Page 55 of Two Who Live On

12th: Yaritza Vargas

15th: Melanie Dawson

Students raced faster and harder, claiming available slots and making the screens explode with firework after firework as they crossed the finish line.

32nd: Gael Rios-Vega

33rd: Layla Smythe

“I guess it’s about time, then.” Tara’s sorrow drew me away from the screen and to her for the first time during the obstacle course.

I squeezed my knees, disappointed I’d missed her self-defeat, so preoccupied with everyone else. Tara stood at the starting line. Clearly, without the weighted blocks to assist her branches and not having access to her root magics, she’d given up before even beginning.

“It’s not ready, but it’ll have to do. Time to show everyone a little Whitlock Chaos.” Tara stepped across the starting line, taking a deep breath and unleashing countless shadow tendrils. They whipped wildly, propelling her faster. Her intangibility cut through courses, phasing through obstacles, and her sealing magic locked competitorsin place when a shadow struck them. Everything in her wake either phased out of sync with reality or was sealed in place, trapped inside a golden hue.

This was why she’d waited so long. Those shadows unleashed magic aimlessly as she zipped through the courses, and she wanted to ensure her homeroom coven had a solid head start in case any were caught in her fury of casting. She didn’t want to harm anyone but had zero intention of giving up when she’d come so far with her magics.

40th: Tara Whitlock

Tara edged out others, severing her magics once she hit the finish line. Everyone’s jaws dropped, stunned that the girl who spent the bulk of the competition at the starting line had completed the entire obstacle course in under three minutes. She half-smiled as the camera zoomed in on her face.

Kenzo tsked. “Still, thirty-nine placements behind me. Don’t get a big head just because—”

The camera panned away as Kenzo continued yelling at Tara, who he admittedly underestimated.

Students from other classes continued crossing the finish line, taking up more slots in the top eighty.

48th: Gael Martinez

50th: Jennifer Jung

Gael shouted victoriously when he reached the end; his spikes grew large, then simmered when he caught Jennifer glaring. Exhausted and annoyed, she unlinked her empathy and went back to her standard surly expression.

57th: Carter Howe

60th: Jamius Watson

Carter and Jamius were covered in sweat and grime, having lost the stamina to maintain their branches after reaching the fifth obstacle but still pushed their way to the end.

Caleb struggled to breathe, dragging himself ahead through the sixth and final obstacle. Every time the fireworks exploded with cheering from the screens and audience, he flinched. I watched the screen hit the top seventy, and my stomach dropped. Having my entire homeroom coven make it into the Spring Showcase was enough of an honor for me. Having even one get through the first round would’ve been a huge success, but now eleven had crossed the finish line.

75thexploded on the screen.

Caleb wedged himself between a half dozen others, all running neck and neck, but each breath exhausted him. He slowed, unable to pick up his pace as contestants edged ahead.

76th

Disappointment flooded Caleb’s mind. Failure looped in his head again and again and again, too many times to count.

77th

“I can’t be the only one not to place.” Caleb wheezed. “I can’t.”

78th

He ran alongside students, side by side, until one smacked him, popping his jaw and stilling him for a second. A second too long.

79th

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