Page 42 of Monster's Baby

He consulted a tablet.“Accuracy.”

My stomach flipped.That was one of mine.

Aiden squeezed my hand.“You’ll be amazing.Clarissa will be with you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.I would know at leastoneof my teammates.

There were only two more contingents called; Oceania and South America.

I wondered if the mer we had met were included in the Oceania contingent, or if they weren’t involved in the Olympics at all.Most of the events were surface-based.That felt exclusionary, but I wasn’t sure what could be changed.

We waited patiently as the last Olympian joined us and a trumpet sounded.

The audience quieted, as much as thousands of people could.

I removed my mute spell so I could hear the announcer.

“Welcome to the two-hundred and fifty-third Magical Olympics!”the announcer cried, and whoops and cheers met the proclamation.

“I guess the Greeks got the idea from us,” I whispered to Aiden.

He smothered a laugh with a hand.“I think they took a few things from their own culture, too.I highly doubt we suggested that they compete naked.”

I shrugged.“We might have.It depends on who suggested it.It could have started as a funny joke.”

He nodded solemnly.“I can imagine that high jumping in particular would have been amusing to watch with all those dicks flopping around.”

“Was that one of the original sports at the Olympics?”I mused.

Aiden shrugged.“Who knows.”

The announcer had continued while we chatted, and I’d missed a few things.I struggled to draw my attention back to him.

“—international magical cooperation.The countries from each contingent will be competing together, the ones with the highest rankings moving on to compete against the other groups.The finals will have a minimum of six competitors.We have seen ties happen, and those competitors will each have a chance at gold.”

My stomach tightened.“I’ll be competingagainstClarissa first?I thought we were teammates?”

Clarissa took my free hand.“Some of the events are group events.We’ll be together then.”

“If they match us up,” I worried aloud.

“You’re stressing for no reason,” Bruce joined the conversation.“You don’t know how things are done yet, and neither does anyone else.The committee is different every Olympics, and only fourth year students at accredited academies are allowed to compete, so all the competitors are brand new as well.Breathe.Everyone’s in the same boat.”

I saw the sense in that and managed to calm down considerably.

“—enjoy the entertainment!”

Silent fireworks exploded overhead, shaping into one design after another.I realized that they weren’t actually fireworks, but magical drones controlled by a magic user on the ground.They danced in the air, showing the origin of the Magical Olympics and the events that had been present since the beginning.Flying was one of them, and I felt a thrill of pride that I would be competing in one of the original events.Glittery magic swirled around the drones, erasing each image before the drones made the next one.

A map of the world showed up next, the countries colored by their flag.It zoomed in on Mexico, on Hermosilla on the West coast, and showed an overhead view of the amphitheater where we were standing.

Hermosilla was the standard opening ceremony location, thanks to the five-point nexus it was on and the relative isolation.No humans would accidentally wander into the opening ceremonies, like they would if it was located in one of the European nexus points.

The zooming in continued until a flare rippled through the drones, quickly vanishing until there was no light at all.

A spark appeared in the top corner of the stands, bouncing slowly down the stairs.I sharpened my vision with a quick spell, only to see a person holding a torch high overhead.

Suddenly, another person zoomed down from the sky on a broom, and lit their torch from the one on the ground.

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