The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(16)

“We just need to fit the pieces where they go,” Ethan said, looking down at his square chunk of gold. “Put all the trinkets on the table so we can figure this out.”

The table in front of us hadn’t commanded my attention as much as the heap of gold behind it, but it was triangular, same as the room we stood in. An odd shape to say the least. There were three square openings embedded in it—one for each of the treasures.

Gregory hesitated, not that I blamed him. Arranging the pieces on the table would mean putting them within striking distance of Ethan.

“There’s nowhere to go,” I said, motioning for Gregory to comply. “We’ll finish this one up together. We have to, or we won’t be finishing it at all.”

With all the square pieces on the table, Ethan put his hand over his pocket. He didn’t pull out his paper, however, and after catching his eyes flicking around us, I knew why. He didn’t want to get caught. This room was probably closely monitored, and while some cheating was allowed, if not condoned, it wouldn’t be accepted here, not when there was so much money on the table.

“Puzzles. I can do a puzzle.” I leaned forward, seeing each piece as it stood alone. All square, all cut exactly the same. I moved the pieces around, but each would fit into any of the openings on the table.

I frowned, trying to figure it out. I knew gold was a softer metal, and the two gemstones would be a fair bit harder, but that’s about all I could come up with from my limited geology instruction in school. I thought of them as a whole. Given that there were only three of them, there were only six possible permutations. But which were they looking for?

I knew without asking that whatever I entered into the squares in the table would be our final answer. We’d need to sort this out before placing the stones.

“This wall is inlaid with rubies,” Gregory said softly, turning to the wall on his right.

I reached over and ran my hand over it, feeling tiny little bumps against my palm, the source of the shimmering. A strange sensation washed over me, sliding along my skin before soaking down into me. Suddenly, the wall took on a different feel, impossible to describe, slight but persistent. Back at the table, the same feeling, though much more potent, throbbed along my skin.

The ruby. I was feeling the gem. Just like Gregory could.

I could feel the other squares we’d gathered too.

How the hell?

I didn’t stop to question the how. I could mull over it later when I no longer needed to focus.

“Can you feel sapphires in one of the other walls, Gregory?” I asked.

He didn’t even need to stop and consider it. “The wall behind us,” he said, his ability to feel gems much stronger than my borrowed ability.

“Right, right,” I said, my hands working, already connecting the dots. “And gold is to the left of us.” The triangular room was set up just like the table.

Just. Like. The. Table.

I arranged the gems and gold beside the openings in the table, feeling the satisfying click as they fit together. I pointed at the red square “Ruby”—then the wall—“wall inlaid with rubies. Sapphire, wall inlaid with sapphires. Gold…with gold.”

“So easy,” Ethan murmured.

“Only easy for those who can feel it,” I said, running the scenario through in my mind to make double sure I was right. “You wouldn’t know gems made these walls shimmer. Even if you figured it out, there’s no color to the shine. You would have gotten the gold right, sure, but you’d only have a fifty-fifty chance of choosing the gems correctly.”

“I’m not sure I would’ve put two and two together,” Gregory said, rubbing his nose. “I mean, it is easy now that I know, but…it hadn’t occurred to me that the walls would be the hint.”

“And that is why they want magical factions to work together. You see?” Wally braced her fists against her hips and nodded.

“I’m going with this, unless there’s an argument…” I let the statement linger for a moment, and when I didn’t get pushback, delicately placed the stones in the corresponding openings on the triangular table.

The squares sank into the stone table, and a flash of light made me stagger backward. The wall to our right glittered red. Blue twinkled behind us. The gold shimmered, and for a moment I thought it would all disappear just like the haystacks, but the metal gate shimmied upward instead.

We’d done it. We’d won!

As if on cue, Ethan stepped forward with his chest puffed out, and I knew he would try to claim the victory for himself, just like last time.





Chapter 7





“Not this time,” I ground out before rushing forward and grabbing Ethan. There was no way he was going to claim this victory as his own. I flung him back with all my strength. His legs caught the edge of the table, which swept them out from under him. He dove, head first, onto the ground, skidding to a stop on his face. That was going to leave a mark.

Pete snarled and hissed before nipping Gregory’s heels, clearly in agreement with what I was trying to do. Gregory shrieked and danced forward as a line of light traced a shape in the far wall behind the gold, outlining a hidden door

“It wasn’t my win,” Gregory said as the door slowly swung open, revealing a short, stooped figure with large, circular glasses over crazy big eyeballs.