Page 96 of House of Ydril

And yes, even the Keeper, I think to myself as I squint at the booth right next to the Pied Piper’s. So far, I’ve only seen her in pictures, the blonde, fae-blooded Nikky. And right now, in the midst of all the buzzing anticipation, she’s smiling as her equally gorgeous shifter mate is whispering something in her ear. But I’ve read things about her and I know she’s just as dangerous and passionate as she is beautiful.

She reminds me of what I’ve come here to do. Not to participate in some outdated form of the eternal search of glory, but to try to save all these people from getting killed today.

What snaps me out of my ruminations are the looks that the Chosen are throwing each other. It’s only then that I realize that the Trials should’ve started already.

And just as my eyes dart to the Pied Piper’s booth and see that it’s still empty, Baldor Faust himself rushes in and takes her seat.

Icannotfucking believe it.

“Welcome, everyone,” his voice booms from the speaker, “to the Third Round of the annual Grimm Academy Trials.”

The crowd cheers loudly and Faust Senior raises a hand to ask for silence.

“The Pied Piper won’t be with us today, but not to worry,” he exclaims. “Our Chosen are all here and ready to fight for the title of Champion!”

I’m barely registering the crowd’s response. My mind is elsewhere, wondering why the fuck the Pied Piper’s not here and what it could mean for me, what it could mean for us all. Is she out there somewhere helping him execute his plan?

“But before I tell you what the Third Round will entail,” Faust Senior continues, “let’s first greet all of today’s special guests, starting with the Archduke of Erfurt.”

I roll my eyes, tapping my shoes on the floor. As he drones on, I fight the urge to glance at Faust. He’s made his choice and though I can’t say I can blame him, I can’t count on him either.

It’s only when Faust Senior has finished sucking up to all the esteemed guests that I make myself snap out of it.

“Now,” he says teasingly. He seems to have slowly gotten into his new role as the announcer. “You’re probably all eager to find out what kind of test we’ll be putting our seven heroes to.”

The crowd responds by breaking into thunderous cheering and clapping. It’s deafening, but as soon as I notice the other thing, my focus becomes undivided.

I fix my eyes on the ground before me, feeling it tremble under my feet and hearing a low, pained sound.

And just as the six of us start throwing glances at each other, the ground cracks and moves, revealing a set of stairs leading down into the darkness.

The crowd murmurs in excitement. My heart breaking into a gallop, I squint and I look up at Faust Senior, waiting for an explanation.

“Wondering where they lead?” he asks the crowd, his voice low and full of suspense.

Um, not more thanIam.

But he only pauses for a split second before he says, his voice barely above a whisper, “Only to the very Heart of The Castle That Isn’t…”

The crowd murmurs. I throw a glance at Harry, mouthing “What?”

But before he can do anything but raise his eyebrows, Faust Senior keeps talking, “Yes, you seem to know what I’m talking about. The usually entirely inaccessible part of Grimm Academy, its ancient core that to this day holds secrets of divine magic.” He pauses before he adds, lowering his voice, “Magic so dangerous, the Pied Piper had to get a team of professors to prepare the extremely inhospitable terrain.”

Great, I think to myself, my palms already sweating.

“As for our Chosen,” Faust Senior continues in a low voice, “they only need to climb down, get to the farthest point, grab the Stone that’s waiting for them there and come back to us.”

That’s all? No biggie, I tell myself in my most sarcastic inner voice.

But then a gong sounds and I find myself walking up to the stairs with the rest of the Chosen. Once we’re right in front of the opening, Faust Senior yells out, “Let the Third Round begin.”

And just like that, accompanied by yet another round of deafening cheering, the others start rushing down into the darkness.

I, on the other hand, choose caution. I take one step at a time, inspecting things as I go. But there’s only raw earth around me, the stairs seeming to have been carved into the ground using only Earth Magic.

Still, the deeper I go and the fainter the sound of cheering becomes, the more my heart throbs in my chest.

By the time my feet hit the landing, I’m all alone in near darkness and I can no longer hear the people outside.

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