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I could see each of them going after the people we had determined were the ringleaders of our detractors, which meant that everything was going to plan.
Well… almost everything.
From behind me, I caught the sound of a low grunt. As I looked back, Wesley took off after me, hurling a blast of magic.
Fuck!
My feet dug into the ground, and I shot forward, ducking and diving around the magic he was throwing at me. They exploded like grenades all around me, throwing dust and dirt into my face. To my right, I could see Trace running along the edge of the jungle-like maze, watching Wesley with angry eyes. He was supposed to draw Wesley’s fire so that the others could take him down, but Wesley was coming after me, and he was hell bent on blowing me up with his magic.
I whirled around, throwing a chain of energy at the dickbag on my tail. As soon as it wrapped around his waist, I yanked and then released the magic, watching him as he stumbled sideways. Before he could hit the ground though, he got his footing and took off again.
Dammit. He’s better than I thought.
Wesley was a giant asshole, but I couldn’t deny that he was a decent fighter and quick on his feet. But whatever. I could handle him.
With swift movements, I dodged back and forth, finally leaping up and standing on the top of a large jagged stone. From this vantage point, I could launch my own attacks on Wesley. But as I turned, the smile on my face faded as I watched Merrick, angry as hell, run straight at Wesley.
“Godsdammit, Merrick, you’re abandoning your position,” I growled to myself. He was supposed to be targeting another student, not Wesley.
Try telling that to Merrick though.
He launched himself into the air, tackling Wesley, rolling head over foot across the hard ground. Wesley cursed, screaming for backup.
Motherfucker.
Merrick had given away that we were working together too soon, and now all of Wesley’s followers were going to come after us at once.
“Trace! Lachlan!” I bellowed, leaping off the rock and diving into the fray.
I wrenched Wesley away from Merrick, but a second later, two of Wesley’s buddies descended on us. One grabbed me around the waist, and I shot out a bolt of magic to break his hold on me.
“Fuckin’ hell! So much for our godsdamn plan, eh?” Lachlan grunted, joining in the fight. Trace stepped in a second later, but as soon as he did, five more of our competitors circled around us.
“This fuckhead was going after Ari,” Merrick growled, still eyeing Wesley with rage in his eyes. They had broken apart, but Wesley was obviously looking for another opening, bolder now that he had backup.
Fuck it. We couldn’t afford to get locked into a fight with these assholes. We were outnumbered, and even if we won the fight, what we really needed to win was the competition. We couldn’t afford to blow this.
“The trees!” I yelled. “Get up high! We need to get out of here.”
Without waiting to make sure the guys knew what I was getting at, I demonstrated, throwing out a rope of magic that wrapped around the trunk of a strange metal-like tree nearby. It attached to the tree about twenty feet up, and I wrapped my hands around the magic rope, using my power to shorten the line and lift me toward the tree.
Before I even landed on a branch, I could see other lines of magic extending up to nearby trees, and I knew the three men had figured out what I was doing.
Of course, so had the other competitors.
Luckily, not all of them had the magical ability to do what we’d just done, so only a few of them were able to follow us. I sent a burst of magic at Wesley as he swung through the air, knocking him back. Then the guys and I shot out new ropes, swinging away to other trees. We moved fast, and I felt like a magical version of Tarzan as I swung from branch to branch.
Once we were well away from Wesley and his groupies, I used my magic to climb higher up one of the thin metallic trees that were placed all around. I looked out over the land, trying to get my bearings.
Down below, one of the girls who had wanted to take us out of the competition scampered by. Trace growled and threw a string of magic down at her, wrapping it around her body and flipping her upside down as if she was in a cocoon. He wrapped the magic around the tree limb and let her hang there. Then he turned back to me and grinned.
“That ought to keep her out of commission for a while.”
I grinned back. “Let’s go.”
After I jumped down, I gazed up at the girl for a moment, my top lip twitching. Then the guys all landed beside me, and we moved quickly across the forest floor. The landscape around us was strange and wild, and I had noticed something particularly odd when I’d looked around from the vantage of the tall tree.
Doors.
