AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No thanks,” I said. “I’ve never had the coordination to keep it going.”
Luka kicked the little bean bag to Matt. “Ben?”
“I’m good,” Ben said.
I smirked, trying to picture my brooding alpha shifter playing hackysack with a couple of mages and an incubus. It was a ridiculous image.
The ball landed on the floor and all three of them groaned.
Matt grabbed it off the ground and held it up. “Another round?”
“Toys away,” Professor Halifax said. “You five are my strongest group by far and I fully expect focus and discipline from all of you. My groups don’t fail the trials. You will not let me down.”
“No pressure,” Luka said.
“Tons of pressure,” she replied, clearly not amused by his tone. “This group is made up of a prince of the underworld, the would-be princes of the mage community, a half fae, and the son of the most feared man in the supernatural world. If any group has an unfair advantage, it’s you four. And I happen to know that Coach Miller will be designing a trial with you four in mind.”
“Wow,” Luka said. “When you put it like that we sound like the dream team of magic students.”
“Because you are,” she said. “This is the most elite school in the world for students with magic. And you five are the cream of the crop here. All eyes will be on you. You should expect jealousy from others.”
I’d already experienced my share of jealousy. Delores had spent all week glaring at me. I knew as soon as we were alone, she was going to try to fight me again. This time, though, I would be ready.
“The competition has always been every student for themselves,” Ben said. “I’m guessing something has changed?”
“Yes.” Professor Halifax pursed her lips and looked at each of us in turn. “Coach Miller designs the trials. This year he has determined that it will be a team trial. You all pass, or you all fail.”
“Well, good thing we’ve got the best team possible, right?” Luka threw his arm around Ben and Zach, pulling them close, a huge grin on his face.
Ben looked like he was about ready to slug him. Thankfully, he just shrugged him off and took a step closer to me.
Luka dropped his arms. “Seriously, though. This has to be aimed at Raven. Coach Miller has been out for her since the beginning.”
“It makes it easier for her to pass with us along to help, though,” Zach said.
“You haven’t seen how he treats her in gym class,” Luka said. “If he designed it this way, you can bet he’s going to go for our weakness to try to take us out.”
“So we figure out each of our weaknesses and work on it,” Matt said.
“We all have the same weakness,” Ben said.
“Me,” I said, feeling anxiety twist in my gut. “If he wanted to make it fair, he’d have thrown us with random people.”
“That’s true,” Professor Halifax said. “Thankfully, he’s not as attuned to magic and he has no idea that the four of you together are far more powerful than he could ever imagine.”
“So what’s the plan?” Luka asked.
“The five of you have to learn how to be a unit. To support the whole group using all your skills. Including your magic.” She put her hands on her hips. “Can everyone set aside their differences for a while to help the group?”
“Of course we can,” Luka said. “We all want out of here, right?”
“Right,” Matt and Zach said in unison.
“Ben?” Luka turned to the shifter. “Right, buddy?”
Ben growled. I elbowed him in the side. “Right,” he said.
“So how do we do this?” I asked, hoping to get everyone distracted while they were sort of getting along.
