Page 24 of Spirit Trials
I wave off her concern. “I’ll gather it later and make Lox return it to you.”
A few minutes later, we’re all settled in a rather large riding coach. I thought it would be really fun to ride in, but it only takes me two minutes to regret my decision. “We should have just ridden horses,” I murmur under my breath when we hit a bump and all our heads practically hit the ceiling. The only thing that helps is that Tess and Rita sit on either side of me. It’s a tight squeeze, and it helps us keep our seats.
“In that dress?” Lox asks, smirking.
It takes forever for us to get to the castle, but part of that is the ridiculous amount of time we wait in line to get close to theentrance. “This is ridiculous. I could have walked the distance there and back ten times by now.”
“Your patience is showing,” Lox says with an easy smile.
We finally make it to the front of the line, and a guard in uniform opens our door and peers inside. “Name?” he asks, looking down at a paper.
I realize after a moment of silence that all the guys are looking at me. “Oh, Farrah Bromean.”
The guard must find what he’s looking for because he nods and waves us forward. “This is our stop. We will see you later, Miss, uh, I mean Farrah,” Rita says. They both jump out before I can ask where they’re going. I frown, but then we roll forward and I have to focus on not falling out of my seat. Then the door opens again, and a man dressed in really nice clothes, including white gloves puts out a hand.
“Miss Farrah.”
I stare at his hand a moment before glancing over at the guys. Lox nods his chin towards the man’s hand, and I take it. He helps me down and escorts me over to a huge set of stairs that lead to a towering castle. I glance over at him, wondering if I’m going to have to hold his hand the entire way up. He doesn’t look back at me, nor does he take his hand away.All the way up it is.Halfway up, I wonder if this is part of weeding out some of the competitors. Thankfully, we finally reach the top. “Okay, thank you...” But he keeps walking. I look over my shoulder and am relieved to see that Lox, Jamik, and Hector are all following. When we reach the huge double doors, somebody opens them from inside.
“Farrah Bromean,” the man escorting me says and finally drops my hand. He turns away before I can even thank him. I step inside and take in the opulence. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The ceilings are so high, I can barely see them. There are permalight lanterns everywhere, and they reflect off the glasschandeliers that are enormous and hang every few feet. The floor is made of white glass; it’s shiny and looks ridiculous.Who has a floor made of glass?
“Right up those stairs is the ballroom,” a man standing near the door says. I nod and head that way. Thankfully, Lox, Hector, and Jamik fall into place around me.
“Really? You guys couldn’t have done that a few minutes ago?”
“And miss watching you being escorted by one of the Wolf King’s finest?” Lox asks. I scowl at him, and his grin widens. We reach the top of the short set of steps, and Jamik and Hector leave. I turn to Lox, who’s looking serious. That alarms me; he’s never serious. “You still have your knife on you?” he asks in a low voice. I nod. “Good.”
“Should I be worried?” I ask, unsure what to do about his seriousness.
“I’ll keep an eye on you.” I think he meant to reassure me, but it does the opposite.
“Wait, are you leaving?”
“I’ll be out of sight but not far.”
Panic blooms in my chest. “I have to go in there by myself.”
Lox eyes me in concern. “Rysden will be in there.”
“Is that supposed to be a comfort?” Because it’s not. It’s really, really not.
“You’ll be fine,” he says quietly. He looks behind me, and I turn to see two couples ascend the stairs. He gives me a nod and then disappears. I stare after him, debating running after him. Then I remember why I’m here. I’m here to meet other contestants and prepare for the trials tomorrow. I need to focus. I push my fear aside and my shoulders back and walk through the huge open doors.
Chapter 14
I walk into the huge room filled with people everywhere and try to look confident. It feels like everybody’s eyes are on me, but that’s just ridiculous. It’s just my nerves talking. I turn my focus to my surroundings. This castle is huge in comparison to Rysden’s, but it’s just so...awful. While Rysden’s is cozy and feels like a home, this one feels cold. There’s so much wealth here, it’s ridiculous. I hate it. I finally take my eyes off the walls and look at the people. I suck in a breath when I realize people actually are staring, and then it hits me. My gaze runs the entire length of the room, of the part I can see, at least. And I realize I’ve made a terrible mistake. Or rather, the tailor has. Every single person in here is wearing color. There are shades of red, blue, pink, yellow, purple, orange...every color you can imagine, except one. There is not a single person wearing black except for me. Not even the men are. I’m overcome with the desire to run and hide, especially when I see some of them snickering behind fluted cups of drink. A hand snags my elbow, and I jerk for a moment before I realize it’s Lox. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean what’s wrong?” I hiss. “I’m wearing the wrong dress. Literally every person in here is wearing color, and I’m in all black.”
“Farrah,” he says, snapping my gaze to his. “You’re not. Trust me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just hold your head high. Remember, this is the start of the competition. You need to be fierce.”
I roll my eyes. “In this?”
“Exactly.” He gives my arm a squeeze and then leaves me again. I take a deep breath. There are guys and girls my age everywhere. I can’t believe there are this many in the competition. Panic starts to take hold again, but I force it down and take a deep breath. Lox’s words come back to mind.I need to be fierce.And then I remember that I’ve never run from a problem a day in my life, and I’m not about to now. I press my fingers into the blade strapped to my thigh as a reminder and then begin to stride through the crowd. My panic begins to abate when I begin to take them in clinically as competitors. I walk around the entire room, taking in as many males and females as I can. I try to catalogue the guys that are really muscular that will be impossible to fight hand-to-hand, the lean guys and girls who will most likely be fast runners, the tall ones, the ones who are shorter and might be willing to become allies. So many thoughts run through my head.
