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I grimaced and wrapped an arm around Eden’s shoulder, pulling her in for a half-hug. “Don’t panic. Don’t panic just yet.”
She sniffled and took in a long deep breath, nodding vigorously.
Merrick narrowed his eyes, staring down at the dean. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered. “The challenges are supposed to be optional.”
My stomach churned as I glanced over at the other two men, seeing similar looks of confusion on their faces. I was still stunned, trying to process the information the dean had just hit us with.
Why? Why do this?
I knew the true purpose of the Gods’ Challenge was to single out the strongest students and eliminate some of them under the guise of a challenge in honor of the gods we all worshipped. But why would they want all of us to compete? Were they planning to up the body count? Were they abandoning
subtlety entirely?
The dean threw her arms up in the air, sending sparks of fireworks shooting from her fingertips. They quieted the crowd quite a bit, but I could still hear the sniffles and panic through the student body.
“In light of this information,” she continued, “we are canceling all classes tomorrow. Instead of competing in the qualifiers, you may use that time to begin your training for the Gods’ Challenge. Get together, talk about your options, and share any tips you may have with each other. For those who have done no training up to this point, you’re already behind, so we want to make sure that you get all the information that you can.”
As the assembly was released, Eden and the guys and I sat still, letting students flow out around us. My heart had kicked up in my chest, and now it was thumping harder and harder as thoughts spiraled through my mind. Merrick put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, knowing full well I had a lot to say.
We had to be careful though. We couldn’t allow ourselves to get caught or reveal how much we knew about what was really going on here.
I leaned over and whispered in Eden’s ear. “Straight to the roof.”
She glanced at me and nodded. I turned to the other side and whispered the same message to Trace. The five of us had been going up to the roof to talk when we needed to discuss sensitive information, especially since Eden had been brought up to speed on what was going on. There was never anyone up there, and it was never checked.
When the auditorium was almost empty, all of us rose quickly and hurried out. As we passed down the main hallway, I paused and stared at the wall—the one that held the pictures of those who’d never made it back from the Gods’ Challenge. I gritted my teeth, wanting to scream.
“Oh, no you don’t, Snow.” Trace came up next to me and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me along behind them. “I know you want to talk—hell, I know you’re bursting at the seams, but you can’t start a rant out here in the hallways. Let’s get to the roof.”
I nodded, sucking in deep breaths through my nose as we hurried down the corridors and up the stairs. On the top floor, Lach opened a small door, revealing the access ladder to the roof. I climbed out on top of the gently sloping gray slate, turning back to watch until the door was tightly closed.
Then interlaced my hands on top of my head, letting out a loud growl. “What the hell is this? What the hell is going on here?”
Lachlan paced back and forth, his muscles tight and strong. His accent was so thick and none of us could understand him, something that only happened when he was really angry. “Oi don’t nu bout ye, but I’ll tell ye roi nigh, they’ve made a move, an’ oi’m ready te make wan roi back. Feck chess, I’ll smash ’em all te bits.”
Merrick gripped his shoulder. “Careful, you might just turn into a leprechaun. None of us can understand you. Take a deep breath.”
Lach whirled on Merrick, looking like a man who’d just been shocked out of a nightmare. Then puffed his cheeks as he blew out a deep breath. “Shite. Sorry. I’m a wee bit pissed the fuck off right now.”
Trace shook his head, a thoughtful expression on his chiseled features. “If you think about it, after everything we’ve heard and seen, this shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.”
The broad-shouldered Irishman grunted. “Why?”
Trace stopped next to Eden, who had taken a seat on the thick wall that bordered the edge of the roof. He gave her a reassuring smile, and despite my rage, my heart melted a little at his sweet gesture. Then he turned back to face the rest of us.
“Think about what they’re doing here. They’re corralling us. This will make it easy for the gods to kill off most or all of the students at Magic Blessed Academy. Didn’t you say that Omari wasn’t satisfied with how slow things were going? That he wanted to move his plan along faster?”
Fuck. I met his bright blue eyes as his words sank in. Then I nodded. “Yeah. I did. And I see what you’re saying. Their plan is to escalate this whole thing beyond just picking off the strongest ones and getting rid of them. They’re going to try to dig wild magic out by the roots. To destroy it completely.”
Trace snorted humorlessly. “Why not? It’s less messy, it’s quick, and it’s over with.”
I crossed my arms and stared up at the sky. “So, what’s really happening here is that every single person in the school, will be walking into a trap. The gods hate wild magic users. So they’re going to kill every single last one of them.”
Chapter Seven
“How’s Eden doin’?” Lachlan asked, staring over at her as she sat alone at a table, nervously eating a bowl of cereal.
I blew out a breath and shook my head as I heaped some eggs onto my plate. The last week had been a nightmare. An aura of terror hung over the school, mixed with excitement and a good dose of competitive spirit from the students who had been planning to compete anyway.
