Page 63 of Two Who Live On

Ashlyn Ramirez

Devon White

Biting my lip, I quelled the minds of every person here, including the angry little bastard that synced so naturally to my fury. What I needed was silence, not similarity.

Tara and Caleb were pitted against each other. One would lose. Ignoring that, I quickly walked back to my designated proctoring spot for the last semi-final match. This was my job. Nothing more. Nothing extra. These were just two random kids assigned to my roster out of hundreds, potentially thousands.

“Begin,” Chanelle announced alongside the buzzers.

I ignored everything. Why was I so furious? Was it my growing branch? Was it Milo working nonstop on this dangerous demon case? Was it Chanelle? It didn’t matter what shook my magic; it happened, making it too difficult to concentrate on the battle.

I couldn’t cheer for either side anyway, not between Caleb and Tara. I didn’t want either side to win. Lose. Win? Winning meant so much to each of them, for different reasons, layered in histories of confusion wrapped within each strike they unleashed during the match.

The match escalated quickly. Two members on Tara’s team were detained and expelled from the arena in the first minute, thanks to Jamie’s whirlpool magic, but now he’d fixated on Tara.

“Let’s see thatWhitlock powerdodgethis.” Jamie’s erratic rage spiked in the most disruptive sense. I grabbed my chest; the odd spikes of calm anger cast false palpitations.

Jamie created seven tiny whirlpools around himself, each barely bigger than his hands, and he conjured matching outputs surrounding Tara. She eyed the larger watery portals closing in on her, contemplating an escape. None of her root magics were suited to evade this type of attack, and with only one remaining member on her team, she didn’t want to waste her energy casting an onslaught of chaotic branches.

“There’s still Caleb and the other two to contend with. I need my strength.” She could only maintain a safe output of her three wild branches for a limited amount of time. According to her circulating thoughts, it wasn’t very long. Carefully, she avoided jabs Jamie made, punching his hands through portals from a safe distance.

Tara channeled her telekinesis, creating a massive ripple across her fist from all the telekinetic energy bound in one tiny space. Milo had done the very same thing, concentrating a huge amount of magic into a condensed form, which would release a massive output if it was half as powerful as his. Jamie nicked Tara’s chin, but it didn’t slow her and instead led the trajectory of her strike.

Unleashing the massive telekinetic burst, it traveled through a watery portal, but Jamie sent his tiny whirlpool off in another direction. Tara’s strike bounced between portals, and every ounce ofthe telekinesis struck Caleb in the back, slamming him against the stone arena. The ground cracked louder than his pained gasp.

I levitated closer than my designated post at the outer edge.

“Whoops, guess I hit your branchless pal.” Jamie smirked. “Notenoughtoknockthedudout. Won’t give up aperfect winjust to putyouinyour place.”

I clenched my jaw, channeling telekinesis and ready to end this.

“Wow. Defensive much?”“Every round has been intense.”

“Not that he’d know.”“Lazy asshole.”

“He wouldn’t be here if he weren’t screwing—”

“When it’s one of his kids, suddenly—”

“Now, he manages to show up after shirking his duties. Must be nice.”

I untensed and then severed my telepathy. Maybe the other staff members monitoring this match were right. There was a lot they had wrong, whether because I kept my efforts to myself or they envied me for things I didn’t care about exploring. The venom oozing in their thoughts settled my trembling. I was too close to my students in this situation and needed to remember we’d all reviewed the ridiculously long protocols on when intervention was necessary. This was simply another battle in the Warlock Wars semi-finals.

Tara winced when Jamie punched her in the kidney, reeling his hand back into the portal. I closed my eyes, unable to escape the reminder this held for me.

I took a deep breath, blocking out the memories of Darla’s daggers slipping through Ernesto’s crystalized blue portals and slashing me apart. Each time Tara shouted or grunted, I relived a nick, a deep cut, a slash the warlocks gave me. All of it led to the blade pressed against my throat that nearly killed me.

“No.” I cracked my neck, silencing everything around me, including nightmares I didn’t deserve to relive. Not when Tara was in actual pain.

I could make this about me any time I wanted, but not when this match was being vindictively drawn out. Stepping forward, I planned to intervene. I didn’t care if it wasn’t standard or if it lacked the seven prerequisites the handbook outlined, or if it’d force a forfeiture for Tara’s team. I couldn’t let—

Jamie slapped a cuff around Tara’s wrist, and all his portals vanished.

---