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I hope.
Merrick didn’t slow. He leapt over Shane’s form as I sent a spiral of energy toward the downed man, wrapping him up to keep him still.
Trace waved his hands in front of him as he pulled ahead of me, forming a small round web of sparkling orange magic. He shook his hands one last time and then stopped them hard. The web of energy went stiff.
“Merrick, duck!” he yelled out.
Without question, the blond mage dropped into a roll. Trace reared back and threw the plate of magic like a frisbee straight at Brielle’s back. The disc spun over Merrick’s head and slammed into
the girl with a thud.
She went down hard, and this time, I didn’t even bother sending out any magic to restrain her. The fall looked like it’d dazed her enough to give us a head start.
As we left the downed girl behind, a soft noise floated across the breeze, coming toward us.
My footsteps slowed, and beside me, the three men slowed too. Listening.
It sounded like wind chimes at the beach and reverberated with the same feeling of power as the light.
Merrick, Trace, Lachlan and I stopped in a line, all staring out into the distance toward the light. It had been growing brighter and brighter as we approached it, and now it was so strong that it lit up the whole forest, as if someone was shining a spotlight through the trees.
“It’s not a clue,” I murmured, certainly filling me. “It’s the gem. It’s the end.”
We had finished the competition.
Well, we were about to anyway.
Trace took in a long, deep breath and rolled his shoulders. Then he glanced over at the rest of us. “I have to say, it was a pleasure being on a team with you. Up to this point.”
Lachlan chuckled. “Agreed.”
Merrick nodded, his gaze flicking to me. “It was. But I guess all good things must come to an end.”
There was a momentary pause, and I wanted to say so many things that the words all jumbled up in my mouth.
I wanted to thank them for the help. I wanted to thank them for the company. I wanted to thank them for protecting me and letting me protect them right back.
Maybe this doesn’t have to be the end. Why do we have to go back to the way things were?
But we had to split up here, didn’t we? How would it even work, otherwise? Were we all supposed to grab the gem at once, like some kind of four-way tie? I had a feeling that wouldn’t end the game. The whole point of the Gods’ Challenge was to have one winner, one champion.
One soul deemed worthy enough to meet the gods.
So I pushed the unspoken words back down into my chest, glancing over at the three men and catching Merrick’s gaze last. “May the evilest person win.”
He belted out a laugh, and before he even finished, I was already moving.
Hey, I said “evilest”, didn’t I?
My cheat move bought me about a second and a half head start, but the men were hot on my tail. We all sprinted forward, using our magic to boost us as fast as we could.
Ahead of us, a clear, thin border of some type floated down to the ground, and for a moment I almost stopped, thinking it could possibly be a bad idea to run straight into it.
But it was too late to change course. The four of us were neck-and-neck as we passed through the nearly invisible, shimmering field—and all of us instantly slowed.
The very air around me seemed to thicken, pushing against me with so much resistance it took all my strength just to keep myself from falling backward.
Lachlan looked around him with confusion, lips curling as he worked to move. “What the hell?”
