Page 39 of Elemental Hall: Nautica
A questing tentacle slams down on the lip of the pool, but the kraken does not pull itself out.
I want to answer Orion, I want to explain that this is all a challenge and that I have failed, that I will most likely be cast out of Nautica. I want to beg him to help me. To throw me back. To protect me while I get the ring.
I want to do all of that, but I don’t have the strength to speak, to do anything. I can feel the blood dripping from my body, and all I can think about is how it is covering Orion’s pale clothes. I want to apologize for that, to saysomething,at least.
But I don’t, because that is the moment when unconsciousness claims me.
Chapter TWENTY ONE
“So you’re saying that thiswasn’tan official challenge?” Orion asks, sounding angry.
I open my eyes slowly, looking around the room. I’m lying in a bed, in a clean, open space that must be Nautica’s infirmary. I’ve mostly managed to avoid it until now, thanks to Nissa’s efforts. Orion is there; did he carry me all the way back? So is Elemental Mistress Halan. The elemental mistress looks down at me levelly.
“You’re awake, that’s good. I was just explaining to Orion here that the challenge you were sent on hasnothingto do with the school. The Green Tower Pool is abandoned for a reason.”
“The kraken,” I croak out. My voice barely wants to function.
“A particularly old and vicious example of its kind. To survive it, even wounded, is impressive.”
It doesn’tfeelimpressive. My body aches, although there isn’t the same ragged, tearing agony that there was before.
“Someone sent me there,” I point out.
Elemental Mistress Halan nods. “Someone who wants you hurt or killed, it would seem.”
“It’s the Umbran students,” Orion says. “It must be. I’ll—”
“You will donothingto act against fellow students of this academy,” Elemental Mistress Halan snaps back. “We will find who did this, and they will be punished for it. For now, Seraphina, you should rest. Your wounds have been healed, but it will still take you time to recover your strength. You will need all of it for the water flow challenge tomorrow.”
Orion looks surprised. “Mistress Halan, surely you’re not expecting Sera to dive straight back into a challenge when she’s injured?”
There is some sympathy on Elemental Mistress Halan’s face when she looks my way, but that doesn’t change what she says.
“The rules here are quite clear. We provide instruction, we provide opportunities for you to learn, but the challenges are what determine whether you pass or fail. We cannot allow elementalists out into the world who have not proven themselves. That means completing the challenge.”
“What happens if I can’t?” I ask. I don’t feel strong enough to do anything like that so quickly, but I also don’t know if I’ll have a choice.
“This challenge is not one that can easily be repeated,” Elemental Mistress Halan says. “You would have to return home and wait until next year to try again.”
I swallow back my fear of that possibility. Months stuck in the village, after all I’ve gone through here? When my parents might still try to marry me to Gerant? When the recruiter found me, I felt as if my whole life had changed. I can’t go back to my old life now.
“You don’t have to decide right away,” Elemental Mistress Halan says. “The challenge is tomorrow. We’ll see how you feel then.”
Elemental Mistress Halan leaves. Orion is still there and he doesn’t look any happier.
“I can’t believe they’re forcing you to do the challenge even though you’re hurt. They can’t do that.”
“They can, though,” I point out. “I even understand it, a little. They want elementalists who are able to rise to any challenge.”
“Even when that’s because someone has deliberately tried to get them killed?” Orion replies. “I don’t care what the mistress says, those Umbran students—”
“What if it’s not them?” I ask.
Orion looks a little taken aback. Good, it means he’s thinking. “What do you mean?”
“Ash and Sybil tried to kill Darius and me during the storm challenge,” I say. “How hard would it be for one of them to write a fake note?”
“Not that hard,” Orion admits. “You really think it’s one of them?”
