I quickly pulled myself out of bed and let Alexander catch a few more winks before I got dressed. Today was the day. It was our very first game, and I wondered what it would be like. I’d dreamt of various scenarios. Some were of dragons in an abandoned castle, and others included mermaids and underwater caves.
It really could have been anything, but with Theodora in charge, I knew whatever awaited us was going to be brutal as hell.
I edged toward the similar blue velvet chair in the corner of the room, and I noticed a new uniform was laid out for me. It was all black, but what really stood out was the new cloak. The inside was crimson, there was a larger crest of Scholomance plastered on the breast pocket, and the fabric was elegant and thick, probably made for colder weather.
I was about to get dressed, but then I heard a small noise that resembled a soft sneeze.
“Cordelia?” I called out. “Is that you? Are you here?”
“Of course, sir,” the loyal maid replied. “I’m still bound to you. Just because you changed rooms doesn’t mean you will lose me. I am always here at your beck and call.”
“Good to know,” I chuckled. “I’m growing more fond of you with each passing day.”
“Oh, sir,” she giggled. “You’re too much… but as much as I’d like for you to go on, I think you’d better hurry. The first game will begin in an hour, and you still haven’t eaten.”
“Eaten?” I repeated. “I don’t think I’ll have time for that, Cordelia.”
“You will if you dress and go down to the living room,” she tutted. “Now, hurry up! Your women are already eating.”
“Whatever you say.” I grinned.
So, I quickly slipped on my black collared shirt and matching dark pants and boots before I tossed on my ebony and crimson cloak. Then I headed back to the bed and tried to rouse Alexander from his sleep. I shook him a few times, and his large pointed black ears twitched, but he refused to open his eyes.
“Wake up!” I demanded. “Let’s go, I need you for the first game.”
He kicked one of his large rabbit feet in protest, and I shook him harder, but he only yelped and squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.
“Come on,” I urged. “There’s no time to mess around.”
Ugh, fine! the testy rabbit snapped as he squinted open his eyes to glare at me. But you owe me one.
“Whatever,” I laughed. “Just get up, will you?”
He huffed, stretched, and yawned, and then he followed me out the door and bounced down the small staircase. When I came down to the living room, the women were all digging into a breakfast that had been laid out on the black marble coffee table. They were all wearing the same hairstyle and matching uniforms with the same cloaks I wore over my shoulders. Their familiars were also enjoying the elaborate breakfast, and everyone’s heads shot up when they heard me coming down the stairs.
“Cole!” Vesta grinned as soon as she saw me. “Hurry, grab a pumpkin muffin.”
“Or a fairy cake,” Akira suggested.
“Does it have real fairies in it?” I asked with my nose scrunched up.
“Well, duh,” the black-eyed witch responded, and a wicked grin spread across her face. “The flavor is in their wings. Adds a sweet crunch.”
“Pass,” I chuckled before I grabbed something that looked like a blueberry scone.
Don’t forget to share, Alexander reminded me.
“Oh, here you go,” I laughed as I handed him a corner of the scone. “Can’t forget you.”
“So, are you guys feeling as nervous as me?” Faye asked after a moment, and the redhead chewed on her thumb nail as her gold-green eyes darted around the table.
“Probably,” Akira muttered. “I can’t stop shaking.”
“Wow, Akira,” Morgana breathed with wide eyes. “You were the last person I expected to admit that.”
“Well, it’s the truth.” The short-haired witch shrugged. “Think about it, these games are just as cutthroat as our preschool exams. Maybe even worse, because our enemies know we are coming for them.”
“And just as deadly as those tasks we were set to do last semester.” Vesta nodded.
“Once again, we’re putting our lives at risk,” Faye sighed.
“But we’ve got this,” I reassured them. “Come on… let’s enjoy this breakfast and wait for Vanessa to come banging on the door.”
We chuckled and ate the rest of Cordelia’s breakfast. As soon as we cleared the table, we heard a heavy knock on the door, and before anyone could actually respond, Vanessa came strolling in.
Today, she was wearing something I’d never seen before. It was a black gown with a bright red insert, and she had the Scholomance crest pinned above her breasts. Her dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and her cheeks were flushed.
“Let’s go,” she said in a firm voice. “We need to prep you all before we send you off into the game.”
We grabbed our familiars and obediently stood up to follow the professor out the door. Then we trailed after her down to the banquet hall, and when we stepped inside, the entire school, along with the other visiting students, were all waiting for us.
The room grew quiet, and all eyes were on us as we joined the other groups of competitors. They stood at the front of the room, in the same spot where we’d first earned our wands, and as we moved forward to join them, my eyes landed on the opposing Scholomance team. They were wearing the same uniform, but instead of black cloaks, they wore crimson capes with the same academy crest on their breast pockets.
Penelope smirked as soon as she saw me, and I could hear Akira scoff by my side, but I averted my eyes and focused on the other team of women.
The Vipera students were all wearing deep emerald cloaks and smirks across their beautiful faces. They had their hair pulled up into neat buns, and their faces were clean of any makeup. I recognized the horned witch and Nyx, but I didn’t recognize the other two, at least not at first. One of them had caramel-brown skin, apple-green hair, and light, purple eyes, and I knew I’d never seen her before. When I looked at the last Vipera, though, there was something strangely familiar about her. She had silver, glittering hair and bright aqua-colored eyes. It took a long moment for me to recognize her, but then I remembered how her eyes had darkened when she looked at me in the banquet hall on that first day. Today, she didn’t even look in my direction, and I could tell she was too focused on winning to even bother looking our way.
Damn, they are smoking hot! Alexander said.
“Easy there, buddy,” I whispered. “They are our competition.”
Sexy competition, he replied. When you win, do you get to fuck ‘em?
“Uhh, that’s not how this works. I don’t think.”
It should, but who the hell are those guys?
I turned to look at the warlocks, and my nose scrunched up in disdain. The Mors students were all wearing white suits and didn’t even bother to wear any cloaks. I quickly spotted Bram and Malcolm, and that familiar rage coursed through me as I stared at them. They were with two other students. One of them was a tall man with light, sage green skin and a head of thick, brown hair and matching dark eyes. The other was a stern-faced warlock with bright orange-red hair and an ocean of freckles across his pale skin. One of his eyes was black, and the other was crystal blue.
Each student of the opposing teams had their familiar at their feet, and I was a little disappointed to see they were all fully formed animals. The warlocks of Mors Academy had a crocodile, an overgrow tarantula, a markhor, and a bat-eared fox. The Vipera team’s familiars were also unique, including Nyx’s indigo cobra with bright sapphire colored eyes. The other Scholomance team had a group of impressive familiars as well, and I couldn’t help but notice the fur of Penelope’s red panda was more orange than red, probably to match her hair. The twins Ivy and Iris had a pair of panthers, one pink and one blue, to match the streaks in their hair, and the brunette named Beatrix had something that resembled an antelope, but its neck was unusually long.
I stared at all the impressive looking familiars for a long moment, but then I reminded myself it didn’t matter.
We were going to fucking win this.
Theodora was the last one to enter the room, and all eyes turned to look at her. She was dressed in a simple black dress with a high collar and black leather gloves, and she glanced around the entire hall as she made her way to the front of the room. It was difficult to read her expression as she waltzed past the sea of different students. When she approached us, though, I could have sworn I saw her wink in my direction, but it could have been a trick of the light. Then she turned away from us and faced the rest of the pupils.
“Attention, students!” she roared. “It is my immense pleasure to welcome you all to our very first game of the Ludi Mortiferum! Today, the objective is simple. The teams must work together to find an artifact in a snowstorm, and their familiars will help them along the way.”
Thunderous applause broke out into the room, and I discreetly glanced at my coven. Akira smirked like she was having the time of her life, and I half expected her to start waving and blowing kisses at the other students. The rest of the coven, however, looked terrified and excited all at the same time.
“Before we send off our teams into the nether region,” the headmistress went on, “I would just like to remind everyone of the rules… ”
A deadly silence filled the air as students looked at each other in confusion, and Theodora’s lips twitched as if she were doing her best not to laugh.
Was there some kind of joke no one else was in on?
“Oh, that was only a small jest,” she laughed. “There are no rules! May the blood thirstiest and most skillful group win.”
Vanessa turned around and approached our coven, and her pale blue eyes darted between us before she gently pulled me aside.
“Your objective is to find a golden chalice somewhere in the mountain,” she whispered into my ear as she pretended to adjust my collar. “You must set your familiars free and allow them to help you guide your way. Be careful of snow beasts and traps… and may Satan be with you all.”
“Thanks, Vanessa,” I murmured.
She flinched, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I used her first name, or because she realized she’d given us a useful heads up.
“Is everything alright, Professor?” Theodora asked Vanessa with a cocked eyebrow.
“Yes, Headmistress,” Vanessa coughed as she stepped away from me and then roughly pushed me back to my coven. “I’m just adjusting Mr. Cole’s collar… he can’t go into the games looking disheveled. It wouldn’t represent us well.”
“Ahh, well spotted.” Theodora nodded before she turned to look at the massive crowd and raised her hands up into the air. “Now, let the game begin!”
As the headmistress’ voice echoed throughout the large room, the gathered students began to cheer, clap, and holler at us.
Then a deep purple smoke appeared at our feet as our bodies were twisted and turned in the air. My stomach lunged upward as we spun through realms and abyss until finally, we all came crashing down into the snow. I landed face-first into the white slush, and when I glanced up, all I could see was a deep gray sky and a tall mountain directly in front of us. A sudden bolt of lightning split the sky in half, and the violent rumble made snow from the top of the mountain cascade downward. Ice pellets rained down on us, and the ferocious wind screeched and howled as if nature herself was trying to convince us to turn back.
But there was no going back now.
“Fuck me sideways,” Akira growled as she pushed herself out of the snow. “That was one of the worst experiences of teleporting ever.”
“I-It’s f-f-freezing,” Vesta said through chattering teeth.
“Yeah, no shit,” Akira grumbled, and she wrapped her thin arms around herself. “You’d think they would have provided us with more suitable clothing.”
“Theodora would never make things easy for us,” I said as I gently released Alexander into the snow.
I hate the snow, Alexander whined, and he huddled at my feet as his large ears drooped around his head. It’s clinging onto my fur for fuck’s sake.
“Too bad,” I replied, but I could already feel the frozen temperature numbing my face and fingers. “We’re all going to have to deal with it… and you’re going to have to lead the way.”
Alexander pouted, but he started to bounce off into the snow and toward the mountain. My coven released their own familiars, and we slowly followed them as they headed in the same direction. It was nearly impossible to see through the growing snowstorm, and the farther up we trekked, the harsher the wind grew, and the more difficult it became to navigate onward. Now, I was beginning to understand why the animals were meant to lead the way. Their senses were more adept at dealing with environmental obstacles.
“I wonder where the other groups are,” Akira cried out over the wind. “Aren’t we all supposed to be heading into that mountain?”
“Yes,” I called back as shards of ice tore at my cheeks, “we need to find a chalice somewhere in there.”
“How do you know it’s a chalice?” Morgana screamed over the growing snowstorm.
Before I could answer her question, a flash of orange light hit Akira in the back and sent her flying forward. She landed face-first into the snow as she snarled. We didn’t even get a chance to help her up, because the first thing she did was twirl around and aim her wand in the same direction from where she’d been hit.
“Stupefaciunt!” she yelled.
Even over the violent wind, we heard a scream and then a loud thump, like something heavy hitting against a rock. I squinted my eyes and tried to see through the blizzard. I saw a glimpse of blue, and immediately I knew it was Nyx. She was struggling to stand, and behind her, I saw dark burgundy hair heading toward us. There was a small wolverine by Nyx’s side and a bear cub that ran by Esther. Even through the snowstorm, I knew Esther had her wand raised and was about to attack, so I quickly aimed my own wand at her, and without hesitation, I flicked my wrist.
“Conligo!” I shouted over the snowstorm.
The bright light hit the horned witch, and she froze in place. Her red eyes burned through the snowstorm, and even from this distance, I could sense her anger and resentment.
“Let’s get to the mountain,” I shouted.
“But which way?” Akira demanded. “We can see the mountain, but there obviously has to be some kind of secret entrance.”
“Wait!” Faye yelled. “I can hear Lily! She says we need to head east. There is a small open archway that leads inside.”
I hadn’t even noticed our familiars had disappeared from view.
“And where the hell is east?” Akira shouted, and snow was clumping up on her dark eyelashes. “We don’t have the sun to guide our way.”
“But we do have Cole,” Vesta cried out as she turned to look at me, and her eyes were the same shade of silver as the stormy sky above us. “Can you sense which way is east?”
“Give me a second,” I replied.
I closed my eyes and tried to feel for the right direction, but it was challenging to concentrate with the biting cold and the howling wind. Not to mention there were groups of bloodthirsty witches and warlocks behind us.
“Alexander, can you hear me? We don’t know where to go.”
My heart dropped when I didn’t hear a response. We had to move quickly, though, and just as I was beginning to lose hope in my furry familiar, I heard him call out to me.
It’s to your right, he directed. Hurry! I can see those warlock fuckers approaching.
“I know where to go,” I called out to my coven. “Follow me!”
We treaded upward through the snow and pushed onward. Moving through the thick slush was a challenge, but soon, we would be in front of the mountain. We were so close to finding the entranceway I could feel it, but before we could get inside the small archway, something growled behind us.
The sound was loud enough that we heard it over the blistering wind, and when I slowly turned around with my wand out, I saw a towering, white gruesome creature. It had thick fur, and its face appeared as if it were made out of a rubbery gray texture. But that wasn’t the strangest thing about this beast. The odd part was his face mostly consisted of an enormous, round mouth with multiple sets of teeth and a tiny pair of coal-black eyes, and the monster had no nose, only small slits that served as nostrils.
I pulled out my wand to attack it, but the beast quickly raised a massive paw and swatted at Faye.
She screamed just as I uttered the first spell that came to mind.
“Volant!” I shouted.
The beast went flying back, and it howled as it crashed into the snow several feet away from us.
Before it could regain its bearings, I hoisted an injured Faye upward and dragged her into the mountain. As soon as we stepped inside, the air felt strangely damp and not as cold. It also looked like we were in a building, not a cave. There were stairwells, balconies, and furniture in here, which truly caught me off guard, and all our familiars were huddled into a group with bored expressions on their faces.
“What the hell?” I muttered. “What is this place? I was expecting rocks and grit.”
“It would seem this used to be a dwelling for snow Wiccas,” Morgana breathed in a dream-like voice as her blue eyes darted around. “How fascinating… I’ve only read about these places in books.”
“Great,” Akira grumbled as she brushed snow and ice from her hair and cloak, “but who cares? Can we get a move on, please? Damien just told me we need to find some kind of hidden doorway.”
“It’s amazing how they can sense these things,” Morgana mused.
Faye groaned in agreement, and I couldn’t help but wince as I stared at the three perfectly symmetrical cuts along her chest.
“How are you doing there, Faye?” I asked.
“Fantastic,” she muttered, and her face was twisted into a grimace. “But I’m with Akira on this one. Can we please just find the secret passageway before any more animals or opponents attack us?”
“Too late,” an echoey voice cackled.
I spun around and saw one of the warlocks standing there at the mountain opening. He was the one with the bright orange hair and freckles, and he smiled a yellow-toothed grin as he took a step closer. At his feet was a small red and yellow spotted crocodile with stubby legs and a slim snout, and it parted its jaws to growl at us.
“What the hell are you even doing?” I chuckled. “You do realize that it is us five against you and your little pet.”
“My group is not too far behind me.” He smirked. “We can battle it out then.”
He quickly pulled out his wand, and I did the same. Then I took a step sideways and stood in front of my coven as I silently dared him to try and attack. I saw a shadow behind him, and for a moment, I thought it was his own team coming to join him, but when I looked closer, I realized the shadow belonged to something else entirely.
My face remained neutral as the snow beast quickly lunged out, brought his massive paw down on the warlocks’ head, and started to squeeze. The ginger-haired warlock’s two-toned eyes widened, and he began to scream as the beast lifted him up from the ground. Then he dropped his wand, and it landed with a clank onto the stone floor.
I couldn’t look away as the beast squeezed his head with just one paw. The warlock’s eyes bulged out of his face, and blood began to drip down from the top of his skull as the creature gripped even harder. He cried out in pain and fear as we heard bones starting to crunch, and then his eyes abruptly popped out from their sockets and dangled out of his head. Finally, with one final squeeze and cry of agony, his head completely smashed open like a watermelon, and blood, brains, and bone splattered everywhere.
The beast dropped the headless body and began to pull the corpse out of the mountain by the legs. None of us said a word until the creature disappeared from view, and then the crocodile turned away from us and just slowly sauntered out of the cave. I thought it interesting the crocodile didn’t protect his master, but perhaps he realized he was no match for the beast, and that his master’s fate had been sealed the moment he was grabbed.
“That was nasty,” Akira finally whispered. “Even for me.”
“One less dickbag to worry about, though.” Morgana shrugged.
“Still,” I reminded my women, “it doesn’t mean we’re in the clear yet. He said his team was right behind him.”
“So, let’s haul ass.” Vesta nodded.
How are you going to haul ass when you don’t even know where to go? Alexander giggled.
“Hey, man, if you know where to go, be my guest,” I sighed. “But in case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t exactly playing a little fun game here.”
Fine, fine, follow me, he muttered. Damn, you are grumpy. Was it because you didn’t fuck your women last night?
I didn’t answer, and Alexander hopped over to the other familiars, and they grouped together before they scurried across the stone floor and toward a red, Persian carpet that was frozen at the edges.
Check under the rug, Alexander ordered. Hurry.
I started to drag the carpet out of the way, and the witches all gasped as I revealed what was underneath. When I looked down, I saw the hidden doorway against the floor and grinned.
“Well done, Alexander,” I laughed.
Don’t thank me yet, boss, he warned. We still have several obstacles ahead of us.
“Agreed.” I nodded. Then I tried to pull the doorway open, but it was frozen solid. “Shit.”
“Hold on,” Morgana said as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at the knob, “step aside. Templum!”
The door below started to shake before it finally swung open, and all we could see was darkness down below us. Icy air wafted up and hit me like small knives against my skin, and I shivered before I aimed my wand at the hole.
“Illuminana,” I said.
My wand glowed with fire, and all we could see was a rickety wooden stairwell that led down to Satan knows where.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Alexander.
Positive, the black rabbit replied. I can sense a magical pull from down there.
The familiars began to crawl down, and we followed suit. As soon as we were inside, we heard deep masculine screams from above us, and I realized it must have been the warlock team and their discovery of the headless body.
“Morgana, seal the door,” I commanded.
The brunette pulled out her wand and aimed it at the opening above us. “Glacio!”
The opening above us sealed shut, and the secret door froze at the hinges.
“Great job, let’s go,” I urged.
“Wait,” the genius brunette breathed, “one more thing. Invisibilis.”
Slowly, the door above us morphed into stone, and it was as if no entry had ever existed.
“Nice work, nerd,” Akira commented.
“It will only last for a little while,” Morgana responded. “So, we’d better hurry… Silvia, where to next?"
The raccoon below started to furiously squeak as we headed down the stairs.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“She said, ‘hurry the hell up, and you’ll find the chalice,’” the brunette replied. “But she warned that we have to be careful… there are snow goblins and massive ice rats down here.”
“Are they difficult to combat?” I questioned.
“Well, one or two won’t be a problem,” Morgana nervously laughed. “But a pack of them… that might be tricky, and I don’t think we should wait around to find out.”
“So, let’s move it before we have to deal with it,” Akira growled.
We moved quickly down the stairs and finally came to a cold, dark corridor. My light was still showing us the way, and we crept through the mysterious hallway. We were halfway down the aisle, and I thought we were in the clear until we heard a menacing laugh. It didn’t belong to any witch or warlock, though, of that, I was sure.
“Snow goblins,” Faye whispered as she tiptoed behind me, and I noticed the cuts on her chest had healed, so the only remnants of her injury was her bloodied and tattered shirt. “They may be small, but they would love to make our familiars into meals, so Lily, stay close.”
“How about we all stay close?” I muttered.
Before anyone could respond, there was the sound of something breaking through the mountain walls, and when I turned around to see what it was, I was face to face with a small white beast. It had burrowed a hole through the wall, and it was staring at me with its ragged looking face. The goblin had bright yellow eyes and a skeletal nose and mouth, and when it opened its mouth to screech, it flashed rows of blood stained sharp teeth.
“Fuck,” I hissed.
The snow goblin cackled, looked down at Alexander, and licked its thin lips, but before it could pounce down and take a bite out of my familiar, I snatched it midair by its puppy scruff.
“Not today, ugly,” I growled as I started to squeeze.
Then its eyes bulged from its small head, and I twisted its neck and let it fall limply to the ground.
“Nice one,” Morgana said from behind me.
“Let’s keep going,” I replied, “before more of them show up.”
As soon as the words left my lips, we heard a deep rumbling coming from within the walls. We all exchanged panicked looks, and Faye’s small ferret turned up her little pink nose, squealed, and ran in front of us. The other creatures followed after her, and we all sped toward the end of the hall, where I could make out a plain wooden door ahead of us.
“That’s where the chalice must be,” I shouted. “Come on, let’s go.”
As we tried to move faster, though, we heard more screeching all around us. The goblins were breaking through the ice walls, and I knew that soon, they would be gaining on us.
“More of them are coming!” Vesta yelled.
“So, let’s move it!” I ordered.
I could hear the little beasts scurrying behind us, and their screams grew louder and louder. As I ran, I turned and saw a mass of them right at our feet, and then one fell from the ceiling in front of us and landed right in front of Alexander. The goblin opened its mouth and prepared to take a chunk out of my familiar, but Alexander was too quick for the goblin. My black rabbit pounced on the small creature, tore its throat out with his large teeth, and continued to run onward as if nothing had even happened.
We were ahead of the pack, but if we didn’t get to the end of the hall, they would surely kill us all.
There were just too many of them.
We looked at the door, and we could hear the snow goblins right on our heels. So, we sprinted hard and fast down the hall, and when we came to the mysterious door, I yanked on the handle. I half-expected it to be locked, but it opened with ease.
As soon as we stepped into the next room, we slammed the door shut, and my witches pressed their backs against it. My light went out, and I struggled to see what the hell I was doing. It wasn’t pitch-black, but it was still difficult to see where we were. The space we were in looked like a small room with junk all splayed against the stone walls of the mountain, but everything was just obscure shapes in the gloom, and I needed light if I was going to find the chalice in all this rubbish.
“Illuminana,” I repeated as I lifted my wand.
But nothing happened.
“Oh, no,” Morgana wailed. “It’s a spell proof room… I bet the only way to break the barrier is to find the chalice.”
“Okay, that’s a small setback, but so what?” Akira hissed from somewhere to my left. “Let’s use our fucking brains and barricade the door before we start looking for the chalice.”
We frantically searched the barely lit room, and my leg knocked against something in one of the corners. It felt heavy, like a wooden piece of furniture, and when my eyes adjusted and I studied the shadow, I realized it was a wooden chest. As quickly as possible, I started to push it toward the door we came in through, and the others helped me. The trunk was much heavier than it looked, though, and despite the cold, I was sweating by the time we had it against the wall.
And we did it just in time, too. As soon as the chest was against the door, there was banging and screaming on the other side.
“We’re going to get in there,” one of the other witches screeched.
“Like hell, you are!” Akira yelled back.
“Looks like they took care of the snow goblins,” I muttered.
“We need to hurry,” Faye whimpered.
We had two groups of murderous teams after us and possibly a herd of snow goblins that could attack at any moment.
So far, this wasn’t looking too good.
“Let’s find the fucking chalice,” Akira said. “Damien, do you sense anything magical?”
Well, duh, we all do, hot stuff, Alexander laughed. Check the fucking chest!
I squinted my eyes and stared at the wooden chest we’d shoved against the door, and it took me a moment to realize there was a massive gold lock on it. The lock looked kind of like an ordinary padlock, with the hooped shackle piece threaded through the latch of the chest. There wasn’t a space for the key on the bottom, though, but then I noticed the face of the lock was peculiar. The edges of the device made a kind of frame, and a number of golden jagged pieces, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, loosely jostled against each other as I tilted the lock this way and that. I guessed the pieces were meant to be arranged in some kind of pattern, but I had no idea what it was. My thumb slid one of the pieces to the side, and I felt something in the lock catch like the piece was in the right place, so I was confident I could eventually figure this out.
The problem was, I wasn’t sure how much more time we had.
“Well, fuck,” I grunted. “This might take me a moment.”
The witches on the other side of the door banged harder, and the force nearly sent the chest flying forward. I braced the heavy chest as hard as I could against the door, and then I gripped onto the lock and focused all my willpower on figuring out the puzzle, but it was difficult when the opposing teams wouldn’t shut the fuck up.
“Shit,” I hissed. “They could blast the door open at any moment.”
“No,” Morgana replied, “not with the forcefield preventing magic of any kind.”
“Forcefield or no forcefield,” Akira snapped, “we need to hurry! Come on, Cole, use those premonition skills of yours and figure out the lock combination.”
“I’m going as fast as I can,” I huffed as I continued to mess with the lock. The pieces slid smoothly beneath my thumb, but none of them were clicking into place. I growled under my breath as I swiped my finger to the left again, and then something caught my eye. I squinted and finally saw what looked like the profile of a face, and I didn’t know if that was the pattern I needed, but it was my only lead right now. So, I fiddled and turned the parts of the lock as quickly as possible.
“Hurry, Cole,” Vesta urged.
“One more second,” I muttered.
I continued to twist and turn the pieces of the lock to fill out the face’s profile, and I got several parts to latch into place, but then I couldn’t get the final pieces to line up, so I had to start over.
The pounding on the door was getting louder, though, and sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eyes, but I couldn’t let any of that distract me.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to hone in on my premonition power. Theodora always said my premonition skills were unparalleled, and they hadn’t failed me yet, so I continued to let my fingers blindly slide the golden pieces around.
Suddenly, the lock gave a satisfying loud click in my hands, and my eyes shot open. The puzzle pieces had snapped together and formed a woman’s face. Her chin and nose were sharp, her eyes large, and her mouth was set into an open scream. Then I gave the lock a sharp tug, the shackle clicked open, and my coven gasped when the lid slowly lifted.
“Damn,” I gasped as we all stared down at a glittering, golden chalice. I grabbed it, and as soon as we stepped away from the door, a blast of purple light shot and splintered the wooden barricade.
The others were breaking in. The barrier had been lifted as soon as I touched the chalice.
“How the hell are we going to get out of here?” Faye asked as she pressed against me.
Why, through the secret passageway, of course, Alexander snickered as he stood on his large feet and pointed at a massive crack in the wall. I can sense a draft right through there. Just blast it open.
So, I aimed my wand at the crumbling wall and hoped it wouldn’t cave in on us.
“Oblitero!” I shouted.
The rocks of the mountain blasted apart, and a strong gust of wind seeped through. The snow was painfully white compared to the darkness of being inside the mountain, and I squinted my eyes as I squeezed through the opening. Then my coven and our familiars followed closely as we headed back outside.
As soon as we stepped out of that damp mountain, I breathed in the sharp, icy air and looked around. The wind pierced my skin and snow quickly coated my lashes as I turned to see where we should move on to.
“We need to keep going,” I said.
“Where to, though?” Akira asked.
“Yeah, shouldn’t we be teleported back by now?” Vesta asked with wide silver eyes.
Before anyone could respond, a blue blast of light shot out of nowhere and missed Morgana by an inch, and we whipped around to see a furious Nyx trying to squeeze through the opening I created. Her spell hit something that caused a crack as loud as thunder to roar behind us, and when I spun in that direction, I saw heavy snowfall was rapidly tumbling down another mountain.
“Avalanche!” I cried out.
All the witches gasped, and I wondered what the hell we were going to do. I stared down at the golden chalice, and for some reason, my mind flashed back to when we’d been stuck in that wizard's mansion. When we’d placed our hands on the stone, we’d been teleported back to the school.
Maybe that would work again.
“Everyone grab your familiar and then touch the chalice!” I yelled.
My coven did as they were told, and they touched the chalice with pale, panic-stricken faces. This was our only chance at an escape, and if it didn’t work, I knew we would all die a horribly painful death.
So, I willed us back to Scholomance as the white tsunami roared toward us.