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“Be careful, Merrick, she might shoot a stream of magic at ye and explode your body like that carafe.” Lachlan laughed.
I faked a laugh, then dropped my smile quickly. “Good one. I’m sure you’re the riot in Ireland. Though I don’t really find you very funny at all.”
Trace chuckled. “She seems a little sensitive today, gentlemen. What’s wrong, haven’t gotten laid in a while?”
My gaze whipped back to Merrick, my eyes narrowing. What a fucking prick. I was sure he’d told them all about our encounter in the supply closet my first day here. Not that he’d had to—the whole damn school knew about my jaunt through the hallway in nothing but a man’s shirt.
He just stared back at me and smirked as the other two men continued to talk shit.
There were a million things I could’ve said to all three of them, but I knew it would only egg them on further. And oddly enough, I was actually enjoying listening to them. While I hated cockiness, something about it kind of turned me on. Not to mention the fact that the entire time I was standing there, I was imagining kicking their ass in the Gods’ Challenge.
Beating the hell out of them in an organized competition would be so fucking satisfying that I got a little turned on just thinking about it. Hell, if I had a dick, it would’ve been rock hard.
They deserved to get their ass kicked. All three of them needed to be taken down a peg. Taking them on in the hallway would just get me in trouble, and I wasn’t about to ruin all the advancement I had made over the last month. But from the sound of it, this competition would be the perfect chance to take on these assholes without risking getting busted for it.
By the time I was done with them, they would be crying for their mommies.
Chapter Eight
The week following Dean Frost’s announcement flew by as
everyone trained extra hard, wanting to be as prepared as possible for the preliminary competition.
On the day of the competition, Eden and I practically sprinted downstairs for breakfast. The dining hall was on the first floor, and even though we were early, we obviously hadn’t been the only ones excited to start the day. The place was packed.
Everyone ate in a hurry, the buzz of conversation louder than usual, and adrenaline hung so heavy in the air I swore I could almost taste it.
The preliminary competition would be held right on the grounds outside of the school. There was a large, open-air stadium that was magically opened up to lead out to a massive maze. Apparently, inside of that maze would be all types of different tests. Excitement and battle hunger blazed through my veins at the thought of it, though I still had lingering fears that I would struggle to control my magic. Hopefully it wouldn’t give me trouble today.
Eden lingered in the dining hall to talk to a couple of other first-years, but I wanted to get my head on straight before the competition started. When I’d fought in the underground ring, I’d always taken a few minutes to clear my mind and center myself before a big match. It helped.
I walked through the corridor and into the large entry hall where everyone was talking and laughing. They hadn’t let anyone out of the building yet, so I propped my shoulder against the wall behind two professors standing close together. Initially, I hadn’t even thought about listening to what they had to say, but their irritated voices caught my attention.
“I hate this time of year,” one of the teachers hissed. “These Gods’ Challenges are ridiculous. They shouldn’t be allowed here.”
The other professor nodded. “I agree. But what are we going to do? You know we don’t make the rules. Instead, we’re left to pick up the pieces. One day, I’ll have my say-so in this, but until then, I’ll just stand by like everyone else.”
I furrowed my brow, not really understanding why the two teachers seemed to dislike the Gods’ Challenge so much. They didn’t say what their reasons were, but it was obvious they didn’t support it.
The information Dean Frost had given us about what to expect had been vague at best. Pretty much everything I knew about the competition was stuff I’d picked up from eavesdropping. But from what I’d heard, it took students out of classes for almost a month. The challenges were very long and hard, and I was pretty sure the teachers were annoyed that they had to help everyone catch back up with their schoolwork when they got back.
Curious what other people thought of the challenge, I pressed away from the wall and walked slowly around the perimeter of the large foyer, lingering whenever I picked up a snippet of an interesting conversation.
“I’m not even trying to get in this year,” one of the third-year students—whose name I was pretty sure was Serena—muttered to her friend. “It’s not worth it. My parents were absolutely livid that I tried to get into the challenge last year. Now that I’m older, I’m starting to understand why. It’s so fucking dangerous!”
Her friend, a round-faced girl named Alyssa, shrugged. “I mean, of course it’s dangerous. But when we leave the academy, we’ll have to go out into the real world, and nobody pulls their punches out there. The admins are just trying to prepare us.”
Serena scoffed. “By putting us in life-threatening situations? The preliminary competition is one thing, but the people who actually make it into the challenge and are sent to the godly realm don’t always make it back alive. I remember my first semester at Magic Blessed, I watched them bring three different kids out on stretchers from the portal room. From what I heard, the third-year who was brought out last didn’t actually survive.”
My racing heartbeat seemed to slow as I slipped away from the girls, moving toward the next interesting conversation. It seemed that no matter where I went in the foyer, someone was talking in a hushed voice about the negative aspects of the Gods’ Challenge.
I had to admit, it was putting a bit of a damper on my desire to even go out there and compete. My assumption had been that whatever threats we faced would be like the boulder Professor Howes had summoned up in class—lifelike illusions that felt totally real but would never actually hurt us.
Apparently, this shit is for real.
I shook the thought from my head as the doors opened and everyone spilled out onto the lawn, heading toward the huge stadium.
The Magic Blessed grounds were large, and the entire school was surrounded on all sides by dense forest. I had no idea where we were, although I felt certain we were far away from Boston, maybe even outside the United States. I had asked one of the professors on my first day and been told not to worry about it—which I interpreted as code for “stop asking me”.
