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Hopefully no other creature has already decided to use this cave as a shelter.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I would find, and I hoped there wouldn’t be some kind of monster lurking in the darkness, ready to eat me. But I figured my odds were still better in here. There might be one or two monsters inside the cave, while outside in the jungle, I had no idea how many things could be watching and waiting for a
midnight snack.
The sound of water trickling down the sides of the stone walls was almost soothing.
There were small puddles of muddy water collecting on the rocky ground, and I carefully maneuvered my way around them as I navigated the narrow passage.
Ahead of me, I could see a natural archway created by the water and stone. I stopped, finding that my flashlight wasn’t quite bright enough to see inside of the dark hull in front of me. I hooked the little light back to my bag and rubbed my hands together, pulling my energy to my fingertips.
I had no idea if this would work, but I might as well try.
Twisting my arms and my hands in a circle, I created a ball of energy that pulsated and rotated wildly. I stared into it, willing it to turn into a source of light instead of just a translucent energy field.
Very slowly, the orb began to glow and condense, until it was a very bright ball of light about the size of a softball.
I grinned at my accomplishment.
As insane as the Gods’ Challenge was, I could sort of see why the school admins thought it was a good thing. The old saying “necessity is the mother of invention” was certainly true, and under the intense, life-or-death circumstances of the challenge, I was already pushing and expanding my powers beyond anything I’d learned so far in classes.
With the flick of my eyebrows, and a willingness to try just about anything at this point, I pulled my arm back and then made a gesture like I was throwing a ball. The orb flew high up into the air, soaring up to the top of the cave’s ceiling and hovering there, shining a light down upon the hollow area.
Yes!
Carefully, I stepped through the archway and looked around, my body alert but loose, ready for a fight.
What I found inside was absolutely perfect.
There were no monsters at all that I could see, and the flow of water over the years had cleaned and smoothed the walls and several areas of the floor, creating a flat surface that I could sleep on.
My hands wrapped around my arms and rubbed up and down, feeling the coldness of the shadowed area.
A little damn chilly.
Still, it was much better than the heat I had felt all day, and I wasn’t going to complain.
Leaving the orb hovering high above, I grabbed the flashlight from my pack again and headed back outside through the tunnel to grab some sticks, leaves, and brush. When I returned, I set it down in the center of the cave and stared at it for a minute.
With no matches, I wasn’t exactly sure how to start a fire. I hadn’t been a Girl Scout, and I wasn’t really the type to bang two stones together until fire sparked or whatever.
Shit, there’s a spell for fire. How does it go?
We hadn’t covered this yet in any of my classes, but I’d seen a second-year messing around with her magic in the hallway a few weeks ago. She’d created a sort of mini-fireball. If I could just remember what she’d done…
I tried a few variations, almost lighting my eyebrows on fire once. But on the seventh try, a tiny ball of flame appeared above my hand. I brought it down to light the tinder quickly, before it went out, hoping that since the flame was magically induced, it would continue to burn all night without me having to venture back out to the jungle.
Night had fallen really fast. I wasn’t scared of the dark, but the darkness in the godly realm? Yeah, that scared me.
While I let the warmth of the fire seep into my bones, I went through the pack, taking inventory of what I had.
There were several packets of what looked like food rations, a knife, some rope, and a couple of other tools I couldn’t identify. There were a couple of small vials containing potions too, and I pulled one out and tilted it toward the fire, trying to see if it was labeled.
If it’s not, there’s no fucking way I’m drinking thi—
Before I could finish that thought, a heavy body slammed into me from behind.
I sprawled across the hard stone ground, arms wrapping protectively around the pack even as I cursed myself for letting my guard down.
