The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(4)

Ethan blew air from his nose, and I got the distinct impression it was supposed to be a laugh of derision. He motioned me to a gate with a sparse crowd waiting in front. Our crew followed behind.

“You better hope you keep being useful,” Ethan said, “or someday soon you’ll be crushed by your lack of knowledge.”

“You should get a side job writing for fortune cookies. You’d be a smash hit.”

“This is the House of Unmentionables,” Pete said, interrupting us. “Why are we doing this one?”

“We have to do them all, and we have to do them all together. I’ve got a pattern we need to follow.” Ethan shifted as the same beautiful woman from the day before walked along the edge of the wall.

“Welcome, everyone,” she began.

Ethan didn’t stop to listen. “This is one of the easiest. All we have to do is beat the simpleton creatures and find the gold. I know where it’ll be…mostly…and the basic spells I’ll need. With you guys to run interference, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Hopefully by the next trial we’ll be used to working together and you won’t drag me down.”

Wally’s voice dropped low. “This cheater always prospers.”

The gates shimmied open and Ethan gestured us on ahead of him.

“Go back with your team. You’re going to get in trouble. You’re going to get us in trouble!” Pete tried to shoo Wally away, like a wayward dog.

“You’re my team. They are just my dorm mates,” she replied. “The school will catch on eventually. That’s how this works, you know.”

As we crossed the threshold into the trial, bare dirt was all that was in front of us. A few scraggly bushes dotted the way and one lonely tree reached into the sky, its branches bare and trunk gnarled and hunched. Gradually, a hush pressed in around us, unnatural for so large of a place. The wall behind us melted away, and the desolate land stretched out to infinity.

“This stuff trips me out,” I said as Ethan found a path on the cracked earth and followed it without hesitation.

“Did you memorize all the right paths or something?” I asked, scanning the way for any sign of danger. A warning vibrated through my body, but it didn’t take a form or indicate a direction. We were in the thick of danger without any indication where it might come from.

Giddyup.

“Yes. It’s good to have friends in high places.” Ethan stopped at a fork, looked each way, then went right. “Except I don’t remember that fork.”

“Super,” I glanced back at the others. “Thoughts?”

“He’s the one cheating. We’re just playing follow the leader,” Pete said. “We can claim we didn’t know.”

“I agree. This is the best-case scenario at the moment.” Wally turned in a circle while walking. “When he doesn’t need us anymore, that’s when we will need a plan B.”

“Wise woman,” Ethan said.

I gritted my teeth. His overconfidence that we were all idiots or incompetent would be the ruin of him. I’d make sure of it. But right now, Sunshine’s words burned through my brain. I needed to stick to the middle of the pack. To let Ethan take the heat off me so I’d go unnoticed.

“We’re about there, I think,” Ethan said, hitting a three-way stop and choosing the far right path. He’d clearly made the correct choice at the previous fork.

“Where is there?” I asked, winding toward the left before Ethan took yet another right turn. Then another. My brain said we were going in a circle, but my sense of direction said we were still winding our way east. The path was a mind bender for sure.

“The bridge. It’s the easiest crossing place,” Ethan said.

The roar of water grew louder as we walked. Ahead, I could barely see the rolling, boiling, white water of a large chasm. Foam floated up, creating a rainbow in the strengthening sun rays, then cut off abruptly as if tumbling off a cliff. The oddity was the land was flat. There was no actual cliff, no natural drop off. The chasm cinched into little more than a stream.

“I do not like this,” I grumbled as Ethan pointed right.

“There,” he said, picking up the pace.

“We have all day. We don’t have to hurry,” Pete groaned, jogging to keep up.

“I’m not the only one with connections,” Ethan said, not slowing. “The first one to the gold takes it all. I want to be the first.”

“Don’t you have enough money?” Orin asked, drifting along behind us, in no apparent hurry.

“You can never have enough money,” Ethan replied. “And this isn’t about the money. Not really. It’s about taking all the glory. It’s about winning.”

A stone bridge was built into the side of the river, leading over the thinnest part of the water. The drop from the bridge was plenty steep, I had to admit, but only a trickle of muddy water flowed through, probably knee high at best.

“What’s the task?” Wally asked.

“Simple, we have to get across the bridge,” Pete replied as we all slowed near the stone steps.

“It won’t be simple,” Gregory said quietly. “I can guarantee that.”

A deep growl issued from somewhere. At first, I couldn’t figure out the source, but the growl rose in strength until a deep, booming roar reverberated from under the bridge.