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The Guardian on the right bent forwards and inhaled deeply, his armor shifting and creaking at the movement.
“She does not lie,” he explained to his partner. If it were any other time, I might’ve analyzed the surprise in his admission.
They separated, returning to their posts. “May the King and Queen protect you,” they said in unison.
Reese and I scampered by them quickly. Once we were inside, we froze.
It was much bigger than how it had looked from the outside as if we’d stepped into an entirely different universe. It was immediately apparent why the training grounds weren’t as luscious as the rest of the palace grounds.
In the center was a pole as thick as a telephone post. At its base was a sea of large, green vines that reminded me very vaguely of the vine ball from our welcoming party.
The pole was surrounded by buildings. The one to our right was made entirely of glass and lit up from the inside, where we could see people gathered within at tables. It seemed like a cafeteria.
To our left, a massive pair of double doors stood, a plaque with the word Magnolia Creek Gymnasium screwed into them. I wondered briefly who (or what) Magnolia Creek was.
Directly in front of us was an entrance that sloped downwards, making it so that the walkway eventually disappeared from sight. This building was open-plan, and I could see seats lining the walkway.
In between the three buildings were smaller ones: a unisex bathroom, a clinic, and the Commander’s office.
“Is that anarena?” Reese hissed as she looked at the last building, her eyes wide.
The ground shook before I could answer her. Both of our heads snapped in the direction of the center pole.
The vines had lengthened. Two of them were stretching upward, the large thorns protruding from them illuminated by the soft glow of the sun rising in the sky.
We were so distracted by them, it didn’t occur to us to give attention to the trembling ground.
A split rent the air, and I gasped as a vine burst from the ground in front of me. My wolf’s reflexes were the only thing that saved my ass when the vine whipped in my direction.
“Holy Gods,” Reese breathed, beginning to scramble away.
Upon barely glancing at her, I caught a glimpse of the Earth rising up near her. I propelled myself towards her just as another vine burst from the ground, inches from where she’d just stood.
“We gotta run,” I panted out. I felt panic threatening to paralyze me as I spotted the ground shifting near us again. “Come on!” I shouted, dragging her up with me. “Run!”
We faced the cafeteria-like building, and Reese clutched my hand as we took off toward it.
The ground shook violently. All of a sudden, vines burst out of several spots at once, causing Reese to stumble.
I glanced up at the building. The fae inside had moved to the glass wall to watch us. Some had continued to eat, while others were laughing and nudging each other, as if watching us run for our lives was prime entertainment.
Indignation made my entire being twitch.
I was so distracted I didn’t notice a vine before it exploded out of the ground right in front of me. Reese’s grip on my arm was the only thing that saved me from running smack into a huge thorn.
“Almost there, almost there, almost there,” she muttered under her breath.
The stairs leading up to the building were less than a hundred yards away when the chanting started.
Reese’s hyper-focus on reaching the stairs prevented her from hearing the chanting. It took me only a second to realize that they were counting down.
“Five!”
“Reese,” I called when the ground began to tremble in earnest. We swayed, but she didn’t stop. “Reese, wait!”
“Four!”
I froze to observe the way grass abruptly sprouted from the ground. My grip on Reese’s hand was lost.
