remove the bracelet. You might not be aware of it, but it slowly drains your strength and makes you slower. That’s why we should never trust the human mages to play fair. ”
That fucking professor really did deserve to die, she thought again.
“What do you want, Brody?” she snapped, out of patience.
“You. Haven’t you guessed it yet? I don’t give a fuck about being at this school. All I wanted was to come here and find a strong female worthy of being my mate. I am the future alpha of my pack, and you are from an alpha line. Together, we will make a strong ruling pair.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” She snorted out a laugh of disbelief. “There is no fucking way that is ever going to happen. Stuff your delusions up your ass, and get out of my way.”
He cocked his head to the side and sneered at her. “What makes you think I’m giving you an option?”
Brody was a few years younger but twice her size. Still, she was used to fighting bigger males. Having a bracelet on that was slowly draining her strength and speed could be an issue, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Suddenly, there was no need for her to worry.
A massive male wearing black armor appeared between her and the wolf shifter. With his back facing her, she couldn’t see his face. Even so, she immediately recognized his broad shoulders and short black hair. The male standing in front of her was Castiel Stormborn in the flesh.
She could feel it. Sense it. But that wasn’t all she sensed.
He was her mate.
Suddenly, her obsession with him made perfect sense. Even from a distance, her heart had known he belonged to her. But now, it was as if a thousand invisible strands of destiny bound them together.
Castiel landed one powerful bitch slap across the face that made Brody fly across the room. The shifter hit the wall hard enough to dent the rock, then he slid down to the floor in an unconscious heap.
When her mate slowly turned around to face her, she did the only sensible thing that came to mind. She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and slammed her mouth against his in a scorching kiss.