Page 56 of Faerie Trials

This was worse than when I’d had to break the Augundae Imperium out of the mortal world. Then, I’d only been forced to unravel a handful of wards the school had placed to protect the priceless artifact. Huh, surprising that the king hadn’t said a word to me about the fake Imperium I’d substituted, the fake that exploded the moment it crossed the portal from the mortal world to this one.

Boy, if he only knew…

Cognitive manipulation might be my innate power, but it didn’t work on me personally. Nothing helped with the mistakes I’d made. Nothing helped me be better when I kept hurting myself. There was nothing I could do to trick myself into lifting the brain fog. It wouldn’t help me get my memories or my lost time back again. Would it?

I dove into my magic to an impossible depth inside of me, clamping my hands over my ears as though that would help me focus. The pressure built until an unnatural breeze ripped the newly opened petals off wildflowers in the clearing. Until there were pieces of bark and twigs catapulting through the air and the world around me faded. And suddenly the world went quiet. It was a deafening quiet.

A flutter…and I caught sight of a pair of wings at my back. My transfiguration power was once again reflexively manifesting due to stress.

I scrambled to return to my normal form. Deep in the woods for the Trial, I wasn’t visible to the judges except via the all-seeing orbs. Glancing around for floating orbs, I saw none, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there just out of my sight. Terror gripped me with icy fingers. If anyone saw what I’d done—

No more mess-ups. I needed to get to work immediately. I knew I wasn’t going to win. But I wanted to finish at least. Working to center myself, I called the magic again, focusing it on a smaller and smaller point.

On the seed I drew from my pocket.

“Grow for me,” I whispered.

I sent the seed skyward, linking my magic with the life inside of it, with my life. Watched as gravity had it falling back to earth in the spot I’d picked out. Helped it dig deep into the soil of the forest and send out its roots.

I had the magic and I had the determination to get through this. Under my breath I repeated the spell Mike had found. The same kind of spell used to power the Augundae Totalis, the magical artifact designed to bolster and amplify the user’s magic. It was the artifact he’d used to get through the mortal school’s cullings.

He’d done what I couldn’t do, I thought. Mike had found the origin of the ancient artifact. Sneaky little devil.

I crouched down and dug my own fingers into the soil near the embedded seed, grounding myself and tapping into earth magic. The plan was to use the same spell to bolster our own spell but only until the tree took off. Then we’d detach and let the magic of the land boost the tree’s growth instead of our own life force.

It sounded simple. And maybe it was actually going to work because after a long moment of fierce concentration that had my limbs quivering with exertion I thought I could see a tiny shoot sprouting through the dirt—

Please don’t let me transform again.

That little distraction had me losing the connection to the magic and I worried that the spell had fizzled out before I could complete it.

A string of curses erupted from my mouth and I stomped my feet again in full toddler tantrum fashion. “Rein it in!” I admonished myself out loud. Like the sound of my voice would somehow help me get it together when nothing else had so far.

I fell to my knees and peered at the tiny green shoot that had stopped growing. My lack of concentration had broken the connection, but maybe I could repair the damage.

“Grow, damn it!”

Nothing.

Feeling weary to my bones, I collapsed onto my back and rolled into fetal position on my side. I wasn’t giving up. Not yet. But I needed to recharge my energy. Just a few moments of rest…

I noticed a berry bush on the edge of the clearing. It was too early for berries, so what was the flash of gold color I saw through the sparse branches?

My best innate magic was finding bodies, apparently. I was better than a cadaver dog. Tavi Alderidge, cadaver wolf.

I didn’t need to investigate to know the sudden ache in my gut was right. The odd premonition, theknowingthat I was once again in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I approached anyway because I needed to see, to verify. My stomach began to cartwheel and a cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. The camera orbs would be overhead shortly, surely.

“Breathe, Tavi,” I told myself.

There beneath the berry bush was an arm. A leg. The dismembered torso of one of Mike’s shitty friends, torn apart.

22

No escape.

No matter what would happen to me for this, I knew it was only a matter of time before the orbs found me and broadcast my grisly discovery anyway.

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