Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Rose
The announcement booms through the entire academy, Jasmine’s off-kilter voice reverberating through every hallway, every room. “All students and faculty to the Great Hall immediately for resumption of the trials!”
I shrug on my jacket and say goodbye to Hank. “See you soon. Stay safe,” I whisper, hoping he can somehow understand the gravity of the situation. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
When we step into the hallway, it’s havoc. Students pour from their rooms in various states of panic, and I grab Drake’s hand, afraid we’ll get separated in the crush.
“What do you think she’s planning?” He keeps close as we’re pushed along by the current of bodies to the Great Hall.
“Nothing good.” My mind flashes to her ghoulish stash in the secret compartment. “After what I saw in her office.”
Drake’s face darkens, and his grip on my hand tightens.
“Rose!”
I turn to see Soren pushing his way through the crowd toward us. Lucien is just behind him, somehow managing to navigate the packed hallway without touching anyone.
Lucien stands close to my side. “This is not good,” he says, his voice low so that only we can hear him.
“Where’s Ash?” I ask, scanning the crowd.
“I’m sure he will be here,” Lucien replies. “He was meeting with some of the remaining Blood Moon Coven members.”
The great double doors of the Great Hall loom ahead, and the crowd slows, nobody eager to be the first ones inside. I feel a sense of dread settling in my stomach. Whatever’s waiting for us in there, it’s not going to be good.
Lucien gently places his hand on my lower back. “Stay close.”
We file in with the rest, finding spots near the back wall. I look around the room, spotting Ash almost immediately. He stands with a small group of Blood Moon Coven members, his back rigid, face expressionless. Our eyes meet across the room, and I feel the mark on my arm flare.
“I don’t like this,” Drake says. “It feels like a trap.”
Before I can respond, the doors slam shut with a magical force that makes the entire room jump.
A hush falls over the crowd. From the side entrance, Jasmine makes her grand entrance, with silver hair loose around her shoulders.
She’s wearing a flowing dress of deep purple.
At her side slithers her serpent familiar.
“Welcome, welcome,” Jasmine sings, spreading her arms wide. “I’m so pleased to see you all here, my eager little beavers.”
Her eyes roam over the crowd, and I force myself not to shrink back when they pass over me. The serpent—Ollie—coils at her feet, its unblinking gaze as unsettling as Jasmine’s.
“It’s been too long since our last trial, hasn’t it? Too long since we’ve had some real fun.” She claps her hands like a child excited about being treated to an ice cream cone. “And today, I have something very special planned.”
The crowd shifts uneasily.
“Today,” Jasmine continues, “we’ll have a duel.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “To the death.”
Shocked gasps ripple through the crowd. A girl near me starts crying.
“But it gets even better!” Jasmine’s smile widens. “Today, I myself will participate.”
Soren mutters a curse, Drake grips my hand, and Lucien growls.
Jasmine giggles girlishly, and it’s the most gruesome sound I’ve ever heard. “I think it’s time I showed you all what is possible if you’re willing to put in the work and do hard things.”
I squeeze Drake’s hand, and it hits me. Just like Hank, what will happen to Drake if something happens to me? I can’t breathe suddenly.
“And for my opponent?” Jasmine’s eyes pass over the crowd again, this time more deliberately. I know what’s coming before it happens. I feel it in the mark on my arm, a burning sensation that grows hotter with each passing second, and I know Ash is raging inside.
Her finger rises, pointing directly at me despite the distance and the crowd between us.
“Rose Smith.”
I feel every face turn to me, but all I can see is Jasmine’s sinister smile and the hungry look in her yellow eyes.
“No fucking way.” Ash’s voice booms in the cavernous space as he strides into the center of the circle. “This isn’t happening, Jasmine.”
Jasmine’s head tilts to the side, reminding me of her serpent. “Oh? And who’s going to stop me? You?” She laughs. “I think we both know who has the real power here, Ash.”
Lucien steps forward, his hand closing around my upper arm. “She’s not playing your sick game.”
“But she must,” Jasmine says, feigning innocence. “It’s a direct challenge from the headmistress. Surely you wouldn’t encourage a student to break the rules?”
“Rules that you invented in your insane little brain.” Soren joins Ash in the center.
Drake moves to stand beside them. “You’ll have to go through all of us.”
For a moment, Jasmine looks annoyed. Then her face splits into a grin that chills my blood. “Whatever.”
She twirls her wrist, and a wave of dark magic, her own corrupted power, and the magic stolen from her victims, blasts out.
It hits Ash first, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the far wall with enough force to crack the wood.
Before the others can react, she repeats the gesture, sending Lucien flying one way, Soren another, and Drake straight up into the air before he crashes down hard on the wooden floor.
“Stop!” I scream, pushing through the crowd to reach them. “Stop, please!”
Jasmine watches me with a smile on her face. “Oh, does the little witch love her pets? How sweet.” She raises her hand again, and I see her fingers begin to curl into a fist. Ash, still struggling to his feet, suddenly clutches at his throat, gasping for air.
“I’ll do it!” I shout. “I’ll fight you. Just leave them alone.”
Jasmine releases her magical grip, and Ash drops to his knees, coughing. “Swell!” She does a little dance. “Come here, then.”
I step into the center of the room, and the crowd backs away, giving us space, wanting to be as far away from what is about to happen as possible.
I can see Lucien trying to get to his feet, a splinter of wood lodged in his chest, inches from his heart.
Soren is already standing, but he’s favoring his right leg. Drake looks dazed, struggling to focus.
“Rose, don’t,” Ash manages between coughs. “She’ll kill you.”
“A little faith, please,” I reply, not taking my eyes off Jasmine. “I intend to fight back.”
And I can. I’ve been training with Ash, learning to use my natural magic. I’m stronger now than I was when I first came to Serpentine Academy. Maybe strong enough to survive.
Maybe.
“The rules are simple,” Jasmine announces to the crowd. “We fight until one of us can’t fight anymore.” She smiles at me. “Permanently. Winner takes all.”
The serpent at her feet hisses, its body agitated in excitement.
“Begin,” Jasmine says simply.
Immediately, a whip of dark magic is slashed at me without warning.
I throw up a shield, the golden light of my magic forming a barrier that absorbs her attack.
The impact still knocks me back a step, and I feel how strong Jasmine really is.
She’s incredibly powerful, gorged on the magic of who knows how many victims. I counter with an offensive blast, just like Ash taught me, channeling the energy from the ground below me, and directing it at Jasmine. She deflects it easily, laughing.
“Is that the best you can do? Pretty disappointing, considering all the hype.”
I try again, this time splitting my energy into multiple smaller attacks, hoping at least one will get through her defenses. One grazes her shoulder, and her expression darkens.
She raises both hands, and I feel a crushing pressure on my chest, like something’s sitting on it. My shield wavers but holds.
“I can feel it,” Jasmine says, her voice dreamy. “All that natural magic, untapped potential. It’s going to taste so sweet when I finally have it.”
She lunges forward with inhuman speed. Her hand grabs my wrist, and I feel her pulling, trying to siphon my magic from me.
But something strange happens. My magic doesn’t flow into her as she expects. Instead, it resists, bucking against her pull, and I feel it roaring through me, not just refusing to be taken but actively pushing back, repelling Jasmine.
Jasmine’s eyes widen in surprise, and she lets go, staggering back. “What is this?” she hisses. “What did you do?”
I’m as shocked as she is, but I don’t let it show. “My magic doesn’t want you,” I say, the words coming from somewhere deep inside me, a knowledge I didn’t know I possessed. “It recognizes you as wrong. Unnatural.”
Rage contorts Jasmine’s features. “We’ll see about that.”
She attacks again, this time with violent brute force. The magic she throws at me is tainted, corrupted by her consumption of other witches. It hits my shield like acid, eating away at the golden light. I reinforce it, drawing deeper from my well of power.
The fight continues, a back-and-forth of magical assaults. I’m holding my own better than I expected, but Jasmine is relentless. Each attack is stronger than the last, and I feel myself tiring. My responses become slower, my shields thinner.
“You’re weakening. I can feel it. Soon you’ll be mine, and then...” She licks her lips. “Then I’ll be unstoppable.”
She’s right. I am weakening. But there’s something else happening too. My magic is adapting, learning her patterns, finding ways to counter her corrupted energy. It’s like having a second consciousness working alongside mine, guiding my movements.
Her face twists with fury. “Playtime’s over!”
The serpent that’s been watching from the sidelines suddenly starts to move, slithering toward me with terrifying speed. I try to redirect my magic to defend against this new threat, but Jasmine takes advantage of the distraction, hitting me with a spell that knocks me to my knees.
The snake rears up, hood flaring, fangs dripping with venom. I can’t focus on both threats at once, Jasmine advancing on one side, Ollie her familiar ready to strike on the other.
“Say goodnight, Rosie,” Jasmine singsongs.
The serpent lunges, and I brace for its bite. But then it is inexplicably knocked aside by a blast of blue light. I whirl around to see who cast it and find myself staring at the last person I’d expect.
Thorne.
She stands at the edge of the circle. “That’s cheating,” she says, her voice carrying across the suddenly silent Hall. “Using your familiar? Really, Headmistress? If you can’t win fairly, you shouldn’t win at all.”
Jasmine’s expression is apoplectic. “You dare—”
“I dare,” Thorne interrupts. “You killed Ella. And Mickey. And everyone else who’s gone missing. I know.” Her voice breaks slightly. “I know what you did to them. And you were going to do it to me.”
A murmur ripples through the crowd. Thorne looks at me, and for the first time, there’s no hatred in her eyes. Just decision.
“Get up, Rose,” she says. That might be the first time she’s called me by my actual name.
I push myself to my feet. Jasmine’s attention is split now between me and Thorne, her face red and furious.
“Traitor!” she screams at Thorne.
Jasmine raises her hands, preparing to strike at Thorne, and I seize the opportunity. I gather every bit of magic I can, forming it into a single, concentrated beam of pure, natural power. It shoots from my hands, golden and blinding, and hits Jasmine square in the chest.
She screams, a sound that doesn’t seem human, as the magic lifts her off her feet. Her body convulses, and I see something dark and oily being forced out of her, like my magic is purging the corruption she’s consumed.
The serpent familiar thrashes on the ground, but Thorne keeps it at bay with her own magic, preventing it from coming to its mistress’s aid.
But it’s not enough.
Jasmine is too powerful now.