Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(54)
I might have been invisible to Victor before, but I wasn’t anymore. And I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Another round of matches was held, with the two rounds whittling the field down from one hundred twenty-eight to sixty-four and then thirty-two. Tomorrow’s rounds would determine the tournament winner. Devon, Poppy, and I all advanced, along with Deah, Katia, Blake, and Vance.
The competitors congratulated each other a final time, even those who had lost, and everyone was in a good mood as we headed to the Family tents to change clothes. I was grateful to strip off my white shirt, black pants, and black boots and replace them with a blue T-shirt, gray cargo shorts, and gray sneakers. I also belted my sword around my waist again. The person who had sabotaged the rope ladder was still out there, and I wasn’t going to be taken by surprise again.
I grabbed my duffel bag, then streamed out of the fairgrounds with my friends. The matches had taken most of the day. It was after seven now, and the summer heat and humidity had finally eased. But instead of going back to the parking lots, getting into their cars, and driving home, everyone headed out of the fairgrounds and stepped onto some gray cobblestone paths that wound into the trees.
“Now what?” I asked. “Why aren’t we going back to the mansion?”
Felix grinned. “And miss the after-party? Are you kidding? It’s the best part of the tournament.”
“After the first day of competition, everyone gets together for a little food, music, and fun,” Devon explained. “It’s tradition. Tomorrow night’s party after the tournament ends will be even bigger and better.”
I didn’t particularly want to party, but Devon and Felix grabbed my hands and dragged me along. We walked about half a mile through the woods before the trees opened up onto a sandy beach. It was odd, seeing such gleaming, white sand in the middle of the West Virginia mountains, especially since we were hundreds of miles away from the ocean, but it was another thing that made Cloudburst Falls special. Every year, the town officials, with the Families’ help, trucked in tons of sand to create and maintain a beach that wrapped around the lake.
Bloodiron Lake had always been one of my favorite places to visit. It looked like one of the vacation postcards you could buy from any cart on the Midway—the white, sandy shore, the glittering, deep blue surface of the water, the green pine trees surrounding everything. Even the sky was perfect, clear, bright, and dotted with puffy, marshmallow clouds.
Wooden picnic shelters ringed the perimeter of the lake, set back in the grass that surrounded the sandy shore. All of the shelters featured metal grills, along with heavy-duty, blue and green fiberglass picnic tables where folks could sit and enjoy their hamburgers and hot dogs.
The butlers and pixies from the Families must have come over here as soon as the tournament had ended because the grills were already going strong, with smoke wafting through the air. My stomach rumbled in anticipation. Was there any better summertime scent than grilled food?
A line had already formed in front of the grills, where Reginald was overseeing Oscar and the rest of the Sinclair pixies. Devon, Felix, and I got in line, and soon I was loading up a plate with a cheeseburger, topped with plenty of bacon, along with macaroni salad, fresh summer veggies, and a mound of cheese fries sprinkled with, you guessed it, more bacon.
I grabbed a cup of lemonade, then followed Devon and Felix over to a picnic table where Poppy and Katia were sitting.
Katia flashed Felix a smile and scooted over to make room for him. He hesitated, but I bumped his shoulder with mine, nudging him forward. He shot me a dirty look, then smiled back at Katia and sat down beside her. I took the seat next to Poppy, with Devon sliding in on the bench next to Felix and across from me.
Everyone must have been as starved as I was, because we spent the next few minutes chowing down on our food. The cheeseburger was so good that I polished it off, then went over and got a second one, this time with even more bacon. The macaroni salad was rich and creamy, the veggies were cool and crunchy, and the fries were the perfect mix of crispy potatoes, ooey, gooey cheese, and smoky bacon. The ice-cold lemonade was tart and sweet and just the thing to hit the spot on a hot, humid day.
By the time we scarfed down our burgers and fries, Reginald and the pixies had set out several desserts, including a chilled strawberry pie topped with vanilla-bean ice cream that was so cold and sweet it made my teeth ache—but in a good way. I had three big pieces of pie, more than anyone else.
Katia smiled, amused by all the empty paper plates littering the table around me. “You must have been hungry, Lila.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “She’s always hungry. You should see how much bacon she eats for breakfast every day.”
“And why is that a problem?” I said. “Besides, fighting and upholding the Family honor and stuff is hard work.”
Felix rolled his eyes again. “Yeah. That’s it.”
Katia, Poppy, and Devon all laughed.
“Well, I’d say that Lila has earned all the bacon she can eat,” Katia said. “I saw you fight. You have a strength Talent, right?”
“Right,” I said in a neutral voice. “Just a minor one, though.”
“That must come in handy, especially during the tournament.”
“Sure,” I said, staring at her so she wouldn’t realize that I was lying.