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“Are you ready for today?” Cora asked, sporting a determined gleam in her eyes.
I took a steadying breath and tried to push my thoughts of Griffin aside. Between our interaction and the competition day, I felt nervous. “Absolutely! I’ve been polishing up my skills just for this.”
“You’re going to kick some ass,” Yara said with a twinkling smile.
The three of us laughed quietly at her enthusiasm, and she hooked an arm in mine.
“Come on, let's head over,” Alora murmured, pointing to the first task ahead.
As a small group, we moved through the crowds of people and got ourselves situated.
While the celebration was meant for everyone in Rose Valley who wanted to participate, every kind of supernatural being had their own events to keep it fair. The shifter-based contests were usually the highlight of the day because of their natural strength and the general show they seemed to put on, but each category was just as important. The final sparring matches were always the crowd pleasers.
When we reached the section dedicated to witches, there were quite a few of our coven sisters who showed up, and we were quickly directed to our places.
All the while I was put into position, standing in between two other witches refereeing the event, I couldn’t ignore the tension in my chest. The confliction I felt about where I stood with Griffin.
How he had been one of the most exciting parts of my day-to-day life since we started getting along. How he consumed my mind around the clock and made me look forward to seeing him again.
The passion we shared was incredible, and I’d be a fool to pretend like it wasn’t ground-breaking. Even if he knew just how to satisfy me, he always had me wanting more. It made him irresistible.
But there was a small part of me that was afraid he would never change, and that he’d always see people like Noah as a threat. I didn’t want to put up with that hot-headed energy. I also didn’t want to spend every day questioning what we were. I needed him to be honest with me and himself, and to be open about what he wanted.
Shoving the thoughts to the side, I took in a deep breath, and the competition began.
We were all spread out with two witches assigned to us, each forced to use our manifested powers to block projectiles made from their energy.
The one on my right shot pink-hued magic my way, and I was quick to call upon my magic to block it. As her pink and my green combined, they both fizzled out, and I turned fast to deflect the other one’s blue magic.
They tried their hardest to throw me off, sending their manifestations back and forth, either aiming high or low, sometimes throwing curveballs.
But each time, I stopped their powers before they could hit me. The constant turning and deflecting had me panting, yet I didn’t give in.
By the time the bell rang, signaling the round was over, I was sucking in shallow breaths and gathering my strength again.
Glancing around, I watched as the eliminated witches left the meadow and gathered with the others spectating. At least a handful were gone, and the group of us still in the competition continued onto the next round.
It went on for three total rounds, and I was more than pleased to still be competing.
“Congrats to everyone still standing,” Willow said as the leader of the witch events. “Take a short break while we set up for the next event. You’ve done excellent so far!”
There was a round of clapping, and the day continued as I spent time with my friends in between events. When we weren’t competing, we were watching other events or trying out some of the local food.
Overall, the atmosphere was great, and morale was high. It was always a pleasure when something was going on in Rose Valley.
After passing three competitions, the last one being a potion brewing task, I was feeling really good about myself. That confidence followed me for the afternoon, until the moment I reached the next one.
It was all about scrying. My stomach dropped the moment I saw the bowls of water.
My weakest ability.
“Now for the next event,” Willow began, gesturing to one of the stations. “You must first enchant the bowl of water in front of you and try to receive the message I telepathically send you. When you figure it out, write it down on the piece of paper next to you.”
Since many of the witches had already been eliminated through the first few rounds, there was only a handful of us left.
Sat at our small worktables, we all nodded and focused on our bowls.
With a smile, she said, “Start!”
