The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(32)

Timber. Pete said.

“Crap.” I threw aside my now useless shield and reached Orin as Pete, growling and spitting, chased a wand waver out of the swinging saloon door.

Orin’s eyes stared up at the ceiling from his position flat on his back. Tex, the English Wizard with his stupid hat, smirked from behind the bar.

“Didn’t expect that, now did he?” Tex said, leaning against the counter.

“Wally, get my back,” I yelled as I reached over, grabbed Tex’s shirt, and yanked him toward me. His eyes widened then narrowed and his hands flew out to protect himself. I was one step ahead. I rested the blade of my knife against his throat and dug in, drawing blood.

Tex’s hands lifted into the air.

“Is he dead?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Is the vampire dead?”

“Not eternally, no. The vamps want him after all this is over. The necromancer too. The wizard and the weird raccoon thing got placements as well already. All this is for you. Don’t you feel special? Let them take you, and your friends go free.”

A beam of red blasted him in the face, ripping him from my hands and sending him flying. His back hit the shelves of bottles and his eyes rolled back in his head. He sank to the ground, bottles tumbling down after him, breaking against the ground or thunking on him.

Ethan stood behind me, his wand held in a steady hand and his eyes alight. “That was the strongest persuasion spell I’ve ever pushed off,” he said, taking two quick steps to me, his expression triumphant. “I broke it, thanks to you.” He grabbed me around the middle and pulled me toward him, his soft lips a contrast to his hard body.

Electricity sizzled through me, but not from him—from the sense of victory. Two combatants sharing a win.

He broke away. “No way in hell are you going to turn yourself over in this trial,” he said. “We’ll beat this like we beat all the others. I have a reputation to uphold.” He winked. “So let’s go. Hurry.”

I liked this new Ethan better. The confidence was real. Whoever’d beaten him down had lost their hold on him. I grinned. “Let’s.”

He spun and cast a spell, slamming a woman dressed in black center mass and dropping her. Clearly, he had been thoroughly tutored on attack spells.

“Leave Orin,” Wally said, shoving a frozen woman out of the way and heading toward the door. “He’ll understand, and we can’t carry him.” Her voice dropped. “Always question your drink of choice when there is danger afoot.”

“That voice… It doesn’t get any less weird,” Ethan mumbled, running at my side.

We shoved out of the door, and Pete looked back at us as a woman took off running for a stand of horses. The scene melted into a dusky prairie, not unlike the savannah scene from the shifter trial, before changing yet again with a flicker, like a computer screen glitching. The Old West town flickered back to life.

“This trial is being tampered with,” Ethan said, slowing and looking at the sky. He brought out his cheat sheet, running his finger down the page.

“How was it?” Wally asked me quietly, standing very close. Her eyes roved my face as she waited for me to answer.

I palmed my head as the pounding returned, feeling a vague sort of danger but nothing imminent. Not yet. That last trial probably hadn’t gone the way they’d expected. We were a helluva lot stronger and quicker than most other trial goers. Working together made us shine.

“How was what?” I asked, smelling lilac on the air, a strange fragrance for the Old West town.

“Kissing a Helix. I mean, he’s the worst, don’t get me wrong, but he’s hot. Can’t say I’m not curious…” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I ignored her, focusing on Ethan and his notes. “Let’s concentrate on getting out of this trial. Not winning it, but just getting out of it with all of us alive.”

Ethan looked up at me, and for a wonder, I didn’t see disappointment in his eyes. “Are you sure about that?” he asked.

All eyes turned my way, and I hated that Orin wasn’t there to lend us another strategic brain. I hated that we’d have to leave him behind. It went against everything in me. Just like Rory, though, I couldn’t fix this. He would live. We might not.

“Nothing we encounter is going to go how your cheat sheet tells you, Ethan,” I said, feeling the urgency to get moving. “It won’t do us any good, and I doubt we’ll be able to beat any of the challenges. We didn’t even get to do the last one.”

“You did.” Wally pointed at me. “And he did.” Her finger swung to Ethan. “Orin failed at it, but they cheated—”

“The best course of action is getting out of here and getting to safety,” I said. “No amount of gold or glory is worth our lives.”

Ethan nodded and looked down at his sheet. “We can stick to the easier challenges, then. After what just happened, my father will understand the rationale behind that. He can push for a retesting if necessary. I can all but fast track us through the next one, but we’ll all have to do the final one.”

“What’s the final—”

As if on cue, an enormous roar ripped through the air, sparking fear in my heart.

“T-rex,” Wally said, suddenly out of breath. I knew how she felt. “We’re going to take on the T-rex.”